Jankovic Pursues Grand Slam Dream Down Under

Defending champion Maria Sharapova might be missing, but the battle for this fortnight's Australian Open promises to be as fierce as ever, with the No.1 ranking again up for grabs. Serena and Venus Williams, who each bagged a major last season, are firing on all cylinders; Ana Ivanovic is desperate to prove her French Open triumph was no fluke; and a trio of Olympic-medal-winning Russians are out to taste Grand Slam glory for the first time.

Then of course there's reigning world No.1 Jelena Jankovic, determined to burnish her status with a maiden Grand Slam title - but something of an unknown quantity after a truncated preparation. Three players - Serena, Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva - could usurp Jankovic by winning the event. But this is a Grand Slam, and there are 128 players in the draw; danger lurks at every turn for even the heaviest of favorites.

Top seed Jankovic opens against Austria's Yvonne Meusburger, but the first seeded player the 23-year-old Serb should encounter is No.29 Ai Sugiyama, in the third round. Unlike Jankovic, who withdrew from a Hong Kong exhibition due to illness, the Japanese veteran isn't short of match practice, having pushed Safina in the semis at Sydney. Assuming the form guide holds, Jankovic's subsequent opponent would be No.16 seed Marion Bartoli, runner-up at the Brisbane International two weeks ago. Beijing bronze medalist Vera Zvonareva, who defeated Jankovic during her stunning run to the final of the recent Sony Ericsson Championships, is the eighth seed, and the pair could collide in the quarters at Melbourne Park.

Second seed Serena and No.6 seed Venus cannot meet before the semis, which must be a relief to the siblings after their dramatic US Open quarterfinal, but both face a difficult path if they are to get to that stage. Serena's quarter of the draw harbors eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova; ninth seed and 2008 quarterfinalist Agnieszka Radwanska; and, perhaps most dangerously, 13th seed Victoria Azarenka, hot off her first title win at Brisbane. Last season Azarenka reached the fourth round at Roland Garros and the third round at the other three majors, and is surely ready to raise the stakes. However, the Belarusian faces a stern initial test from Petra Kvitova, who collected her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title in Hobart on Friday night.

As she guns for a first Australian Open title, the first seed Venus should run into is No.32 Tamarine Tanasugarn, but serious peril possibly lurks in the fourth round, in the form of twelfth seed Flavia Pennetta. The Italian has developed into something of a nemesis to the American, famously beating her at Roland Garros last year and again at Moscow. Although Venus turned the tables on Pennetta in the final at Zürich in October, the Italian maintains a 3-2 head-to-head advantage. 

Beyond that, Venus' quarter of the draw features one of the hottest players of the past sixth months or so in Dementieva. Having reached the semis at the last two Grand Slams, as well as the Sony Ericsson Championships, and started the year with back-to-back titles at Auckland and Sydney, the 27-year-old certainly deserves her status as fourth seed. Indeed, Dementieva arrives in Melbourne on a 10-match winning streak; taking into account the Tour Championships and the title she won at Luxembourg the week before, she is 17-2 from her last four tournaments. If the 2004 Roland Garros and US Open runner-up is to win a Grand Slam, now could be her moment - but she might need to get past No.18 seed Dominika Cibulkova in the third round.

In contrast to Jankovic, who reached the semis in Melbourne 12 months ago, third seed Safina doesn't have points to defend as she was a first round loser. Like Dementieva, the 22-year-old is match tough, her finals-run at Sydney suggesting the breakout form she displayed in 2008 is still on tap. Should they both win through to the fourth round, Safina and No.13 seed Alizé Cornet will play each other for the third time three weeks.

The reward for whoever reaches the last eight in that particular section of the draw could be a meeting with last year's runner-up, Ivanovic. The 21-year-old, who has relatives in Melbourne and has become something of an adopted daughter in the eyes of local fans, starts out against one of Germany's bright young prospects, Julia Goerges. Looking ahead, Ivanovic could bump into powerful Russian Alisa Kleybanova in the Round of 32 and dangerous Dane Caroline Wozniacki, the No.11 seed, in the last 16.

Others with tricky first-round challenges include 2008 semifinalist and No.19 seed Daniela Hantuchova, who faces Australia's Casey Dellacqua; Chinese No.2 seed Zheng Jie, who tackles Frenchwoman Camille Pin; No.27 seed Maria Kirilenko, who opens against Brisbane semifinalist Sara Errani of Italy; and No.30 Aleksandra Wozniak, who plays German teenager Sabine Lisicki.

Amélie Mauresmo, who won the first of her two Grand Slam titles in Melbourne in 2006, confronts Olga Govortsova of Belarus first up. Among the Aussie contingent, Samantha Stosur plays Czech Klara Zakopalova, Jelena Dokic attempts to keep her comeback alive against Tamira Paszek, and Slovak-born Jarmila Gajdosova faces Hobart semifinalist Virginie Razzano.