Tournament of Champions In Sofia Was A Success

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 8th November 2012

The 2012 WTA Qatar Airways tennis tournament of Champions

Tournament of Champions In Sofia Was A Success

epa03458024 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark returns the ball to Nadia Petrova of Russia the final of the 2012 WTA Qatar Airways tennis tournament of Champions in Sofia, Bulgaria, 04 November 2012. EPA/VASSIL DONEV |

The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) announced that the Qatar Airways Tournament of Champions Sofia achieved new milestones for the season finale of the International series of events. This year the ‘Road to Sofia ’ comprised 29 tournaments on six continents, culminating in a six-day celebration of tennis in the Bulgarian capital

(October 30– November 4). Attendance at the event’s final exceeded 7,500, taking overall fan participation during the week to more than 30,000.

The Qatar Airways Tournament of Champions brought together the six highest-ranked winners of International titles in 2012, excluding those players that had qualified in singles for the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships in Istanbul , Turkey . The line-up included former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, former world No.3 Nadia Petrova of Russia, Italy’s Roberta Vinci, Hsieh Su-Wei of Chinese Taipei, China’s Zheng Jie and Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia. In addition, wildcards were awarded to Maria Kirilenko of Russia and Bulgaria ’s own Tsvetana Pironkova. Petrova and Kirilenko arrived fresh from their doubles triumph at Istanbul , where Vinci had also competed with Sara Errani.

After four days of play in Sofia , Wozniacki and Petrova, the Top 2 seeds, emerged from their respective Round Robin groups undefeated. Petrova then edged Vinci in a three-set semifinal while Wozniacki ended the hopes of local favorite Pironkova. In Sunday’s final, Petrova prevailed, 62 61 to win the 13th WTA singles title of her career – equal sixth most among active players, tied with fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova. For her efforts, Wozniacki rose from No.11 to No.10 on the WTA rankings, confirming her fourth consecutive Top 10 season finish.

The Qatar Airways Tournament of Champions attracted 90 accredited media to Sofia , from as far afield as China . Matches were broadcast to 25 countries, including across the Balkan region and to the United States (Tennis Channel), United Kingdom (ESPN UK), France (MCS), Italy (Super Tennis), Denmark (TV2) and Taiwan (Mega Stone). Host broadcaster BNT reported average daily viewership of 2.76 million households, in a country with a population of 7.4 million.

The four-year-old Tournament of Champions, was launched in Bali , Indonesia in 2009 and enjoyed three successful years there. Sofia is set to host the event for another two years, 2013-14.