Tennis: Venus handed wildcard

New Zealand tennis No 1 Michael Venus. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand tennis No 1 Michael Venus has been handed a wildcard for the Heineken Open in Auckland next month.

Ranked 328th in the world, Venus will make his first appearance in the main draw of the ATP tournament.

The 23-year-old began the year ranked close to 600 but rose to a career-best 302 last month.

The possessor of a big serve, he won a Futures title in the United States and reached the quarterfinals of a Challenger event at Samarkand in Uzbekistan.

However, his best result of 2010 was at Karashi in Uzbekistan, where he became the first New Zealander to make a Challenger final in more than 10 years.

He lost the title decider to top-160 player Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia in two tiebreaks.

Venus has appeared in an ATP main draw once before.

He was beaten in the first round in Washington in 2006 after getting a wildcard for winning the United States Tennis Association's 18s national clay court championship.

Tournament director Richard Palmer said today that Venus had earned his spot in the Open's main draw.

"He's fresh with a different style of play," he said.

"He's a new name to tennis people in this country. It will be a big test for him, but it's also a great opportunity for him to try and take."

Originally from Auckland, Venus spent most of his teenage years in Florida before attending the University of Texas and Louisiana State University.

The Open runs from January 10 to 15 and one of the other wildcards was previously allocated to Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, whose world ranking of 15 will make him the second seed.

The last wildcard is being kept to the last moment in case world No 5 Robin Soderling crashes out early in the Brisbane International in the first week of the year and wants more match practice ahead of the Australian Open.

In the women's ASB Classic, which runs from January 3 to 8, top-ranked New Zealander Sacha Jones has been confirmed as a wildcard.

Jones, 20, missed the Classic this year through injury and has played just a dozen tournaments in the past 12 months, with her best results being wins in Challenger events at Alice Springs and in the Western Australian town of Esperance.

Ranked a career-high ranking of 167 in November 2009, she finished the 2010 season at 253.

The second wildcard is earmarked for fellow New Zealander Marina Erakovic, who is still recovering from injury, while the third has been left open.

- NZPA