2012 Qatar Airways Tournament of Champions | |
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Date | October 30 – November 4 |
Edition | 4th |
Location | Sofia, Bulgaria |
Champions | |
Singles | |
Nadia Petrova |
The 2012 Qatar Airways Tournament of Champions was a singles-only tennis tournament that was played on indoor hard courts in Sofia. It was the fourth edition of the tournament and was part of the 2012 WTA Tour. The 2012 edition was the first held in Sofia, having been relocated from Bali, where the tournament was held for the previous three years and called the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions. The tournament was played between October 30 and November 4. Ana Ivanovic did not defend her title this year for two reasons: She did not win, or reach, a single final this year in order to gain direct acceptance, and she did not receive a wild card due to her participation in the 2012 Fed Cup finals.
The 2012 WTA Tournament of Champions was the fourth edition of the event and the first in Sofia. The tournament was run by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and was part of the 2012 WTA Tour. It was the season ending championships for players who have won one of the WTA International tournaments but have not qualified for the WTA Championships. The singles draw saw eight women qualify from the year, and began as a round robin event, split into two groups of four, with the top four ranked players seeded. Over the first four days of competition, each player met the other three players in their group, with the top two in each group advancing to the semifinals. The first-placed player in one group met the second-placed player in the other group, and vice versa. The winners of each semifinal met in the championship match.
The total prize money for the 2012 Qatar Airways Tournament of Champions was US$750,000.
The six highest-ranked players who have captured at least one International tournament during the year and who are not participating in singles at the year-end WTA Championships in Istanbul or the finals of the Fed Cup will automatically qualify for the event. The last two players are wildcards. The wildcards were awarded to Tsvetana Pironkova and Maria Kirilenko.