Former No.1 Ana Ivanovic hadn’t made it past the quarterfinals of a major tournament since her maiden Grand Slam victory at the 2008 French Open, but her chances for ending that drought looked better than ever as she began the year at her highest ranking in six years.

The Serb played up to her No.5 ranking from the first week of the year, reaching the finals of the Brisbane International and pushing top seed Maria Sharapova to three grueling sets in the championship match.

A broken toe interrupted her Australian summer hardcourt swing, however, and it wasn’t until the clay court season that she began playing some of her best tennis again.

At the site of her sole Grand Slam success, Ivanovic fought through a draw of dangerous floaters, including two-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist Yaroslava Shvedova, Misaki Doi, and WTA Rising Star Donna Vekic, before taking out Ekaterina Makarova, 7-5, 3-6, 6-1, in their first match since the 2011 Australian Open, which the former No.1 lost in a heartbreaking 10-8 final set.

“In the third I knew I had to step up my level, because she’s a very dangerous opponent. She gets a lot of balls, and she was very aggressive on her down-the-line shots. I tried to take that away from her.”

That confidence-building win helped her cruise past another WTA Rising Star in Elina Svitolina, dropping just five games to the Ukrainian youngster playing in her first major quarterfinal.

“It’s been a long road and hard work. And you can’t take any victory for granted, let alone a quarterfinal. It’s not every day that you reach that – it’s been a long time. So I am really pleased.”

A solid summer swing featured some difficult draws, none tougher than 2014 Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova in the first round of the US Open. But the Serb rebounded well in Asia, reaching the quarterfinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open and the semifinals of the China Open – finding herself very close to a second straight appearance at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

Ending the season with some niggling back issues, Ivanovic resolved to spend the off-season with former coach Nigel Sears – with whom she reunited earlier this year – getting stronger and more ready for an all-out assault on 2016.

“I just felt that I’ve been playing better than my results have been showing. That’s been a little bit frustrating. But I did have tough opponents.

“I played some good tennis [in Paris] and obviously was very happy to be in the first Grand Slam semifinal since 2008. It’s just in between there have been so many changes. It’s been a little bit tough, especially first part of the year. After the French I sort of felt Wimbledon was a little bit disappointing, but I felt like I got a good structure and good team after that.”

Caroline Wozniacki and Serena Williams reunite in Denmark: The two friends will be playing an exhibition event in Copenhagen on Thursday. Here’s a clip of Caroline getting a high-five from Serena after reeling off the World No.1’s incredible resume.

Gotta stick up for your friends! https://t.co/5uOImFAP4g

— Caroline Wozniacki (@CaroWozniacki) November 25, 2015

Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic team up: The two Frenchwomen announced they will play doubles together in 2016. Now can we come up with a good team name?

Happy to annonce my new partnership with @KikiMladenovic for 2016 !!! 
Exciting Goals ahead of us ! ???? ?? pic.twitter.com/WxIsOZeJoM

— Caroline Garcia (@CaroGarcia) November 25, 2015

The 2016 WTA Season is less than 40 days away: Not that we’re counting. Here’s where the Top 10 women will be during Week 1:

Here’s where @WTA Top 10 will start their 2016 seasons, which begins in less than 40 days. pic.twitter.com/CcIYJli3Ta

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) November 25, 2015

More Entry List News: To see where the big names are playing, read this.

Sports Illustrated Podcast: The folks over at SI.com convened a roundtable to discuss the merits of Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic’s tremendous seasons.

Get Vania King a cap and gown: Congratulations are in order for Vania King, who finished her degree at the University of Massachussetts, Lowell.

After 4 yrs I completed my degree @UMassLowell! Thnx to my sister Mindy @minx_clothing for the impromptu grad party? pic.twitter.com/Fi6OJBO8MY

— Vania King (@queen_v21) November 25, 2015

Elena Vesnina’s wonderful week continues: You’re doing it right, Elena.

Okaaaay, you really want to make everybody jealous!!! ??? That's a ridiculous prefect photo! ? @EVesnina001 https://t.co/OuU3WHgkBL

— Sabine Lisicki (@sabinelisicki) November 25, 2015

The first three tournaments of the upcoming 2016 WTA season – Brisbane, Shenzhen and Auckland – have announced the top players that will be playing their events, and oh what a Week 1 it’ll be.

The Brisbane International, a Premier-level event, will host four of the world’s Top 10 players – Simona Halep (No.2), Garbiñe Muguruza (No.3), Maria Sharapova (No.4) and Angelique Kerber (No.10) – as well as a slew of other Top 20 players in Timea Bacsinszky, Carla Suárez Navarro, Belinda Bencic, Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani. Jelena Jankovic and Victoria Azarenka are also among the line-up.

“With just under 40 days to go until play starts at Queensland Tennis Centre tickets are in hot demand,” Cameron Pearson, the Tournament Director for the Brisbane International, said of the news.

“I encourage all fans to book their seats early and join in the excitement of the event.”

The Shenzhen Open, an International-level event that boasts an elevated $500,000 in prize money, announced the first three players of its field on Wednesday and two Top 10 stars are among them – Agnieszka Radwanska (No.5) and Petra Kvitova (No.6). Radwanska and Kvitova were the last two standing at the WTA Finals, with Radwanska edging Kvitova for the biggest title of her career.

Eugenie Bouchard, a former Top 5 player, was the third player announced by the tournament.

“I am very happy to be coming back to Shenzhen,” Kvitova said. “Last year I had a very nice time, everyone was very kind and it was also very nice to see my good friend Li Na when I was there. I look forward to playing there again, to seeing Li Na again and I hope I can win the tournament this time.”

The ASB Classic, another International-level event, will have arguably the hottest player of the fall season – Venus Williams – as its top seed. Williams won her two biggest titles in more than five years during the Asian swing in 2015, at Wuhan and Zhuhai, and burst back into the Top 10 on the year-end rankings on November 9 – it was the former World No.1’s first time in the Top 10 since 2011.

It doesn’t end there, either – two more former No.1s, Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki, and two-time Grand Slam champion and former No.2 Svetlana Kuznetsova will also be headed to Auckland.

“It’s amazing. Three former World No.1s, three Grand Slam champions and two former winners in one year is an incredible result. Our strongest yet,” Tournament Director Karl Budge said of the field.

For more information on Wednesday’s field announcements, visit the three tournaments’ official websites – Brisbane, Shenzhen and Auckland. And stay tuned on wtatennis.com for all the latest too!

HERNING, Denmark – Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki met the Danish press on Wednesday ahead of their exhibition clash – the Energi Denmark Champions Battle 2015 – which is set for Thursday.

“I’ve been looking forward to this day for a long time,” Wozniacki said. “It’s been three years since I played my last match in Denmark, and playing my good friend Serena here is a dream come true.”

“I’ve been looking forward to visiting Herning again,” Williams commented. “I had such a great time playing here last year, so when I had the chance to come here with Caroline I said yes right away.”

Williams played the Energi Denmark Champions Battle last year too, against another former No.1.

The two have been BFFs on the tour for years – and the relationship could keep going for years.

“We’ve been joking that I’ll follow Caroline around the tour when I finish playing myself,” Williams said at Wednesday’s press conference, smiling. “Being in the box, maybe even coaching Caroline!”

On Thursday they’ll play for a Shamballa bracelet worth 100,000 Danish krones (just over $14,000).

There will be a men’s doubles match to begin the night – Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau, the No.1-ranked team in the world, will face former Wimbledon champions Frederik Nielsen and Jonathan Marray.

The event will take place at the Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning – click here for tickets.

And here are a bunch of pics from Williams and Wozniacki’s media day, courtesy of Claus Frederiksen:

Jana Cepelova’s talent has never been in question. The same, too, can be said for her ability to summon this talent on the big occasion, as she showed with victory over the mighty Serena Williams last year in Charleston.

However, the start of 2015 was not kind to the Slovak, who went into her first round engagement with Simona Halep at Wimbledon with just a single WTA main draw win. If she was short on confidence, it did not show, as she took the match to the No.3 seed from the off.

Going on court with the devil may care attitude only afforded to the heaviest of underdogs, Cepelova swung from the hip. While this approach was not enough to take a closely contested opening set, the World No.106 came roaring back to ultimately triumph, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

Asked afterwards how the match compared to her upset of Williams, there was no contest. “It is of course better because it’s Wimbledon, a Grand Slam,” she said. “Simona’s a very good player but today was my day.

“Beating Serena definitely gave me the confidence that I could beat Top 10 players. I’ve had some tough moments this year, but everything is fine now. I’m just really proud.”

At times, Halep was the architect of her own downfall, coughing up 34 unforced errors as she struggled to get to grips with Cepelova’s regular forays to the net.

The Romanian, though, still had her chances, breaking in the first game of the decider only to lose the next four. Cepelova had a wobble of her own when the finishing line loomed, coming from 0-40 down in the final game to clinch victory when Halep splayed yet another forehand wide.

“She kept fighting until the end and played very aggressively when she could,” Halep said. “She also came back into the game very well and made sure that she pushed me a lot, and was just generally so aggressive. But to a degree I let her come back into it and play in this way.”