2008 Australian Open – Women's Singles lost to Ivanovic in the fourth round. 2008 Australian Open – Women's Singles Serena Williams was the defending champion, but was defeated in the quarterfinals by Jelena Janković. Maria Sharapova, the runner-up to Williams in 2007, won in the final 7–5, 6–3, against Ana Ivanovic to win her third Grand Slam title and her first at the Australian Open. She was also the first Russian woman to win this tournament. Ivanovic lost in a Grand Slam final for the second time, though she would eventually win the French Open a few months later. This was the first Australian Open appearance
French Open of the seven rounds needed for a championship, the slow-playing surface and the best-of-five-set men's singles matches (without a tiebreak in the final set), the event is widely considered to be the most physically demanding tennis tournament in the world. Officially named in French "Championnats Internationaux de France de tennis" and "Tournoi de Roland-Garros" (the "French International Championships of Tennis" or "Roland Garros Tournament" in English), the tournament is referred to in English as the "French Open" and alternatively as "Roland Garros", which is the designation used by the tournament itself in all languages. French spelling rules dictate that in