2008 ASB Classic Announces Player Field, Will Live Stream Matches

The main draw 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 former world number one Lindsay Davenport.

The tournament which starts Monday, December 31 has 10 players ranked inside the top 50 in the world.

The draw will be headed by current 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. Zvonareva eventually lost to top seed Jelena Jankovic 7-6(9) 5-7 6-3 in front of an enthralled crowd.

Another player to watch for in the draw is Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues who is ranked at No. 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 quarterfinal appearances at San Diego and Los Angeles.

Kirilenko won the 2007 title at Kolkata and then reached the final at Seoul the following week, before losing to Venus Williams in three sets.

Two newcomers to Auckland are Dutchwoman Michaella Krajicek and Austrian Tamira Paszek.

Krajicek is ranked No. 33 in the world and was a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon this year and has three career singles titles to her credit.

Paszek will turn 17 next month and has a career-high ranking of No. 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.

The best performed player to ever appear at the ASB Classic is former number one Lindsay Davenport who has 53 career titles, two of them in her comeback after the birth of her first child.

The three-time Grand Slam singles winner sits at No. 72 on the rankings and will not be seeded for the ASB Classic. When the draw is done on Saturday, December 29 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 talent 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,” said Richard Palmer, ASB Classic tournament director.

The ASB Classic featuring the Sovereign singles and doubles will be held at the ASB Tennis Centre, December 31 – January 5, 2008 with the first two days of qualifying on December 29 – 30.

The 2008 tournament website will feature live scoring as well as live streaming of play plus audio and video podcasting by the ASB Wildcards.