SINGAPORE — She counts China’s Peng Shuai and Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei as her friends, partnered Jelena Jankovic to an International Tennis Federation (ITF) doubles title in Morocco when they were teenagers and even took China’s Li Na, then a relative unknown, to three sets.

She also had an ITF world ranking of 14 when she was 16, reached the Australian Junior Open quarter-finals in 2003 and was ranked 299 in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) singles ladder by the time she left the pro circuit in late 2002.

And now, because of her credentials and contacts, Beier Ko will be playing a pivotal role in ensuring that the WTA Championships enjoys a successful five-year stay in Singapore when the prestigious tournament makes its home here next year.

The 27-year-old Harvard University graduate, who is a Business Development Director at a private equity firm, was roped in by the Singapore Tennis Association (STA) in June to be an office bearer and head the WTA Championships sub-committee.

She was also part of the Singapore delegation that went to Istanbul in Turkey late last month for the WTA Championships and to participate in the flag handover ceremony at the end of the tournament that marked the event’s move to Singapore.

Said STA President Edwin Lee: “Beier is a good role model for our aspiring tennis players, having made the rankings, enjoyed a prominent college career in an Ivy League university and (with her) wide-ranging contacts in the upper echelons of the tennis world.

“It isn’t easy to find someone with such credentials and I couldn’t think of a more suitable local candidate to be our link with the WTA, with their Championships coming here for the next five years.”

When asked what she sees as her key role in the STA, Ko said she hopes to help lift the local tennis scene to a higher level.

“I want to use my experience in tennis to help the sport grow,” said Ko, whose family moved to Canada when she was four and who was once the country’s top-ranked player before she exchanged her Canadian passport for a Singapore one in 2005 and represented the Republic in the 2007 Fed Cup.

“I want to see players getting better, more kids playing tennis, more tennis in schools, basically a bigger tennis community.

“We need to have more tournaments as well and have Singapore become the next regional tennis hub. As a business city, Singapore is doing great but why can’t we have that for sports and tennis?”

As for her WTA role, Ko is certain it would be easier after her experience representing the STA in Istanbul.

“The networking there was invaluable, seeing so many familiar faces and reconnecting with people I will be working with for the WTA Championships for the next five years,” said the 2009 Ivy League Player of the Year.

“We have a lot to do, from rolling out the ballkids programme, to training line judges, to organising junior tournaments on the fringes of the main event.

“My role is to use my tennis knowledge and experience to help benefit the tournament and make the WTA Championships a success.”