The Russian city of Kazan has joined Mexico City, Singapore and China’s Tianjin as candidates to host the 2014 Women's Tennis Association Championship. The four cities were picked from over 39 cities to express their interest in hosting the championship. The winning city is to be announced in the spring 2013.

      The tournament brings the top eight women’s singles players together for a broadly televised tournament. The WTA Championship currently delivers over $140 million of economic and media value to the host city.

      Kazan has never hosted a WTA tournament, but hosted a men’s ATP Challenger event, while Russia’s men’s national team has played Davis Cup matches there.

      This year the WTA Championships took place in Istanbul and were won by Serena Williams, who beat Russia’s Maria Sharapova in the final.