Week #01: Davenport and Li take first WTA events of 2008

Lindsay Davenport kept on her winning streak on her tour comeback after she became a mother and took the Auckland title with little opposition. Davenport just dropped a set to Anabel Medina in 2nd round and easily defeated Aravane Rezai in the final. With this result 20yo Rezai will forget a dissapointing 2007 season, where she dropped from a best rank #41 after reaching Istambul final in May to #90 in December. Local player Marina Erakovic (WTA 161) made an unexpected run defeating former Top 10 Zvonareva on her way to the semifinals, where she was defeated by Rezai.

China's olympic year could not begin better than it did in Gold Coast. Her top players Na Li and Jie Zheng came back after severe injuries. Li showed a great shape and took the single title beating three Top 20 players (Bammer, Vaidisova and Schnyder) on her way. Runner up was 18yo Victoria Azarenka who confirmed the good form she showed in the late 2007 season. On the other hand Zheng teamed up with partner Zi Yan to reach their first final since May 2007, where they lost to Agnes Szavay and Dinara Safina.

Despite some physical problems which put her participation in doubt (even Shaughnessy played instead of her in the first tie), Serena Williams teamed up with Mardy Fish to give the US team the Hopman Cup title. Runner-up was serbian team, which reached the final despite Jankovic's injury which forced her to retire in her singles matches but couldn't not prevent her of joining Djokovic in the mixed to reach the final.

Gold Coast (AUS), Tier III, $175,000
Final: Na Li (CHN) def. Victoria Azarenka (BLR) 4-6 6-3 6-4

Auckland (NZL), Tier IV, $145,000
Final: Lindsay Davenport (USA) def. Aravane Rezai (FRA) 6-2 6-2

Hopman Cup, Perth (AUS), Mixed Teams Competition
Final: USA (Mardy Fish, Serena Williams) def Serbia (Novak Djokovic, Jelena Jankovic) 2-1