The 2016 WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai is the second event of its kind. Players who just missed the high-end WTA Finals (with the top eight players) in Singapore do not get completely shut out. They can compete among each other. Four groups of three players comprise the 12-player field in Luxembourg. The four players who win a group advance to the knockout-stage semifinals, followed by a championship match.
The competition in the 12-player event begins on Tuesday, November 1.
Event Details
Event: WTA Elite Trophy
Category: WTA Year-End Tournament (second level)
Date: November 1 – 6, 2016
Location: Hengqin International Tennis Center at Zhuhai– Zhuhai, China
The 2016 WTA Elite Trophy does not skimp on prize money, especially since it is not for the very best players, only the second level of quality tennis players on the planet.
With a prize money allotment of just over $2.2 million, split among just 12 players, this is a chance for players ranked outside the top eight but inside the top 20 (plus a wild card) to collect an extra paycheck at the end of the tennis season.
The points structure for this event:
Championship: 700 points
Runner-up: 440
Semifinals: 240
Any round-robin match win: 80 points per win
Any round-robin match played: 40 points per match played
Former Champions and Results
Year Champion Runner-up Score
2015 – Venus Williams def. Karolina Pliskova – 7-5, 7-6
This was the only previous year in which the Zhuhai tournament took place. A previous iteration of the tournament took place in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Player Info:
Here’s a very brief look at the 2016 seasons for the 12 players in this tournament:
Petra Kvitova won Wuhan in the Asian swing. She won a bronze medal in the Rio Olympics. She did not make the semifinals or better at any Grand Slam event in 2016.
Johanna Konta made the Australian Open semifinals. She won Stanford in the summer. She was a quarterfinalist in the Olympics.
Carla Suarez Navarro won Doha. She reached the quarters in the Australian Open but has still never made a Slam semifinal at this later stage in her career.
Elina Svitolina won Kuala Lumpur. She was a quarterfinalist at the Olympics, where she upset Serena Williams.
Roberta Vinci won St. Petersburg. She reached the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open.
Elena Vesnina made her first ever Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon this year. She did not win a singles tournament but produced many solid doubles results on tour with partner Elena Vesnina, where she has made the WTA Finals and cracked the semifinal round in Singapore.
Samantha Stosur made a big run to the semifinals of the French Open and the Madrid Premier 5 event, but did not win a tournament in 2016.
Barbora Strycova made finals in Birmingham and Dubai but won no events and did not make the semifinals of any Grand Slam event.
Timea Bacsinszky won Rabat and reached the quarters at Roland Garros.
Kiki Bertens made the semifinals of Roland Garros and nearly beat Serena Williams. She won Nurnberg just before the French Open.
Carolina Garcia won Mallorca and Strasbourg but did not do well at the majors.
Zhang Shuai made the quarterfinals of the Australian Open after entering 2016 without having won a single main-draw match at the Grand Slam level over several years on tour.
Hengqin International Tennis Center at Zhuhai
The building is a new facility with a stadium court owning a 5,000-seat capacity. There is a 1,500-seat second court and four 250-seat side courts, plus ample training courts. It will host the WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai from 2015-19.
Although the stadium has already held the WTA Elite Trophy last year, the construction project is not yet complete as the plan is to continue building it out. Stage 2, which is expected to start later on this year, will include a 15,000-seat tennis arena as well as indoor training facilities, apartments for the athletes, a museum and additional courts for matches. There is also a green space designed for the community. It provides a “raised forest” type of a landscape with lush greenery so that people can visit it during times of the year when there are no tennis events.
