Image: AFP/David Gray
For the first time, the women’s tennis tournament “Upper Austria Ladies” will be held in Linz from January 28th to February 4th in a category higher than WTA 500. The surprise: The German Angelique Kerber is making her European comeback in the Design Center after her maternity break, said tournament director Sandra Reichel. The participation of Elina Switolina, who was injured at the Australian Open, is still open.
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Former world number one and Linz winner Ana Ivanovic was announced as a special guest. She is expected in Upper Austria on Saturday a week from now. “I’m really looking forward to Ana, I see her far too rarely, even though she’s in Kitzbühel more often,” said tournament ambassador Barbara Schett.
Seeded number one is the reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova from the Czech Republic. Her competitors include the Russian defending champion Anastasia Potapova and the 2019 winner Camila Giorgi from Italy. Kerber, who won the Linz final against Ivanovic in 2013, received one of four wildcards for the main draw of the tournament, which will be held as a WTA500 tournament indefinitely from this year.
The upgrade also resulted in 161 TV stations announcing themselves for the 33rd edition of the tennis tournament in Linz. We are “in focus worldwide; we have never broadcast to as many countries as we did this year,” said Reichel. “We don’t have to worry about the level,” explained Schett, who joined in from Melbourne.
For sports councilor Markus Achleitner (ÖVP), it is also a great pleasure that the sports region of Upper Austria is hosting the “largest women’s sports event that has ever been held in Austria”.
He therefore thanked the team around Reichel. Mayor Klaus Luger (SPÖ) agreed with this. At the same time, it is also a major social event for Linz.
The upgrade involves an increase in prize money from 250,000 to more than 900,000 US dollars as well as a higher-class field of participants. The new status was made possible by the reform of the WTA calendar. This brought a total of five tournaments promotion to the 500 category. The second highest level at the WTA level after the 1000s will include 17 tournaments next year. Until now, the Linz tournament was played as a 250cc event.
The official draw for the tournament is on Sunday at 1 p.m.
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Source: Nachrichten
