KEY POINTS:
Hopes are high that the fluid situation surrounding restructuring to the women's international tour will work in Auckland's favour.
There are two chief stumbling blocks for the future of the ASB Classic, as the Women's Tennis Association prepares to rejig the tour in 2009 - finance and getting class players.
The WTA is turning the tour from a four-tier circuit to two, with big money events as Series A and tiers three and four - which is the Classic's status - as Series B.
It wants to increase Series B prizemoney to US$225,000 ($327,000), from US$145,000, and tournaments to pay a one-off licence fee.
In Auckland's case, this would be US$450,000.
Auckland has sent its application to the WTA, and the decision is due in March.
Classic director Richard Palmer is confident the financial obstacle can be overcome.
Tournament officials are to meet sponsors in the next couple of months.
"On the financial count, it can be done," said Palmer.
"There are people who want the tournament to continue."
But the problem of securing top-class players could be more difficult to solve.
Initially, the WTA was ruling out top 20 players from appearing in any Series B event.
The latest word is that, subject to conditions, tournaments might have access to a top-10 player.
The worry for Classic officials is if a mooted US$1 million event in Doha is confirmed for the same week as Auckland and the Gold Coast, it would be hard to attract top players.
"If that happens there will be a bunfight for players," Palmer said.
He believes that if a Series A event is slotted into their week, Auckland and Gold Coast should be given some relief in access to leading players.
If Doha goes ahead, it will clearly have a severe effect on the other two tournaments.
For now, it's wait and see, as the WTA considers more than 50 expressions of interest from round the world.
