She won her first
grand slam doubles title at the
2005 Australian Open with partner
Svetlana Kuznetsova. She reached the top ten on the WTA tour for the first time in early 2005 following her first Grand Slam quarterfinal singles appearance, at the Australian Open, where she lost 9-7 in the final set to
Lindsay Davenport.
Molik won the
bronze medal at the
2004 Summer Olympics in
Athens in the women's singles competition beating then, world no.3 Anastasia myskina of Russia in straight sets 6/3 6/4
Having contracted the ear infection
vestibular neuronitis, Molik was forced to miss much of the later 2005 season, and in October 2005 announced that she would be taking an extended break in order to recover, including the whole 2006 season. However, her recovery appears to have been faster than expected, and in April 2006 it was announced that Molik would be part of the team for Australia's
Fed Cup group matches later that month. However, Austalian Davis Cup Captain,
David Taylor announced that Molik would not be selected as of lack of match play and rustiness. Instead, rookie
Casey Dellacqua took her place
http://www.theage.com.au/news/tennis/molik-left-out-of-fed-cup-but-confident-of-comeback/2006/04/18/1145344083533.html.
Molik also returned to the main tour much earlier than had first been expected, at the Italian Open in 2006, and won her first match since returning at the French Open of 2006, where she reached the third round. At Wimbledon in 2006, she reached the second round, losing to
Katarina Srebotnik of
Slovenia http://www.abc.net.au/sport/content/200606/s1673325.htm. She had high hopes for the
2006 US Open, but was shocked 6-3, 6-2 in the first round by the 17-year old
Vania King. She gained revenge over
Vania King in the first round of the Guangzhou Open, reaching the quarterfinals after also scoring an upset victory over a top 50 player
Lourdes Dominguez Lino. After these wins she broke back into the top 200 at 179 and then played in Tokyo where she defeated
Jelena Kostanic 7-5 6-3. Molik then suffered disappointing first round defeats in Bangkok (lost to
Vania King 6-1 7-5) and Zürich (lost to
Shahar Peer 6-1 6-2).
Molik has won a wildcard into the
2007 Australian Open by winning the Australian Open Wildcard Play-offs, where she defeated 16 year old Australian
Jessica Moore in the final 6-4 6-4. In preparation for the Australian Open she competed in the
2007 Hopman Cup in
Perth and scored victories over world no. 6
Nadia Petrova and
Ashley Harkleroad. Molik's final Australian Open warm up tournament was the
Moorilla Hobart International were she reached the quarters beating two higher ranked opponents on her way before losing to doubles partner and Indian rising star
Sania Mirza. Molik and Mirza reached the quarters of the
Hobart tournament before losing a very close match to the number two seeds.
During the
Australian Open 2007, Alicia Molik won through her first and second round matches against rising Chinese Taipei doubles talent
Yung-Jan Chan and Estonian
Kaia Kanepi before losing a 3setter against the eighth seed
Patty Schnyder of Switzerland. With her impressive 3rd round performance, Molik improved her then-141 ranking to inside the top 100, the first time since withdrawing from numerous tournaments due to that ear infection. Molik also competed in the 2007 French Open losing 1st Round in singles but winning the Doubles with Mara Santangelo. Molik also played in a
Wimbledon warm up tournament in Eastbourne losing to Mel South in the first round 1-6 6-3 7-6 and also lost first round in the doubles to Natalie Dechy and Tiantian Sun 6-2 4-6 6-4. Molik was able to bounce back from these early losses to easily win her first round match at Wimbledon, defeating Russia's Anastasia Rodionova in straight sets, before losing a second round meeting with
Serena Williams. Molik is also seeded six in doubles with Mara Santangelo. She and Santangelo made it to the Semi-finals before losing to eventual winners, Cara Black and Liezel Huber. Also competing in the mixed doubles, Molik and partner Jonas Bjorkman made the finals losing to Jelena Jankovic and Jamie Murray.
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