The ATP wants China to host a major combined men's and women's tournament in place of the end-of-season men's Masters Cup, which it hopes to bring back to Europe in the future.

"We would ideally like to have one in China, in Shanghai or in Beijing," ATP executive Etienne De Villiers told a news conference at the Madrid Masters on Monday.

"It's a market that clearly, just by sheer physical size and population, is a great market. But it's also a market that's shown a great appetite for the sport.

"We are thrilled and delighted with how the Masters Cup has been run by our partners in China and Shanghai but we feel they can step up to the next level and have a combined event, which will be a bigger showcase.

"At the same time we will be able to bring the Masters Cup back to Europe which we feel is very important."

Organizers of the Masters Cup, which takes place in November, said in March this year that they wanted the tournament to stay in Shanghai until at least 2008.

De Villiers said the ATP also wanted to add a combined tournament to the European calendar in the period leading up to the French Open in May.

He explained that Madrid would be a strong candidate to hold the event but added that Rome and Monte Carlo were also interested.

"There are at least three contenders for the position," he said. "We will weigh up independently, objectively and transparently the merits of each of the applications."

The ATP executive also explained that the organisation was finalising plans to introduce round-robin formats and Sunday starts at a number of tournaments next year as a way of ensuring that big-name players remain throughout the week.

"We have invited tournaments to volunteer and we are in the process of evaluating... before we make a final decision. But we will probably have a good 12 tournaments or so and maybe more experimenting next year," he said.

(China Daily October 18, 2006)