Now fixed: WTA tour comes to Pörtschach
Austria is getting a second WTA tournament next to the Upper Austrian Open in Linz: From August 31, the women in Pörtschach will play at an event endowed with US $ 125,000.
by APA
last edit: Aug 05, 2020, 04:37 pm
For years, women's tennis in Austria had two WTA tournaments on the calendar. Only the Upper Austria Ladies held in Linz. The indoor tournament at Gugl celebrates its 30th edition in autumn. Most recently, a WTA open-air tournament was hosted in the Alpine Republic in Bad Gastein until 2015, now they want to make a virtue of necessity in Pörtschach and organize a long-term tournament.
The background for this short-term chance is the cancellation of the qualification for the US Open, as the major tournament from Cincinnati (ATP and WTA) was moved to Flushing Meadows immediately before the Grand Slam tournament. "The US Open gave the WTA and ATP money to hold events instead of qualifications," Peter-Michael Reichel, who sits on the WTA Tour Board, reported on Wednesday.
"We support the Carinthians and also the Pragueers who are holding a second tournament," said the Upper Austrian living in Switzerland. He did not want to give exact figures, but it is a support of the prize money.
Venue Werzer Stadium
It is obvious why players from the top 100 cannot compete. It is about those women who are normally not in the main Grand Slam field. "The whole thing is a substitute for the qualification, not the main field," clarifies the 67-year-old Reichel. However, it is conceivable that some players who do not take the trip to the USA will come to Carinthia. The Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova recently canceled her start in New York City.
The organizers of the WTA 125K tournament, which will be endowed with $ 125,000, want to provide details in a press conference on Thursday afternoon. The tournament is actually a challenger, at least this year. "They also want to continue, even if the support from the WTA is no longer there. That is the plan," revealed Reichel.
Reichel developed the Werzer Stadium on Lake Wörthersee in the 1990s and modernized the stadium thanks to financial support from the city and the countryside. Pörtschach then became the scene of several Davis Cup and Fed Cup national fights and later also of an ATP tournament. Nikolay Davydenko won the last edition in 2008.