Women's International Tennis Tournament Comes to Town

The first annual Women’s Tennis Association Citi Open tournament is coming to the Tennis Center at College Park from July 23 to 31.

Melanie Oudin, Jill Craybas, Jelena Dokic, Sloane Stephens and top-25 ranked Shahar Peer headline a group of 32 singles players competing in the tournament, 19 among the top 100 in the world.

“We’re getting some of the top players coming here,” organizer William Ellison said.  “It will give the people of College Park and Prince George’s County the opportunity to come out and see some great tennis.”

Organizers are constructing outdoor stadium seating for 2,500 fans at the three outdoor courts where games will be played.

“One of our goals is growing the game of tennis,” Ellison said.  “We’re into spreading the game.”

Players will compete to win from a pool of $400,000 and the tournament will be broadcast on the Tennis Channel during the semifinals and finals.

The tournament is at the WTA International Level, one of only three tournaments in the U.S. with that distinction.

Single session seats range from $10 to $65 and ticket packages for all ten sessions start at $155, according to the tournament website.  Tickets can be bought on that website or by phone at 202-721-9500.

For the next 39 hours, discounted packages are also available through Bargain EZ.

Games will start around 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.  The semi-finals and finals will likely also be in the afternoon.

During the week of the tournament, organizers are planning a
bring-your-daughter event that will encourage young girls to play tennis.

Details on this event and a full schedule for the tournament will become available as the tournament gets closer.

The Tennis Center will also be organizing a pre-U.S. Open
event in mid-August where the winner will get a wild card berth in the U.S. Open.

This story has been corrected. In an earlier version of this story, we incorrectly provided the first name of Mr. Ellison. We regret the error.