New Zealand tennis No.1 Marina Erakovic is looking to kick on from a year that has given her a lift in confidence.

Erakovic, 25, is backing up from her best season on the WTA tour, which included a breakthrough WTA singles title in Memphis and a runner-up finish in Quebec City.

A winner of seven WTA doubles titles, the Aucklander also reached the final of three doubles events with Zimbabwean Cara Black.

While her career-high singles ranking of 39 was achieved in mid-2012, her present status as the world No.46 means she will start a year inside the top-50 for the first time.

“It was a great boost,” Erakovic said of 2013.

“I feel like I’m really comfortable in my game. I feel like I’ve improved.”

Erakovic gave credit to her coach, Christian Zahalka, and her preparations for 2014 have included a training camp with him in Florida.

“We have a plan and we’re trying to improve all the time,” she said.

“I hope we can build on this year and keep nudging forward.”

Erakovic will again be the crowd favourite when she opens her latest campaign in her hometown tournament, the ASB Classic, which starts on Monday.

Her first-round singles opponent is another unseeded player in 20-year-old American Lauren Davis, the world No.70.

The pair have not met before and the winner faces a potential second-round clash with top seed Roberta Vinci of Italy.

Erakovic has appeared eight times before in the Classic, with her best result being reaching the semi-finals in 2008.

She said she loved the support that she got from the local fans, but the first event of the season was always tough for players because of lack of recent match play.

Erakovic will also be involved in the doubles, where she and Black will resume her partnership.

Black is defending the title she won last summer with Australian Anastasia Rodionova.