China Open Advances to Become One of the World's Top Tennis Tournaments

China Open Advances to Become One of the World's Top Tennis Tournaments

November 06, 2007

    BEIJING, Nov. 6 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- An official
press conference for the China Open 2007 was held on Nov.
5, 2007 at the Beijing Shangri-la Hotel.  The conference
was held to celebrate the upgrading of China Open
tournament into the ATP 500 Series.  Earlier this year, the
WTA event of the China Open had already been successfully
upgraded to a Crown-Jewel event.  Starting from 2009, the
China Open will take a huge leap, and will truly become
Asia's most prominent combined tennis tournament.

    Four Significant Changes are Expected Due to the China
Open Upgrade      

    First, the significance of the event: The ATP "500
Events" are second only to the four Grand Slams and the
9-station "1000 Events" in terms of the number of
participating players.  On the whole, the China Open will
be one of the best combined tournaments after the four
Grand Slams, together with Indian Wells, Miami and Madrid,
and they will be known as the "Four Super
Tournaments".  Top male players must participate in
one of the ATP "500 Events" after the US Open and
they can only choose from Beijing, Tokyo, Basel
(Switzerland) or Valencia (Spain).  They are also required
to participate in 4 of the 10 stations of the "500
Events" over a year. 

    Second, the prize money: Total prize money will be no
less than 4 million dollars for the WTA Crown-Jewel event
and no less than 2 million dollars for the ATP "500
Events".  This is undoubtedly a tremendous attraction
for top tennis players since the total prize money for
previous China Opens was just over one million dollars. 

    Third, international influence: All the tennis stars
that came to Beijing and participated in the China Open
2007 have expressed their intentions to take part in the
2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.  As the influence of the
Beijing Olympics expands and the tournament leap in 2009,
the China Open will certainly attract more of the best
tennis players from around the world.

    The China Open has become one of the top arenas where
outstanding male and female tennis players from all over
the world come to actively participate, and it is expected
to grow even more influential.



    For more information, please contact:

     Zoe Zhou
     China Open Promotions Ltd.
     Tel:   [phone] x805
     Email: [e-mail]