HK to host new WTA event next year
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, November 22, 2013
China's Hong Kong will next year host its first tennis tournament on the international tour for more than a decade when it stages a WTA competition, organizers said yesterday.
The week-long Hong Kong Tennis Open in September 2014 will be played in Victoria Park, the city's major downtown green space, and there are hopes of attracting the international stars of women's tennis.
"Hong Kong has never held a WTA tour event before," said Tom Reed, a spokesperson for the Hong Kong Tennis Association which is organizing the event.
"It's to be a major event on Hong Kong's calendar."
The tournament will have a prize pot of US$250,000 and include one top-10 player.
"We are exploring all options on which player. We are hoping to have a very strong field with good representations from Chinese, local and some top international players," Reed said.
Organizers added they hoped the tournament, which was secured with financial help from the Hong Kong government, would become a regular event.
The city hosted the ATP Hong Kong Open until 2002.
The Hong Kong Tennis Classic, an exhibition event which attracted some of the world's top players, including Roger Federer and Venus Williams, was cancelled in 2012 due to lack of sponsorship.
Meanwhile, top-ranked Serena Williams will defend her title at next month's Brisbane International among a powerful women's field in preparation for the Australian Open.
Williams' opponents at the December 29 and January 5 Brisbane tournament will include six of the world's top-10 players. The field announced yesterday includes No. 2 Victoria Azarenka — the 2009 champion — Maria Sharapova, Jelena Jankovic, Angelique Kerber and Caroline Wozniacki.
The men's field is headlined by 17-time grand slam champion Federer, whose rivals include top-20 players Kei Nishikori of Japan, Gilles Simon of France and Kevin Anderson of South Africa.
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