The full player list for the 2009 ASB Classic featuring the Kia Motors Singles and Doubles has produced a few surprises, plenty of new names, plenty of career-high rankings and a number of talented teenagers.
Russian Elena Dementieva who is also the Olympic champion is at a career-high of four in the world followed by No11 Nadia Petrova, also of Russia while Dane, Caroline Wozniack is at her best ranking of 12 and is still only 18-years-old.
At a career-high of No20 is the 2005 champion Katarina Srebotnik from Slovenia who will also team up with Petrova to make a formidable team in the Kia Motors doubles.
The fifth seed will be Spaniard, Anabel Medina Garrigues who is also at her best ranking, coming to Auckland at 22 in the world after a year where she won her eighth career singles title by beating Srebotnik in the final of Strasbourg and being a finalist at both Fes and Portoroz.
She is also a very accomplished doubles player with a current ranking of No3 after winning the title at Roland Garros with Virginia Ruano Pascal and the doubles silver medal at the Olympics with Ruano Pascal.
Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak ranked at 34 will be the sixth seed after she had a great result in 2008 where she played through qualifying to win the U$600,000 Tier II tournament at Stanford beating Marion Bartoli in the final. She also made the semis at Quebec and the Japan Open in what was her best 12 months of her career.
The seventh seed at 38 in the world is Israel’s Shahar Peer. She was ranked as high as 15 early last year and had appearances in the quarterfinals of both the Australian Open and US Open in 2007. In 2008 she made the fourth round of Wimbledon beating Dinara Safina along the way as well as reaching the semis at two events.
A feature of the tournament is the first time appearance of eighth seeded 19-year-old Nicole Vaidisova who has a current ranking of 41, but has been as high as No7 in the world in May of last year.
She has an incredible record in Grand Slams for someone still in her teens. In 2006 she reached the semifinals of Roland Garros while still only 17-years-old making her the youngest player in the Open era to do so.
Last year she made the semis of the Australian Open, quarters at Roland Garros and quarters at Wimbledon. In 2008 she again reached the quarters at Wimbledon beating Anna Chakvetdaze in the fourth round. At the strong Sydney event she had a win over Daniella Hantuchova and also Jelena Jankovic to make the semifinals while there were also quarterfinals results at Gold Coast and Birmingham.
Just outside the seedings is Russian 17-year-old Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova who is at a career-high ranking of 46 and regarded as one of the newcomers to watch on the WTA Tour.
She dominated junior Grand Slams and was ranked at junior No1 in 2006. She has since gone on to have some top results on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour with quarterfinals finishes at Palermo and the Japan Open as well as making the third round of Wimbledon.
New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic makes the main draw for the first time with a ranking of 60. She had a stirring run to the semifinals of the 2008 event, including beating then world No22 Vera Zvonareva in three sets in the quarterfinals.
The 20-year-old Kiwi had a number of significant results in 2008 making the semis at Memphis and Birmingham as well as the third round at Miami and Wimbledon.
In doubles she won three WTA titles – ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Tokyo and Luxembourg.
Also returning is the popular Tamira Paszek who will be 18 next month. She was a semifinalist at the 2008 event and throughout the year reached the final at Bali beating two top-20 players along the way.
With a ranking of 72 Paszek from Austria is the last of the 23 direct acceptances into the main draw singles.
“The 2009 ASB Classic field has plenty of variety with a lot of strength at the top, a lot of players who are at their career-high rankings and a number of exciting young players. Two of the talented teens announced today are a great attraction for the tournament in addition to Wozniacki who is the youngest player in the top-20.
Vaidisova is an established star who has already achieved so much including being in the top-10 while Pavlyuchenkova has so much talent and is most certainly someone to watch this year,” says Brenda Perry, ASB Classic tournament director.
There are a number of players such as 77th ranked Aravane Rezai of France the finalist in 2008 who just misses the cut-off for the main draw and may play the qualifying. Also just outside the main draw is former top-20 player Anna-Lena Groenfeld at 76.
The ASB Classic will also feature on-court coaching for the first time as part of an initiative on Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.
The tournament will once again feature audio and video podcasting as well as live scoring.
The ASB Classic featuring the Kia Motors Singles and Doubles will be played at the ASB Tennis Centre January 5-10, with qualifying January 3-4.
www.asbclassic.co.nz
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