INQUIRER Sports

MELBOURNE -- Ana Ivanovic left Melbourne Sunday as the new world number two, vowing to win a Grand Slam and cement her place among the tennis elite.

The 20-year-old leapfrogged Svetlana Kuznetsova in the rankings after making the Australian Open final, where Russia's Maria Sharapova beat her in two tough sets.

Only Justine Henin stands between Ivanovic and the world number one spot and the Serbian is still getting used to being in the Belgian's slipstream.

"I know I am close to winning a Grand Slam, and I belong to the top group of players," she said on her blog on the WTA website.

"Only nine months ago I was ranked 16, and now I'm number two. I am proud of this achievement, but I'm still getting used to it."

Ivanovic won an army of fans in Australia with her bubbly personality and scintillating tennis and she confessed she shed tears Saturday evening after her loss to Sharapova.

"It's disappointing that I wasn't able to play my best tennis. I served well but I had a shocker with my forehand," she said.

"It's been an emotional two weeks. After the match I shed a few tears. I'm quite a sensitive, emotional person and the past two weeks just hit me."

"It would have been the perfect ending if I could have won, especially on my uncle's birthday, but it wasn't to be."

"This experience will give me extra motivation to train even harder to make sure that next time I can go one step further. It also gives me more confidence."

Ivanovic battled gamely against the Russian but ultimately was undone by her powerful serve, a flurry of unforced errors, 33 to Sharapova's 15, also contributing to her downfall.

But her breakthrough over the past 12 months bodes well for women's tennis, with the Williams sisters seemingly on the wane and Henin failing to get beyond the quarter-finals here.

Ivanovic is next in action in the Fed Cup for Serbia against Hungary later this week.