Tennis : Kiwis Drawn Together In ASB Classic Qualifying - Greek Player Gets Main Draw Wildcard

Two New Zealanders will clash in the first round of the 2009 ASB Classic qualifying as Dianne Hollands and Kairangi Vano will take the court with the bonus of six WTA ranking points on offer, but also a potential clash with the qualifying top seed Mathilde Johansson of France, ranked at 85 in the world.

Hollands with no WTA singles ranking was too good for Vano on each occasion they played in recent domestic tournaments while the powerful Vano, who is ranked in the 600’s is 19-years-old, six years the junior of Hollands.

Dutchwoman, Michaella Krajicek returns to Auckland after having to withdraw out of the tournament the previous year as a main draw seed with a wrist injury. This time she is coming into the ASB Classic as the 203rd ranked player, but is still just 19 with a first round qualifying match against Carly Gullickson(United States), while highly-promising Croatian Petra Martic, 17 also faces an American in the form of Alexa Glatch.

The cut off for qualifying is Taipei’s Chin-Wei Chan at 190.
(Michaella Krajicek is a wildcard into qualifying that is why her ranking is below that of Taipei’s Chin-Wei Chan.)

Qualifying play starts at 9.30am, Saturday with the second round on Sunday and the final round held on Monday.

Meanwhile in the main draw, Greek player Eleni Daniilidou has been granted the third wild card. The 26-year-old who suffered from a bad right knee injury in 2008 has seen her ranking fall to 144 as a result. However she was able to win her fifth career singles title with victory at the Hobart event early last year.

The popular Daniilidou won the tournament in 2003 and 2004 and reached the top-15 rankings in 2003. She follows Kimiko Date Krumm(Japan) and Mariyana Lucic(Croatia) as the other main draw wildcards.

Qualifying Singles Draw.

Schedule of Play:
Saturday 3 January 9.30am start

Centre Court
Ekaterina Dzehalevich(BLR) v Elena Baltacha(GBR)
Followed by
Michaella Krajicek(NED) v Carly Gullickson(USA)
f.b
Di Hollands(NZL) v Kairangi Vano(NZL)
f.b
Petra Martic(CRO) v Alexa Glatch(USA)
f.b
Ayumi Morita(JPN) v Katie O’Brien(GBR)

Court 4
Kristina Barrois(GER) v Martina Muller(GER)
f.b
Tomoko Yonemura(JPN) v Stephanie Dubois(CAN)
f.b
Mathilde Johansson(FRA) v Anne Schaefer(GER)
f.b
Masa Zec Peskiric(SLO) v Olivia Sanchez(FRA)
f.b
Yvonne Meusburger(AUT) v Corinna Detoni(ITA)
f.b
Jorgelina Cravero(ARG) v Stefanie Voegele(SUI)

Court 6
Kathrin Woerle(GER) v Aiko Nakamura(JPN)
f.b
Neuza Silva(POR) v Julie Ditty(USA)
f.b
Rika Fujiwara(JPN) v Patricia Mayr(AUT)
f.b
Andreja Klepac(SLO) v Chin-Wei Chan(TPE)
f.b
Alberta Brianti(ITA) v Betina Jozami(ARG)