Tennis: Erakovic to play French teenager

New Zealander tennis player Marina Erakovic faces a tricky first round draw in the ASB Classic next week.

Erakovic will play French 19-year-old Alize Cornet in the first round of the tournament, either on Monday or Tuesday.

It will be Erakovic's first event on the full WTA tour since she was injured in March, though she has played on the second-tier ITF tour in recent months.

Cornet is regarded as an exciting player and has ranked as highly as number 11 in the world, though she is currently down at number 49.

Erakovic reached as high as number 49 in 2008 before her injury. She is currently ranked 227.

Fellow New Zealander Kairangi Vano will not join her in the main draw, having been defeated 6-4 7-6 by Severine Bremond Beltrane of France.

Top seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy will play Jill Craybas of the United States, while second seed Li Na of China plays Kaia Kanepi of Estonia.

Draw (prefix denotes seeding):

1-Flavia Pennetta (Italy) v Jill Craybas (United States); Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) v qualifier; Alexandra Dulgheru (Romania) v Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia); Julie Coin (France) v 7-Aravane Rezai (France); 4-Francesca Schiavone (Italy) v qualifier; Stefanie Voegele (Switzerland) v Sania Mirza (India); Alize Cornet (France) v MARINA ERAKOVIC (NEW ZEALAND); Alberta Brianti (Italy) v 6-Elena Vesnina (Russia); 5-Virginie Razzano (France) v qualifier; Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) v Kimiko Date Krumm (Japan); Qualifier v Ioana Raluca Olaru (Romania); Julia Goerges v 3-Yanina Wickmayer (Belgium); 8-Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spain) v Magdalena Rybarikova (Slovakia); Shahar Peer (Israel) v Polona Hercog (Slovenia); Tatjana Malek (Germany) v Maria Kirilenko (Russia); Kaia Kanepi (Estonia) v 2-Li Na (China).

- NZPA