KEY POINTS:
Something a little different happened at the ASB Classic 12 months ago.
The tournament still had a bevy of top women's players, including former world No 1 and eventual winner Lindsay Davenport, as well as the usual offering of strawberries and good summer weather.
The main difference was that a New Zealander was in contention. That hadn't happened since Belinda Cordwell made the semifinals of the tournament 18 years earlier.
Marina Erakovic's run into the semifinals of last year's tournament, together with the class of Davenport, became talking points in New Zealand sport for a week last year.
It wasn't a lucky run, either, given she claimed the scalp of then world No 22 and tournament top seed Vera Zvonareva in the quarter-finals before being stopped by hard-hitting Frenchwoman Aravane Rezzai in the semis.
What made it all the more significant was that Erakovic didn't stop there, rising more than 100 places in the world rankings in the space of six months to become the first New Zealander to break into the top 50 in more than a decade.
Needless to say, it was a breakthrough year for the 20-year-old
(despite the fact it ended with eight-straight first-round exits) and she looks back fondly on the 2008 ASB Classic.
The year started well for her. Not only was she injury-free and went in on the back of a solid training programme, but she also received a friendly first-round draw against fellow Kiwi Ellen Barry, who was ranked 387.
"It was a good draw," she admits. "I knew how she played and she wasn't seeded. But, then again, I was expected to win so there was more pressure on me.
"Going into it, I was more comfortable than I expected and I played solidly while she was very nervous."
It set up an enticing second-round match against 67th-ranked American Ashley Harkleroad.
It was the first time the pair had met and Erakovic always felt like she had the edge even though it went to two tiebreaks.
"I think she was upset," she says. "I was a bit of an unknown and she was a little angry that she was losing to me. Plus I had the crowd on my side.
Awaiting her in the quarter-finals, however, was Zvonareva, a two-time ASB Classic finalist and winner of seven WTA tour titles and almost US$5 million in career earnings.
If Erakovic had been beaten, as most expected, there would have been no disgrace. After all, no Kiwi had even got past the second round since Cordwell in 1990.
"I approached it a bit differently in that I told myself that I wasn't going to start blasting winners and play over my head," she explains. "I was going to be steady. I don't think she expected that.
"I was steady and consistent and hitting the right shots, which threw her a bit. In the third set it looked like she had me but when you're playing against someone like that and you have the crowd supporting you it lifts you. That's what helped me in the third set. I was down but got back up and started to play more aggressively - that won me the match in the end.
"It was the biggest win in my career. At the start it felt like I was floating on air. I was really happy. I remember walking into the locker room afterwards and it hit me then that I had beaten the world No 22. It was an incredible feeling of achivement. It's something every athlete works towards."
It was then that the buzz really started. Erakovic featured on the front of newspapers, led news bulletins and became the topic of water-cooler conversations.
The only way she avoided being caught up in the hype was to avoid home, where the phone was ringing off the hook. She would go to a friend's house to recuperate after a match because, as she said, "I needed to find a peaceful place".
Centre court on semifinal day is not the most subdued environment and there were a few nerves rattling.
Rezzai had moved through the tournament largely untroubled. She accounted for former champions Eleni Daniilidou and Katarina Srebotnik in the previous two rounds and was now feeling the pressure of being pitched against the local favourite.
"I was aware she was quite a big hitter and was playing well," Erakovic says. "She was going to take it to me and she started whacking straight away. I was a little surprised by that. I just think I didn't play enough in that match. Maybe I was a little tired, because I was still playing the doubles, too. It just didn't add up.
"I was disappointed and I realised it was a missed opportunity. I knew I had a chance and she was beatable.
"But I also understood I'd made it to the semis and had beaten a very good player to get there. There was disappointment but a sense of achievement as well."
Erakovic would love to be able to do everything the same again in the hope of at least replicating what she achieved at this year's ASB Classic but tennis doesn't work like that.
She went back to Amsterdam to train with her Dutch coach Michael Schaeppers, as she did last year, but had to return early because of injury. She only picked up a tennis racquet again last weekend and even planned to have a hit on Christmas Day to make up for lost time.
And then there's her dreadful run of first-round exits hanging over her.
"I would like to fix it with the click of my fingers but it's not that easy. It's just a matter of getting the preparation and playing matches and getting my body 100 per cent and results will come from there."
After a few years in the 'potential' category, Erakovic can say that from experience. And she has the 2008 ASB Classic in a large part to thank for that.
* Five contenders for 2009
Elena Dementieva (Russia)
World ranking: 4
Career-high ranking: 4
Career singles titles: 11
Career earnings: US$10,627,266
Age: 27
Dementieva might never have made it as a tennis player. As a seven-year-old growing up in Moscow, her parents tried to enrol her at the pre-eminent sports clubs but she was rejected by both Dynamo and the Central Red Army Club, who said she had minor imperfections in her movement. The Spartak Club eventually accepted, where she fell under the guidance of Marat Safin's mother Rauza Islanova.
The lanky Russian has developed into one of the most consistent players on the women's tour and has been a feature of the world's top 20 since 2000, when she picked up silver at the Sydney Olympics and was also a semifinalist at the US Open. She confirmed her credentials as a top player in 2004 when she was runner-up at both the French Open (she lost to Anastasia Myskina in the first all-Russian Grand Slam singles final) and US Open (she lost to Kuznetsova in the second all-Russian Grand Slam singles final). She is still searching for that elusive first grand slam but picked up gold at this year's Beijing Olympics.
Dementieva is the highest-ranked player to ever play in the ASB Classic and she has also been ranked as high as No 5 in doubles (April 2003).
Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark)
World Ranking: 12
Career-high ranking: 12
Career singles titles: 3
Career earnings: US$878,808 (including $701,455 in 2008)
Age: 18
One of the rising stars of the women's tour, Wozniacki had a breakthrough year in 2008 rising from No 60 to 12. She won three singles titles in quick succession (Stockholm, New Haven, Japan), becoming the first Danish woman to win a WTA event, and reached the fourth round at both the Australian and US Opens. The 2006 Junior Wimbledon champion and self-confessed Harry Potter fan was always destined to do well in sport considering her father played professional football in Poland and Denmark, her mother played volleyball for the Polish national side and her brother is a professional footballer in Denmark.
Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia)
World Ranking: 20
Career-high ranking: 20
Career singles titles: 4
Career earnings: US$4,208,800
Age: 27
The 2005 ASB Classic champion will return to Auckland for her seventh time next month and at a career-high ranking of 20. 2008 was her best season in both singles and doubles, even though she hasn't won a singles title since Stockholm four years ago. The biggest difference was her record against top-10 opponents - she had only achieved the feat four times in her career but did it five times in 2008, including twice at grand slams. She reached the fourth round of both the French and US Opens, including wins over Serena Williams at Paris and Svetlana Kuznetsova at Flushing Meadow.
Srebotnik is also the third-ranked doubles player in the world with 20 titles to her name as well as a finalist at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon. When she's not chasing fluffy, yellow balls around a court, she calls Dubai home.
Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic)
World Ranking: 41
Career-high ranking: 7 (May 07)
Career singles titles: 6
Career earnings: US$2,603,935
Age: 19
Vaidisova seemed destined for the top when she burst onto the scene as a 15-year-old in 2004. She won her first WTA title that year, becoming the sixth-youngest winner of a WTA event, and backed that up with three titles in three consecutive weeks the following year. In 2006 she made it through to the semifinal at Roland Garros and became the fifth-youngest player in history to surpass US$1 million in career earnings and last year rose to a career-high
No 7 in the world. This year, though, was something of a struggle and she plummeted to No 41 in the world on the back of 11 first-round exits.
Vaidisova ought to be taking home an agent's fee as well from Auckland, considering she helped with recruitment for the Heineken Open. Her boyfriend Radek Stepanek, who was formerly engaged to the Swiss Miss Martina Hingis, will play in the men's tournament the following week.
Shahar Peer (Israel)
World Ranking: 38
Career-high ranking: 15 (Jan 2007)
Career singles titles: 3
Career earnings: US$2,100,994
Age: 21
The Israeli has made more headlines for who she is and what she has done off the court than with a tennis racquet in hand. She once occupied the highly-commendable spot of No 15 in the world but is more well known for being the first Israeli tennis player to play in a Persian Gulf state when she played at the Qatar Open in Doha earlier this year. She has also completed her compulsory military service, although as an elite sportsperson she was given preferential treatment and spent most of her time in an office job. Next month will be Peer's visit to Auckland where she reached the quarter-finals in 2005 after winning through qualifying.
