1. Ana Ivanovic - SRB
2. Jelena Jankovic - SRB
3. Svetlana Kuznetsova - RUS
4. Maria Sharapova - RUS
5. Serena Williams - USA

Maria Sharapova	7	6	2
Dinara Safina	6	7	6

Australian Open Draw released

January 11th, 2008

13 Comments

Posted by: Marco

The draw for the 1st Grand Slam of the year at the Australian Open has been released and Maria is seeded 5 and will face Jelena Kostanic Tosic of Croatia in the 1st round.� Maria has played Kostanic Tosic twice before and leads the series 2-0, they actually met here 2 years ago in the 3rd round and Maria won 6-0 6-1.��Maria will play this match on either Monday or Tuesday.

Maria could face Lindsay Davenport of the United States in the 2nd round who is on a comeback after having a baby, Maria leads the series 4-1.� The 1st seed Maria can meet is #32 seed Julia Vakulenko of the Ukraine in the 3rd round.� Maria is seeded to meet #11 seed Elena Dementieva of Russia in the 4th round and top seed Justine Henin of Belgium in the quarters.� Jelena Jankovic, defending champion Serena Williams and Amelie Mauresmo round off the draw in the top half.

In the bottom half, Svetlana Kuznetsova is the 2nd seed and Ana Ivanovic is the #4 seed.� Other notable names are Anna Chakvetadze of Russia and Venus Williams of the United States.

Last year Maria reached the final here and has made at least the semis in 3 out of 5 appearances here.

FERNANDO Jan 11, 2008 at 10:02

VAMOS MARIA, PARA GANAR HAY QUE SUFRIR PERO TAMBIEN DISFRUTAR. SOLO JUEGA Y DISFRUTA
FERNANDO

ab_mannan4 Jan 11, 2008 at 12:01

COME ON MARIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.
"""JUST DO IT"""

Wester C. P. de Moraes Jan 11, 2008 at 17:01

Masha,
I wish you the best luck on the Australian Tennis Tournament!!!
Love,
Wester

Jolka Jan 11, 2008 at 17:23

Maria I bealive for you
--JUST DO IT--
You win AO 08

claudia Jan 11, 2008 at 18:19

Good luck Maria
the draw is difficult out of all the places lindsay could have fallen it was your side of the draw. then justine in the quarters. do your best and you will suceed.

yuyu_0407 Jan 12, 2008 at 00:59

hi!Maria,
Hope you can the victory in Beijing.Return with a full load.
If no one supports you, also having me--hong kong fan!!!

Yang Jan 12, 2008 at 03:28

well i don't know who yuyu is, but Maria will never be lacking for supporters.
Maria,
I'm not trying to be disrespectful. I only write on your site because I wanted to catch you before Monday( and, well, honestly you shared my letters with pretty much the known free world, but that's O.K. I just keep waiting for Sportscenters top ten favorite things Yang said to Ying. I don't know what else I can say except that they are right, you don't look right all by yourself. I don't know how to change that. I'm going to go back to what I do now and just try to improve my life from day to day. Since I saw you 11 months ago, you have , for lack of a more original term, inspired that!! Wanted to wish you very well in Melbourne. get 'em! Get 'Em GET 'EM!!!

Yang Jan 12, 2008 at 03:36

Maria,

If you will allow me to just comment on a couple of more things. First, I hit that damn champ thing three times there at the end. And also, it sounds like your game is almost completely back, save for that little hesitation you had on the opportunities against Venus(that, your offense I know is usually your strong point). You just get that little wrinkle ironed out and you should be back to Maria the Titlest soon enough.

yuyu_0407 Jan 12, 2008 at 05:03

yang:hi.l say if!!
I am Hong Kong to support Maria's supporting and adoring

Tima Jan 12, 2008 at 10:08

Hello Maria. The draw is difficult but you try to play without putting pressure on yourself. Stay concentrated and determined on your play. I'm afraid in the 2d round is Lindsey and she won 3 titles recently but you've beaten her and hopefully will do it again. Make her run from one corner to another, maybe it will work. Wish you playing well!

BUBBLES Jan 12, 2008 at 12:13

GOOD LUCK FOR YR FIRST MATCH MASHA I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT

Yang Jan 13, 2008 at 00:40

YuYu,
She's relentless, isn't she!! Hey, this could be kind of fun. Maybe I'll find you and other fans in one of her forums one day.

Maria,
Just remember!! Make your opponents life miserable on that court. That is where YOUR game is.(after all, they have the same mindset against you.) Also remember! The rest of this is just icing on the cake, really, if you don't mind me saying that! You will unquestionably go down as the first great Russian womans tennis player. History is always going to recognize you like that. Nothing or noone can ever take that away. If you ask me, that's pretty incredible. But you probably figured this out by now. Bring the Siberian chill to that Aussie heat wave!!

yuyu_0407 Jan 13, 2008 at 13:01

yang" masha will see this diary ?