Tennis: Salerni scores late wildcard

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Injury has forced 18-year-old Mirjana Lucic out of January's ASB Bank Classic and Australian Open.

But Lucic's bad luck has been good news for the world's No 1 junior, Maria Emilia Salerni, who has been given the ASB wildcard reserved for Croatia-based Lucic.

The 17-year-old Argentine won the junior singles crowns at Wimbledon and the US Open. She will be joined at the January 1-6 Stanley St tournament by a former world junior No 1, Zimbabwe's Cara Black.

There is still one wildcard and it is likely to go to a New Zealander, with Leanne Baker and Shelley Stephens the leading contenders.