Ivanovic advances in Doha

Ana Ivanovic made the second round of the Qatar Open on Monday, but she was denied a full match as rival Carla Suarez Navarro retired with a back problem in the second set.Ivanovic, the former world number one, who has now slipped to 19th in the rankings, had won the first set 6-1 and was leading 4-1 in the second when her Spanish rival quit after receiving courtside treatment.And the Serbian star knows she has a long way to go before she reaches the level that saw her win the French Open in 2008.I think its different in the sense that now a lot more girls can challenge top players from the early rounds, Ivanovic said.Thats exciting for us, because we do want challenges. But I feel like those girls that are on top at the moment, theyre playing very aggressively, and thats the way you have to play in order to win.Its a big challenge for us to raise our level.But despite the challenges, the Serbian beauty added that her goal was to get as higher in the rankings as possible.Well, thats why Im here, she said when asked if she was targeting the number one status again. she said.If I didnt think so, I probably wouldnt be sitting here. But, yeah, I definitely believe so.As the top eight seeds who have been given first round byes enjoyed a rest, the first upset of the event came when Kazakhstans Ksenia Pervak defeated the 10th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenko of Russia 1-6, 6-2, 6-3.Israeli Shahar Peer and Chinas Shuai Peng also advanced, beating Arab wild cards Nadia Lalami of Morocco and Fatma al-Nabhani of Oman respectively in straight sets.