Boulter on board for Progress Tour Women’s Championships
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British tennis star Katie Boulter has joined Fed Cup team-mate Harriet Dart in the line-up for next month’s Progress Tour Women’s Championships, due to be held at the LTA’s National Tennis Centre in London from 14 - 18 July.
The Progress Tour Women’s Championships will mark the return of British women’s tennis and will see Boulter and Dart playing alongside Manchester’s Naomi Broady, British No.4 Samantha Murray, talented youngster Emma Raducanu and others. Entries closed Tuesday 16 June but three wild-cards across the singles and doubles events allow for last-minute additions to the singles and doubles fields.
Boulter, as well as fellow competitors Dart and Raducanu, is supported by the LTA Pro Scholarship Programme (PSP) – the highest level of support offered to developing players by the national governing body. The programme offers access to world class coaching, science and medicine support from the LTA Performance team, as well as financial support (up to £80,000) for rising stars aged between 16 and 24 with genuine potential to reach the ATP/WTA top 100 within five years.
The global COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the LTA’s scheduled grass court 2020 WTA events, the Nature Valley Open in Nottingham, Nature Valley Classic in Birmingham, Nature Valley International in Eastbourne as well as the Championships, Wimbledon. The Progress Tour Women's Championships will give British players their first chance to compete on home soil.
It’s great to be part of the return of British women’s tennis and I can’t wait to get back on court myself and compete,” said Katie Boulter.
The Progress Tour Women’s Championships, which boasts a prize money pool of £30,000, is the result of a collaboration between WTA-ranked British players Olivia Nicholls and Alicia Barnett, long-term women’s tennis supporter Terry Oakes, and former ATP ranked player and now tournament director of The Progress Tour, Barry Fulcher. It is an independent tournament hosted and supported by the LTA. It is one of a number of domestic events being at the National Tennis Centre to mark the return of professional tennis in Britain, including British Tour tournaments and other independent events such as Jamie Murray’s Battle of the Brits.
The Progress Tour Women's Championships - Entry Lists
Singles
- *Katie Boulter - (Protected WTA 85) WTA 374
- Harriet Dart - WTA 146
- Samantha Murray Sharan - WTA 180
- Jodie Burrage - WTA 289
- Francesca Jones - WTA 322
- Emma Raducanu - WTA 338
- Maia Lumsden - WTA 368
- Eden Silva - WTA 486
- Naomi Broady - WTA 499
- Alicia Barnett - WTA 569
- Sarah Beth Grey - WTA 607
- Freya Christie - WTA 643
- Emily Appleton - WTA 675
- Alice Gillan - WTA 797
Doubles
- Naomi Broady & Samantha Murray Sharan - WTA 322
- Sarah Beth Grey & Eden Silva - WTA 368
- Jodie Burrage & Freya Christie - WTA 597
- Alicia Barnett & Olivia Nicholls - WTA 708
- Emily Arbuthnot & Anna Popescu - WTA 1074
- Emily Appleton & Ali Collins - WTA 1293
- Soumaya Anane & Tiffany William - WTA 1929
Plus three Wild Cards across singles and doubles events.
The Format
The Progress Tour Women’s Championships will take place over five days in a round robin format, similar to the World Tour Finals, with 16 singles players split into two tiers - Premier event & Division 1 - before battling through to the knockout semi-final stage.
Eight teams will compete in the Premier doubles competition.
Elite sport - return to domestic competition
The Progress Tour is working closely with the LTA on tournament preparations which, like all the tournaments being hosted at the National Tennis Centre, will be subject to Government guidelines as set out under a stage three return to ‘behind-closed-doors’ elite sporting events. The national governing body is part of a UK Sport working group advising the Government on the development of the guidelines.
Keep up-to-date on all tournaments
For more information on the Progress Tour Women's Championships and other domestic tennis events this summer, be sure to follow the LTA on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and sign up to the LTA's free newsletter.
