After a 25 -year -old hiatus, Sao Paulo will host a level 250 WTA (Association of Professional Tennis Association) again.
The competition will be on the fast court and will take place between September 6 and 14, in Villa-Lobos Park, in the West Zone of São Paulo.
São Paulo Open will have 32 tennis players in the main key, 24 in Qualifying, plus 16 pairs. Qualifying will be played on the 6th and 7th, and the main key between the 8th and 14th.
The announcement was made on Wednesday (30) by IMM, a company that is also responsible for the organization of the Open River.
Paulista Bia Haddad Maia is currently the only Brazilian in the Top 100 of the WTA, occupying the 19th position. They follow Laura Pigossi (183º) and Carolina Meligeni Alves (271º).
In the pairs, the country has three tennis players in the top 100: Luisa Stefani (35th), Bia Haddad Maia (54th) and Ingrid Martins (89th).
The last time the country received WTA 250 tournaments was in 2016, when Rio Open still had male and female categories. It was also the last year in which Florianópolis hosted a category event after four editions.
“São Paulo Open is another great international event that we have been able to conquer for the city of São Paulo. This demonstrates that we created an environment conducive to business attraction,” said Mayor of São Paulo, Ricardo Nunes.
“The presence of great athletes, surely, will stimulate the practice of tennis, contributing to the emergence of new champions. From the economic and social perspective, we will have generation of jobs and income, and increased tax collection, which is reversed in better services for those who live in the city,” added Nunes.
“The ambition is to offer the public large games, as well as leisure and quality entertainment. With this, in a short time, we will consolidate SP Open as one of the main sporting events in South America,” said Alan Adler, CEO of IMM.
The date belongs to IMG and Mubadala Capital and will be rented to IMM, which had held the event in partnership with ICT.
