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Miami - A new September event in Zhengzhou, China, and the loss of a US Open tune-up tournament in New Haven highlighted changes to this year's WTA calendar announced on Friday.
The new premier-level WTA event, among 10 tournaments this year in China, will launch this year's Asian swing for the women's tennis circuit, taking place the week after the US Open with $1 million in prize money this year and $1.5 million in 2020.
A new 8 000-seat stadium will be part of a state-of-the-art facility to be completed by 2020 for the Zhengzhou stop and eases the flow of events to the WTA Finals at Shenzhen.
"The Zhengzhou Open marks a huge milestone for the growth of tennis in the Asian region and particularly in China," said Charles Hsiung, president of the tournament operating group.
Two other European events will replace other tournaments, with the Ladies Championship Lausanne being staged in Switzerland the week of July 15 just after Wimbledon and the Baltic Open taking place the following week in Jurmala, Latvia - the first WTA event to be staged in Latvia.
Those events will replace the Ladies Championships Gstaad and the Moscow River Cup.
The Connecticut Open, a staple in the US Open run-up for more than two decades, is over as organizers sold their sanctioning rights after losing their main sponsor.
"It has been an amazing 21-year run for women's professional tennis in New Haven," tournament director Anne Worcester said. "We have many memories to cherish both on and off the court."
The WTA said they are looking at other opportunities for an event in the week before the US Open, perhaps as soon as this August.
"We look forward to bringing women's tennis to Zhengzhou and the Henan Province and continue to grow the sport across China and the Asia Pacific region," WTA chairperson Steve Simon said. "We are additionally excited about the interest we are receiving in the marketplace from two US cities."
This year's WTA schedule includes 55 events across 29 nations with more than $164 million in prize money.
