Blindsided to Boulter: The ASB Classic 2026 womens’ tennis field

Source: Radio New Zealand

A seven-time Grand Slam champion, an Olympic medalist and the Philippines’ first top 50 player were among the initial 25 players confirmed for the 2026 ASB Classic women’s tennis tournament in Auckland.

A field that cut off direct entries at world number 92 for a WTA 250 tournament and included some of the sport’s most recognisable names did not happen by chance.

Tournament director Nicolas Lamperin spent months finding the players that were the right fit for the tournament starting 5 January.

Sometimes a situation fell in Lamperin’s favour, other times he needed to take a loss and move on.

“Relationships are key,” Lamperin said.

“We know that the fans want to see some famous names which is why we go for the highest ranked player, someone like Venus Williams would also fall into that category, but at the same time we need to refresh what we are doing year after year.

“It’s our ambition to bring the new stars of tomorrow to Auckland.”

Lamperin sometimes needed a crystal ball.

“For example the three young ones that we signed [Iva Jovic, Alexandra Eala and Janice Tjen] when we approached them they were ranked between 100 and 150 and six months later they are in the top 50.

“We scout the world of tennis on the yearly basis and we need to make decisions fairly early in advance to decide which players we want to bring to Auckland.

“You need to predict where the players are going to be ranked within the next six to 12 months and so far we’ve been right. It doesn’t mean we’ll get it right every year but it seems to be working and it brings really good balance to the draw between the top stars and the up and coming ones.”

The field would be headed by two proven stars at the highest level in Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina and American Emma Navarro, ranked 14th and 15th respectively in the current WTA world rankings.

The pair have both risen inside the top 10 and between them have won 19 WTA singles titles.

Svitolina, with a career high ranking of No. 3 in the world, was runner-up at the ASB Classic in 2024 to Coco Gauff, who had edged Navarro in the semifinals.

Eighteen-year-old American Iva Jovic, the first Filipino to make the world’s top 50 in Alexandra Eala, and 23-year-old Janice Tjen from Indonesia have chalked up five WTA wins between them already and will be seeded from third to fifth at the tournament.

Lamperin said the field “will give us some great match ups”.

“Matches that people aren’t used to seeing on the tour and new stories that we can create and start in Auckland.”

New Zealand’s Lulu Sun qualified directly under her world ranking for the tournament, which would allow a second New Zealander to compete as a confirmed Wild Card when the 32-strong field was finalised.

Not everything had gone Lamperin’s way in the process to locking in the field.

This year’s runner-up Naomi Osaka was to be returning to have another crack at winning the title after an injury-hit end to her latest appearance in Aotearoa, but she withdrew in November.

Osaka’s absence was not ground Lamperin wanted to cover, other than to express his “disappointment”.

“It was a personal decision from Naomi we were extremely disappointed, however we can’t sit still and do nothing, the only thing we could do was go after more players to replace her which is what we did with Elina and Emma so it worked out really well for us.”

While the Auckland tournament lost one player to Australia, with Osaka to play for Japan at the United Cup in Perth, Lamperin did get a player off an Australian tournament.

Britain’s Katie Boulter, who was plotting a full return to the sport after injury, would also get a Wild Card. A timely situation given this week she missed out on qualifying for the main draw of the Australian Open later in January.

“I approached Katie in July at Wimbledon and at the time she was close to the top 30 or 40 and she would go to Brisbane [International tennis tournament], the schedule changed because her ranking dropped and she had a few niggling injuries and now it makes perfect sense for her to start the season in Auckland and try and get as many matches as possible under her belt trying to get her ranking back up and be in contention for the season in the Grand Slams in the future.”

American Sloane Stephens, the 2016 ASB Classic winner, who has won eight titles including the US Open in 2017 also got a Wild Card.

A total of four Wild Cards would be given and six players would also get a place in the main draw through qualifying.

Initial 22 player field (with seeding and world ranking)

Elina Svitolina (UKR) 1, 14; Emma Navarro (USA) 2, 15; Iva Jovic (USA) 3, 35; Alexandra Eala (PHI) 4, 52; Janice Tjen (IDN) 5, 53; Magda Linette (POL) 6, 55; Wang Xinyu (CHN) 7, 56; Peyton Stearns (USA) 8, 63; Sonay Kartal (GBR) 9, 69; Donna Vekic (CRO) 10, 70; Francesca Jones (GBR) 11, 74; Varvara Gracheva (FRA) 12, 77; Camila Osorio (COL) 13, 78; Renata Zarazua (MEX) 14, 79; Elisabetta Cocciaretto (ITA) 15, 81; Petra Marcinko (CRO) 16, 82; Caty McNally (USA) 17, 83; Ella Seidel (GER) 18, 84; Alycia Parks 19, 85; Lulu Sun (NZL) 20, 90; Panna Udvardy (HUN) 21, 91, Sara Bejlek (CRO) 22, 92.

Main Draw Wild Cards: Venus Williams (USA), Sloane Stephens (USA), Katie Boulter (GBR).

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand