Tennis | Major tennis tournament returns to Hengqin

The second edition of the WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai will be held between November 1 and 6, with 22 matches throughout the week at the custom-designed tennis center on Hengqin Island in Zhuhai.
The neighboring region’s event has launched its early-bird tickets, which went on sale recently. Tennis fans can watch the matches at RMB720 if they buy a ‘whole session package’, which provides admission to all matches during the tournament week.
According to China Daily, the price of a semi-finals and finals package is RMB580 while ticket prices of round-robin games within and between different groups are RMB160 and RMB80 respectively.
“You can see the world’s best female tennis players competing for USD2.21 million prize money, as well as all the fun, fine food and entertainment offered on site. After the success of the 2015 event, 2016 promises to be even bigger and better!” said Peter Johnston, Tournament Director of WETZ.
Last year, the event featured three former WTA World No.1 players, Venus Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, and Jelena Jankovic, along with rising stars Karolina Pliskova, Madison Keys, and Elina Svitolina.
This year Stefanie Graf, former WTA World No.1 and 22-time Grand Slam champion, will attend the upcoming tournament acting as the Tournament Ambassador for the 2016 WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai.
The event’s second edition will feature on-site carnival activities such as music, dance and art exhibitions, and will also house Singapore’s gourmet event Savor Food Festival. The festival will offer spectators Singaporean cuisines of top chefs from award-winning restaurants.
The tennis competition will feature a 12-player singles field consisting of players ranked No. 9 through 19 in the world, along with one wildcard in a four-group round-robin format.
The winners of each respective group will advance to the single-elimination stage of the event and the winner of the singles event will receive 700 WTA Ranking points, as reported by the media outlet. Meanwhile, the six-team doubles field will compete in a two-group round-robin, and the winner of each group will advance to the final.
Zhuhai will host the event at a 5,000-seat covered center court, in a complex that also features a seperate 1,500-seat court, four show courts and a total of 12 hard courts.