THE TOURNAMENT
History of the tournament
The Barcelona KIA’08 tournament, which takes place in June in the sports facilities of the David Lloyd Club Turó, continues on its path to establish itself on the international scene with its inclusion in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.
The competition began in 2003 under the nomination of the ITF Ciutat of Barcelona, with prize money of US $10,000, and with the purpose of restoring women’s tennis, at the Ciudad Condal. The Aragonese Marta Fraga became the first champion of the tournament following her victory in the final at the Club Tennis La Salut against the number two ranked Serbian Ana Ivanovic. Fraga secured her name among the list of winners twice at the tournament, winning also the doubles competition with her partner Adriana González .
The same achievement of winning in two categories was repeated the following year by Laura Pous. The Catalan beat Tsvetana Pironkova in the singles and later formed part of the winning pair with Lourdes Domínguez-Lino at a tournament again taking place at the Ciudad Condal.
Domínguez-Lino repeated the doubles title in 2005 teaming up this time with María Antonia Sánchez Lorenzo, who was also the runner-up in the singles competition. The Czech, Katerina Bohmova was the winner of the ITF BCN KIA 2005, which marked a great evolution in terms of quality of the tournament.
The 2006 tournament saw victory in the singles for the Italian, Tathiana Garbin, who was ranked among the top 30 world players. Garbin beat Ekaterina Ivanova while in the doubles the winners were the Polish pair Jans-Rosoloska.
Since 2007 Barcelona KIA became part of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, consequently giving it a important increase in prize money, which now rises to US $145,000 in 2008. Spectators at Barcelona KIA 2007, which took place in the Barcelona Tennis Olímpic were treated to players of world stature such as Francesca Schiavone, Agnes Szavay, Emilie Loit, Flavia Pennetta, Virginie Razzano, Martina Muller, Kaia Kanepi or the two finalists, Edina Gallovits and the current champion Meghann Shaughnessy, all among the top 70 on the circuit. Spanish representation included Lourdes Domínguez, Lino, Virginia Ruano and the winning doubles pair, Nuria Llagostera and Arantxa Parra.
The second great differentiating factor was the coverage the competition received on behalf of the media. Barcelona KIA’07 was, in fact, the only tournament in its category (Tier iV) with worldwide television coverage, a feature that remains this year. Both TVE, across La2, and Teledeporte, with Eurosport and other international channels, broadcast the matches, giving the tournament a truly global reach.
The tournament continues to grow, and in 2008 will see further progress when Barcelona KIA becomes one of the 14 Series B tournaments in the world, with prize money rising to US $225,000