Istanbul to host WTA tennis tournament for final year

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

Serena Williams won last year's TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championship in Istanbul. Hürriyet photo

The Sinan Erdem Dome in Istanbul will host a prestigious year-end tennis competition from Oct. 22 to 27, for the third consecutive year.

The TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships showcases the world’s best women tennis players as the Top 8 singles players and Top 4 doubles teams compete for a record-setting $6 million in prize money and one of the most prestigious titles in women’s tennis.

Serena Williams (USA), Victoria Azarenka (BLR), Agnieszka Radwanska (POL), Li Na (CHN), Petra Kvitova (CZE), Sara Errani (ITA), and Jelena Jankovic (SRB) will attend the championship. Unfortunately, Russian Maria Sharapova will not be able to attend the tournament due to injury.

In the women’s doubles, number one seeds Sara Errani (ITA) and Roberta Vinci (ITA) will compete against Nadia Petrova (RUS) and Katarina Srebotnik (SLO). Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) and Elena Vesnina (RUS) will play against Hsieh Su-Wei (TPE) and Peng Shuai (CHN) in another game of the women’s doubles.

Following two successful record-breaking editions, Istanbul is hosting the tournament for the third and final year in 2013. In 2012, the event attracted more than 73,000 fans during the six days of competition, the highest attendance for the year-end event since 2000.

The championship will broadcast coverage reaching 167 countries, and the overall-produced hours will increase by 25 percent including live matches, match replays and highlights.