The WTA, the organiser of the top women’s tennis tour, has narrowed down to three its choices in the bidding to host the WTA Championships, the season-ending event, from 2014.

Monterrey in Mexico, Singapore and Tianjin, China will battle it out to replace Istanbul in Turkey as the host city of the WTA Championships, which involve the top eight singles players and the top eight doubles teams of the season.

Mexico City and Kazan in Russia have been removed from the process.

Stacey Allaster, chairman and chief executive of the WTA, will visit Monterrey this week, Singapore in the week of February 25 and Tianjin in the week of March 4 to check the cities' hosting credentials.
 
Allaster said: "The WTA Championships provide cities around the world a stage on which their cities can be showcased. I am very pleased with the amount of international interest the Championships' bidding process has received. I look forward to meeting with each finalist city and having the opportunity to review, in-person, the details of each bid."

The host city will be announced in April.

The WTA announced in October that it had received 43 expressions of interests from cities wanting to host the championships, which date back 40 years and have been held in USA (various cities from 1972 to 2000 and Los Angeles from 2005 to 2008), Germany (Munich in 2001), Spain (Madrid in 2006 and 2007) and Qatar (Doha from 2008 to 2010).

Istanbul's three-year hosting contract ends this year.

Sportcal