Short of a major victory since winning the French Open in May, world No 4 Ana Ivanovic aims to overturn her run of bad luck at the China Open, starting yesterday in Beijing.

The leggy Serbian retired from the Beijing Olympics with a right thumb injury in August but she believes her second trip to China's capital city will be different.

"My second visit to Beijing is quite different," she said yesterday. "I'm happy to see that tennis is popular here.

"There are so many fans. They even come to the practice court to watch players training. I hope this time I can stay longer."

Ivanovic's days in the sun were numbered after winning the French Slam, as she withdrew from Eastbourne with a right adductor injury before losing to Zheng Jie in the third round at Wimbledon.

Her situation didn't improve in North America, as she lost in the second round at the US Open and in the third round at Montreal.

"I peaked this year at the French Open," Ivanovic said. "At Wimbledon I felt low in energy and emotional levels, especially since the injury I suffered last month. Before the US Open I only got five days to practice. It was too short for such an important tournament. Recently I have felt less pain and with practice. I am getting back on track. I think I need to be patient and try to adjust to the changes. I'm really happy to be back."

Ivanovic opens against either Alize Cornet or a qualifier tomorrow, while her archrival Jelena Jankovic will open against French veteran Virginie Razzano.

Other seeds include Svetlana Kuznetsova, who reached her fourth final of the year in Tokyo last week, Vera Zvonareva, who won her second title of the year in Guangzhou on Sunday, Agnieszka Radwanska, Daniela Hantuchova and Anna Chakvetadze,

The bad news for tennis fans yesterday was the forced absence of Russian world No 3 Dinara Safina because of a lower back injury.

The in-form 22-year-old beat compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo on Sunday to win her fourth WTA Tour title this year, and was third seed for the $600,000 tournament in Beijing.

Safina hurt her back during the Japan event and her match against Kuznetsova had "worsened her injury a lot," organizers said in a statement.

(China Daily September 23, 2008)