From somewhere high up in the stands a lonely voice interrupted the pre-serve silence that had fallen over Arthur Ashe Stadium. "You're No.1 for a reason," came the cry.

Ana Ivanovic couldn't help but hear. From that moment, serving at 5-4, 15-40 in the final set against a stubborn 22-year-old Russian named Vera Dushevina - who has never won a WTA Tour singles title and is ranked 57th in the world - the 20-year-old Serb won five of the next six points to take the first-round match 6-1 4-6 6-4.

It was the closest opening-rounder involving a top-seeded woman at the US Open since Steffi Graf rallied for a 6-7 (1-7), 6-1, 6-4 win over South African Amanda Coetzer in 1995.

Ivanovic, who won the French Open in June and was runner-up at the Australian Open in January, re-took the No.1 ranking last week from her countryman, Jelena Jankovic, without having played since a thumb injury sidelined her before the Olympics.

Should she and Jankovic, the second seed here, reach the final of the Open, the winner will be crowned No.1. In fact, no fewer than six women - Ivanovic, Jankovic, Serena Williams, and three Russians, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Dinara Safina, and Elena Dementieva - began the Open having the chance to become No.1, though by a quirk of the computer last year's runner-up, Kuznetsova, is no longer in contention.

Ivanovic denied frustration at her inability to push Dushevina aside in less than 2 hours 2 minutes, during which time she hit 33 winners but committed 40 unforced errors. These including a netted forehand on her first match point and a double fault on her second. She won the match on her third chance, when Dushevina plunked a backhand into the net.

"I'm very, very happy because just to be here and to be able to compete, for me, it's already a great achievement," said Ivanovic, who flew from Beijing to Australia to New York over the last three weeks in search of a cure and treatment for cysts in her hand that were causing inflammation in her thumb.

"I'm probably one of the few players who hasn't played so much lately, so I can try to use that in my benefit," she added.

While Ivanovic struggled, and Jankovic struggled through three second-round sets against Sofia Arvidsson, tough Serena Williams needed just 56 minutes to dispose of Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko 6-1 6-4, while Bondarenko's older sister, Alona, beat American Jamea Jackson 2-6 6-3 6-3.

Meanwhile, the elder Williams sister, Venus, won the first three games against Australian Samantha Stosur in just eight minutes but then fell behind 3-1 in the second before reeling off five straight games for a less-than-routine 6-2 6-3, 77-minute win.

And, just to make things even more confusing, Marat Safin's kid sister Dinara also won, defeating the youngest and lowest-ranked player in the draw - 17-year-old, 758th-ranked qualifier Kristie Ahn 6-3 6-4.

The ladies' game is out of control. You just don't know who's going to be a key factor for seven straight matches. When it's that confusing, I like to pick the ones who have already taken US Open titles: Venus or Serena Williams! To be continued...