The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) announced today that Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic have qualified for this year’s BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. They are the fifth doubles team to qualify for the year-end event set to be staged at the Singapore Sports Hub October 23 through November 1.
“I’m very excited to qualify for the WTA Finals Singapore for the first time,” said Mladenovic. “It will be such a great first experience and I’m definitely looking forward to it. This year was such a great adventure with Timea – we had a great season and this is something big. We are very proud to qualify, it will be a wonderful atmosphere.”
WTA Rising Stars Babos and Mladenovic have a perfect 3-0 record in finals in 2015, winning titles at Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Internazionali BNL d’Italia – Rome and Grand Prix de SAR LA Princesse Lalla Meryem – Marrakech. The duo also reached the semifinals of Wimbledon, Miami Open, Mutua Madrid Open, Apia International Sydney and Topshelf Open – ‘s-Hertogenbosch. This will be their first appearance at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore, having narrowly missed qualifying in 2014. They join Martina Hingis/Sania Mirza, Bethanie Mattek-Sands/Lucie Safarova, Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina and Casey Dellacqua/Yaroslava Shvedova in the eight-team field, with three more teams yet to be determined.
The 2015 WTA Finals features the top 8 doubles teams competing for the WTA Finals Martina Navratilova Doubles Trophy, while the top 8 singles players compete for one of the most prestigious trophies in women’s tennis, the Billie Jean King Trophy. With a record $7 million in prize money on the line, the round-robin singles and doubles competitions will be the highlight of the 10-day tennis festival that will also include the WTA Legends Classic, WTA Rising Star Invitational and a fan festival.
Tickets for the general public start at S$16.90 and can be purchased through Sports Hub Tix www.sportshub.com.sg/WTAFinals, the official ticketing partner of the 2015 BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. Log on to the WTA Finals website www.WTAFinals.com for more information and follow on Twitter (@WTAFinalsSG) and Facebook (facebook.com/WTAFinalsSG).
Last year, new milestones were set at the WTA Finals with record highs for attendance, TV viewing and online audiences as fans from around the world traveled to Singapore and tuned in to the exciting 10-day sport entertainment extravaganza showcasing the world’s best female athletes. The event attracted 129,000 spectators, including 93,000 fans who attended matches at the Singapore Sports Hub, throughout the 10 days of on- and off-court sport and entertainment in the stadium, as well as in the fan festival which offered free access to the public.
In 2015, fans and spectators of the WTA Finals can expect the WTA to amplify engagement efforts by building a deeper connection with the fan base, delivering richer, more compelling digital content and creating money can’t buy experiences all in an effort to further its vision to become the most fan-friendly sport entertainment experience on earth.
The current Road to Singapore Singles and Doubles Leaderboards are as follows (as of October 5, 2015). The leaderboards are updated each Monday (every two weeks during Grand Slam events) and can be found at www.wtafinals.com.
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