2003 WTA Tour Championships

2003 WTA Tour Championships
DateNovember 4–10
Edition33rd
CategoryYear-end championships
Draw8S (round robin) / 4D
Prize money$3,000,000
SurfaceHard / indoor
LocationLos Angeles, United States
VenueStaples Center
Champions
Singles
Belgium Kim Clijsters
Doubles
Spain Virginia Ruano Pascual / Argentina Paola Suárez
← 2002 · WTA Finals · 2004 →

The 2003 WTA Tour Championships, also known by its sponsored name Bank of America WTA Tour Championships, was a women's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, United States. It was the 33rd edition of the year-end singles championships, the 28th edition of the year-end doubles championships, and was part of the 2003 WTA Tour. The tournament was held between November 4 and November 10, 2003. First-seeded Kim Clijsters won the singles event and earned $1,000,030[a] first-prize money as well as 485 ranking points.[2] With her victory Clijsters became the first female tennis player to earn $US4 million in a season.[3] For the first time since 1978 a round robin system was used, after the men's Tennis Masters Cup. Two groups of four players were formed and each contender had to play three matches.[4] Also, for singles, instead of the top sixteen players qualifying, only top eight qualified for the WTA Tour Championships. For doubles, the top four pairs (previously top eight) pairs qualified for the WTA Tour Championships, but still continued with the single elimination format.

  1. ^ "Clijsters repeats at WTA Championships". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philly.com. November 11, 2003. Archived from the original on August 19, 2014.
  2. ^ "Clijsters crushes Mauresmo". news.bbc.co.uk. BBC. November 11, 2003.
  3. ^ "Clijsters crushes Mauresmo at WTA Championships". www.abc.net.au. ABC. November 11, 2003.
  4. ^ "More prize money, change in format on top for WTA Championships". ESPN. February 11, 2003.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).