Yet, Jankovic has been consistent in the past 12 months in winning her sixth career title in Rome in May, and reaching finals at Toronto (2007), Beijing (2007) and Miami (2008) and six semifinals, including at this year’s Australian and French Opens.

The 23-year-old from Belgrade was the 18th woman to ascend to the top since the rankings began in 1975, and the second Serb after Ivanovic, who had been No. 1 for nine weeks since winning her first major title at Roland Garros. Ivanovic dropped to No. 2.

Jankovic was scheduled to play in the Beijing Olympics.

Coin screamed when Ivanovic’s last shot sailed out, then hopped for joy and hit a ball high into the crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Coin won the second-round match 6-3 4-6 6-3.

Since the beginning of the Open era in 1968, no women’s No. 1 has lost this early in the tournament.

There was also a painful exit for Jessica Moore, with Australia’s last hope of women’s singles success extinguished in a 6-1 6-3 defeat to German Anna-Lena Groenefeld.

But the shock of the day was Ivanovic’s departure. And 25-year-old Frenchwoman Coin - who almost got knocked out of Open qualifying and recently thought about giving up the sport - was as stunned as anyone.

“Obviously, if you would ask me at the moment if I’m playing like a No. 1, probably not,” said Ivanovic, who has just returned from a thumb injury.

“It’s very frustrating because I know I can play so much better.

“I have to put some hard yards on the court and go back out there and work hard.”

It was unclear wheter Ivanovic would be fit for the second day of the playoffs on Sunday.

Serbia came into the weekend as the heavy favorite to advance to the Fed Cup world group, in a tie between two former Yugoslav nations that fought a bitter ethnic war in the early 1990s.

Serbia’s No. 2 Jelena Jankovic played Nika Ozegovic in the second singles on Saturday.

But now the Serbian can no longer afford to have a silly schoolgirl’s thoughts as the world’s No. 2-ranked player and with one of her close childhood friends, third-ranked Novak Djokovic, becoming Federer’s most in-your-face rival.

Playing with Ivanovic is likely unthinkable for Federer, who in Monte Carlo, screamed at Djokovic’s parents to be quiet while he was beating down their outspoken son — the same man who toppled him at the Australian Open and whose mother, Dijina, told FOXSports.com shortly afterward that Federer, the king, was dead.

Ivanovic is not the queen of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour yet, so no one has their sights directly set on her throne. But the attractive brunette is a striking princess in waiting and one who doesn’t want to wait much longer to reach the top.

After taking six weeks off, the defending champion will make her first tour appearance in Berlin this week and Ivanovic can no longer afford to go about her business quietly. She has a ton of points to defend between Germany and the L.A. tournament in late July, including the Berlin crown, the French Open final, the Wimbledon semifinals and the L.A. title.

The tournament has been plagued by a series of high-profile withdrawals in recent years. In 2006, the last time the event was held in Montreal, Justine Henin, Maria Sharapova, Amelie Mauresmo and Venus Williams were among 11 players to pull out.

Last year in Toronto, it was almost as bad. Venus, Mauresmo, Vaidisova, Sharapova, Sania Mirza and Hingis were the more notable no-shows.

“They were still very strong fields, with lots of top players,” said Ivanovic, who has competed as promised in the last three editions. “It’s very hard to predict these things, because the season is quite tough. And it comes so close to the big block with the French Open and Wimbledon.”

This year the women’s tournament will be held July 26 to Aug. 3 - two weeks early because of the Olympics.

To get a glimpse of Anna’s knickers and sexy legs would be the only reason for my mates watching the sport, but isn’t that a good thing? Isn’t it good that some tennis players attract new fans to the game?

Back in the ’70s the likes of Chris Evert caused a stir by being a firm favourite with the men. She was every man’s fantasy. Martina Navratilova was different and was liked because of her story of rags to riches and her ability on the court throughout her career.

I feel it is good to have a mixture of players, some pretty and some not so. Different people are fans of the sport for different reasons and glamour should be promoted on the WTA tour.

The lack of support for some women’s sports such as football and cricket enhances the need for glamour. Men are put off watching these women play football and cricket due to the lack of lipstick and shapely legs.

Many women in these sports are thought of as ‘butch’ and ‘masculine’ and tennis enables women sports stars to counteract this theory. The likes of Maria Sharapova, Sabine Appelmans and Ana Ivanovic are attractive, but there are just as many unglamorous players who still make a living from the sport because of their ability to play good tennis.

Is it really wrong to punish glamorous girls just because they happen to be attractive to the opposite sex? Glamour sells the sport. If the girls covered up and dressed down then women’s tennis would be far less entertaining and far less attrative to watch.

Venus Williams meanwhile moves back ahead of younger sister Serena standing four places ahead at sixth.

Even the harshest male critics of the women’s game could be tempted to tune in - making this event a sponsor’s dream.

Ivanovic produced a stirring comeback from a set down to overcome Daniela Hantuchova 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 while Sharapova beat injured Serbian third seed Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-1 in their respective semi-finals.

“I had to calm down for today’s victory,” Ivanovic, said. “[Hantuchova’s] a tough player. I had to go for my shots early in the rally and it was frustrating because I couldn’t make any.”

The Serbian expects an equally tough test in the final, adding: “Maria’s had a great tournament and beaten Justine [Henin] so it’s going to be very tough.”

Sharapova, a losing finalist last year, has been totally dominant throughout the tournament and had no problems dispatching Jankovic.

“I’m really happy I got through and I’m back in the final,” said the Russian 20-year-old. “I had the experience going into last year’s final and it didn’t turn out too good.

“I’m just glad that I’ve been able to play such good tennis and I hope I can continue that for another match.”

The 19-year-old French Open finalist will return to the Australian Open warm-up event where this year she reached the quarter-finals to begin a breakthrough 2007.

“We are thrilled that Ana has decided to play here,” tournament director Craig Watson said.

“She is a tremendous young player and we got a glimpse of that at the last Medibank International.

“It tremendous for women’s tennis to see the way she has really burst onto the scene this year.

“She is young and fresh and a great ambassador for the sport. Tennis fans are going to be enchanted by her.”

Armed with a lethal forehand, Ivanovic beat world No.3 Svetlana Kuznetsova and world No.2 Maria Sharapova en route to the final of the French Open against Justine Henin in June.

“My career, especially the last couple of months, has been amazing,” Ivanovic said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I got a lot of confidence beating a lot of top players, this is the best time of my career so far.”

Ivanovic is the first Serbian woman to reach a Grand Slam final at Roland Garros since Monica Seles - who became a U.S. citizen at the peak of her career in the 1990s. At Wimbledon, Ivanovic lost to eventual champion Venus Williams in the semifinals.

She matched her previous top U.S. Open performance by reaching the quarter-finals, where she again lost to Venus Williams.

“My goal is to be No. 1 and to win Grand Slams,” Ivanovic said. “There are many other players who want the same thing, but I’m on a good way to achieve it.”

Ivanovic, ranked No. 6, won in Berlin and Los Angeles this year. She has four career titles and earnings of US$2.7-million.

Ivanovic got her first taste of indoor tennis as a youngster at a New Belgrade neighbourhood. A sports club official drained an Olympic-size swimming pool in the winter and put down a green carpet and net.

Ivanovic said practising there, with the pool walls just 18 inches from the sidelines, helped her produce consistent down-the-line shots.

“It sure helped because the walls were so very close to the court that we couldn’t play crosscourts,” Ivanovic said. “We agreed not to serve and play toward the walls because that would be a finished point. We agreed to serve to the open court so we could at least play a rally.”

Growing up in war-ravaged Serbia, she travelled six hours by bus to neighbouring Hungary because it was impossible to get a visa out of Serbia for tournaments abroad.

Djokovic, a childhood friend of Ivanovic’s, also practised at the same club. He reached the U.S. Open final this month and lost to top-ranked Roger Federer. The 20-year-old Djokovic is ranked No. 3 after winning four titles this year.

The 22-year-old Jankovic, who reached the U.S. Open semifinals and is ranked No. 3, has won four of her five career titles this season.

So what makes the Serbs so strong?

“It is very difficult to find a reason for that,” Ivanovic said. “It’s just circumstances that all three of us came out at the same time. Maybe one of the reasons was that when one started doing good, it motivated the others to be even better. We kind of pulled each other on the way up.”

Ivanovic said she is coping with the fame that comes with moving into the top 10.

“Women’s tennis is turning to fashion and is involving celebrities,” Ivanovic said. “When people talk about my charm or looks it is very flattering. Of course, every woman likes compliments, but I don’t take them too seriously.”