In celebration of its 40th anniversary, the Women's Tennis Association announced on Wednesday that Singapore will host the WTA Championships, the most prestigious event on its calendar, from 2014-18.

Under terms of the record-setting five-year agreement, the top eight singles players and - for the first time - the top eight doubles pairs will compete for a record total purse of $6.5 million at the event.

The announcement follows an extensive global search and bidding process conducted by the WTA that elicited interest from 43 cities before the field was narrowed to three finalists - Tianjin, China; Monterrey, Mexico; and Singapore.

"It gives me great pleasure to announce that the sensational city of Singapore has won the right to host the WTA Championships, the WTA's crown-jewel season finale, for the next five years," said Stacey Allaster, chairman and CEO of the WTA.

"This is the largest and most significant WTA Championships partnership in our history. It's a record-breaker."

World Sport Group, a subsidiary of Lagardere Unlimited, with support from the Singapore Sports Council and the Singapore Tourism Board, represented Singapore during its winning bid.

"Singapore is honored to have been selected as host for the WTA Championships," said Lionel Yeo, CEO of STB.

"This world-class event is expected to draw local and foreign tennis fans and add to Singapore's reputation as a vibrant global city by complementing our existing lifestyle offerings."

Lim Teck Yin, CEO of the SSC, said, "We are thrilled that the WTA Championships will be coming to Singapore. This is an excellent opportunity for the sports industry to showcase its capabilities in hosting world-class events."

The 7,500-seat Singapore Indoor Stadium, located at the Singapore Sports Hub in the city's heart, will host the tournament.

The city will transform the year-end event into an international entertainment spectacle featuring new events, including WTA Future Stars and Legends exhibitions, trade symposiums and daily fan activities.

With Singapore added to the calendar, there will be 23 WTA events staged in the Asia-Pacific market beginning in 2014, marking the first time in WTA history that there will be more tournaments here than any other region in the world.

Singapore will become the ninth different city to host the WTA Championships following Boca Raton, Florida (1972-73), Los Angeles (1974-76, 2002-05), Oakland, California (1978), New York (1977, 1979-2000), Munich (2001), Madrid (2006-07), Doha (2008-10) and Istanbul (2011-13).

(China Daily 05/10/2013 page23)