Steve Deane: Quality draw should bring in the punters

Chinese star Li Na, the world No 15, is a likely challenger for the title. Photo / Richard Robinson

Will they come?

That is the big question hovering over this year's ASB Classic tennis tournament.

Not the players of course, most of whom are already here and have been practising in the blustery conditions for much of the week. No, it's the enthusiasm of the spectators for a field rammed with quality but lacking a superstar drawcard that remains to be seen.

In recent years the presence of Lindsay Davenport and Elena Dementieva has ensured bumper attendances, with 2008 setting a record that was eclipsed in 2009.

Auckland's tennis public flocked to see the big guns in action, with spectators rewarded with classy, clinical but ultimately untroubled runs to the title from two of the game's elite players.

This year is different. Five of the world's top 20 players will be on display, but none has the Grand Slam-type pedigree to suggest they will be a shoo-in for the title.

Any one of the top four seeds looks a decent bet, but so too do the likes of former finalists Aravane Rezai (seeded sixth) and Elena Vesnina (fifth).

The floater in the draw is world No 16 Yanina Wickmayer, whose late entry after a suspension was lifted means she enters as a wildcard instead of third seed.

Wickmayer's curious situation could produce an all-top 20 encounter as early as the first round, surely an unprecedented scenario for a lower-tier tournament.

And with Marina Erakovic on the comeback trail and Sacha Jones flying up the rankings after a storming finish to the 2009 season, there will also be a genuine two-pronged Kiwi challenge.

Erakovic has a solid 6-5 record in Auckland, having never lost in the first round in four appearances.

Jones was blown out by top seed Vera Zvonareva in her first appearance in 2007 and sat out last year. So there will be much interest in how the 19-year-old fares after a confidence-boosting run of the lower-tier ITF circuit that saw her pass the injury-hit Erakovic in the rankings.

Top-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta, the world No 12, is the tournament's class act. Her eight singles titles is the best in the field by a distance, she has been as high as 10 in the rankings and claimed the scalps of Grand Slam winners Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova in 2009.

There also appears to be a touch of the maverick about the Italian, who missed a conference call with the New Zealand press when she was announced as the top seed and never really offered a reason. Due to fly in late last night, she is also one of the last competitors to arrive and as such has hardly been involved in promoting the event - an oddity for the top drawcard.

Another likely to challenge for the title is Chinese star Li Na.

The world No 15 is coming off a typically consistent 2009 which saw her ranking rise to a career high despite her failure to add to her two career titles.

Having posted a host of records such as becoming China's first title winner and first player to make it into the quarters of a Slam, Li is the main flag bearer of China's expansion into tennis.

Li was billed as a major sporting superstar in the world's most populous nation but those reports might have been a touch exaggerated, she said.

She wouldn't describe herself as famous.

"Maybe people know my name but they wouldn't [know] my face ... But tennis is getting much, much bigger in China."

Organisers hope Li's presence will help the tournament to tap into Auckland's significant Chinese population, something she says happens regularly at tournaments all around the world. "I hear them saying 'come on' in Chinese," she said.

There may be no Grand Slam winners in the singles draw but that certainly isn't the case in the doubles, where the No 1 ranked pairing of Cara Black and Liezel Huber head a strong field. Black and Huber have topped the rankings since November 2007, and have compiled six Grand Slam titles in an intermittent partnership.

Their major competition should come from Spaniards Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual, who won their second straight French Open title in 2009 - although the pair have not yet confirmed they will be playing together.

Pennetta is also a highly rated doubles player, while Erakovic, who will play with Slovakian Polona Hercog, also has three WTA doubles titles to her credit.

The answer, then, should be yes. The fans should come.

With no withdrawals reported or expected, Classic director Brenda Perry is upbeat. "It is an historic moment to have five players in the world's top 20 ... It is just fantastic that the tournament has reached this status."

PEN PICS

FLAVIA PENNETTA

*Entry ranking: 12
*Seed: 1
*Country: Italy
*Birthdate: February 25, 1982
*Birthplace: Brindisi, Italy (resides Verbier, Switzerland)
*Plays: Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
*Highest singles ranking: 10, August 2009
*Career singles titles: 8

LI NA

*Entry ranking: 15
*Seed: 2
*Country: China
*Birthdate: February 26, 1982
*Birthplace: Wuhan, China
*Plays: Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
*Highest singles ranking: 15, October 2009
*Career singles titles: 2

YANINA WICKMAYER

*Entry ranking: 16
*Seed: Unseeded wildcard
*Country: Belgium
*Birthdate: October 20, 1989
*Birthplace: Lier, Belgium
*Plays: Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
*Highest singles ranking: 16, November 2009
*Career singles titles: 2

FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE

*Entry ranking: 17
*Seed: 3
*Country: Italy
*Birthdate: June 23, 1980
*Birthplace: Milan, Italy (resides, London, England)
*Plays: Right-handed
*Highest singles ranking: 11, January 2006
*Career singles titles: 2

VIRGINIE RAZZANO

*Entry ranking: 19
*Seed: 4
*Country: France
*Birthdate: May 12, 1983
*Birthplace: Dijon, France (resides Nimes, France)
*Plays: Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
*Highest singles ranking: 19, September 2009
*Career singles titles: 2

THE KIWIS

SACHA JONES

*Entry ranking: 167
*Seed: Unseeded wildcard
*Country: New Zealand
*Birthdate: November 8, 1990
*Birthplace: Auckland, New Zealand
*Plays: Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
*Highest singles ranking: 167, November 2009
*Career singles titles: 0

MARINA ERAKOVIC

*Entry ranking: 235
*Seed: Unseeded wildcard
*Country: New Zealand
*Birthdate: March 6, 1988
*Birthplace: Split, Croatia (resides Auckland, New Zealand)
*Plays: Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
*Highest singles ranking: 49, July 2008
*Career singles titles: 0