Two rising tennis stars, British No 1 Heather Watson and Romanian No1 Sorana Cirstea have confirmed their participation in next month’s 2013 PTT Pattaya Open, WTA tennis tournament at the Dusit Thani Hotel, Pattaya from 27 January – 3 February.
20 year old Heather Watson recently became the first British woman in 24 years to win a WTA title, when she triumphed in Osaka in October. Her win took her into the top 50 and she is looking forward to her 2nd trip to Pattaya. “I love Pattaya as a tournament and as a city, the people are warm and welcoming and I am really happy to be returning in 2013”.
Sorana Cirstea is a couple of years older than Watson and already has accumulated 5 WTA titles. On her first visit to Pattaya this year reached the semi-final before falling to Maria Kirilenko. She has continued her good form throughout the year and finished the year ranked No 27 in the world. Like Watson she is looking forward to returning to Pattaya. “This year was my first time playing in Pattaya and it’s one of my favourite tournaments, it’s such a different environment from the Australian Open where everyone is stressed and then we got to this amazing place where everyone is so welcoming. So I enjoyed my time here.”
Watson and Cirstea join a line-up of star players including Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, Maria Kirilenko and Vera Zvonareva of Russia and Sabine Lisicki of Germany.
With entries for the tournament not closing until 17 December, many more leading tennis players are expected to join the PTT Pattaya Open which is celebrating its 22nd anniversary in 2013, making it one of the longest running tournaments on the WTA calendar.
The 16-draw qualifying competition will be held on 27 – 28 January 2013, with main draw matches commencing on 28 January with play starting from 15.00 daily, excepting the semi-finals on Saturday 02 February and the finals on Sunday 03 February, when play begins at 16.00.
Tickets for the PTT Pattaya Open are on sale at 300, 500, 800 and 1,200 baht.
For more information on the tournament and tickets, please contact Pentangle Promotions Co., Ltd at Tel: 02-3113414/5 website www.pentanglepromotions.com or at Thaiticketmajor on 02-262-3456, website www.thaiticketmajor.com
The PTT Pattaya Open is supported by PTT Public Company Limited, Pattaya City, Sports Authority of Thailand, Chonburi Province, Chang Drinking Water, Peak Sporting Goods, Jetstar, Dusit Thani Hotel, Pattaya, Wilson Sporting Goods, Nation Multimedia Group, Yonex, TOT Public Company Limited, T.P Link, Philips Lighting, Tez Tour and Bangkok Pattaya Hospital.
