Tennis-I prefer men's game, says Ivanovic

PARIS, June 2 (Reuters) Less than three months after French Open organisers bowed to pressure by agreeing to pay women the same prize money as men, Ana Ivanovic scored an own goal by saying she favoured the men's game.

''I prefer to watch men's tennis. I think we can learn a lot from it,'' the Serbian told reporters after reaching the fourth round with a 6-2 6-0 rout of Romanian qualifier Ioana Raluca Olaru.

Until this season organisers at the claycourt grand slam and at Wimbledon had dragged their feet on equal pay, arguing the men's game attracted more fans.

But the two slams ended the discrepancy this year, bringing them in line with the pay policy of the Australian and US Opens, who have long offered the same prize pot to the two sexes.

Ivanovic's admission will probably not go down too well in the women's dressing room.

''Men play really good and we can learn a lot, especially on clay,'' she said.

''They play so many rallies and they play with a lot of speed.

Tactics wise we can learn more from men.'' The seventh seed showed Olaru no mercy.

Ranked 122 in the world and making her grand slam debut, Olaru was overawed by the imposing surroundings of the Suzanne Lenglen court as she lost in 65 minutes.

After dropping nine games in three matches, Ivanovic could be set to equal her best performance in Paris by reaching the quarter-finals.

She next meets Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues in the last 16.

REUTERS HK BD2308