Tennis Channel Set to Carry WTA Championships From Qatar
Tennis Channel’s comprehensive coverage of women’s tennis’ WTA Championships will begin Tuesday, Oct. 26, live from Doha, Qatar. The network will carry all singles and doubles matches during the season-ending six-day competition, more than 30 live hours of play overall, followed by same-day encore replays each evening in prime time. In all, Tennis Channel will devote close to 75 hours of on-air time to the prestigious annual event, which features the world’s top eight singles players and top four doubles teams, facing off in the last tournament of 2010.
Live coverage begins at 10:00 a.m. ET most days of the event, with prime-time encore replays underway at 8:00 p.m. ET (complete live schedule follows). Tennis Channel’s on-air team features network play-by-play announcer and former player Leif Shiras and Hall of Famer Tracy Austin who will again provide sideline reporting from Doha. They will be joined by analysts Lindsay Davenport, who reached the number one singles and number one doubles ranking during her playing days, and Corina Morariu, a former top-ranked doubles player in her own right.
The WTA Championships conclude the women’s professional tennis season each autumn with a format that separates the year’s eight best singles players into two groups of four. With each player competing against every other player in her group across three consecutive nights, tennis fans are assured of seeing each of the eight stars play at least three matches during the tournament. Following this the top two players in each group advance to a traditional, single-elimination semifinal and championship format.
In doubles, the top four teams of the 2010 season will play each other in a single-elimination semifinal and championship for the year’s tour doubles crown.
Two-time defending U.S. Open champion (and New York tennis darling) Kim Clijsters will be in Doha next week as one of the eight WTA Championships singles qualifiers. Clijsters, who won the season-ending event in 2002 and 2003, will be joined by a field that includes stars Caroline Wozniacki, Vera Zvonareva, Francesca Schiavone, Samantha Stosur, Jelena Jankovic, Elena Dementieva and Victoria Azarenka. The doubles tournament will feature American Lisa Raymond with Australian partner Rennae Stubbs, and American Vania King with Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova. Gisela Dulko/Flavia Pennetta and Kveta Peschke/Katarina Srebotnik round out the competition.
Tennis Channel’s 2010 WTA Championships Schedule
â–ºTuesday, Oct. 26 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Round-Robin Action
â–ºWednesday, Oct. 27 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Round-Robin Action
â–ºThursday, Oct. 28 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Round-Robin Action
â–ºFriday, Oct. 29 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Round-Robin Action
â–ºSaturday, Oct. 30 8 a.m.-9:30 a.m. Doubles Semifinal & 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Singles Semifinals, Doubles Semifinal
â–ºSunday, Oct. 31 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Doubles Final
â–º1 p.m.-2:30 p.m. Singles Final
For more information, visit www.tennischannel.com.
