Victoria Azarenk And Maria Sharapova Qualify For Istanbul

Written by: Staff on 6th September 2012

Victoria Azarenk And Maria Sharapova Qualify For Istanbul

epa03383260 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus hits a return to Samantha Stosur of Australia during their quarterfinals match on the ninth day of the 2012 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 04 September 2012. The US Open runs through Sunday 09 September 2012. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO |

Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova will clash head to head in the US Open semi-final but the Australian Open champion and her French Open winning rival are the first players to qualify for this year’s TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships, which will be staged at the Sinan Erdem Arena in Istanbul, Turkey from October 23-28.

Six other places remain up for grabs although Agnieszka Radwanska, Serena Williams and defending champion Petra Kvitova look to be close to qualification. Another U.S. Open semi-finalist Sara Errani, the first Italian ever to make the last four in the year’s concluding Grand Slam, is in contention for one of the remaining places along with Angelique Kerber, Li Na, Samantha Stosur and Marion Bartoli.

Errani and her doubles partner Roberta Vinci (who she beat in the quarter finals in New York ) are also the first team to clinch qualification for Istanbul where the prize money on offer will be $US4.9 million. “I congratulate Victoria, Maria, Sara and Roberta on becoming the first players to secure their places at the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships-Istanbul,” said Stacey Allaster, WTA Chairman and CEO.

“Maria and Victoria have had outstanding seasons with each earning Grand Slam titles, the WTA World No.1 ranking and Olympic medals, highlighted by Maria achieving her career Grand Slam. Sara and Roberta have been the stand-out doubles pair this year, winning seven titles including their first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros.

“We are delighted that Victoria, Maria, Sara and Roberta have qualified for the second staging of the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships-Istanbul, which launched with such great success last year in Turkey,” said Ayda Uluç, Turkish Tennis Federation President. “We are planning to raise the bar even higher at this year’s event and look forward to showcasing the talents of these extraordinary players to fans in Istanbul and around the world.”

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: Belarussian tennis news, Istanbul Open 2012, Maria Sharapova, Russian tennis news., TEB BNP Paribas WTA, Tennis News, US Open 2012, Victoria Azarenka