KEY POINTS:
Marina Erakovic will find out next week whether her surge up the world tennis rankings has been enough to get her a spot in the Olympic Games in August.
The 20-year-old Aucklander is ranked No 80 but will jump to about No 70 when the new women's rankings
are released on Monday after she made the second round at the French Open last week.
The International Tennis Federation has a cutoff of the top 56 players on rankings for the Olympic field of 64. The other eight places comprise six wildcards and two Olympic tripartite invitations, which have gone to Zimbabwe's Cara Black and Liechtenstein's Stephanie Vogt.
The Tripartite Commission consists of representatives from the IOC, national Olympic committees and the ITF. Invitations into the singles events generally go to players from nations and regions with small Olympic teams. The men's spots have gone to representatives from El Salvador and Togo.
No country is allowed more than four players in the singles. This undoubtedly works to Erakovic's advantage. It is expected that the cutoff to find the 56 direct entries will be about No 68. For example, Russia have 11 players in the top 56 at present, so the bottom seven when the new rankings come out will be excluded. French Open finalist Dinara Safina could miss out.
Also, some of the big names might opt not to go to Beijing because they arenot interested, or are nursing injuries.
Erakovic was playing her quarter-final at a US$50,000 ($65,221) tournament at Surbiton, England, overnight. If she wins the title that could be enough to bump her inside No 68.
Tennis New Zealand says it has been in contact with the New Zealand Olympic Committee, have met the Olympic board and selectors and prepared submissions on Erakovic's behalf.
Chief executive Steve Walker is optimistic of a favourable outcome.
"Our grounds are that Maria has risen in excess of 100 places on the WTA in the first 4 months this year," he said.
The wildcard option is also a possibility if Erakovic misses the direct entry. Her rapid progress, combined with the fact New Zealand is not already represented, would be elements in her favour.
The ITF is expected to confirm the cutoff mark next Thursday.
Erakovic will play Australian Monique Adamczak in her quarter-final at Surbiton overnight and should win, based on their respective rankings, No 80 vs No 170. Earlier she beat Britain's Naomi Cavaday 6-4 6-3 and Hungary's Melinda Czink 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-5).
* New Zealand's leading male player, Dan King-Turner, had a win and a loss in a US$50,000 challenger tournament in California. King-Turner toppled third-seeded American Amer Delic (ranked 149), 6-3 6-3. However he then lost to another American, Michael Yani, in the next round, 6-2 6-4.