The outsider who beat Ana Ivanovic: 'My friends are more bothered that I played Schweinsteiger's girlfriend'

Naomi Broady during her first round match against Ana Ivanovic at the ASB Classic. Photo / Getty Images

The British outsider who shocked Ana Ivanovic yesterday at the ASB Classic struggled to convey the significance to her friends back home, who were more interested in the fact that she had faced "Bastian Schweinsteiger's girlfriend".

Naomi Broady stunned the former world No1 with a barrage of big serves, backed up by remarkable accuracy from the baseline, to win 7-5 6-4 in 83 minutes.

The Stockport-born Broady has been a professional for almost a decade but has spent most of her time on the lower reaches of the WTA tour, often playing on outside courts in obscure locations.

But yesterday's result - her first win over a top-20 player - will be noticed around the tennis world, even if her friends in England were oblivious to the scale of her achievement.

"Some of my friends don't follow tennis at all," said Broady. "I have messaged them 'I won, I won' but it's like eating humble pie... I have to explain to them that I have won a good match and they just don't get it. They are more bothered that I played [Bastian] Schweinsteiger's girlfriend I think, they don't get tennis whatsoever."

The Manchester United midfielder and Ivanovic have been dating since early last year, and the 2008 French Open champion recently relocated to England to be closer to her football beau.

Meanwhile, the victory capped an amazing few days for the 25-year-old Broady, who arrived in Auckland late last week to sign in as a qualifier. Due to the extensive rain delays on Saturday she didn't take the court until almost 11pm for her first qualifying match, which was played indoors with no spectators.

"There were three people watching - my coach, her coach and a friend," laughed Broady. "Then you come out here a few days later and you are playing in front of a full stadium against the number two seed. It's not sunk in yet... I was quite emotional in the last game so I was pleased I managed to hold it together.

Broady looked the more confident player from the beginning of the match, against the notoriously nervy Ivanovic. The Serbian started to find her range as the match progressed but struggled against Broady's power and pace from the service line, as the Brit sent down 14 aces.

"I felt Naomi was using the angles really well and it was hard to read her serve, there were no patterns," said Ivanovic. "It was very tough, I don't remember the last time I was aced that many times."

Broady, who practises at the same facility in Bolton as the Serbian star, said belief was the key to the surprise result.

"My coach said before the match the biggest thing would be believing you could win," said Broady.

"The fact that the young girl went out before me and beat Venus [Williams] gave me a boost - if she could take out Venus, why couldn't I take out the number two seed?"

Broady faces highly rated Latvian teenager Jelena Ostapenko in the second round.