The field has been announced for the second edition of the Turkish Airlines Tiebreak with four current or former top 10 players set to take part.
The annual event will take place in the Porsche Arena on April 22nd, which is the venue of the prestigious Stuttgart Open. A premier tournament that has been won by players such as Maria Sharapova, Angelique Kerber and Karolina Pliskova. The evening event will mark the start of the 42nd edition of the tournament.
Taking part in the Turkish Airlines Tiebreak will be world No.7 Elina Svitolina, two-time grand slam champion Victoria Azarenka, Laura Siegemund, Belinda Bencic, Caroline Garcia and Qiang Wang. The winner of the tournament will receive one million air miles from Turkish Airlines.
“For the spectators, it’s an exciting event, a perfect mixture of sport and show,” Tournament Director Markus Günthardt said in a statement. “All the players are in the Porsche Arena the whole time, there are on-court interviews and music. It means the competition fits excellently into our concept of making the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix a real experience for the whole family with its attractive and entertaining supporting program of events.”
The format of the event is similar to that of tiebreak tens. Players will play each other in a series of tiebreakers with the first to 10 points winning. If the score is 9-9, the winner will be the first to get to a two-point lead. The six players in the 2019 field will be split into two groups. The winner of each group will then play in the final where the one million air miles will be up for grabs.
Siegemund and Garcia are the only players to participate in the event for the second consecutive year. During the inaugural edition in 2018, Julia Goerges defeated Angelique Kerber in the final.
https://twitter.com/PorscheTennis/status/1113703325395030016
The Stuttgart Open will get underway on Saturday April 19th with the qualifying rounds. World No.1 Naomi Osaka is set to be the top seed, followed by Simona Halep and Petra Kvitova.
