Tennis Channel to cover WTA Championships
LOS ANGELES — Tennis Channel will provide wall-to-wall match coverage of the 2009 Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, Qatar, Oct. 27-Nov. 1. The network will carry more than 30 hours of live competition during women’s tennis’ prestigious, season-ending event — which features the world’s top eight singles players and top four doubles teams — and offer same-day replays each evening in prime time to give viewers more than 70 hours of coverage overall.
Tennis Channel’s live coverage will include all round-robin matches, singles semifinals and doubles play at the six-day event. The network will also offer a same-day replay of the singles final on Sunday, Nov. 1, at 2 p.m. ET. Prime-time encore replays will air each evening at 8 p.m. ET.
Tennis Channel play-by-play regular Leif Shiras will call all Sony Ericsson Championship matches this year, aided by analysis from former No. 1 singles and doubles star Lindsay Davenport and former No. 1 doubles player Corina Morariu. Former No. 1 Tracy Austin will handle sideline reporting at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex in Doha.
The Sony Ericsson Championships conclude the annual women’s professional tennis season. Singles competition initially takes place within two groups of four players each. Every player has one match against each of the other three women in her group, with the top two players in each group advancing to the single-elimination semifinals and subsequent championship. Thus tennis fans are assured of seeing each of these eight stars play at least three matches during the week.
On the doubles side, the four teams that qualify for the Sony Ericsson Championships compete in a single-elimination semifinal and championship during the last two days of the event.
Seven of the eight singles players have qualified for the 2009 Sony Ericsson Championships. In addition to star American sisters Serena Williams and Venus Williams the list includes Dinara Safina, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Caroline Wozniacki, Elena Dementieva and Victoria Azarenka. The Williams sisters combination is also among the four teams that have qualified for the championships doubles tournament. The other three are Cara Black-Liezel Huber, Nuria Llagostera Vives-Maria Jose Martinez
Tennis Channel, viewers can access additional 2009 Sony Ericsson Championship schedule information, scores and photos online at www.tennischannel.com.
Tennis Channel’s 2009 Sony Ericsson Championships Schedule
| Date | Time (ET) | Event |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday, Oct. 27. | 10 a.m.-4 p.m. | Round-Robin Action |
| Wednesday, Oct. 28 | 10 a.m.-4 p.m. | Round-Robin Action |
| Thursday, Oct. 29 | 10 a.m.-4 p.m. | Round-Robin Action |
| Friday, Oct. 30 | 10 a.m.-4 p.m. | Round-Robin Action |
| Saturday, Oct. 31 | 7 a.m.-8:30 a.m. | Doubles Semifinal |
| 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m. | Singles Semifinals, Doubles Semifinal | |
| Sunday, Nov. 1 | 12 p.m.-1:30 p.m. | Doubles Final |
| 2 p.m.-4 p.m. | Singles Final (same-day delay) |
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