Dokic wins Athens ITF title

Jelena Dokic has emerged from the tennis doldrums to win her biggest event in more
than seven years.

Dokic outclassed local hope Eleni Daniilidou 6-2 6-1 in the final of the $US100,000
($A115,000) Athens ITF tournament, the triumph lifting the 26-year-old from 80th to
No.68 in the world, her highest ranking since 2004.
The victory is a huge boost for Dokic, whose season turned pear-shaped in the months
after she made a surprising and captivating wildcard run to the Australian Open
quarter-finals in January.
After leading the Australian Fed Cup team advance to the World Group II playoffs in
February, a back injury forced Dokic to retire from her second-round French Open
match against Elena Dementieva while leading the world No.4 by a set and a service
break.
Dokic then missed almost two months between Wimbledon and the US Open while
bed-ridden with a debilitating glandular fever-like virus.
The one-time world No.4 suffered a first-round loss to Kirsten Flipkens at Flushing
Meadows last month before turning the tables on the Belgian en route to the title in
Greece.
The tournament success was Dokic's first since claiming three $US25,000 claycourt
titles in Europe last year and biggest since winning the Birmingham grasscourt event
in July, 2002.
Despite being estranged from her controversial father Damir, Dokic has also suffered
this year through the emotional torment of seeing him jailed in Belgrade for 15
months after being found guilty of threatening Australia's ambassador to Serbia and
possessing illegal weapons.