Two new Future Stars emerged at 2016 WTA Finals Singapore

SINGAPORE – Two new champions were crowned at the conclusion of the 2016 WTA Future Stars event as the finals were played on Centre Court at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Forty of the region’s best Under-14 and Under-16 players had come together to participate in the WTA Future Stars event. Developed to promote tennis among the next generation throughout the Asia-Pacific, the WTA Future Stars has become a platform to offer emerging talent the opportunity to compete with their peers in the region.

In the finals of the Under-16 competition, Violet Apisah from Australia displayed her full range of shots to triumph over Shivani Amineni from India in a tight match that ended 7-5, 6-4.

Shioro Ito from Japan (below, left) took home top honors in the Under-14 category as she rallied from a set down to beat Olesya Kim from Uzbekistan in a third set super-tiebreak with a score of 4-6, 6-2, 10-3.

“It has been such an amazing experience being here in Singapore and winning the competition is the icing on the cake! I got to meet some of the best players in the world and now I feel so motivated to train harder and make it the WTA Finals one day too,” shared Violet.

Asian WTA Legends Tamarine Tanasugarn from Thailand and Yayuk Basuki from Indonesia were in attendance to hand out the trophies to the next generation of stars.

“I’m so proud to see such great talent emerging from Asia-Pacific and I hope to soon see these young women represent us on the global stage,” said Basuki.

“The WTA Future Stars is a great platform for these aspiring tennis players to see what the competition is like at the highest level and hopefully this inspires them to work hard and fulfil their maximum potential."