British Eurosport will broadcast live coverage of the season-ending TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships from Istanbul.
The finale to the WTA Tour season features this year’s top eight singles players and top four doubles teams, who will be competing for a share of almost $5m in prize money at the Sinan Erdem Dome from October 23-28.
The format of the WTA Championships is based on the ranking points which began at the start of the season, with the top eight singles players in the world competing.
Players are split into two four-person round robin groups, with the top two players from each group progressing to the knock-out stages.
This year’s singles field includes five Grand Slam champions and the eight qualifiers have won 21 of the 26 biggest events of the year including the Grand Slams, Olympics and WTA Premier-level events.
Listed in order of seeds, Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka, French Open winner Maria Sharapova, and Wimbledon, US Open and Olympic champion Serena Williams will headline the star-studded field.
They will be joined by Agnieszka Radwanska, Angelique Kerber, reigning WTA Champion Petra Kvitova, Sara Errani and Li Na.
Additionally, Samantha Stosur and Marion Bartoli will be the first and second alternates, respectively.
Serena Williams’ 9-1 record this year against the rest of the elite eight has certainly helped at the business end of tournaments this year.
She has won six of the biggest WTA titles, including two Grand Slams and the Olympics.
But she hasn’t just lifted her game against the best. Serena has barely lost any matches in recent times, winning 43 of 45 matches since the start of April, with the only losses coming to Virginie Razzano at the French Open and Angelique Kerber at Cincinnatti.
Now in its 42nd year, the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships has been staged in noteworthy locales as Boca Raton, Los Angeles, New York City, Munich, Madrid, Doha and Istanbul, where it moved to in 2011 and will remain through 2013.
Martina Navratilova has the most titles in the history of the prestigious tournament with eight, followed by Steffi Graf with five and Chris Evert with four.
Navratilova also has the tournament record with 11 doubles titles.
British Eurosport will have exclusive coverage of the season-ending WTA Championships from Istanbul, all of which will be available in high-definition.
Rob Curling will present all six days of action alongside three-time Grand Slam winner Virginia Wade and junior Wimbledon champion Annabel Croft,
They will be on hand to provide expert analysis in the studio, while Simon Reed, Chris Bradnam, David Mercer, Sam Smith and Jo Durie will be in the commentary box talking viewers through the action.
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WTA Championships 2012 – Singles Groups
Red Group [1] Victoria Azarenka (BLR) [3] Serena Williams (USA) [5] Angelique Kerber (GER) [8] Li Na (CHN) White Group [2] Maria Sharavova (RUS) [4] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) [6] Petra Kvitova (CZE) [7] Sara Errani (ITA).
Highlights – 9.15pm-10.45pm – British Eurosport Wednesday 24th October Day 2 – Round-robin matches Serena Williams bt Li Na Victoria Azarenka bt Angelique Kerber Maria Sharapova bt Agnieszka Radwanska LIVE – 2.45pm-9.00pm – British Eurosport Highlights – 10.35pm-12.05am – British Eurosport Thursday 25th October Day 3 – Round-robin matches Li Na bt Angelique Kerber Serena Williams bt Victoria Azarenka Sara Errani bt Samantha Stosur LIVE – 2.45pm-9.15pm – British Eurosport Highlights – 9.15pm-10.45pm – British Eurosport Friday 26th October Day 4 – Round-robin matches Maria Sharapova v Samantha Stosur Agnieszka Radwanska v Sara Errani Victoria Azarenka v Li Na LIVE – 2.45pm-9.15pm – British Eurosport Highlights – 9.15pm-10.45pm – British Eurosport Saturday 27th October Day 5 – Semi Finals LIVE – 12.15pm-5.15pm – British Eurosport Highlights – 11.00pm-1.00am – British Eurosport Sunday 28th October
Day 6 – Doubles Final LIVE – 12.30pm-2.30pm – British Eurosport Day 6 – Singles Final LIVE – 2.30pm-5.30pm – British Eurosport Highlights – 7.45pm-9.15pm – British Eurosport
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