Tennis: Sharapova effect boosts ticket sales

Russian Maria Sharapova has been the star attraction at this year's ASB Classic. Photo / Dean Purcell

In a testament to the Maria Sharapova effect, the soldout sign has gone up for every day session of the ASB Classic tennis tournament in Auckland this week.

Organisers today said there were limited gate sales available for the three nights sessions, which are today, tomorrow and on Thursday.

Because of television coverage, Sharapova's matches on the 3200-capacity centre court are being scheduled for during the day.

Full houses are a rare occurrence for a WTA Tour event apart from the four Grand Slams.

Fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, who was in action before Sharapova today, said she was surprised by the number of fans for her match against local wildcard Sacha Jones.

"For sure it's a pleasure for the players to come here," she said.

"This is what we play for. Without crowds, it's not interesting to be out there. Even if they were not cheering for me today, still it was a pleasure to play in front of the crowd."

- NZPA