Tennis: Belgian signs for ASB Classic

Belgian Yanina Wickmayer is the latest signing for January's ASB Classic tennis tournament.

Wickmayer, 20, played in the Auckland tournament last year, where she was knocked out in the first round.

However, she had bounded up the rankings, having started this year at No 67, to sit No 18.

She won her first two WTA titles this year, at Estoril in May and Linz in August, and surprised by reaching the semi finals of the US Open early in September, losing to eventual beaten finalist Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark.

Wickmayer, 1.82m tall, puts her improvement in the past year down to sheer hard work.

"It's mostly the work I've put in over the last couple of years," Wickmayer said today.

"I've kept on trying to improve my game, improve mentally and physically, and this year I've got really strong in that. All the pieces of the puzzle just started to come together."

Wickmayer is the second player in the world top 20 to sign on for the Classic, after China's Li Na, who is world No 15.