KEY POINTS:
Women's tennis is hinting at a bright future in New Zealand. Sacha Jones and Marina Erakovic are two reasons for the good vibes.
SACHA JONES
It's all about taking steps for Sacha Jones as she eyes the tennis big time.
This year, those steps have been pretty big as the 16-year-old got herself up to world No 12-ranked junior player.
There were three wins on the junior circuit - at Malaysia in March, the Oceania closed championships in Fiji in August and a title in Bangkok last month - with a cluster of other notable efforts.
She made the quarter-finals in singles and doubles at the US Open juniors and has chalked up wins over players ranked inside the world top 300. For someone who still has two years' eligibility in the junior ranks ahead of her, and a ranking of 747, that's some going.
"It's been a big year," she said. "There's been a lot of travel and I've played a lot of matches and I think I've improved a lot."
The most important step has been a growing awareness of the mental side of tennis, which Jones reckons she's improved "a ton". Her mother, Sue, travels with her, and will be there again next year as her daughter looks to make the transition from junior events to the senior ranks.
Jones hopes to play up to 10 ITF pro tournaments, but her ambition is restricted by an age barrier aimed at forcing a graduated move into the full senior ranks. She is also looking at the junior Grand Slam events and a small number of other junior tournaments.
Jones and Marina Erakovic have met on court once, at Traralgon, Victoria, last month. The older player won 6-1, 6-0.
"It wasn't my finest match, to say the least," Jones reflected. But she's relishing being part of a mini surge in the women's game here.
"Marina is nearly three years older than me. I've still got a bit of juniors to go and Marina is starting to break through, so it's nice to have it stacked a bit, and it's a nice feeling to be part of that."
Her big brother, GD, was her hitting partner before the US Open in New York. He's playing tennis at the University of Illinois and Jones is looking forward to more family workouts ahead of the Classic starting on New Year's Day.
It's expected Jones will get a wildcard into the main draw. That might mean a tussle with world No 12 Jelena Jankovic, or 2004 French Open winner Anastasia Myskina first up. Daunting? You bet, but in a good way. "I'd love to play someone like that. It would be an awesome opportunity."
A couple of months at home to recharge batteries, catch up with friends and practise, then it's back to clocking up the air miles for a teenager who keeps up her studies by correspondence, but has her eyes on the grand centre courts of the world. "It will be a very big year, so it's nice to come home, have a break and sleep in my own bed."
MARINA ERAKOVIC
Marina Erakovic's tennis ambitions have been given a healthy boost by events of the past few weeks.
The 18-year-old had to put up with a grim injury record since the US Open last year when she fractured a rib. Injuries to a shoulder and her back followed. But the second half of this year has brought the smile back for the Auckland teenager.
In September she won a US$25,000 tournament in the Netherlands on clay, a surface she's still coming to grips with. October brought another US$25,000 title, when she beat Australian Casey Dellacqua 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 in Melbourne, followed swiftly by a US$50,000 title in Beijing, when Russian Alla Kudryavtseva was swept aside 6-2 6-2.
She had quarter-final losses in Shanghai and Shenzhen before retiring ill in her opening game at Kao-Hsiung.
But her world ranking is up to No 161, just the fourth New Zealand woman to crack the top 200, and she's got the top 100 in her sights for next year.
"I always thought I could be a top player," she said after returning from China this week. "That's always in my mind. Some times things don't go well and you get down on yourself and think, 'Is this worthwhile?' It's happened to me heaps of times but you work hard, keep going and it has given me confidence to know I can win these tournaments and play with the top players."
Erakovic can reflect on a year which has been "quite challenging, but also rewarding" and reckons her win on clay in the Netherlands was perhaps the most satisfying.
"The points are longer on clay, you have to think what you're going to do. Overall it's been beneficial to be on clay this year."
Erakovic wants to work on her fitness, which she feels caught her out in China and has her sights on picking up points, starting with the ASB Classic in Auckland from New Year's Day, for which she's sure to get a wildcard into the main draw.
Throw in Leanne Baker's advances in doubles and the burgeoning promise of Sacha Jones, and Classic tournament director Richard Palmer's words when the field was revealed this week are on the mark. No shouting from the rooftops but "there's cause for cautious optimism" about the state of the women's game here.
