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This Friday home favourite Samantha Stosur will face her toughest task this Australian summer when she takes on former world number one Ana Ivanovic in what is a tantalising third-round showdown.
Her emphatic second-round victory against Tsvetana Pironkova, who came out of qualifying to win the Sydney International last week, combined with Ivanovic’s dominant win against Annika Beck has set up the battle of two former Grand Slam champions, one taht could decide who plays current world number one Serena Williams in the fourth round.
Stosur could have not played any better than the way she did on Wednesday night, though her opponent Pironkova appeared to be injured, sporting strapping on her left thigh in the second set which Stosur won to love.
It carries on from her recent run to the semi-finals in Hobart, a departure from recent seasons in which she chose to participate in Brisbane and Sydney back-to-back, but failed to fire in either.
That followed a winless campaign at the Hopman Cup, where she was to be guaranteed three singles matches (and another three in doubles) as opposed to one in Brisbane.
While Stosur went winless at the Hopman Cup in Perth, her opponent Ivanovic steamrolled her way to a win in Auckland as she attempts to climb back up the rankings.
The Serb is on a seven-match winning streak, her longest since late 2010. She, along with Li Na and Serena Williams, are yet to be beaten this year.
It is also her best start to a season since 2005, when she won a small title in Canberra as a qualifier before going on to reach the third round in her Grand Slam debut at the Australian Open, eventually losing to Amelie Mauresmo.
Ivanovic is playing her best tennis since 2008, the year in which she rode her luck all the way to the French Open title and the world number one ranking.
It was also that same year in which she enjoyed her best result at Melbourne Park, when she finished runner-up to Maria Sharapova, as well as capturing the prestigious Indian Wells title in California.
However a tough mixture of injuries, poor form and self-doubt meant that she hasn’t been able to emulate those same results at major tournaments since.
Ivanovic’s victory in Auckland against Venus Williams will make Samantha Stosur nervous, but if there is any hope of the Aussie reaching the fourth round in her home Slam for the first time since 2010, it’s that she has won four of her seven meetings against Ivanovic, including a second round match here in 2006.
Ivanovic won their most recent meeting in Sofia last year, as well as their most recent Grand Slam meeting at Wimbledon in 2009.
And it’s the Serb who enters with the equal-longest winning streak compiled this season with seven (joint with Li Na). Serena Williams is next with six, or 24 (currently the longest) if you include her 18-match winning streak to finish 2013.
Stosur, by contrast, enters this match having won five of her last six matches, including her two easy victories here and the aforementioned run to the semi-finals in Hobart, where she lost to Klara Zakopalova, the same opponent she defeated in the first round in Melbourne.
The reward for the victor of this match will be a fourth round showdown against none other than Serena Williams.
Two-and-a-half years after her world ranking dropped to a 14-year low of 175 following a long-term foot injury which forced her out of the game for almost twelve months, the American superstar has been in rampaging form, having lost only four matches in each of the last two years.
Further to the point, she has not had a straight-sets loss since Angelique Kerber sent her packing from the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati tournament in 2012. In 2013, she won a staggering 24 sets to love and won a set in each match she played.
Williams, though, must first get past Daniela Hantuchova as she faces the first real hurdle in her bid to reign Down Under for the first time since 2010. Hantuchova did beat Williams in their previous meeting at the Australian Open eight years ago, but she will enter this match as a huge underdog.
The Slovak, who will turn 31 later this year, enters that match on the back of a marathon win against Karolina Pliskova, in which the final set lasted 22 games. That came after she also needed three sets to down British qualifier Heather Watson in round one.
Serena Williams should go on to win the title at the Australian Open if she plays at her peak, but even the best can have an off day, like she did when she lost to Sabine Lisicki in the fourth round at Wimbledon last year and when she was a shock loser to Ekaterina Makarova in the fourth round here two years ago.
That said, it was against Samantha Stosur at the 2011 US Open in which a run to the final from her unusually low seeding of 28 took its toll and she imploded in the championship match.
Williams entered that final having defeated past, present and future world number ones, including a victory against then-top ranked Caroline Wozniacki.
But it was the Australian who kept her cool as Williams, for the second consecutive time at the US Open (she missed the 2010 tournament due to injury), unleashed at the officials.
That came after she was controversially defaulted from her US Open title defence in 2009 for allegedly threatening a linesman with these words: “I didn’t say I would kill you, are you serious?”
Her opponent in that semi-final, Kim Clijsters, went on to win the title; her semi-final victory over Williams was her first over the American since 2002.
But all those bad times are now behind Williams, who has romped through the draw, dropping only six games so far. Not only is the American bidding for her first title Down Under in four years, she is also trying to close in on some all-time greats in Margaret Court, Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova, who have collected over 60 Grand Slam titles between them.
And whoever wins out of Stosur and Ivanovic on Friday will be guaranteed tennis’ version of ‘Mission Impossible’ – trying to plot Williams’ downfall. That’s assuming she beats Daniela Hantuchova, also on Friday.
Only three players defeated Williams in 2013 – Victoria Azarenka (twice), Sabine Lisicki and Sloane Stephens. Of those three, Lisicki was the only one not to lose to Williams during the year.
Both Stosur and Ivanovic’s records against the great American are anything but dismal – while Stosur has beaten Williams three times, Ivanovic has yet to even take a set off her.
And looking at the way things are now, it’s hard to see those records changing anytime soon.
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