MEDIA

The race for the Sony Ericsson Championships – Doha 2009 has come to an end with the qualification of Jelena Jankovic who became the eighth and final player to qualify for the Championships in the singles competition. Jelena will join Dinara Safina, Serena Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Caroline Wozniacki, Elena Dementieva, Victoria Azarenka and Venus Williams. The doubles competition features Cara Black/Liezel Huber, Venus Williams/Serena Williams, Nuria Llagostera Vives/Maria José Martínez Sánchez and Rennae Stubbs/Samantha Stosur. Russia’s Vera Zvonareva and Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska have been named as singles alternates and will also travel to Doha.

The Sony Ericsson Championships will take place in the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex from the 27^th of October – 1^st of November. The players will compete for the much desired Sony Ericsson Championships title and a share of the $4.45 million in prize money.

“I am really happy about making it to the Sony Ericsson Championships for the third time in my career,” said Jankovic.  “It is always a nice feeling to end the season playing in the Championships as one of the best eight players in the world. I’m looking forward to returning to Doha and playing some great matches.

Jankovic was ranked World No. 1 for seventeen consecutive weeks until she was overtaken by Serena Williams on February 2, 2009. She was the year-end World No. 1 in 2008, the first player in the history of the WTA tour to do this without winning a Grand Slam title. She is currently ranked World No. 9. Jankovic won her 10th Tour singles title at Marbella defeating Suarez Navarro in the finals and in August won her 11th Tour singles title at Cincinnati. It is her third qualification for the Championships. Jankovic previously competed at the championships in 2007 in the round robin stage and in last year’s edition of the Sony Ericsson Championships - Doha 2008. Jankovi, Safina and Williams are the three players on Tour to hold the World No.1 Ranking this season.

“We are very happy to know that Jelena Jankovic is the last player to qualify for the Championships. She is definitely one of the top players in the world so we welcome her to the Sony Ericsson Championships – Doha 2009”, said Mr. Nasser Ghanem Al Khelaifi, President of the Qatar Tennis Federation.

“With the qualification of Jelena Jankovic we finally completed our group of players that will compete in the Sony Ericsson Championships – Doha 2009. Everything is then ready to see them all taking the courts of the Khailifa International Tennis & Squash Complex. We welcome and congratulate Jelena for such achievement”, said Mr. Karim Alami, Tournament Director.

The Sony Ericsson Championship is the most prestigious and important tournament in professional women's tennis. It is the final event in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, in which only the very best players in the world participate. Since 2008 Doha have hosted the event and it will keep carrying out this amazing challenge until 2010 before passing the flag to Istanbul, Turkey scheduled to host the event from 2011 - 2013.