Starting next Tuesday, Tennis Channel will have extensive live and same day coverage of the year-ending event on the women’s tennis calendar, the WTA Championships. This year’s event takes place in Istanbul, Turkey after being in Doha, Qatar. Those expected to take part include Maria Sharapova, Caroline Wozniacki, Li Na and Samantha Stosur. Tennis Channel expects to carry 35 hours of coverage throughout the week and will carry much of the action live.
Calling the matches will be Leif Shiras and Ted Robinson from the Tennis Channel studios in Los Angeles. Doing the analysis will be Lindsay Davenport and Corina Moriariu. Renae Stubbs will be on-site in Turkey.
Tennis Channel will have the doubles final live next Sunday morning, October 30, but will carry the singles final on tape delay in primetime that evening. ESPN2 will have the singles final at 1 p.m. ET, also on tape delay.
We have Tennis Channel’s schedule and press release below.
TENNIS CHANNEL TO AIR WOMEN’S YEAR-END CHAMPIONSHIPS NEXT WEEK
Close to 35 Live Hours Planned During Six-Day
WTA Championships in Istanbul, Turkey
Daylong Coverage to Include all Singles and Doubles Matches
Between Season’s Top Points Earners; Prime-Time Encores for U.S. AudiencesLOS ANGELES, Oct. 20, 2011 – Tennis Channel will once again offer complete coverage at the women’s tennis season-ending championship competition, with close to 35 hours of live, week-long match play at the WTA Championships in Istanbul, Turkey, October 25-30. The network will follow six-and-a-half hours of live weekday telecasts with comprehensive encore coverage each evening in prime-time, for close to 80 hours of additional programming.
With the likes of singles stars Maria Sharapova and top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki along with American doubles players Liezel Huber, Lisa Raymond and Vania King, the prestigious year-end competition pits the world’s top-eight singles players and top-four double teams against each other, respectively, in the final tournament of the WTA season.
During weekdays, Tennis Channel’s live coverage will begin at 10 a.m. ET, with weekend coverage times varying (complete schedule follows). A similar schedule is on tap for the prime-time encore matches, which begin each weeknight at 8 p.m. ET. Veteran sportscaster Ted Robinson will share play-by-play duties with former player Leif Shiras, both of them long-time Tennis Channel on-air booth presences. Lindsay Davenport, who won the year-end singles title in 1999 and doubles crowns in 1996, 1997 and 1998, will split analyst time with Corina Morariu, who reached the No. 1 doubles ranking during her playing days. Rennae Stubbs, also a doubles star on the court, will handle on-site feature reporting for the network.
Each autumn for the last competition of the women’s professional season, the WTA separates its top-eight singles points earners into two groups of four for a round-robin tournament format. After three nights in which each woman plays the other three women in her group, the top two in each group advance to a traditional, single-elimination semifinal and championship stage. The system ensures fans of seeing the eight best players of 2011 play at least three matches during the week, all against the other top performers of the season.
Beyond Sharapova and Wozniacki, this year’s singles field will include Petra Kvitova, Victoria Azarenka, Li Na, Vera Zvonareva and U.S. Open winner Samantha Stosur, with the eighth and final spot waiting to be claimed this week.
The doubles championship is determined in a traditional single-elimination format, with the top-four teams qualifying for the event. In addition to U.S. players Huber, Raymond (teammates) and King (who pairs with Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova), the doubles brackets will include Kveta Peschke/Katarina Srebotnik and Gisela Dulko/Flavia Pennetta.
Tennis Channel’s Web site, www.tennischannel.com, offers additional WTA Championships information.
Tennis Channel’s 2011 WTA Championships Schedule
Date Time (ET) Event
Tuesday, Oct. 25 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Round-Robin Action
Wednesday, Oct. 26 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Round-Robin Action
Thursday, Oct. 27 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Round-Robin Action
Friday, Oct. 28 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Round-Robin Action
Saturday, Oct. 29 6 a.m.-7:30 a.m. Doubles Semifinal
8 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Singles Semifinals, Doubles Semifinal
Sunday, Oct. 30 8:30 a.m.-10 a.m. Doubles Final
8 p.m.-10 p.m. Singles Final
That’s it.
