Tennis News

The Top 2 seeds made winning starts at the ASB Classic on Tuesday, as Elena Dementieva and Caroline Wozniacki both won their first matches of the week in straight sets. Home favorite Marina Erakovic also advanced.

Jelena Jankovic believes she deserves to be called the world's best player despite never having won a Grand Slam.

The 23-year-old Serb finished 2008 as world No.1 thanks to a consistent season that saw her win 65 of her 84 matches.

She is the first player in WTA history to top the rankings without a Grand Slam to her name but Jankovic said: "I don't really have to prove anything to anybody.

"To finish the year as No.1 in the world was a huge achievement, I'm only the ninth player to do that.

Sania Mirza gets an opportunity to assess her form and recovery from a career threatening wrist injury when the Indian tennis star competes in World Team Challenge tournament, kicking off from Wednesday.

The event will also help the Indian ace prepare for the first Grand Slam of the year -- the Australian Open -- as the tournament features the big wigs of women's tennis, including world number one Jelena Jankovic and multiple-Grand Slam winner American Venus Williams.

Australia's Hopman Cup title hopes are hanging by a thread after Casey Dellacqua went down in straight sets to the Slovak Republic's Dominika Cibulkova.

World No.19 Cibulkova won 7-5 6-2 in 84 minutes to give the Slovak Republic a 1-0 lead ahead of Lleyton Hewitt's clash with Dominik Hrbaty.

Dellacqua, who made an astonishing 47 unforced errors, served for the opening set at 5-4 up but lost her nerve when it mattered most.

The 23-year-old dropped five straight service games from that point as Cibulkova romped to the win.

Simone Bolelli beat Gilles Simon in straight sets to cancel out France’s advantage, then combined with Flavia Pennetta to guide Italy to a 2-1 Hopman Cup win on Tuesday.

When Alize Cornet gave France a 1-0 lead with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Pennetta in the women’s singles, Italy was only one loss from slumping out of contention in the international mixed team tournament.

Novak Djokovic was thrown a lifeline to continue his preparations for his Australian Open defence after he was knocked out of the Brisbane International on Tuesday.

The world number three was facing the prospect of going into the first grand slam of 2009, starting in Melbourne on Jan. 19, with only one match under his belt this year following his shock 6-4 6-4 first round loss to his former training partner, Ernests Gulbis of Latvia.

Second seed Victoria Azarenka has survived an early scare at the Brisbane International, after being pushed to the limit by Slovak-born Australian and world No.98 Jarmila Gajdosova in their second-round match.

Visibly frustrated by a series of dubious line calls, Azarenka finally settled against an impressive Gajdosova to win 7-6(4) 7-5 and proceed to the third round, keeping alive the hopes of a showdown against top seed Ana Ivanovic.

It was a good day all round for the top-ranked women, with third seed Marion Bartoli from France also making it through.

With a name as unwieldy as her disposition, Bulgarian Sesil Karatantcheva was once considered the wild child of tennis.

As a 14-year-old, she once threatened to kick Maria Sharapova’s “butt off” because of a perceived slight during practice.

But Karatantcheva, 15-year-old French Open quarter-finalist in 2005, is more commonly known for becoming the first woman to be suspended for steroid use.

The then 16-year-old tried to blame the positive test on being pregnant.

World number four Elena Dementieva had to battle back from a big first set deficit to avoid a shock opening round exit at the hands of Taiwan's Yung-Jan Chan in the ASB Classic women's tournament in Auckland, New Zealand, on Tuesday.

The tournament's top seed fought back from 5-1 down in the first set to take the match 7-5, 6-3 after Chan threw everything at her more favoured opponent.

Second seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark had a much easier passage through to the second round, dispatching Italian qualifier Alberta Brianti 6-1, 6-0.

Sania Mirza is cautiously optimistic about 2009 as she begins her long journey towards regaining the lost glory on the tennis arena.

The Indian star will be playing her fifth straight Australian Open, starting January 11, but faces the prospect of going into the year’s first Grand Slam without having played a competitive tournament following a four-month injury layoff.