KEY POINTS:
So often the poor cousin in international tennis tournaments, the doubles at next month's women's classic is shaping as a spectacle.
Singles top seed and world No 12 Jelena Jankovic is set to join Slovenian Tina Krizan in a pairing which shapes as the dangerous floater.
"It is not often these days your singles top seed also plays doubles," said ASB Classic director Richard Palmer yesterday. "But the indications are that Jankovic is more than likely to play both."
The Sovereign doubles are already likely to have one of the world's most successful pairings as the top seeds, with eight-time Grand Slam winners Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spain) and her Argentine partner Paolo Suarez heading to the ASB Tennis Centre.
Pascual and Suarez have unfinished business in Auckland after they were beaten in the 2004 final in what still rates as one of the biggest upsets in the tournament's history.
Jankovic, down one place from her career-high 44 on the doubles rankings, and Krizan, once ranked 19 (in 2002) on the doubles list, have played regularly this year.
They reached the quarter-finals twice and went out in three sets at Wimbledon to Martina Navratilova and Liezel Huber in the second round.
Jankovic won her first doubles title in Birmingham this year.
Defending singles champion Marion Bartoli will be one of the first to arrive in Auckland when she touches down on Tuesday to begin preparations for the title she won here a year ago.
