Between them they won 2 of the four Grand Slam events in Australian open 2008, the others were won by Maria Sharapova in Australian open and Ana Ivanovic in France. All eight players are familiar with the styles and techniques of their opponents, most have played against the other players many many times, and a first round loss makes it very difficult to get back into contention. Day one saw Venus beating Safina 7-5, 6-3, which means that for Dinard Safina to reach the next stage she must win both her matches against fellow Russian Elena Dementieva and Serena Williams.

A tough task, but not impossible. In a first day match between Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic, it was Jelena who turned the tables on her fellow Serbian after losing 5 out of 6 of their previous meetings, by beating Ana 6-3, 6-4. Miss Ivanavic complained of the humidity, the wind and the slowness of the court, said she felt dizzy and was dehydrated. She does seem to whine a lot when she loses, but then I suppose it was only humid on her end of the court! In the other day one match, Zvonoreva beat Kuzvetsova 6-2, 6-3. In the matches scheduled for today Safina takes on Serena, a replay of the US Open final, and a loss by Safina would mean her elimination, Venus plays Dementieva, a win for Venus would ensure that she would move on to the semi final. In the other match Ivanovic will play Zvonoreva, a must win situation for Ana. Whether she wins or loses Jelena will remain as the number 1 ranked player at year’s end, but if she loses to either of the Williams sisters it will undermine her confidence as she goes into 2009 and the Australian Open in January.