Tennis: Arn confirmed to defend title

Greta Arn. Photo / Doug Sherring

Greta Arn did organisers no favours by toppling some big names on the way to this year's ASB Classic title but she has helped them out by agreeing to return for next year's tournament.

The unseeded Hungarian beat the first (Maria Sharapova), second (Yanina Wickmayer), fourth (Julia Goerges) and eighth (Sofia Arvidsson) seeds on her way to her second WTA title.

Arn became the feel-good story of the tournament, especially after it emerged her ranking was once so poor she had to take a job in the media and had been ripped off by an agent, which sent her into debt.

This year she has moved up from a ranking of 88 to her current 63, two places behind New Zealand No 1 Marina Erakovic.

"Greta is coming back," tournament director Richard Palmer confirmed. "It's always nice to get the defending champions back."

Yanina Wickmayer is also a possibility. The 22-year-old Belgian won the Classic in 2010, was runner-up this year and holds a ranking of 26.

Big-serving Wimbledon semifinalist and world No 18 Sabine Lisicki is also heading to Auckland and Palmer is hopeful of adding another couple of top-30 players before he confirms the full field next Wednesday.