Safina and Serena ready for Doha shoot-out

By Martyn Herman

LONDON (Reuters) - The equation could not be simpler -- whoever performs best out of Russian Dinara Safina and American Serena Williams at next week's WTA Championships in Doha will end the year as world number one.

Sunday's draw appeared to hand the advantage to 23-year-old Safina as she was placed in the easier of the two four-women groups that will be contested at the Khalifa Tennis Center on the shores of the Persian Gulf.

She will face late qualifier Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, the 2008 year-end number one, and tournament debutants Caroline Wozniacki, the U.S. Open runner-up from Denmark, and Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, in the White Group.

Serena, who claimed the number one spot from Safina at the China Open earlier this month, will once again find herself a handful of points behind the Russian when the latest world rankings are published by the WTA on Monday.

The American is also in the much tougher Maroon Group in Doha where she must play sister Venus, the defending champion, and formidable Russians Svetlana Kuznetsova, the French Open winner, and Olympic gold medallist Elena Dementieva.

To have the battle for No.1 going to the wire is a dream scenario for women's tour chiefs and the Qatari tennis authorities who paid $42 million to stage the season-ending event for three years until it moves to Istanbul in 2011.

CROWN JEWEL

"We always wish for the number one ranking to be on the line at the tour finals and that's what we've got this year," Andrew Walker, the WTA's senior vice-president of marketing and communications told Reuters by telephone.

"This tournament is the crown jewel for the Tour and we have an incredible lineup this year, there's certainly no weak links in there. We've got the marquee names and the next generation of stars. There are some great rivalries in the making."

The WTA Tour finals have often struggled to capture the imagination of the public. Last year in Doha the early round robin matches were played in a muted atmosphere, although the fact that Serbia's Jankovic had already clinched the number one spot hardly boosted late ticket sales.

This time, however, everything will be on the line when the $4.5 million tournament gets under way on Tuesday.

Eleven times grand slam champion Serena arrives a whisker behind despite winning the Australian Open and Wimbledon, though it is her reputation as much as what she feels is her rightful place at the top of the rankings she is desperate to restore.

The American, who recently posed naked for a magazine cover, faces a ban or large fine when the International Tennis Federation (ITF) disciplinary committee meets next month to discuss her foul-mouthed outburst at the U.S. Open.

While her appearances in Doha are sure to create an extra buzz, she will be happy to let her tennis do the talking.

TOO GOOD