Website of the YearNew Zealand Davis Cup players Artem Sitak and Marcus Daniell have been granted wildcards into the ASB Classic doubles tournament, boosting local representation to three.
Sitak and Daniell no longer play together as a partnership - they pulled the pin as a team earlier this year - but the wildcards will enable them to play in Auckland alongside their usual playing partners.
Michael Venus - who won the 2016 ASB Classic doubles alongside Mate Pavic - will be the third seed for the doubles draw.
Venus was awarded a doubles wildcard last week but has made the main draw based off his career high world ranking of 32.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.He will be playing with Swede Robert Lindstedt, who was ranked third in the world in 2013 and won the Australian Open doubles title a year later.
Venus's elevation meant ASB Classic tournament director Karl Budge was able to take one wildcard back and reward Daniell (50) and Sitak (62) for their solid years on tour.
"It's incredibly rare to have three doubles combinations that New Zealand fans can get behind in the main draw and they're all genuine title contenders," said Budge.
"New Zealand doubles has really come into its own in 2016 with Venus, Daniell and Sitak flying the flag on tour. We're lucky that the cards have fallen so that we can have them all in the main draw and with the opportunity to play with their usual partners,"
Sitak has been playing with American Nicholas Monroe and Daniell with Brazilian Marcelo Demoliner.
Venus has enjoyed his best year on the ATP Tour capturing four doubles titles and reaching a further five finals.
The 29-year-old's formidable year was punctuated with titles in Auckland, Montpellier, Marseille and 's-Hertogenbosch.
One of the best memories was his run to the Auckland title alongside Pavic, where the duo didn't drop a set across the entire week.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.Venus also reached the doubles semi-finals in 2012.
