Ballarat’s best tennis product will have an opportunity to win her way through to Australia’s grand slam singles event, which would be an enormous moment, having played in last year’s doubles event. The tournament begins on December 10 and will finish on the 16^th. 

Hives has lifted her ranking to 223 in the world, making her the fourth highest ranked player in the women’s field.

Hives will come up against the likes of the experienced Arina Rodionova (ranked 170 in the world), Ellen Perez (184) and young guns Jaimee Fourlis (205) and Lizette Cabrera (238).

Australian Fed Cup captain Alicia Molik said there was a top quality field this year.

“The women’s field is strong for the AO Play-off this year and we expect every match to be highly competitive,” Molik said.

“Lizette Cabrera, Ellen Perez, Zoe Hives and Astra Sharma have all had strong results on the Pro Tour so (they) will come in match fit.”