"It's always tough, these sort of turnarounds, but you do the best you can," Erakovic said. "It's always difficult when you hop off a plane and you go play, so you just make sure the body's feeling all right and hopefully get another good match."
Advancing to the semifinals of the doubles in Auckland would have precluded that possibility, meaning today's loss arrived with mixed emotions.
"If we had won today, I probably wouldn't have played the qualies in the singles, because it would have just been too tough. But just getting over to Australia, getting on the courts there and getting used to the conditions, it's probably a good thing no matter what happens with the tennis."
After Erakovic was yesterday knocked out in the second round of the singles by Czech Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova, the Kiwi and Puig were this afternoon edged by second seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka. A super tie-break was required to settle the match after Erakovic and Puig fought back from a set down but the Czech pair proved fair too strong in the decider, winning 7-6 3-6 10-5.
"It was a really close match," Erakovic said. "Andrea and Lucie are a very good team so we knew it was going to be tough but I think we played better than our first round. If we continue like this, it'll be good."
Erakovic and Puig will again team up at the Australian Open in Melbourne, despite the pair going their separate ways next week. While Puig heads to Hobart, Erakovic will join Spaniard Arantxa Parra Santonja in the doubles at Sydney.
In the first of the evening matches, Venus Williams booked her place in the semifinals after surviving a tense two set battle with Russian Elena Vesnina.
The world No 19 breezed through the first set but had to overcome a spirited challenge from Vesnina in the second, before finishing the match in clinical fashion to win 6-2 6-4 in 82 minutes.
With her right shoulder heavily strapped, it looked doubtful Vesnina could contend with her rival's power and wide ranging shot selection, and that was certainly the case through a one-sided first set.
Trailing 1-0 in the second, Vesnina managed a solid serving game and upped her aggression to twice draw level and make it 2-2.
An erratic period of play from Williams then allowed Vesnina to break serve and go a game up. With the crowd's backing she clung on grimly through an incredible 12 deuces to make it 4-2.
Williams swiftly reduced the margin to level and from there she powered through the last four games to claim victory.
She will now face compatriot Lauren Davis in tomorrow's semifinal, after the 21-year-old showed tremendous resolve to topple Poland's Urszula Radwanska in three sets.
Davis surprised by coming back from a first set belting to trump Radwanska 2-6 6-2 6-1 in just under two hours.
Despite entering her sixth match of the tournament, the Polish qualifier showed few signs of fatigue as she controlled the opening set.
The tide turned early in the second however, as Davis began hitting strongly in the rallies and capitalising on errors to wear her opponent down.
Davis managed a crucial break early in the third set and from there went unchallenged as the week's intense workload took its inevitable toll on Radwanska.
