The sequence — 2005

JANUARY

As a wild card, makes a good debut at the Australian Open. She becomes the first Indian woman to reach the third round of a Grand Slam event. In the third round, she goes down fighting to No. 7 seed and eventual champion Serena Williams. The performance helps her climb up the rankings from No. 166 to No. 132.

FEBRUARY

Wins her first career title at the Hyderabad Open, annihilating No. 9 seed A. Bondarenko (Ukraine) 6-4, 5-7, 6-3. Becomes the first Indian woman to win a singles title on the Tour.

Posts her 100th career victory beating D. Sescioreanu (Romania) in the second round of the Hyderabad Open.

Breaks into the Top-100 for the first time by taking the No. 99 slot.

Suffers an ankle sprain and pulls out of the Copa Colsanitas tournament in Bogota.

MARCH

Gets a wild card for the Dubai Open. Beats J. Kostanic (Croatia) in the first round 6-7, 6-4, 6-1; upsets No. 4 seed S. Kuznetsova (Russia) 6-4, 6-2 in next round; falls to J. Jankovic (Serbia & Montenegro) in the quarterfinals 2-6, 2-6.

Rises to No. 77 in rankings.MAY

Debut at the French Open — loses to G. Dulko (Argentina), seeded No. 30, in the first round.

JUNE

Beats C. Schaul (Germany) 6-2, 6-0 in the first round at the DFS Classic in Birmingham, but loses in the next to No. 3 seed J. Jankovic 1-6, 5-7.

Wimbledon debut — beats A. Morigami (Japan) 6-3, 3-6, 8-6 in the first round before losing 4-6, 7-6, 4-6 to Kuznetsova, seeded No. 5, in the next.

JULY

Enters the quarterfinals of a tournament for the third time in the season at Cincinnati. Beats No. 7 seed Ana-Lena Groenefeld (Germany) 6-4, 6-3 and K. Brandi (Puerto Rico) 7-6, 7-5 before losing to A. Morigami 4-6, 3-6 in the quarters.

Also reaches the semifinals in doubles with Yuliana Fedak (Ukraine) at Cincinnati before losing 5-7, 3-6 to top seeds, K. Pleschke (Czech Republic) & M.E. Salerni (Argentina).

Reaches a career-high of No. 64.

As lucky loser defeats E. Daniilidou (Greece) 7-6, 2-6, 6-3 in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic (Stanford, California) before losing to No. 2 seed Venus Williams 3-6, 2-6.

AUGUST

Moves closer to Top-50, reaching a career-best of No. 59.

Qualifies for the main draw of the Acura Classic at San Diego and reaches the third round, beating qualifier T. Garbin (Italy) 6-2, 6-2 and No. 4 seed N. Petrova (Russia) 6-2, 6-1 on way. Loses to A. Morigami 2-6, 6-4, 4-6 in the third round.

Improves her ranking from No. 59 to No. 48.

Reaches second career Tour final as No. 3 seed at Forest Hills and loses to L. Safarova (Czech Republic) 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Reaches No. 42 in WTA rankings.SEPTEMBER

US Open debut; becomes the first Indian woman to reach fourth round at a Grand Slam event. She beats M. Washington (U.S.A.) 7-6, 6-7, 6-4, M. E. Camerin (Italy) 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 and M. Bartoli (France) 7-6, 6-4 before losing to top seed Maria Sharapova (Russia) 2-6, 1-6.

Reaches No. 34 in WTA rankings.

Fails to get beyond second round in the singles at the Sunfeast Open in Kolkata, but enters doubles semifinals with Ruano Pascual (Spain). The pair goes down 4-6, 6-3, 5-7 to E. Likhovtseva & A. Myskina of Russia.

OCTOBER

Reaches her first Tier III semifinal at the Japan Open in Tokyo. Seeded No. 8, she topples the No. 1 seed, Vera Zvonareva (Russia), in the quarterfinals 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 before losing to No. 3 seed and finalist T. Golovin (France) 6-2, 6-4. She beats Vilmarie Castellvi (Puerto Rico) 6-1, 6-3 and Aiko Nakamura (Japan) 6-1, 6-4 on way to quarterfinals.

On the strength of the performance in Tokyo, she moves to a career-high of No. 31.

She also enters doubles semifinals at the Japan Open with Shahar Peer (Israel) before losing to G. Dulko (Argentina) & M. Kirilenko (Russia), 1-6, 4-6.

Seeded No. 5, reaches second round at the Thailand Open, but retires due to back strain.