Erakovic pumped for month in Asia

After a so-so season, Marina Erakovic is planning a big end to the season in Asia.

The New Zealand No 1 has climbed up from 118 in the world from 134, where she was at the start of the year.

But after winning five matches at Wimbledon in June, the 28-yearold has only played in three tournaments and won just one match.

However, during her time away from the court she’s made a change with her coach, replacing the Spaniard Eduardo Nicolas, who she’d been with for two and a half years, with South African born New Zealander Wesley Whitehouse.

While their first tournament together didn’t go well, with Erakovic losing in the first round of qualifying at the US Open, to Yafan Wang from China 7-6 4-6 6-3, she is confident Whitehouse can make a difference.

‘‘It’s early days with Wesley, but I was hitting with him at the end of last year, when I was coming back from my knee injury and I really enjoyed it,’’ Erakovic said.

‘‘During the middle part of this year I felt it was time for me to make a change, I was happy with the work I did with Nico (Nicolas), but you get the feeling where you need to take the next step and start learning again, to refresh.

‘‘With Wesley, I was keen on the serving and the volleying, to have more of an aggressive game and he does that well.’’

Erakovic has lined herself up for WTA tournaments in Seoul, Wuhan, Beijing and either Hong Kong or Tianjin over the next month and then she’ll look at playing some smaller tournaments, depending on how she’s going.

‘‘Then there are a few $125,000 tournaments in November and I’m looking at those as a possibility,’’ she said.

‘‘But I’m really keen to get going in Asia and finish up the year well.

‘‘I’m trying to get those last tournaments in for the year and I feel like I’m ready to go and excited.

‘‘I’m pumped for this and I think I’m in a good mindset.’’

Erakovic won’t play in the New Zealand championships in early December and the lack of any decent opposition for her continues to highlight the poor state of women’s tennis in this country.

It’s possible she will spend a couple of weeks training in Melbourne before Christmas, before returning to Auckland for the ASB Classic in January.