Tennis: Errani hot pick to win singles and doubles

Caroline Wozniacki, the No1 seed, at training in Auckland yesterday. Photo / Dean Purcell

Sara Errani, the ASB Classic second seed and world No14, is looking to put the disappointment of an injury-affected end to 2014 behind her at the season-opening WTA tournament in Auckland.

The 27-year-old Italian enjoyed a strong run of results last year, including a quarter-final appearance at the US Open, before a slide in form coincided with a painful rib injury to end her season prematurely in September.

Despite limited preparation and still being troubled physically, Errani is rated a strong chance to claim the singles title. And although she also shares the No1 doubles ranking with her partner and fellow-countrywoman Roberta Vinci, Errani is downplaying her prospects of winning both trophies.

"No, no, I'm not thinking, never like that," Errani said. "Many times I have come here so I'm happy to be here. Of course, the first tournament of the year is never easy.

"I was injured three months ago. I can improve a lot. Physically I'm not 100 per cent and so I have to work to be ready without practising too much of course.

"Maybe I'm getting tired a bit too early but I'm working on it and I try to practise a lot and make matches to be in a good condition."

A first-round match today with Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova promises to provide a stern inspection of her abilities and a good gauge of where she stands among a strong field.

Despite her high tournament ranking, Errani insists she can take nothing for granted.

"I'm just here to do what I can," she said. "Even if you are seeded you are trying to not think too much about that. The tournament is strong so there are a lot of good matches and I am just trying to think about going on to the second round. It doesn't help you on the court if you are first, second or third seed, or not seeded.

"I've played against her [Hantuchova] quite a lot of times and she's a really good player. She plays fast and flat so it is not easy for me to play my game against her.

"But here the conditions are not that fast, the ball is a bit slow so it is good to play and I hope to try and do my game good."

Altering her own game to counter the pace and power of her rival is not an option, Errani explains.

"I just try to not play so flat like her and try to move the ball and try to make her run. I play my game of course but with a person who hits that strong it is a bit more difficult for me. I don't have too much time to decide what to do. I have to be fast but try to make good decisions."

In the doubles, Errani and Vinci will begin their campaign against Ukrainian Yuliya Beygelzimer and Czech Eva Hrdinova.

"Sometimes it is difficult physically to play singles and doubles in all of the tournaments but we are trying to decide which are the good tournaments to play and which ones not to play. Let's see this year if we can win some more titles."

Caroline Wozniacki, the No1 seed, and Venus Williams have a day off today but will make their first appearances on centre court tomorrow.