After months of debate about who is more deserving of the No. 1 ranking, Serena Williams and Dinara Safina can settle the issue on the court at the WTA's season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships. Safina recaptured the top ranking from Serena Monday, but the margin is so slim that the player who performs better at this week's tournament in Doha will end the year as No. 1 – adding an extra element of prestige to the lucrative event. Safina has held the top spot for 26 weeks this year but the Russian has faced persistent questions about whether she's worthy of the title without having won a Grand Slam tournament. Serena won her 11th major title at this year's Wimbledon, after also taking the Australian Open. “It would be awesome,” Serena said Monday about the prospect of ending 2009 atop the rankings. “It would be really cool. But I would have to win.” Actually, she only has to win one more match than Safina. If both players have equal results, Safina keeps the top ranking. The eight-player tournament starts Tuesday with a round-robin group stage, with the top two players from each group advancing to the semifinals. Serena and Safina are in different groups, meaning they will not get to face each other until a potential match in the knockout rounds. Serena was drawn with her sister Venus and Russians Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Dementieva. The other group consists of Safina, former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and Danish teenager Caroline Wozniacki. “I'm in a tough part of the section of the draw,” Serena Williams said. “So we'll see what happens.” Safina, meanwhile, is tired of defending her credentials as the top-ranked player in the world. “I don't want to think about this right now,” she said. “Last year I was winning every tournament and they (were) asking me why I'm not No. 1. This year I became No. 1, there is no Grand Slam. It is every day going to be something.” Safina has 7,731 points in the latest rankings to lead Serena Williams by 155 points. Each win in the round-robin stage here is worth 160 points. The other six players also have plenty to play for. The total prize pool is $4.55 million and the champion receives $1.55 million if she completes the tournament undefeated – with $100,000 knocked off for each loss in the round-robin stage. Venus is the defending champion, while Azarenka and Wozniacki are competing in the event for the first time. Beck upsets Troicki In Russia, Karol Beck of Slovakia upset third-seeded Viktor Troicki of Serbia 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-4 in the first round of the St. Petersburg Open Monday. Bjorn Phau of Germany also advanced, beating Russian wild card Stanislav Vovk 6-3, 6-2 while Rainer Schuettler of Germany, the 2001 runner-up, was ousted by Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-4, 6-4. Luczak bounced out In Vienna, Australian Peter Luczak's European slump continued Monday as the No. 83 journeyman fell to his second first-round loss in a row with an exit at the Austria Tennis Trophy. Luczak suffered a 5-7, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 defeat at the Stadthalle as Spanish fifth seed Nicolas Almagro staged a comeback in a match featuring a massive 35 aces. Almagro moves on to a second-round match against American Wayne Odesnik, who defeated Czech qualifier Lukas Rosol 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (8-6). In other Day one results, German No. 125 Daniel Brands rose to the occasion as he beat American Robert Kendrick 7-6 (7-5), 7-5. Victor Crivoi of Romania eliminated Czech Jan Hernych 6-3, 6-3. The top three men in the Vienna field, Cilic, second seed Radek Stepanek and Frenchman Gael Monfils are all still chasing possible year-end spots, with the last two places to be decided over the next three weeks of ATP play.
