LAST year, she arrived in England after her coronation in Paris. Her sash read: world No. 1.
Obviously, the crown rested heavy on her pretty head and, in the third round, China's Zheng Jie hastened her abdication with a 6-1, 6-4 beating.
Ana Ivanovic didn't know what hit her and, you could say, it was downhill all the way.
Samantha Stosur didn't shake up Wimbledon last year. She made the second round. But that was it. It was no better at the US Open where she was sent packing in the first round.
Ivanovic, meanwhile, returned home to Belgrade and prepared to put the last quarter of 2008 behind her.
Stosur - basically a doubles player - decided that if she wanted to go eyeball-to-eyeball with the top women on the singles Tour she had to beef up.
So, it was off to the Gold Coast and the gym where she filled up her frame to an impressive 65kg. Then it was off to battle.
Yesterday, Ivanovic - now ranked 13th - and 18th seed Stosur met for the third time - but on Court Two and not Centre Court where, just a year earlier the Serb world No. 1, opened her campaign.
I reckon it made no difference where she was playing. Showing scant respect for the muscled Australian with those sun-shades, Ivanovic had her fans swooning when she raced to a 6-2 first-set win and then skipped to a 4-0 lead in the second.
Over in the stands, the Australians in the yellow and green were reeling from the blows their girl was taking.
Ivanovic was looking good - and it wasn't just eye candy. Sure, she filled us with sweaty anticipation. But she was more. She was both stylish and smart - like she was when she reigned at No. 1.
Five double-faults didn't help Stosur's cause. And slowly she surrendered - leaving those same Australian fans having to wait for Lleyton Hewitt's match later in the day before they could yell 'come on'.
Brilliant
No one needed to urge on Ivanovic. She went on to win 7-5, 6-2. Brilliant stuff.
I hope the other women were watching. Because there is now one more hat in the championship ring - Ivanovic is back.
Over on the adjacent Court Three, fellow Serb and also former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic was tried and tested by an American barely on the cusp of adulthood.
With Wimbledon sizzling, heat exhaustion seemed to be a problem for Jankovic who called for a medical time-out. When she came back she was so sluggish that, if this was an episode of 'CSI', you would have thought that rigor mortis was setting in.
That time-out did wonders for the qualifier - a Justine Henin lookalike. All of a sudden, the genie of youth was released - freed in part by the Serb's inability to move.
It opened the door for a big upset, and Melanie Oudin grabbed it, beating the Serb and No. 6 seed 6-7, 7-5, 6-2.
On another outside court, 18-year-old Danish glamour girl Caroline Wozniacki played a game of tennis way beyond her years.
Watched by an appreciative crowd who followed her svelte form as much as they did her game form, the ninth seed wasted little time beating Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 6-2, 6-2 to claim her place in the fourth round.
Last year on this patch of grass, Wozniacki reached the third round but lost to second-seeded Jelena Jankovic 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.
She improved tremendously this year and came into this tournament with stylish credentials, having lifted the Eastbourne title last week.
Now, with the fourth round to come, tennis fans will be looking forward to seeing more of this long, cool Dane.
To complete the line-up of 'glamazons' into the fourth round, Venus Williams eased through her match against Spain's Carla Suarrez Navarro, winning 6-0, 6-4 and setting up a juicy encounter with Ivanovic.
Now, that's what I would call a mouth-watering prospect.
WHAT'S GONE
MEN
THIRD ROUND
Tommy Haas bt Marin Cilic 7-5, 7-5, 1-6, 6-7(3), 10-8
Tomas Berdych bt Nikolay Davydenko 6-2, 6-3, 6-2
Igor Andreev bt Andreas Seppi 6-1, 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(5)
Radek Stepanek bt David Ferrer 7-5, 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4
Lleyton Hewitt bt Philipp Petzschner 7-5, 7-6(3), 6-3
