Tennis: Top Kiwis could go head-to-head in Japan event

Marina Erakovic (left) and Sacha Jones could both progress well in Tokyo. Photo / Martin Sykes

Their careers have been heading in opposite directions in recent times, but New Zealand's top two tennis players, Sacha Jones and Marina Erakovic, could cross paths in Japan this week.

The draw for the US$75,000 ($103,500) ITF event in Tokyo had not been made at the time of writing, but the pair's names were nestled next to each other on the acceptance list, thanks to the closeness of their rankings.

And the chances of their meeting in the 32-player event seem strong, with Erakovic's pedigree and Jones' spectacular recent form suggesting both could go deep into the tournament.

For Erakovic, whose ranking has fallen to 233 from 60 at the start of the year, the event is a step down in class as she looks to gain some match play at the end of a season wrecked by injury.

For Jones, it is a step up from the four consecutive US$25,000 events she won in Australia and a recent US$50,000 event in Phoenix where she lost in the final.

The 19-year-old Jones also missed a significant part of the season with a shoulder injury but her career has been in the ascendancy of late, thanks to a run of 24 wins from 25 matches that has seen her ranking surge from 306 to its current career-high 168.

She overtook Erakovic as the country's top-ranked player this month, adding an extra level of intrigue to a possible head-to-head meeting between the two.

Erakovic has comfortably won both previous encounters but Jones was aged just 15 and 16 for those matches.

She would have form - Erakovic has posted just a 6-10 singles mark in comparison to Jones' 37-10 - and a couple of years' development on her side but Jones was reluctant to discuss how she might now match up against her fellow Kiwi.

"I've go no idea." She was also keen to avoid any talk of a potential rivalry developing between the pair.

"There are so many people who are ranked ahead of me that to focus on one person would be pretty stupid, I think," she said. "[Being] New Zealand No 1 is really cool. I'm really happy for Marina that she is healthy [now] and it was not particularly nice circumstances to become No 1.

"Hopefully both Marina and I will be healthy for a decent amount of time and do New Zealand proud."

Jones raised a few eyebrows when she turned down a wildcard for this year's ASB Classic to focus on training, but her recent results showed that was "100 per cent without doubt the right decision", she said.

"I wouldn't be talking to you about having won 24 [straight] matches if I hadn't have made that decision last year," she said.

"Everything that I worked on then is starting to pay off now. I had a lot of things that needed improving last year and they weren't just going to fix themselves."

Jones is expected to accept a wildcard into January's Classic. She should be much better prepared for the challenge than she was for her last appearance last year when as a 17-year-old she drew top seed Vera Zvonareva and was blown off centre court 6-0 6-1.

Although that match seemed like "a lifetime ago" it had helped Jones absorb some tough lessons.

"I was ranked around 300 and it was not fun to sit there with a lot of potential left untapped. It got to a point where it became unenjoyable for me.

"That was the time when I realised I needed to make some changes."