Rising stars Alexandra Eala and Janice Tjen are among the players in the initial entry list for the ASB Classic in Auckland next month. The WTA 250 event in New Zealand will take place on outdoor hard courts from Jan. 5-11.
Eala (No. 52) and Tjen (No. 53) will be making their debuts at the tournament. They are the fourth and fifth-highest ranked players in the field behind Elina Svitolina (No. 14), Emma Navarro (No. 15) and Iva Jovic (No. 35), who will be the top three seeds next month.
Venus Williams and Sloane Stephens, who won the tournament in 2015 and 2016, respectively, received wild card entries. The Americans are the lone two former Grand Slam champions in the field next month. Great Britain’s Katie Boulter also joins them as a wild card entry.
Williams won her 46th of 49 career titles in Auckland, defeating Caroline Wozniacki in the final over a decade ago. She’ll make her sixth appearance event, where she was also a finalist in 2013 and quarterfinalist in 2018.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion returned to tennis in July after a 16-month layoff, beating Peyton Stearns in Washington and taking Karolina Muchova to three sets at the US Open. This will be her first tournament since the US Open, and Auckland is currently her only confirmed event for 2026 for now.
“Well, for now, I can only confirm Auckland. We’ll see what happens after,” Williams said at the Charlotte Invitational on Dec. 4 where she faced Madison Keys in an exhibition.
Stearns, Donna Vekic, Varvara Gracheva and Lulu Sun are among other notable players set to compete next month.