WTA finals in Singapore

The Southeast Asian city-state beat Tianjin in China and Monterrey in Mexico for the right to stage the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Championships.

"Your sensational city, the amazing city of Singapore, has won the right to host the WTA Championships for the next five years from 2014," WTA chairman and chief executive Stacey Allaster told reporters in Singapore. "This is the largest and most significant WTA Championships partnership in our history. It's a record-breaker."

The top eight singles players and top eight doubles players will compete for record prize money of 4.95 million euros ($6.5m).

The season-ending tournament is the most prestigious women's tennis event outside the four grand slam tournaments held each year in Australia, France, Britain and the US. It was first staged in 1972 and has been hosted in cities including Los Angeles, New York City, Munich, Madrid and Doha. It has been held in Istanbul, Turkey for the last three years.

The event will take place at the Sports Hub complex, which is due to be finished by the first quarter of 2014 at a cost of a billion dollars. It will feature a 55,000-seater stadium with retractable roof, a 13,000-seater indoor stadium, aquatics center and water sports center. The indoor stadium will host the show court with the other facilities to be used in an entertainment-filled "10-day fan fest."

The move to Singapore is part of the WTA's aim of expanding women's tennis in the Asia-Pacific region.

jm/msh (Reuters, AP)