New Zealand tennis player Marina Erakovic has lined up a third round meeting with former world No 1 Venus Williams in the third round of the US$3.7 million ($4.7 million) Sony Ericsson women's tennis tournament in Miami, Florida.
Erakovic, a wildcard entrant, beat world No 34 Michaella Krajicekof the Netherlands 6-2 3-6 6-2 in the second round today, while American Williams breezed past Marta Domachowska of Poland 6-4 6-3.
Wimbledon champion Williams is seeded sixth and Erakovic said it would be "exciting" to play her.
"Obviously Venus is a great champion and a great player, so we'll see," she told Radio Live.
"It's also a great opportunity to play against those players. They've won the grand slams and you play against them and you see `oh right, this is what I've got to do to get to where I want to get to'."
Erakovic said she would go into the match aiming to beat Willims rather than with the attitude of having nothing to lose.
The 20-year-old Aucklander partnered Krajicek to win the US Open junior doubles title in 2004.
This morning she said she knew the 30th seed was beatable.
"I just knew that I had to play well and solid and I think it was well-fought," she said.
"I got on top in the first set. In the second set she started to play a bit better but I could see she was getting tired. It was a hot day.
"I saw that and I thought `if it gets to a third, I'll be feeling pretty good', and that's what happened."
The result further establishes the 20-year-old Aucklander on the world's elite stage and guarantees her a berth in the French Open in May.
Her world ranking will jump considerably from its current 101, which will earn her a start in the year's first Grand Slam tournament at Paris.
The last New Zealand woman to contest a Grand Slam was Bulgarian-born Pavlina Nola in the 2002 Australian Open.
This month Erakovic's ranking climbed to a high of 98 when she reached the semifinals of the WTA event at Memphis, losing to former world No 1 Lindsay Davenport of the United States.
It was the Aucklander's second semifinal appearance of the year, having gone on a dream run at her home tournament in January.
Croatian-born Erakovic won her first round match over world No 70 Martina Mueller of Germany 6-4 6-7 6-2 on Thursday morning.
