ITF tennis tournament for women in Liepaja already this week
ITF W25 category tournament for women “Liepaja Open” with a prize fund of USD 25,000 will take place already this Sunday, May 23 with qualifiers, on the tennis courts of Liepāja Tennis sport school in Jūrmala Park with the support of Liepāja Municipality, Latvian Tennis Union and International Tennis Federation (ITF). .
It is expected that 64 tennis players from all over the world will take part in the qualification, who will compete to enter the ITF “Liepaja Open” W25 category main tournament, where 32 tennis players will take part in the games for the victory. It is planned that two tennis players from Liepaja will begin the tournament in the Main draw – Elza Tomase, who won the first Liepāja ITF W15 category tournament in 2020, and Patrīcija Špaka, who won the European U16 vice-champion title in 2018. It should be mentioned that both women from Liepaja, during their careers, have each been able to win the title of Latvian champion (Elza Tomase – in 2019, Patrīcija Špaka – in 2020). In addition to both Liepaja women, another Latvian representative – Daniela Vismane, who is 486th in the WTA ranking, will begin the tournament in Main draw. Two more women from Liepaja will also take part in the qualification round, where they will compete for a place in the Main draw – Enija Paula Aploka and our former student, who now studies in USA – Rebeka Margareta Mertena.
20 tennis players from all over the world have already been approved in the ITF “Liepaja Open” W25 category Main draw. 17 of the confirmed can be found in the world WTA ranking top 500. The first number in the competition is Elitsa Kostova from Bulgaria, who is ranked 232nd in the WTA rank. With the second number, the Belgian representative Maryna Zanevska, ranked 248th in the WTA rank, but with the third number Valentina Ivakhnenko from Russia is ranked 273rd in the WTA ranking.
As the tournament will not be open to spectators, the first games from Liepaja girls in Main draw will be offered in online live stream. At the moment, the schedule of the games is not yet available, exact information about the starts of Liepaja women and links to the live broadcast will be provided later. If you want to follow the news, visit the website of Liepāja Tennis sport school (https://tennis.liepaja.lv/) or the Facebook page of Liepāja Tennis sport school (https://www.facebook.com/tennis.liepaja).
Of course all health and safety requirements will be followed during this tournament.
About ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour
The ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour provides entry-level and mid-level professional tournaments and provides a professional pathway between the ITF Junior World Tennis Tour and the WTA Tour. The results of ITF tournaments are incorporated into the WTA Ranking, which enables professionals to progress through to the elite levels of women’s professional tennis.
The ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour offers approximately 500 tournaments across 65 countries and incorporates five prize money levels of tournaments: $15,000, $25,000, $60,000, $80,000 and $100,000. The ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour is also designed to target prize money effectively to help reduce costs for players and ultimately enable more players to make a living.
