AFP, Wellington :
Former world number one Venus Williams begins fine-tuning for the Australian Open against a player barely half her age when the WTA Auckland Classic begins on Monday.
Williams, the defending Auckland champion, found herself on the right side of the draw released on Saturday with a first-round match against 18-year-old Russian Daria Kasatkina.
The other former world number ones in the tournament, Ana Ivanovic from Serbia and Dane Caroline Wozniacki, are both in the bottom half of the draw.
Wozniacki, who lost to Williams in the final last year, will play big-hitting American Sloane Stephens in the first round with Ivanovic’s opponent to be drawn from this weekend’s qualifying tournament.
Williams, who arrived in Auckland on the comeback trail last year and ranked 47th in the world, has since regained a place in the top 10 for the first time since 2011 and returns at number seven in the rankings.
She turned professional in 1994, three years before the 75th-ranked Kasatkina was born.
Ivanovic is another former Auckland champion, winning in her only previous appearance here in 2014, while Williams beat Wozniacki in the 2015 final 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
If the players progress according to seedings, Wozniacki will meet Ivanovic in the semi-finals where Williams should face fourth-seed Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova.
