DEFENDING champion Jelena Dokic has been handed a tough challenge after she was drawn in the top half of the BMW Malaysian Open along with Poland's World No 6 Agnieszka Radswanska.
When asked about the draw, Jelena joked: "Defending the title is harder than winning it.
"I don't usually look at the draw. Players only look at their first match and it's the same for me. I want to focus on my first round match before looking ahead," said the seventh seed at the Bukit Kiara Equestrian & Country Club yesterday.
Jelena play France's Kristina Mladenovic in the opening round tomorrow.
She defeated Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova in last year's final before reaching the final of the Hertogenbosch Open but her performance has slumped since then.
"It's not fair to say I did not perform up to expectations. I battled a shoulder injury for six months but I am glad it is back to normal.
"Of course I want to do well in Kuala Lumpur again but as I said, it's best not to think too far ahead," Jelena added.
Others in the top half of the draw are Australian top seed Jarmila Gajdosova and crowd favourite Sania Mirza of India.
Jelena is expected to face Jarmila in the quarter-finals and assuming she wins, the Australian will likely meet Agnieszka in the last four.
The World No 74, however, should have an upperhand over Europe-based players in terms of the weather as she came to Kuala Lumpur from Australia, where it is summer.
World No 14 Jelena Jankovic will lead the charge in the bottom half of the draw, where the Serbian, who will turn 28 on Tuesday, faces France's Carolina Garcia in the first round.
The second seed is drawn to play Japan's sixth seed Ayumi Morita in the quarter-finals and China's third seed Peng Shuai in the semi-finals.
Barring upsets, the final could serve a rematch of the Dubai Championship semi-finals between Agnieszka and Jelena, which the Polish won 6-2, 2-6, 6-0 on Friday.
