Depth and Talent for 2008 ASB Classic

The full player list for the 2008 ASB Classic has produced a few surprises, some new names and plenty of depth with a number of players in the hunt for the Sovereign singles title, one of them being world No.1 Lindsay Davenport.
 
The tournament which starts on Monday 31st December has 10 players ranked inside the top 50 in the world as well as three former champions and another close to making the cut.
 
Katarina Srebotnik the 2005 champion sits at 26 in the world and is also No.4 in doubles.  She won three doubles titles in 2007 and was a finalist in doubles at Roland Garros and Wimbledon and the year end champoinships, all with Ai Sugiyama.
 
The champion of 2003 and 04, Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) is back at 42 in the world after making three quarter finals and the semi finals at New Haven and Seoul breaking the US $2 million career prizemoney barrier along the way.
 
Meilen Tu is the third ranked American at 48th and was the 2001 champion.  She returns to Auckland for a record 12th time.
 
Anne Kremer the 2000 winner sits just outside the current cut-off for the direct entires.
 
The draw will be head by current world No.22 Vera Zvonareva from Russia who has been ranked as high as No.9 in the world and has five career titles.  In a year of injuries, Zvonareva was still able to put in some top performances including reaching the final at the ASB Classic for the second consecutive year.
 
In the 2007 final, Zvonareva was beaten in one of the most dramatic matches ever witnessed in the history of the tournament.  Eventually losing to top seed Jelena Jankovic 7-6 (9) 5-7 6-3 in front of an enthralled crowd.  Vera is a very popular visitor to Auckland.
 
There were other top performances throughout the year as the former Roland Garros quarter finalist reached the fourth round of the Aussie Open, the quarters at Indian Wells, Portoroz, Moscow and semis of Charleston and Quebec.
 
She also had victories against Amelie Mauresmo, Ana Ivanovic and Maria Sharapova.
 
Another player to watch for is Spaniard, Anabel Medina Garrigues who is ranked at 34 and has seven career singles titles to her credit after winning at Strasbourg earlier this year.
 
WTA glamour girl Maria Kirilenko also returns to Auckland.  The 20-year-old had a great finish to the year with quarter final appearances at San Diego and Los Angeles.
 
Kirilenko was a finalist at Kolkata and then won the title at Seoul the following week, beating Venus Williams in the final.
 
Also set to make the cut is 2004 finalist Ashley Harkleroad who has moved to 67th after wins at a US $75,000 tournament in the USA and two US $50,000 tournaments.
 
Two newcomers to Auckland are Dutchwoman Michaella Krajicek and Austrian Tamira Paszek.
 
Krajicek, 18 is ranked 33 in the world and was a quarter finalist at Wimbledon this year and has three career titles to her credit.  She was the former world No.1 ranked junior and is also the half sister of 1996 Wimbledon winner, Richard Krajicek.  She also won the 2004 US Open Junior Doubles with Marina Erakovic.
 
Paszek will turn 17 next month and has a career-high ranking of 41 after a year which had her reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon beating 17th seed Tatiana Golovin and 12th seed Elena Dementieva in consecutive matches before losing to fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.  She also made the fourth round at the US Open.
 
As a qualifier at age 15 years and nine months she won the WTA Tour title at Portoroz, Slovenia, one of the youngest in the games history to win a tournament.
 
The best performed player to ever appear at the ASB Classic is former world No.1 Lindsay Davenport who has 53 career titles, two os them in her comeback after the birth of her first child.
 
The three time Grand Slam singles winner sits at 72nd in the rankings and will not be seeded for the ASB Classic.  When the draw is done on Saturday 29th December all other players will be anxiously watching to see where Lindsay is drawn.
 
"The field is one with real depth and obvious class.  Lindsay Davenport has a record which speaks for itself.  There are several former champs in the player list too, while newcomers Michaella Krajicek and Tamira Paszek are real talents to watch.  The depth of the field between 20 and 50 is some of the best we’ve ever had and will mean it’s going to be difficult to pick a winner.  We also look forward to seeing New Zealand’s top women compete in this field as they have preformed extremely well of late,’ says Richard Palmer, ASB Classic Tournament Director.
 
The ASB Classic featuring the Sovereign singles and doubles will be held at the ASB Tennis Centre, 31st December to 5th January, 2008 with the first two days of qualifying on 29th and 30th December, 2007.
 
The 2008 tournament will feature live scoring as well as live streaming of play plus audio and video podcasting by the ASB Wildcards.

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