After withdrawing from the Australian Open and its lead-up events, Jelena begins her 2004 campaign in Tokyo. In 2003 at this event, she was seeded 2^nd but unfortunately went out in the quarterfinals to Lisa Raymond. This is luckily only one of a handful of tournaments where Jelena has some points to defend and her draw seems to be a pretty good one this year where she has a great chance of progressing to the semifinals.

1^st Round: Cara Black

In the first round of this event, Dokic has been seeded to play Zimbabwean player Cara Black. She is a very craft player and has beaten the likes of Conchita Martinez and Daniela Hantuchova in the past so this could be a tough battle for Dokic considering Black has already played seven singles matches this season.

Black is also a very experienced doubles player and will not be afraid to come into the net but Dokic’s powerful groundstrokes will inevitably keep her opponent on the defense for a lot of the time. However, as it is the beginning of the season, it should be expected that a lot of unforced errors might occur from Jelena’s racquet but, then again, her training with Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in Barcelona might end up paying dividends in the match.

Head-to-head Record:

Next up: Thai or Qualifier?

Assuming Dokic defeats Black in the opening round, she will then probably have to face Tamarine Tanasugarn in the next round. This should be a really interesting match as both players can hit their shots with a lot of pace, but who ever serves the best will probably make the biggest difference in the match.

Head-to-head Record:

 

Again Jelena holds an advantage in career meetings with her possible opponents in Tokyo, which would undoubtedly be encouraging for her when she takes to the court against them, even if the time these two people played was back in 2002.

6-2 against Dementieva?

If the way the seeds panned out, Dokic would have to play 3^rd seeded Dementieva in the quarterfinals of this event and what an opportunity this would be! Not only would it allow Jelena to play a semifinal in her first event of the year but it would also allow for her first top 10 scalp since defeating Kim Clijsters at the Swisscom Challenge back in October. Even more encouraging for Dokic in this possible match up is that Elena lost in the 1^st round of the Australian Open, as a top10 player and seed, and thus could possibly have suffered a severe loss to her confidence; not to mention the fact that Jelena will be going for a 6-2 win/loss record against this Russian player:

The Charleston match was probably the most significant match in this head-to-head ratio as it took place in a time where Jelena was really not playing that well and where Dementieva was on fire during the clay season having won the Amelia Island, defeating three top-ten players en route.

So if they were to play, Dokic really should win this one as she should be attacking Dementieva’s serve constantly as it is undoubtedly the biggest weakness of her game 

Semis/Final?

Realistically, Davenport would normally walk through her draw to reach the final. This year, however, it is really hard to determine whether or not she has the capabilities of doing so considering she has two really tough opponents in her quarter: Alicia Molik and Maria Sharapova. Both players did really well at the Australian Open and have scalped quite a few top ten players in the past. Hence, Lindsay might have a hard day at the office if she is not fully physically fit or if she is low on confidence after blowing a 4-0 lead in the first set of the Australian Open against Justine Henin-Hardenne before falling out in straight sets in the QF.

Regardless of this, it is anyone’s tournament when the players reach these stages of a tournament and it would be a great effort from Jelena just to put in a quarterfinal or semifinal birth to start the year on a sound note.

Good luck Jelena.