KEY POINTS:
Expect at least two other players ranked in the world's top 25 to follow big drawcard Elena Dementieva into the field for January's international women's tournament.
The Monaco-based world No 5 Russian is the highest-ranked player to have appeared in the ASB Classic and is certain to be the top seed.
The US$220,000 ($353,550) Classic - part of the "international"-rated series of tournaments on the rejigged WTA as opposed to the big money "premier" events - is allowed just one player in the world top 10.
In the past five years, the Classic's top seeds have, at the time of entering the event, been No 14 (Paola Suarez), No 26 (Amy Frazier), No 9 (Nadia Petrova), No 12 (Jelena Jankovic) and this year No 22 (Vera Zvonareva). Those numbers justify the delight of tournament director Brenda Perry at snaring one of the world's finest.
"Elena brings a commanding presence to the court with a captivating mix of intensity, passion, power and femininity," Perry said yesterday.
But the tournament will need more than one player demonstrably superior to the rest of the field, so Perry has the feelers out for others to add some muscle to the event, and ensure Dementieva doesn't get an easy time of it.
Among those she's likely to be pursuing are Petrova, now world No 13 but who enjoyed her time in Auckland and wanted to return last year, only to be counted out because of her top 10 ranking.
World No 15 Caroline Wozniacki, the rapidly rising 18-year-old Dane, is much in demand, while No 14 Daniela Hantuchova and No 18, Belarusian teenager Victoria Azarenka, have been in Auckland before.
The 2005 Classic winner, Slovenian Katerina Srebotnik, is No 21, loves coming to Auckland where she has good friends, and is a strong chance to return. More names are expected within the next two weeks.
Dementieva deserves a pat on the back for entering Auckland. Under the new WTA rules, top 10 players can enter only one "international" tier event in the first half of the year.
That means if they lose form or suffer an injury they cannot drop to a lower-level tournament to regain form or fitness, instead being obliged to stick with the premier grade tournaments.
Dementieva, who turns 27 today, is celebrating a good year on the circuit. Apart from winning the Dubai title in February, she won the Olympic Games gold in Beijing, beating Serena Williams (No 3), Zvonareva (No 8) and Dinara Safina (No 2) in successive matches.
But her ambition remains to reach world No 1. She has been as high as No 4 and her desire to make it to the top remains undiminished.
"This is the biggest motivation for me," she said yesterday. "It's been a great year so far. I do believe I can reach the No 1 position."
Dementieva made the last four at both Wimbledon and the US Open this year, the quarter-finals at the French Open, and the last 16 at the Australian Open.
She has pocketed more than US$10 million in career earnings and is in the vanguard of the powerful surge of Russians who dominate the world rankings.
Five of the top 10 players are from Russia - No 2 Safina, Dementieva, Maria Sharapova (No 6), No 7 Svetlana Kuznetsova and No 8 Zvonareva presenting a formidable eastern block.
"It's nice to have someone from your country following you and playing with you because it's great motivation, and it's great competition," Dementieva said.
Her friendship with Perry and the fact she hasn't been to Auckland were factors in her choice of where to start her year.
"It's really important to have a good start to the new year, to play some good tennis and get some confidence before the Grand Slam."
ELENA DEMENTIEVA
Born: October 15, 1981, Moscow
Lives: Monte Carlo
World ranking: No 5
WTA singles titles: 10 (two this year, Dubai in February, Olympics in August)
Grand Slam finals: 2, beaten finalist French and US Opens 2004
This year: Semifinalist Wimbledon and US Open, quarter-finalist French Open, last 16 Australian Open
Career prize money: US$10.26 million
