Jelena Jankovic will replace fellow Serb Ana Ivanovic as world number one on August 11, the WTA said on Saturday.
With no tournaments taking place next week ahead of the Beijing Olympics, Jankovic will end Ivanovic's nine-week reign when the WTA governing body's computer drops the points from the events played in the same week one year ago.
Jankovic is projected to total 3,620 points on August 11 with Ivanovic on 3,612 and will become the 18th player to hold the number one ranking.
"Since I was a young girl it has been my dream to become number one in the world," Jankovic told the WTA website.
"When you get older at least one day you can say you were number one and no one can take that away from you."
Over the last two weeks Jankovic had squandered chances to take over the top ranking on the court.
Her bid to become number one last week at the Los Angeles Classic ended with a loss to Dinara Safina in the semi-finals and it was short-circuited again at the Montreal Cup on Friday with a quarter-final upset by Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova.
Jankovic's only title in the last 12 months came in Rome but she has posted consistently strong results.
She has reached finals in Toronto and Beijing in 2007 and Miami this year plus six semi-finals including two of the three Grand Slams so far in 2008 -- the Australian and French Opens.