Serbia’s hopes of making a winning World Group debut in Fed Cup by BNP Paribas ended in disappointment with a 3-2 loss at home to Russia. Although another crowd of almost 10,000 fans gathered in the Belgrade Arena to cheer on their two stars, ultimate success proved beyond them.

For Jelena Jankovic the day was bittersweet because after her remarkable recovery in Saturday’s second singles rubber against Alisa Kleybanova, she kicked off Sunday’s action with another rousing three set win against Russia’s No.1 Svetlana Kuznetsova, winning 63 46 63.

Playing aggressively and with great focus from the outset she took the game to the world No.4 and put her second serve under immense pressure. Kuznetsova did well to force a deciding set after dropping the first, but with the home fans backing Jankovic all the way to the finish she would not be denied even though the Russian looked to be the stronger physically down the stretch.

So Serbia moved 2-1 ahead and for Ana Ivanovic, plus her many admirers, the hope was that she could then secure a third point to put Serbia into the semifinals. But these are tough times tennis-wise for the former French Open champion and world No.1, who is clearly lacking the confidence which took her to the top of the game a couple of years ago.

As against Kuznetsova the day before, so against Kleybanova the out-of-sorts Ivanovic struggled to get going and was 40 down in next to no time. She then broke serve to get on the scoreboard, but was broken again for the third time to lose the opening set 62.

The second set was much closer with both players creating more break point opportunities before the more powerful and penetrating play of Kleybanova put her 53 ahead, from where she then served out to win it 63.

Ana Ivanovic is out of the Australian Open, after a very tight loss against Gisela Dulko from Argentina: 6-7, 7-5, 6-4. Both girls hit a very high amount of unforced errors, making it a terrible nerve-wrecking match to look at.

It was Ana who could start serving, but she did not take a good start. After barely a minute she had already lost her own service game on love. Ana did not immediately have an answer available to the well-place strokes of Dulko. Instead of letting Dulko see all the corners of the court, it was Ana who had to run and defend. Ana was able to prevent a second break though and she even started to dictate the play in the second service game of Dulko. She was not yet able to make the rebreak though, but Ana's play was certainly improving. Just when it looked as if Ana was going to take over command and take a lead, Dulko made a second break through Ana's service. At times Ana made marvellous points, then to throw it all away again with some easy missers. Ana immediately made the rebreak however, narrowing the gap to 2-4. Ana then clearly found her rhythm, winning the next two games both on love, levelling the scoreboard, and then even taking the lead for the first time in the match. At 5-5 however, Dulko went once again through Ana's service, taking an important lead as she could then serve for the set herself. Ana was able to fight back to 6-6 though, thanks to an astonishing cross-court counter-attack. Ana took a deserved 4-1 lead in the tie-break, bur Dulko fough herself back, even taking the lead herself. At a 7-6 lead for Ana, Dulko made her first double fault of the match, giving the first set to Ana.

In the second set Ana continued to play aggressively, not only overpowering Dulko, but also being the better player technically. This led Ana to a quick love break game, followed by a love service game. After these two quick opening games of the second set, Ana lost her concentration a little bit, started to moan about calls by linesmen and got frustrated. Dulko came back to 2-1, even gaining 4 break points in Ana's next service game, of which she was able to convert the last one into a service break. Momentum completely changed into Dulko's favour at that moment as she won four games in a row. Luckily Ana then made the rebreak, bringing both girls back on-serve once more. For the first time in this match, both girls then managed to stay on serve for multiple games in a row. At a 5-6 lead for Dulko though, Ana started hitting error after error, giving 3 break points to Dulko, and giving away the set with a double fault.

The third set started as dramatically as the second one ended. Dulko quickly won her first service game, then getting 6 break points on Ana's service. She did not manage to win one single one of them, and there went a huge sigh of relief through the Serbian crowd. Ana clearly got some confidence from this last game, and immediately pressurized Dulko, gaining two break points. Ana could not get her returns deep enough though, and Dulko was able to keep her own service game. Ana then once more gave away break points as she hit too many unforced errors. This time Dulko did take her chance and took a 3-1 lead in the third set. At 40-40, the chair umpire made a wrong overrule, granting Dulko advantage instead of Ana, which then led to a 4-1 lead for Dulko. At 5-2, Dulko got her first two match points, but Ana was able to narrow the gap to 5-3, but was still one break behind. However the momentum had changed once again in this match, she made the second rebreak and both girls were on serve again. But then Ana started serving terribly, two double faults gave Dulko three new match points. Dulko needed a fourth one though to end the match 6-7, 7-5, 6-4.

Ana Ivanovic won her first round match against Shenay Perry with 6-2 6-3. Ana played fairly well, but lost her concentration at the end of the first set, giving Perry a life vest to stay in the second set. The match lasted 15 minutes longer then it should have lasted, but Ana after all managed to secure victory.

Both players won their own first service games, with Ana constanstly in the leading position as she was the one who could start serving in the first game of the match. At 3-2, Ana gets a break point, but a wrong call by the linesmen was the reason why Ana could not make a service break just yet. However she forced Perry back and won three extra break points, and Ana was able to make the break on the fourth break point of the game. Ana then started to play better with more variation and won her next service game on love, putting Perry under pressure as she had to serve to stay in the set. Perry took a 30-0 lead, but Ana then won four points in a row, one being a true beauty with back and forth hits at the net, thus winning the first set 6-2.

The second set started in the same way as the first one did. Ana started serving, and both girls won their first service game. Ana's confidence started to rise though, and at 2-1, Ana got 2 break chances of which she converted one into a real break: 3-1. Just as in the first set, Ana then marched on to win her own next service game on love. With some beautiful drop-shots, passing shots and hard but precise winners, Ana broke once again through the American's service. Just when it looked as if the match was over and Ana was simply going to serve out the match, Ana started having problems with her widely-known toss, letting Perry make a rebreak. At 5-3, Ana got a new chance to serve for the match, but the tossing problems only seemed to get worse, with Ana now having to redo her toss almost every time. This led to two double faults, giving Perry new break points. Ana eventually managed to secure the vinctory, but at the end it got tighter than necessary.

In the first round of the Australian Open, the first grand slam of the year, Ana will meet American Shenay Perry. Perry is currently ranked 108th on the WTA singles ranking, and thus comes through the qualification rounds of this grand slam. She usually plays the smaller ITF tournaments, in which she is not that succesful. 2006 has been her best year to date, in which she ended the year on the 43rd place on the ranking. Gisela Dulko is the most likely second round adversary, while in the third round it is possible that Ana will meet the 9th seeded player Vera Zvonareva. Most likely possible fourth round adversaries would be Victoria Azarenka or Elena Vesnina. A possible quarter final would probably be against world number 1 Serena Williams.

Meanwhile the gallery has been updated with training pictures from Ana at the Australian Open.

While Ana is preparing for the first grand slam of the year, the Australian Open, we have added some missing pictures to our gallery.

2010 - Oncourt
- Brisbane 2010 (existing album, 9 photos added)

2010 - Offcourt
- Brisbane 2010 (new album, 20 photos)
- New Adilibria Dress (new album, 2 photos)

2009 - Offcourt
- Verano Group Shoot (new album, 4 photos)