The draw for the 1st Grand Slam of the year at the Australian Open has been released and Maria is seeded 5 and will face Jelena Kostanic Tosic of Croatia in the 1st round. Maria has played Kostanic Tosic twice before and leads the series 2-0, they actually met here 2 years ago in the 3rd round and Maria won 6-0 6-1. Maria will play this match on either Monday or Tuesday.
Maria could face Lindsay Davenport of the United States in the 2nd round who is on a comeback after having a baby, Maria leads the series 4-1. The 1st seed Maria can meet is #32 seed Julia Vakulenko of the Ukraine in the 3rd round. Maria is seeded to meet #11 seed Elena Dementieva of Russia in the 4th round and top seed Justine Henin of Belgium in the quarters. Jelena Jankovic, defending champion Serena Williams and Amelie Mauresmo round off the draw in the top half.
In the bottom half, Svetlana Kuznetsova is the 2nd seed and Ana Ivanovic is the #4 seed. Other notable names are Anna Chakvetadze of Russia and Venus Williams of the United States.