KEY POINTS:
Expect New Zealand players to scoop all eight wildcards on offer for next month's women's international tennis tournament in Auckland.
It's already a given that Marina Erakovic, ranked a career-high No 161, and gifted fellow Aucklander Sacha Jones will get direct entry to the main draw of 32 for the ASB Classic starting on January 1.
Te Awamutu lefthander Leanne Baker, who has been in good recent touch, is likely to take up the third wildcard. Baker is ranked No 273, but on the improve.
There are four wildcards into the singles qualifying, and the likelihood is they will all go to Kiwis, with the smart money on Auckland's Shona Lee and Kairangi Vano, Canterbury's Ellen Barry and Diane Hollands, who is coming off an impressive year on the NCAA circuit while studying at the University of Arizona, receiving them.
The one snag facing officials is who should get the solitary wildcard into the doubles, Erakovic or Baker.
Baker is No 168 on the WTA doubles list, Erakovic No 276, so purely on rankings it might seem straightforward. But one counter argument is that the country's best player should be given preferential treatment.
The ideal would be for the pair to join up, thus solving the problem, but that is almost certainly out of the question. Tournament director Richard Palmer has until December 30 to make a decision, but he'll do it before then.
Palmer is also awaiting news on India's Sania Mirza, the world No 66, who was shaping as a crowd puller at the Classic. India have qualified for the Hopman Cup teams event in Perth, which clashes directly with the Auckland event.
All the signs point to Mirza withdrawing from the Classic. The official Hopman Cup website lists Mirza and Rohan Bopanna as the Indian team grouped with Croatia, Spain and the Czech Republic. But Palmer has heard nothing from WTA officials.
