St Petersburg, Florida, USA, 8 May 2013 | tennis.com.au

Singapore will host the WTA Championships from 2014 through 2018, the WTA announced on Wednesday.

The Asian city was chosen from a shortlist of three cities – the others being Tianjin, China and Monterrey, Mexico – to host the season-ending event, the most prestigious on the WTA calendar.

More than 40 cities initially expressed interest in hosting the event, with the WTA for the first time conducting an international tender process.

The tournament in Singapore will feature the world’s top eight ranked singles female singles players as well as an expanded doubles field of the world’s top eight pairs, up from the current field of four.

Players will compete for a record prize money purse of US$6.5 million at the 7,500-seat Singapore Indoor Stadium, located in the city’s Singapore Sports Hub.

Istanbul, which played host to the event in 2011 and 2012, will stage the Championships for the final time in 2013.

Since being held in the Turkish capital the event has gone from strength to strength, with the 2012 Championships recording the highest attendance figures in 12 years (at 73,072 fans) and setting record broadcast and digital audience milestones with coverage in 167 countries through 22 international TV broadcasters.