Alicia Molik got herself a spot in the history book of the Hobart Moorila International with her victory over American Amy Frazier. The 21 year-old from Adelaide Australia who came into the tournament ranked # 94 on the worlds WTA ranking. The month of January 2003 will be remembered as one of the most successful so far in Moliks career and not only because she earned herself 27,830 Australian Dollars.

After having a good week at the Hopman Cup in Perth, where she only lost to Serena Williams, Molik kept her good form and took it with her to Hobart. In Perth Molik defeated one of the world’s best players of the moment Daniela Hantuchova. She won eight out of nine matches over the last two weeks.

Australian hopes were on Molik but she fell short to the expectations, although she always played very well in Fed Cup and Hopman Cup matches for Australia. Her WTA career was less rewarding and her ranking was going backwards until this week with her first career title to celebrate.

Molik said that her success of this week didn’t come in just two or three weeks but it took 24 months of grinding up and downs. She started two years ago with her new coach Dave Taylor who is as she calls it ‘getting her game together’. After someone suggested that this might be the start of an ‘Alicia Molik Year’ she replied: “One thing at a time, I can’t get ahead of myself and start predicting where I’ll be in six or twelve months in the ranking”.

Alicia Molik will be playing in the first round of the Australian Open against Uzbek Iroda Tulyaganova. “She is a great player and if I play good tennis and lose to her I’ll be happy”, she said about the draw of the first Grand Slam. She added that she is looking forward to having a few days off before the next tournament.