Serbian duo qualify for SE Championships

Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic are the first two players to secure slots in the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships from November 4-9, 2008 at Doha, Qatar. Jankovic is the current leader of the WTA race with 2,770 points followed closely by Ivanovic with 2,761 points.

By next week, Jankovic will become the new WTA world no. 1 displacing her compatriot for the first time in her career. She has earned six titles including the Tier I event in Rome this year. She also finished runner-up at Miami and reached five semifinals including the Australian Open and French Open. "Qualifying for the Sony Ericsson Championships is always one of the important goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year," Jankovic said. While her achievements have been good, her rise to the top is met with some disfavor. For one, she has never made it to a grand slam final. Also, she had four opportunities to clinch the top ranking but failed to do so.

Ivanovic became world no. 1 after she made it to the finals at Roland Garros and eventually captured her first grand slam title. She has also won the Tier I event at Indian Wells and reached the finals of the Australian Open and two more semifinals. "I'm proud to have already qualified for the Sony Ericsson Championships," Ivanovic said. "This season has been a great year for me as I achieved two of my life's goals by winning my first Grand Slam and reaching No.1.” Since reaching the WTA summit, Ivanovic has performed poorly exiting at the third round of Wimbledon and the Rogers Cup in Montreal.

This is the second time the Serbian duo will appear in the year-end tournament following their debut last year. Jankovic was eliminated in the round-robin stages losing all three of her matches. Ivanovic advanced to the semifinals losing to eventual champion, Justine Henin.