Tennis: Marina Erakovic awarded wild card for ASB Classic

New Zealand's Marina Erakovic will be in the main draw of the ASB Classic. Photo / Photosport

New Zealand tennis No1 Marina Erakovic has been awarded a wild card for the ASB Classic.

The 28-year-old has played the tournament 11 times, reaching the semifinals in 2007.

"This tournament means a lot to me and to play again in front of my home crowd in 2017 is just as exciting as the first time I stepped out on to that centre court, which was a long, long time ago," Erakovic said.

Tournament director Karl Budge said Erakovic had been rewarded for her long reign as New Zealand's best singles player.

Erakovic, who suffered an injury setback last year, has replaced her Spanish coach Eduardo Nicolas with South African born New Zealander Wesley Whitehouse. This will be their first tournament together on home soil.

"She is working hard at her game with Wesley and we have seen her go deep at tournaments at our level around the world and here before. I hope we can see the best of her again in 2017," Budge said.

The Aucklander won seven consecutive matches to work her way through qualifying to the final of a WTA event at Rabat in April. She lost at the final to world No15 Timea Bacsinszky. She impressed again at Wimbledon, coming through qualifying before losing in the third round for former No1 Jelena Jankovic.

Erakovic has played deeper into the 2016 season than has been her practice in the past and hopes to enter 2017 with good fitness.

"The main thing for me is that I am healthy, training well, and very much looking forward to a fresh start in 2017."