Tennis: High hopes despite dearth of big names

Tournament director Richard Palmer joked that yesterday's launch of the Auckland international women's event was not being held on the top floor of a tall inner-city building "so I can jump afterwards".

The problems of producing a crowd-drawing field for January's ASB Classic have had him pulling his hair out. However, he insists spectators will see good-quality tennis despite the lack of a big-name attraction, with players drawn from 16 countries and all ranked inside the world top 90.

The bulk of the field, minus qualifiers and a couple of wildcards, was revealed yesterday, with world No 26 American Amy Frazier the top seed.

Yet a glance back through the recent years of the classic brings some perspective to the issue of star names in Auckland.

Only German Anke Huber in 1997 and Argentine Paola Suarez this year have been ranked in the world top 15 when they arrived in Auckland. Seven of the world top 50 have entered and, with the exception of last year, when a bumper 13 were in the draw, that compares favourably with the last five years.

Palmer said the overall standard of women's tennis was rising rapidly and he was comfortable with what he had.

"There's going to be some fantastic tennis," he said.

"You'd always like to get players with bigger numbers but as it's panned out I think it's a very good field. I'm very happy."

The 32-year-old Frazier, a regular visitor to Auckland, may lack the appeal of an Anna Kournikova or Mary Pierce from the last few years, but with seven WTA singles titles to go with four doubles crowns and more than US$3 million pocketed in winnings, she's no slouch.

She beat No 3 Russian Anastasia Myskina to make the fourth round at Wimbledon this year. When she got to the third round of the US Open a couple of months later it was her 64th appearance in a Grand Slam main draw, the best record of any active player.

Second seed will be exciting Serbian Jelena Jankovic, who has jumped from No 82 to No 28 in world rankings this year. The Florida-based 19-year-old picked up her first singles title at Budapest in April.

A former world No 1 junior, Jankovic is tipped as a big mover in the women's game next year. Auckland offers the chance of kicking it off in style.

Two-time defending champion Eleni Daniilidou of Greece is third seed ahead of Japan's Shinobu Asagoe, world No 37 and a quarter-finalist at the US Open this year, when she beat three seeds.

Others in the field include two past beaten finalists, Tatiana Panova and Yoon Jeong Cho, in 2002 and 2003 respectively, and New Zealand's brightest prospect, Marina Erakovic.

Still to be sorted out are two wildcards, one of which is listed to be given to a gold/silver exempt player - that is, a top 50 ranked player.

Among the possibilities for that slot, once a red pen is put through all those already committed to other tournaments, are two-time Grand Slam champion Pierce, a crowd favourite here last year, American former top 10 player Chanda Rubin and veteran Spaniard Conchita Martinez.

The qualifying draw is likely to include two past Auckland champions - the 2000 champion, Luxembourg's Anne Kremer, and American Meilen Tu, who won the following year - and former world No 18 Silvija Talaja of Croatia, whose ranking plummeted during a seven-month injury layoff in 2002 and who hasn't regained those heights.

The tournament main draw starts on January 3.


ASB Classic field

Amy Frazier(world ranking 26, US)

Jelena Jankovic (28, Serbia)

Eleni Daniilidou(34, Greece)

Shinobu Asagoe (37, Japan)

Marion Bartoli (41, France)

Kristina Brandi (48, Puerto Rico)

Maria Vento-Kabchi (49, Venezuela)

Alina Jidkova (55, Russia)

Martina Sucha (57, Slovakia)

Jill Craybas (59, US)

Claudine Schaul (61, Luxembourg)

Tamarine Tanasugarn (66, Thailand)

Akiko Morigami (68, Japan)

Yoon Jeong Cho (68, Korea)

Shenay Perry (69, US)

Arantxa Parra Santonja (70, Spain)

Marta Domachowska (74, Poland)

Anna-Lena Groenefeld (75, Germany)

Laura Granville (76, US)

Tatiana Panova (77, Russia)

Nuria Llagoster Vives (79, Spain)

Petra Mandula (81, Hungary)

Lindsay Lee-Waters (82, US)

Aniko Kapros (86, Hungary)

Marina Erakovic (below) (wildcard, NZ)

* Seven spots to be filled.