Australian comeback kid Jelena Dokic, once ranked No 4 in the world but whose game had since gone downhill, entered this year's Australian Open as a wild card.
She won her first, second, third and fourth round matches, and has now qualified for the quarter-final.
In the fourth round, played at Melbourne Park on the night of January 25, local time, Dokic defeated giant-killer Alisa Kleybanova (Russia) who had vanquished top seed Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) in the third round.
In a closely-fought three-setter, Dokic overcame Kleybanova, 7-5, 5-7, 8-6.
In the quarter-final, the unseeded Dokic is matched with No 3 seed Dinara Safin (Russia), last year's runner-up at Roland Garros and semi-finalist in the US Open.
Yugoslav-born Jelena Dokic started her tennis career playing for Australia as a teenager, reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 2000 and climbing to No 4 rank among the worlds' women tennis players.
A dispute between her father and Tennis Australia saw the Dokic family return to Serbia in 2001. Family problems continued to plague Dokic's career and she started slipping in rank, down to the 600s just two years ago.
After walking out on her family and returning to Australia, she decided to make a comeback into professional tennis last year and set herself on the hard road to recovery and rehabilitation.
She won her first, second, third and fourth round matches, and has now qualified for the quarter-final.
In the fourth round, played at Melbourne Park on the night of January 25, local time, Dokic defeated giant-killer Alisa Kleybanova (Russia) who had vanquished top seed Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) in the third round.
In a closely-fought three-setter, Dokic overcame Kleybanova, 7-5, 5-7, 8-6.
In the quarter-final, the unseeded Dokic is matched with No 3 seed Dinara Safin (Russia), last year's runner-up at Roland Garros and semi-finalist in the US Open.
Yugoslav-born Jelena Dokic started her tennis career playing for Australia as a teenager, reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 2000 and climbing to No 4 rank among the worlds' women tennis players.
A dispute between her father and Tennis Australia saw the Dokic family return to Serbia in 2001. Family problems continued to plague Dokic's career and she started slipping in rank, down to the 600s just two years ago.
After walking out on her family and returning to Australia, she decided to make a comeback into professional tennis last year and set herself on the hard road to recovery and rehabilitation.
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