Viktoria Azarenka has been awarded the main draw wildcard for the US$145,000 ASB Classic starting on Monday.
Azarenka, 16 from Belarus is the world's No1 junior player after dominating 2005 with wins at the Australian Open juniors and US Open juniors. She also picked up three Grand Slam junior doubles titles.
She replaces her friend from juniors, Kiwi Marina Erakovic who was forced to withdraw from the tournament with an arm injury.
The pair won the Australian Open junior doubles title together in January.
Although a prolific champion at junior level Azarenka is making a name for herself in senior tennis. She started 2005 with no ranking and is now 145 in the world after some solid results.
She reached the semifinals of the Guangzhou WTA Tier 3 event as a qualifier in September and won the US$50,000 tournament at Luxembourg and reached the final of the US$25,000 tournament in Augusta.
ASB Classic tournament director Richard Palmer said that Azarenka is a worthy choice for the valuable wildcard.
"Viktoria is a highly regarded junior at the top of the world and has also shown she can mix it with the senior players on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. Already she has moved her ranking to inside the top 150 and she's only 16 years old. It of course is a shame New Zealand's own teenager Marina Erakovic could not play as a result of injury but I believe Viktoria has plenty of potential and is a name we will hear of for a number of years to come," said Palmer.
The main draw commences Monday, January 2 at the ASB Tennis Centre, No1 Tennis Lane, Parnell.
Qualifying will be held Saturday, December 31 and Sunday January 1 at the Tennis Centre with free admission.
