When Serbia's Ana Ivanovic exited the Australian Open as early as the first round, there was still hope for her country with two strong players left in the draw, the established Jelena Jankovic and young star Bojana Jovanovski. However, both of them were defeated in the following round of the tournament, and both the losses happened on the Hisense Arena.

Even though Jankovic was leading 5-2 in the first set against Shuai Peng, the seventh-seeded 2008 Australian Open semifinalist allowed the 54th-ranked Peng to recover and force a tiebreak, which she won 7-3. A decisive break in the sixth game of the second set allowed Peng to progress to the Australian Open third round for the second time in her career. Final score: 7-6(3) 6-3.

The match between 19-year-old Bojana Jovanovski and second seed Vera Zvonareva followed. The bright Serbian prospect may have lost the match, but not before scaring Zvonareva by winning the first set 6-2. The final score was 2-6 6-3 6-1.

Third seed Kim Clijsters is confirming her dominant status, as she followed her 6-0 6-0 victory over Dinara Safina, with a 6-1 6-3 win over Carla Suarez Navarro in the second round. The match involved eight successive games won by Clijsters.

Besides Jelena Jankovic, seeds that fell on Day 4 include: No.18 Maria Kirilenko who lost to Iveta Benesova 6-3 6-1, No.26 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez who was defeated by Alize Cornet 7-5 6-1, and No.24 Alisa Kleybanova who fell to Simona Halep 6-4 7-6(2). (photo: uristilman)

Dear readers,

I would like to let you know that I participated in this year's edition of the Players to Watch series at On the Baseline and that this time I picked Serbian Bojana Jovanovski as a young player you should pay more attention to in 2011. I hope you will enjoy my article entitled "Bojana Jovanovski introduces new Serbian tennis generation to the WTA Tour". I have to give exposure to home stars.

Talking about fellow tennis blog On the Baseline, I would also like to remind you that you can vote for Women's Tennis Blog in the run for the best tennis blog in the 2010 Baseline Awards. Unlike in the previous years when only one vote per person was allowed, now you can vote practically as many times as you want. I have to say I prefer the old method when everyone could vote just once, but we have to adapt to the circumstances, so if you voted just once, and have time to vote again and again, well, why not! (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Serbian teenager Bojana Jovanovski scored her first Top 10 victory at the China Open and it was against none other than countrywoman Jelena Jankovic – former world number one, former champion and third seed this year. However, one more big win was too much for the 93rd-ranked Jovanovski as she won only three games against world No.18 Shahar Peer in the third round. The match lasted 59 minutes and ended with score 6-1 6-2.

In the first set Jovanovski converted one of six break points she had, but in the second set she had no such opportunities. Peer on the other hand broke Jovanovski's service five times during the match.

Despite this third round loss, Jovanovski can be glad that she eventually decided not to skip the China Open after a string of disappointing results. The Serbian No.3 made headlines with the biggest victory of her career here and even earned a feature in the well-known Sony Ericsson WTA Tour's "Getting to know… ". The most interesting thing I got to know from the article was that Jovanovski would like to have a serve of Ana Ivanovic (including the ball toss?) and the movement of Jelena Jankovic. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Rising Serbian star Bojana Jovanovski faced compatriot and former world No.1 Jelena Jankovic in the second round of the China Open and upset her 4-6 6-2 6-2. Jankovic, who won the tournament in 2008 and reached the final in 2007, was seeded third this year.

The world No.93 Jovanovski advanced through qualifying to make her first appearance in Beijing, and in the first round she defeated Kateryna Bondarenko, now outside the Top 100, but last year ranked 29th. Then against the seventh-ranked Jankovic, Jovanovski scored her first Top 10 win.

Two struggling former world No.1s Dinara Safina and Ana Ivanovic seem to be making a trend – it’s the fourth successive tournament that they lose or win in different rounds – if Safina wins, Ivanovic loses, and vice versa. Today in Beijing Ivanovic won her first round match, upsetting No.11 seed Marion Bartoli 6-2 6-3, while Safina lost in the same round, to second seed Vera Zvonareva 6-4 7-6(6).

Sixth seed Agnieszka Radwanska lost to Angelique Kerber 5-7 7-6(3) 7-5 in the opening round and the news is that she will miss the rest of the season as well as possibly the beginning of the next season, maybe even including the Australian Open, because of a serious stress fracture to her foot. The Pole is not sure how she picked up the injury, but she felt it prior to coming to Asia to play Tokyo and Beijing. In Tokyo she retired against eventual champion Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Serbian qualifier Bojana Jovanovski made a big upset in the first round of the Western and Southern Financial Group Women’s Open by defeating seed No.14 Aravane Rezai, the winner of two claycourt tournaments this season (Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open and Collector Swedish Open Women). The young Serbian rising star, currently ranked at No.98, came back from a set down to defeat the Top 20 player Rezai 4-6 6-3 6-4 on the hard courts of Cincinnati. Jovanovski’s opponent in the second round will be Akgul Amanmuradova.

Former world number one Dinara Safina, unseeded in Cincinnati, made it to the second round with a 7-5 6-4 victory over Italian Roberta Vinci. Safina will next play reigning US Open champion Kim Clijsters, who is seeded fourth at the Western and Southern Financial Group Women’s Open and has a bye in the first round. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

There’s always something good in something bad. Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic wasn’t able to play the Fed Cup tie against Slovakia and her replacement, 18-year-old Bojana Jovanovski, who had her first main draw appearance on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour earlier this year in Kuala Lumpur, turned out to have used the opportunity to the full to get some experience and exposure.

The world No.117 Jovanovski lost her first singles match against world No.23 Daniela Hantuchova 6-2 6-2, but as I have already mentioned, the match was much tougher for the Slovakian than the result suggests. On the second day of play, the Serbian rising star beat Slovakian world No.53 Magdalena Rybarikova 6-1 7-6(4), after a lot of long games and saved break points.

We had known Jovanovski has what it takes to beat Rybarikova, but the score in the first set was better than any supporter of the Serbian team could have asked for. In addition, even though inexperienced, Jovanovski won four successive games after trailing 2-0 in the second set. In the end, the winner was decided in a tiebreak and Jovanovski pulled it off despite cramps and tiredness.

The winner of the tie will be decided after the doubles match, as Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova defeated Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic in the first match on Sunday and the teams are now tied at 2-2. Whoever wins the doubles match and this Fed Cup World Group Play-offs, I am glad that Bojana Jovanovski had an opportunity and courage to give her best and gain exposure in the tennis world. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

During this weekend, Serbia and Slovakia are fighting to stay in the Fed Cup World Group, and after the first day of singles matches the countries are tied at 1-1.

World No.7 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia defeated world No.53 Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 7-6(5) 6-3. The following match featured Slovakian former world No.5 Daniela Hantuchova and Serbian rising star Bojana Jovanovski, currently ranked 117th, and favorite Hantuchova won their first encounter 6-2 6-2.

The match between Jelena Jankovic and Magdalena Rybarikova featured ups and downs of both players, but in the end the Serb won the match despite the wrist injury which has been bothering her since the preparations for the Family Circle Cup in Charleston. Jankovic has always been there for her country, and she absolutely deserves the Fed Cup Heart Award which was handed to her today, during the opening ceremony.

As Serbia’s second best-ranked player Ana Ivanovic wasn’t able to join her team this weekend, Bojana Jovanovski, the hope of Serbian tennis, took the stage against the highest-ranked Slovakian. The 18-year-old Jovanovski gave good resistance to Daniela Hantuchova, even though the 6-2 6-2 result doesn’t show it.

One more thing I should mention: the first day of matches played in Belgrade, Serbia, was very poorly attended, and it’s a pity because players gave their best to make it to the tournament and represent their countries. I have to admit, though, that even I didn’t travel to Belgrade this time, because I have one exam to prepare for my job. However, I supported the girls via TV and the matches were really enjoyable, especially the one between Jovanovski and Hantuchova, even though the one between Jankovic and Rybarikova was more thrilling. (photos: sr_cranks)