IT will certainly be mouth-watering for tennis fans. Imagine the likes of Russian Maria Kirilenko, Indian star Sania Mirza, Zheng Jie of China and Beijing Olympics gold medalist Elena Dementieva sweating it out as the four players could be part of the Showdown of Champions scheduled for Dec 19-20 in KL.

Billed as the ‘Asia versus Russia — The Gram Slam’, the tournament sees Russian beauty Anna Kournikova as its ambassador. Kournikova will join Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Ng Yen Yen at the official launch of the exhibition match in Bukit Bintang at 2pm and is set to meet ‛fans’ at the National Tennis Centre (NTC) along Jalan Duta at about 4pm.

Currently the long-time girlfriend of Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias, Kournikova is also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and attend a gala dinner later tonight. Kournikova’s presence in Malaysia was also confirmed by local tennis enthusiast HCFoo in her blog.

Mailsport learnt that while Kournikova will be attending to junior national players during her visit to NTC, fans are welcome to join in and meet their idol in person. Kournikova, winner of the 1999 and 2002s Australian Open women's doubles, last played on the WTA Tour in 2003. She is now a familiar face at exhibition and charity matches.

Last year’s Showdown of Champions saw the likes of legendary players Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe and world No 1 Roger Federer and American James Blake playing against each other at Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil. This year’s clash among the fairer sex would be as entertaining as the previous edition.

World No 5 Dementieva comes from an illustrious background as she beat fellow Russian Dinara Safina 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. Dementieva will play in the Sony Ericsson Championship in Doha which starts tomorrow. Zheng Jie, who hails from Chengdu, Sichuan, was also the gold medalist of the 2006 Doha Asian Games and is currently world No 35.

Daughter of sports journalist Imran Mirza, Sania has attracted both praises and criticism from her countrymen. From being lambasted for her “revealing” outfits to earning admiration for being the pride of India on the courts, Sania is certainly a dazzling character having won eight WTA titles and four ITF tournaments.

Also set to turn heads is Kirilenko. The world No 61 has won five WTA titles to date and even appeared in this year’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition together with Slovakian Daniela Hatuchova and French player Tatiana Golovin.