2006 IN DETAILS

JANUARY - Reached SF at Auckland (as No.2 seed, fell to No.8 seed Zvonareva) and QF at Sydney (d. Mirza and No.3 seed Schnyder en route; ret. w/gastrointestinal illness during match vs. No.8 seed Vaidisova); reached first Grand Slam 4r in three years at Australian Open (as No.17 seed, scored career-first victory over a Williams sister with 61 76(5) win vs. No.13 seed and defending champion S.Williams; l. to No.4 seed and eventual semifinalist Sharapova); afterwards on January 30, returned to Top 15 (at No.15) for first time since October 2003; upset in 2r of Tokyo [Pan Pacific] (as No.6 seed, l. to Stosur).

FEBRUARY - Upset in 2r at Antwerp (as No.9 seed, l. to qualifier Savchuk); at Dubai, reached 2r in singles (as No.8 seed, l. to eventual semifinalist Kuznetsova 75 third set) and SF in doubles (w/Sugiyama); at Doha, reached 2r in singles (as No.5 seed, l. 46 76(5) 61 to N.Li, having held 4mp and 5-1 lead in second set) and captured seventh career Tour doubles title (as No.3 seeds w/Sugiyama).

MARCH - At Miami, fell 3r in singles (as No.13 seed, l. to qualifier Daniilidou in 3s) but reached doubles QF (w/Sugiyama).

MAY - Reached 2r at Warsaw (as No.9 seed, d. Smashnova 46 75 63 in 1r, having trailed 5-3 second set; l. to eventual semifinalist Chakvetadze); reached 3r at Berlin (as No.8 seed, l. to No.10 seed Safina); at Rome, fell 1r in singles (as No.13 seed, upset by Stosur in 3s) but won eighth career Tour doubles title (w/Sugiyama; third title as a team); at Roland Garros, reached 4r in singles (as No.15 seed, won 63 36 108 marathon in 3r vs. No.21 seed Dechy before falling to No.2 seed and eventual semifinalist Clijsters 61 64, having trailed 4-0 second set) but reached second career major women's doubles final (as No.5 seeds w/Sugiyama, d. No.2 seeds Black/Stubbs in QF and No.4 seeds Yan/Zheng in SF, falling to top seeds Raymond/Stosur in final).

JUNE - Withdrew from Birmingham w/wrist injury; fell 1r at Eastbourne (as No.8 seed, l. to Likhovtseva); reached 4r at Wimbledon (as No.15 seed, l. to No.3 seed and eventual runner-up Henin-Hardenne).

JULY - Withdrew from Cincinnati w/right foot injury; disappointing week in Stanford, falling 1r in singles (l. to Perry) and 1r in doubles (as top seeds w/Sugiyama; l. to Jankovic/S.Uberoi); 3r at San Diego (as No.11 seed, l. to No.7 seed Vaidisova).

AUGUST - At Los Angeles, 3r in singles (as No.7 seed, l. to WC S.Williams) and doubles final (w/Sugiyama, l. to Ruano Pascual/Suarez); 3r at Montreal (as No.11 seed, l. to No.7 seed and eventual runner-up Hingis 75 64, having held triple set point at 5-4 first set); 2r at New Haven (d. Groenefeld; l. to No.3 seed Dementieva in 3s); 2r at US Open (as No.17 seed, fell to WC S.Williams 75 63, having led 5-2 first set).

SEPTEMBER - Stunned in 1r at Bali (as No.5 seed, upset by Czink 75 62, having led 5-2 first set); reached 2r at Luxembourg (d. Golovin in 1r; l. to No.4 seed Safina).

OCTOBER - QF at Stuttgart (upset No.6 seed Safina en route, falling to No.4 seed and eventual champion Petrova; win over world No.10 Safina was first Top 10 win since January (Sydney), also first QF since then); at Zurich, reached first Tour singles final since August 2005 (Los Angeles), finishing runner-up; unseeded, upset No.6 seed Schnyder and No.3 seed Kuznetsova en route, falling to No.2 seed Sharapova in 3s (wins over world No.8 Schnyder and world No.4 Kuznetsova were 15th and 16th career Top 10 wins, and win over Kuznetsova was equal-career-best, having beaten No.4 Hingis at 2002 Indian Wells and No.4 Mauresmo at 2004 Eastbourne); also doubles SF (w/Sugiyama); now 1-4 lifetime in Tour singles finals; on October 23, jumped from No.22 to No.16; fell 1r at Linz (ret. w/right rib injury during match vs. Vesnina).