Singapore to Host Richer WTA Championships For Five Years

Written by: Staff on 8th May 2013

Singapore set to host the WTA Championshpis

Singapore to Host Richer WTA Championships For Five Years

epa03691489 The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Championships Singapore logo is seen at a press conference in Singapore, 08 May 2013. The WTA announced that Singapore will play host to its annual end-of-season tour championships for five years starting in 2014. EPA/STEPHEN MORRISON |

Singapore will host the WTA Championships for five years from 2014, with the Asian economic powerhouse winning out in the race for the $6.5 million event over rival bidders from Tianjin, China and Monterrey, Mexico.

The event which is ending a three-year run in Istanbul and will be expanded when it comes to the prosperous city-state next year.

The top eight singles players and the doubles teams meet in the late October play off to end the tennis season. Glittering Singapore, with one of the most open economies in Asia, already has a world profile through hosting the only night race on the Formula one circuit as well as drawing gamblers from all over Asia to the Marina Bay Sands casino.

“Your sensational city, the amazing city of Singapore, has won the right to host the WTA Championships for the next five years from 2014,” said WTA top executive Stacey Allaster, who called the contract “the largest and most significant WTA partnership in our history.”

The prize money increase follows the template of the four Grand Slams all significantly increasing their own layouts in order to head off any player discontent.

The tiny nation has a limited tennis history and last hosted an event in 1999 on the men’s ATP. In the early 1990s it was also the venue for a lower-level WTA tournament. The Championships will be played in the new SportsHub complex, whose construction is due to be completed in early 2014 at a cost of just over $1 billion.

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: Singapore tennis news, Sports, Women Tennis, Wta Championships