Tennis: ASB Classic day three preview

2015 ASB Woman's Classic Tennis tournament. Venus Williams of USA against Jana Cepelova of Slovakia in the first round. New Zealand Herald Photograph by Nick Reed.

Herald tennis reporter David Skipwith previews day three of the ASB Classic in Auckland.

Big guns return to centre court
The tournament's stars are again on show today, with seven-time Grand Slam singles champion Venus Williams and top seed Caroline Wozniacki both in action.

Third seed Williams will take the court in the early afternoon to face Japan's Kurumi Nara, then Wozniacki will headline the evening action against American wildcard Taylor Townsend.

Fans will get great value for money with three other enticing singles matches scheduled for the main arena.

The action starts at midday with Croatian young gun Ana Konjuh against Russian Elena Vesnina, while Kiwi favourite Marina Erakovic will take on Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in the last match of the day session.

The evening card will be rounded out with an all American contest that sees sixth seed Sloane Stephens take on 21-year-old Lauren Davis.

Grandstand Court to host plenty of action
Seats at the Grandstand Court will also be in hot demand with some mouth-watering singles and doubles matches running throughout the day.

Midday will see Belgian Kirsten Flipkens face rising American Coco Vandeweghe before a clash between two first round surprise winners, Poland's Urszula Radwanska and Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova.

The Italian Job continues
They may be out of the tournament but world ranked No 1 and multiple grand slam winning Italian doubles pairing, Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, will be looking for some consolation when they meet USA's Nicole Melichar and German Laura Siegmund in the third match on the Grandstand Court.

The Grandstand Court then closes with a late afternoon match between German pair Julia Goerges and Anna-Lena Groenefeld, and Croatian-USA pairing, Petra Martic and Anna Tatishvili.

Wozniacki feels at home
It's only early, but the omens are already good for Danish star Caroline Wozniacki. She seems relaxed and happy in Auckland - and enjoyed an extended sightseeing trip on Monday around the Hauraki gulf. "We went to Waiheke and had dinner there and we went to Great Barrier as well which was nice. I got to see some beautiful places."

Stat of the day
It's already been a tournament for the underdogs - but can it continue today? After the first round three of the eight seeds have gone - Sara Errani, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Mona Barthel - while two wildcards and two qualifiers remain in the tournament.
Stat of the day.