Manchester misses out to Shenzhen in 10-year deal to host WTA Finals

Manchester has missed out on hosting the WTA Finals after the Chinese city of Shenzhen was awarded a 10-year deal.

The season-ending tournament, which features the world's top eight female players, has been held in Singapore since 2014.

Shenzhen has committed to doubling the prize money to $14m (£10.13m) per year and building a new 12,000-seat stadium to stage the tournament from 2019.

The other cities that bid were Prague, St Petersburg and Singapore.

WTA chief executive Steve Simon said: "This will easily be the largest and most significant WTA Finals deal in the 45 years since the WTA was founded and promises to take the event to a spectacular new level."

China already hosts seven WTA events, including one in Shenzhen in the build-up to the Australian Open.

The WTA Finals - which began in 1972 - was held in the United States until 2000 and has also taken place in Munich, Madrid, Doha and Istanbul.