Four of the world's top-10 players, led by No.1 Simona Halep, will compete in a special event in Hua Hin next month, organisers said yesterday.
The Intercontinental World Tennis Thailand Championship will be held at True Arena ahead of Christmas Day from Dec 23-24, Asian Tennis Federation vice-president Suwat Liptapanlop said.
The quartet are Romania's Halep, world No.4 Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, No.7 and French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko from Latvia and No.9 Johanna Konta of Britain.
Ostapenko upset Halep in the French Open final to win her first major title in June.
With the triumph, she became the first player from her country to win a Grand Slam tournament.
The Hua Hin semi-finals will be held on Dec 23 with the winners meet in the final and the losers in the third-place play-off the following day.
The first match starts at 6pm and the second at 8pm on both days.
The four will make their Thailand debut and will stay in Hua Hin for another five days after the event to celebrate Christmas and prepare for the Australian Open in January, according to Suwat.
Hua Hin has hosted such an event for seven years and welcomed a large number of top players, including Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, Angelique Keber and Rafael Nadal.
"This proves Thailand is a destination for world-class sports competitions," Suwat said. "This helps promote the country's tourism and enhance its reputation."
He said the event would also help encourage young Thais to enter the sport.
Tickets are 2,500 baht each and available at Thai Ticket Major outlets and www.thaiticketmajor.com.
Goffin leads Belgium
The rival Davis Cup captains, Johan Van Herck of Belgium and Yannick Noah of France, have named their players for the final in Lille from Nov 24-26.
David Goffin, who will be the highest-ranked player in the final at No.8 in the world, is joined once again in the Belgium team by Steve Darcis (76th in the world), Ruben Bemelmans (106) and Arthur De Greef (174), with Joris De Loore (279) a reserve.
Van Herck said that Goffin's victory on Monday over Rafael Nadal at the ATP Finals in London was "a very good message for everyone".
Noah retained the starting quartet that beat Serbia in the semi-final in September with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (15) and Lucas Pouille (18) as the No.1 and No.2, Nicolas Mahut (103) and Pierre-Hugues Herbert (80) as the doubles team and Richard Gasquet (31) as Julien Benneteau (57) as reserves.
Stepanek retires
Injury-plagued veteran Radek Stepanek says he is quitting tennis after a professional career spanning 21 years and including two Davis Cup and two Grand Slam doubles titles.
"I knew a tennis career was limited, but I wanted it to last as long as possible," the 38-year-old Czech said. "I have fought until my last breath but it's time to go now."
Stepanek has won five ATP singles titles, 18 doubles titles, and two Grand Slam doubles titles, with India's Leander Paes at the 2012 Australian Open and the 2013 US Open.
Together with Tomas Berdych, Stepanek led the Czech Republic to Davis Cup titles in 2012 and 2013, becoming the first player ever to win two decisive fifth rubbers in two consecutive Davis Cup finals. bangkok post/afp