The WTA Italiacom Open in Palermo will no longer be staged in Italy, at least in the next six years.
Reports surfaced that the WTA event that takes place in Palermo will be moved in Kuala Lumpur after organizers have decided to lease the rights to Kuala Lumpur for the next six years.
“We strongly believe in our tournament, and we wanted to do whatever was possible to keep it in Italy. These past years have been a struggle, trying to find the money to keep on going and organizing this wonderful event. Finally we decided to rent it to Kuala Lumpur for 6 years. Then we’ll decide what to do” said Oliviero Palma, the tournament’s director.
The tournament officials have received offers from Italian Tennis Federation and organizers of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany to take over the tournament but they’ve opted to award the option to the Southeast Asian nation.
The ItaliaCom Open in Palermo has featured high-profile winners including Mary Pierce, Anastasia Myskina, former top-ranked Dinara Safina, and Italian stars Flavia Pennetta, Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.
