WTA Finals to move to Shenzhen from Singapore in 2019, and through to 2028
By Hu Shichen
["china"]
The WTA has announced that Shenzhen will be hosting the WTA Finals starting in 2019. 
The metropolis will be taking over from Singapore as the site of the season-ending event after it promised to build a new 12,000-seat venue downtown and double the prize money to 14 million US dollars. The city will be hosting the event for a decade starting from 2019 to 2028.
Shenzhen already hosted the tournament early in January, which was won by world number one Simona Halep. Singapore, Manchester, Prague and St. Petersburg all made bids to the tournament but Shenzhen's offer to double the prize money seemed to be the deciding factor. The year-ending event is for the top eight women and doubles pairings from each calendar season. 
Shenzhen will be the 10th city to host the tournament, and first since New York City to give it a home for a decade or more. The Big Apple held the event from 1979-2000. The WTA is in its 10th year of a marketing push into China, which has seen a string of tournaments spring up in the world's most populous nation.