Tennis: A classic case of court drama

With the loss of Mary Pierce at the 11th hour, many of the top contenders - other than double champion Eleni Daniilidou - will not be particularly well known to New Zealanders.

Amy Frazier

COUNTRY: USA
AGE: 32
WORLD RANKING: 26
WTA TOURNAMENTS WON: 7
BEST SLAM RESULTS: Quarter-finalist Australian Open (1992) and US Open (1995).

STYLE & FORM: Had a good 2004, winning the Hobart WTA title after playing in the ASB Classic last year, beating another seed here, Shinobu Asagoe, in straight sets in the final. She reached the fourth round at Wimbledon, defeating world No 3 Anastasia Myskina before falling to eventual winner, Maria Sharapova. She also reached the semifinals of the Bank of the West Classic, beating Marion Bartoli and world No 14 Patty Schnyder, before losing to Venus Williams. She reached the third round of the US Open this year - beating fellow ASB Classic contestant Kristina Brandi, before losing out to eventual winner Svetlana Kuznetsova.

GENERAL INFORMATION: You could be forgiven for thinking that Amy Frazier has had her best days.

Her top Grand Slam showings were in 1992 and 1995 and she had a rare run of form in 2000, cleaning up highly-ranked players like Martina Hingis, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Anke Huber (twice) in a golden three-week period.

A resident of the world Top 50 for 14 years, she manages to hold off the 'over the hill' label with a genuine enthusiasm for the game and a never-say-die attitude which sees her returning shots both crisply and efficiently.

ODDITY: Frazier was playing - and leading - Steffi Graf when the German was injured in what turned out to be her last match. Wants to be a maths teacher when her tennis career is over which, if she keeps up her current form, will not be soon.

Marion Bartoli

COUNTRY: France
AGE: 20
WORLD RANKING: 41
WTA TOURNAMENTS WON: 0 (1 doubles title)
BEST SLAM RESULTS: Third round Wimbledon 2004, second round Australian Open and US Open (both 2004).

STYLE & FORM: 2003 was her breakthrough year, where she reached five semifinals in doubles and claimed the scalp of the then world No 18 Meghan Shaughnessy. In 2004 she reached three WTA semifinals - one here in Auckland where she lost to beaten finalist Ashley Harkleroad. The others were in the Indian Open and the Western and Southern Financial Group Open. Last year she also beat high-ranked players such as world No 23 Fabiola Zuluaga and world No 16 Paola Suarez. However, it was her effort at Wimbledon - where she beat Wimbledon specialist and then world No 20 Chanda Rubin before crashing out to Japan's Ai Sugiyama, the world No 17 - that really marked her out last year.

GENERAL INFORMATION: Better known as a doubles player so far but has been steadily building her singles game without yet threatening to reach the top echelon in women's tennis.

ODDITY: Cannot seem to defeat Japan's Sugiyama who has a 4-0 win-loss record against her. However, may exact some sort of revenge if she gets to play Japan's Shinobu Asagoe (whom she has never played before) at this year's Classic.

Jelena Jankovic

COUNTRY: Serbia & Montenegro
AGE: 19
WORLD RANKING: 28
WTA TOURNAMENTS WON: 1
BEST SLAM RESULTS: Second round Australian Open (2003 and 2004) and US Open (2004).

STYLE & FORM: Won her first tournament - Budapest - in 2004 and has worked steadily up the rankings since. She likes January - as in January 2004 she upset current world No 6 Elena Dementieva at the Australian Open. Also claimed the scalp of Nadia Petrova, world No 12, in June before doing it again in October. Has beaten world No 14 Patty Schnyder and world No 11 Vera Zvonareva. Took a set off Serena Williams at the Acura Classic in July; off Wimbledon winner Maria Sharapova in China; and off France's Amelie Mauresmo in the semifinals at Linz.

GENERAL INFORMATION: One to watch. Obviously on the way up and, like many young players these days, has a backhand all cream and silk. Says she is physically not as strong as those above her but is working on that and is possibly one of those players about whom you could say: "I was there when ... "

ODDITY: Has been asked to play a comedy role in a Serbian movie.

Maria Vento-Kabchi

COUNTRY: Venezuela
AGE: 30
WORLD RANKING: 48
WTA TOURNAMENTS WON: 0 (3 doubles titles)
BEST SLAM RESULTS: Fourth round Wimbledon 1997, third round US Open 2004.

STYLE & FORM: Has smooth, flowing ground strokes and forced her singles ranking to 26 last year. However, she made only one semifinal this year, going out in straight sets to Lindsay Davenport at the Bank of the West Classic in July, she then had a recent rash of first- and second-round exits. Beat world No 3 Anastasia Myskina and world No 12 Ai Sugiyama earlier in the year. Also beat Eleni Daniilidou in the Bank of the West tournament.

GENERAL INFORMATION: Has previously beaten Petrova and Jelena Dokic and was a very difficult player to beat when she was on her way to No 26 in the world. She disappeared in the first round in Auckland last year.

ODDITY: Collects native dolls from the countries she visits as well as Swarovski crystal.

Anne Kremer

COUNTRY: Luxembourg
AGE: 29
WORLD RANKING: 94
WTA TOURNAMENTS WON: 2
BEST SLAM RESULTS: Third round Wimbledon 2004, also third round Wimbledon 1999 and third round French Open 2002.

STYLE & FORM: Anne Kremer has endured an injury-disturbed latter part of her career and is still fighting her way back. She is a former winner of the ASB Classic (in 2000) and is one of only three women in the field who have a career-best world ranking in the Top 20 (Amy Frazier and Eleni Daniilidou are the others). Her "scalp" CV includes Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario, Monica Seles, Jelena Dokic and Amanda Coetzer. A wrist injury saw her play only two WTA events in 2003 and she tumbled right out of the rankings at one stage. Injury reared its head again in 2004 and she withdrew from the French Open.

GENERAL INFORMATION: A gutsy player, capable of an upset. A baseliner whose best shot is her backhand and who has a real preference for grass and hardcourts. While her year has again been pockmarked with injury, two things were notable: getting through to the third round of Wimbledon and beating world No 23 Fabiola Zuluaga in the process; and the fact that she has climbed back into the top 100 after being ranked 181 at Wimbledon. Her climb stalled a little in the latter part of the year although she has been halted only by some big names - including world No 16 Paola Suarez, and world No 4 Maria Sharapova who went on to win the Korea Open in October after beating Kremer in the quarter-finals. One to watch.

ODDITY: Likes to play a point with the same ball she has just won a point with.

Eleni Daniilidou

COUNTRY: Greece
AGE: 22
WORLD RANKING: 34
WTA TOURNAMENTS WON: 3
BEST SLAM RESULTS: Fourth round Wimbledon 2004, third round Australian Open 2004.

STYLE & FORM: Twice winner of this tournament and a crowd favourite with her broad smile and sunny disposition. Had an up-and-down 2004 with injury and some losses to lesser-ranked players disturbing her progress. Is an unabashed serve and volleyer with a sweet backhand which makes her a pleasure to watch. Scalps claimed in 2004 included world No 16 Paola Suarez (at the ASB Classic last year) and world No 10 Jennifer Capriati.

GENERAL INFORMATION: However, while she has beaten Justine Henin-Hardenne and gave Serena Williams and Amelie Mauresmo a battle last year, Daniilidou also fell foul of some upsets herself - losing to world No 86 Mara Santangelo, world No 57 Barbora Strycova and another ASB Classic contestant Maria Vento-Kabchi. Daniilidou says herself that she plays the big names well but not the smaller fry. She is seeded only third in spite of being the double defending champion, and that may result in her approaching this tournament with a real will.

ODDITY: Bidding to become the only three-time winner of this tournament.

Lina Krasnoroutskaya

COUNTRY: Russia
AGE: 20
WORLD RANKING: 141
WTA TOURNAMENTS WON: 0
BEST SLAM RESULTS: Quarter-finals French Open 2001, fourth round Wimbledon 2001, third round Australian Open 2004.

STYLE & FORM: A wild card and affected by injuries in recent times but remains a danger to any opponent if she is fit and able. She is one of only two players in this field (the other is Kremer) with a win over Kim Clijsters, achieved when the Belgian was the world No 1. Has been as high as 25 in the world before her injuries. Made her debut in WTA as a 15-year-old and became one of the youngest players (at 17) to reach the quarter-finals of the French Open with her Roland Garros exploits in 2001 - losing only to Justin Henin-Hardenne. Started 2004 as the world No 27 but injured a wrist in August and has not played a WTA tournament until now. Prefers grass and hardcourt but has a good all-round game.

GENERAL INFORMATION: Has a 2-0 win record over double tournament winner Eleni Daniilidou, beating her on clay and on hardcourt but was beaten by fellow ASB Classic contestant Marion Bartoli on clay at the same tournament (in Strasbourg). Has also beaten Jelena Jankovic this year, before her injury, and has a 2-2 record against another dangerous Russian youngster appearing in this tournament, Alina Jidkova.

ODDITY: First had her career interrupted by injury in 2002 when she damaged an ankle in her first round Australian Open match against Conchita Martinez and was forced to retire. Received a large number of painkilling injections but broke the bones in the foot when she tried to run on it, meaning a fall out of the top rankings to 222 in the world. Remarkably began playing tennis at age 3.

Shinobu Asagoe

COUNTRY: Japan
AGE: 22
WORLD RANKING: 37
WTA TOURNAMENTS WON: 0 (5 doubles titles)
BEST SLAM RESULTS: Quarter-finalist US Open 2004, fourth round French Open 2004, fourth round Wimbledon 2003.

STYLE & FORM: If you needed any convincing that this pocket battleship Japanese can upset the favourites, you need look no further than her 2004 US Open. She disposed of three seeds on her way to the quarter-finals - Anna Smashnova (then No 27 in the world), Paola Suarez (then No 15) and her ASB Classic competitor Eleni Daniilidou, before going out 6-1, 6-1 to Lindsay Davenport. Other big names that have fallen to Asagoe last year included Daniela Hantuchova (then world No 9, now dropped to 31), Patty Schnyder (14) and Nadia Petrova (12).

GENERAL INFORMATION: While the real big guns of women's tennis generally have too much gunpowder for Asagoe, she is nevertheless unafraid of her opposition, even if they are ranked higher than she is. Her ability to rise to the occasion was first seen at Wimbledon 2003. She beat Hantuchova (then world No 9) after saving three match points. Mark her down as one for an upset, even though she is one of the top seeds.

ODDITY: When she won through to the fourth round of Wimbledon 2003, it was the first time for many years that two Japanese women (Ai Sugiyama was the other) had made the fourth round of a Grand Slam.

Kristina Brandi

COUNTRY: Puerto Rico
AGE: 27
WORLD RANKING: 47
WTA TOURNAMENTS WON: 1
BEST SLAM RESULTS: Fourth round Australian Open 2000 and fourth round Wimbledon 2000.

STYLE & FORM: Has been as high as 27 in the world when she fought through to the fourth round of the two Slams, beating players like South Africa's Amanda Coetzer and Jelena Dokic. A small and agile player, she probably doesn't have the armoury of strokes or power that some of the top-liners have but is still a handful when on song.

GENERAL INFORMATION: Played Amy Frazier three times last year, beating her once (in the ASB Classic) and losing the other two times - in the Australian and US Opens. She fell in the second round at the Athens Olympics to world No 3 Anastasia Myskina and has not been beyond the second round in any WTA tournament since April last year.

ODDITY: Has a brother who is a professional skateboarder and an uncle who rejoices in the name of Andy Brandi. She was introduced to the game by tennis icon Harry Hopman, who gave Brandi her first ever racquet.