Ana has been drawn to face world no.130 Shenay Perry in the first round of the Australian Open, which begins here on Monday. The pair have never played before.
Should Ana overcome the 21-year-old American, who has won just four grand slam matches in her career, she will face the winner of the match between local favourite Samantha Stosur and Frenchwoman Severine Bremond (née Beltrame) in the second round.
Serbian Tennis sensation Ana Ivanovic was on Thursday seeded 21 in women's singles of the Australian Open starting Monday.
This is the 4th time that the 18-year old, world ranked 21, will start her campaign in a Grand Slam event as a seeded player.
World number ones Roger Federer and Lindsay Davenport have been named top seeds for the Australian Open.
Davenport is top seed for the second successive year after claiming six titles in 2005. The American won this tournament in 2000 but lost in last year's final to Serena Williams.
Has tennis found the new Kournikova?
She's tall, quickly becoming tennis's new pin-up and her name's almost the same -- Ana, not Anna.
Also, like Kournikova, 18-year-old Ana Ivanovic's glamorous appearance has heads turning and experts salivating over her marketability.
Fans can take an animated journey through "Ana's world" and check out her modelling shots on www.anaivanovic.com.
Ivanovic has earned more than $530,000 in her 2 1/2 years as a professional, but modelling work, sponsorship and endorsement deals should see that skyrocket.
Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova beat the rain and Ana Ivanovic on Wednesday at the Medibank International tennis tournament.
Despite gaining an early break in the opening set, rising star Ana Ivanovic was unable to reproduce the kind of hitting that saw her upset world No.3 Amelie Mauresmo in the second round.
No.6 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova was able to break her opponent’s serve at 2-3 in the first to bring the set back on serve and eventually claim the set in a tiebreaker.
The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour today announced further changes to its ranking system. In addition to the abolition of Quality Points, which took place last week, the Nasdaq-100 Open in Miami and the four grand slams have become mandatory events.
ANA Ivanovic yesterday emerged as a rising grand slam star as she plunged Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo's Australian Open aspirations into disarray.
Ana eliminated WTA Championships winner Mauresmo 6-3 7-5 from the Sydney International to again raise questions over Mauresmo's notorious fragility.
Ranked 18 places lower than her opponent, Ivanovic, of Serbia and Montenegro, drove world No. 3 Mauresmo to distraction with a thumping forehand -- and telling self-belief.
Rusty after a break, Mauresmo was playing her first match since holidaying in Tahiti.
Ana Ivanovic is through to the 3rd round of the Medibank International 2006 after she defeated Amelie Mauresmo 6:3, 7:5.
Ana started the match well, in the first set she was very dominate although had some errors which kept the scores really close. In the second set both girls served well, but at the end Ana was more focused than Amelie.
Ana’s opponent in the 3rd round is Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Sydney, Australia (Sports Network) - Sixth-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova was among the winners during Sunday's first-round action at the $600,000 Medibank International tennis tournament.
Kuznetsova moved into the second round with a 6-1, 5-7, 7-5 win over Shinobu Asagoe of Japan.
Ana drops five places in the first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour ranking list of 2006, which is published tomorrow. The fall is primarily due to the abolition of Quality Points, the bonuses awarded for beating highly ranked players.
Ana herself may be too humble to talk about being one of the world’s best and most marketable tennis players, but the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour certainly is not – she has been named a Gold Exempt player for the 2006 season.
