KEY POINTS:
Some time within the next day or so, Marina Erakovic should be confirmed as New Zealand's fourth singles tennis Olympian.
Olympic selectors Barry Maister, Mike Stanley and Simon Wickham spent part of their weekend pondering Erakovic's nomination for a spot in the singles field in August.
They will have had harder decisions to make. There are several reasons the 20-year-old Aucklander should be pencilled into the field of 64, to follow Kelly Evernden and Belinda Cordwell in 1988, and Brett Steven in 1996.
The NZOC has laid down a marker of athletes having the ability to reach the last 16. The formula for putting together the Olympic tennis field has eased Erakovic's path. She qualified for a direct entry on her ranking.
But tennis is one of the Olympic sports where an athlete's progress can be helped or hindered by the luck of the draw. Erakovic would need to win two matches in Beijing to fulfil the criteria.
When the draw is made, Erakovic, who has risen to a career-high ranking of 64, might have her name plucked out alongside, for example, world No 1 Serb Ana Ivanovic or No 55 Tamira Paszek of Austria, one offering a far better chance of progress than the other.
But her performances this year back her case for selection.
A year ago, she was ranked No 181. When the new list comes out today, she will probably be in the mid-50s. This year, she has reached three WTA semifinals - in Auckland in January, Memphis in March and at Birmingham last week.
In Birmingham it was a case of a Bondarenko too far for Erakovic. Having beaten Ukrainian fifth seed Alona in the quarter-finals, the New Zealander was beaten 6-3 6-2 in the semifinals yesterday by 12th-seeded sister, Kateryna. That ended a nine-match winning run, which took in her third ITF title of the year at Surbiton, England.
She has put together a 31-11 win-loss record in singles this year; in WTA events it is 16-9. Her wins include two over top-30 players - Russian Vera Zvonareva (then No 22) in Auckland; and Dutchwoman Michaella Krajiceck (No 30) in Miami in April.
The Aucklander is acknowledged to be among the fastest risers on the women's circuit this year.
Not that it really matters, but she has talked of the thrill of becoming an Olympian.
"I hope to play at the Olympics in Beijing. That would be amazing," she told the WTA website over the weekend.
In January, the Olympics would barely have rated a thought on her tennis radar. How things have changed.
Other Olympic athletes are due to be announced early this week.
Most interest will centre on the equestrian squad, where double gold medal winner Mark Todd is expected to be signed off for a sixth Olympic campaign in the eventing team. And world champion BMX rider Sarah Walker should be hearing good news this week, too, as the sport prepares for its debut appearance at the Olympics.
