Player of the week: Serena Williams / Jelena Dokic

Serena Williams was the strongest player in the Australian Open, and not only she got her 10th Grand Slam title, but also the #1 place in the WTA ranking. After defeating Yuan, Dulko and Peng, Williams faced her first serious test in the last-16 round against 13th seed Victoria Azarenka. Williams was lucky as Azarenka suffered food poisoning the night before and had to retire, even though she had won the first set. Williams also had a though match in the quarters, as she had to come back from a set down to overcome Svetlana Kuznetsova, who even served for the match. But at the decissive matches, Williams played her best, as only great champions do, to defeat Russians Elena Dementieva by 6/3 6/4 in the semifinal, and Dinara Safina by 6/3 6/0 in the final.


But another player hit the headlines in the Australian Open. Jelena Dokic, who was making another try to get back to the Tour, turned into the crowd's favourite and got huge attention from the media after some emotive victories. Dokic had previously competed with other Australian players to get a Wild Card for the Main Draw, and won her first Grand Slam match since 2003 after beating Tamira Paszek in three sets. But the best was still to come, as she managed to raise her level to upset 17th seed Anna Chakvetadze and 11th seed Caroline Wozniacki again in three sets. In the 4th round she faced upcoming Russian and 29th seed Alisa Kleybanova for a place in the quarterfinals. And this was really the match of the tournament, a battle that Dokic won in a thrilling 3rd set (8-6) in an night session with all the stadium cheering for her and a big TV audience. The quarter final seemed really too much for her, as she was facing WTA #3 Dinara Safina, but the match was closer than expected and Dokic managed to win the 2nd set and again the match was decided in the 3rd set, that Safina won. But it's really great news for tennis to see the former WTA #4 playing at her best level again.