PTT Pattaya Open increases the prize money to US$250,000 .

The 2014 PTT Pattaya Open WTA tennis retains its date behind the Australian Open, increases the prize money to US$250,000 and features an exciting line-up of stars headed by Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki of Germany. 
The winner of the tournament, which will be played at the Dusit Thani Hotel, Pattaya from 26 January – 2 February there is a cheque for US$43,000 and 280 ranking points. 
 Sabine Lisicki is making her second appearance at Pattaya, currently ranked No 15 in the world, she reached the final in Pattaya last year, going down in a three set marathon to Russia’s Maria Kirilenko. Her outstanding achievement in 2013 was reaching the final at Wimbledon, beating Serena Williams on the way before falling to Marian Bartoli at the final hurdle. Making her comeback appearance in Pattaya is crowd favourite Vera Zvonareva of Russia, she missed the whole of the 2013 season after having surgery on a shoulder injury. 
She is now fully fit again and will be hoping to recover the form which led her to back-to-back wins in Pattaya in 2009/2010 and to the dizzy heights of No 2 in the world. Making her comeback appearance in Pattaya is crowd favourite Vera Zvonareva of Russia, she missed the whole of the 2013 season after having surgery on a shoulder injury. 
She is now fully fit again and will be hoping to recover the form which led her to back-to-back wins in Pattaya in 2009/2010 and to the dizzy heights of No 2 in the world. Another crowd favourite returning is Romania’s Sorana Cirstea, she has an excellent record at Pattaya reaching the semi-final in 2012 & 2013 and hoping to go one better this year. 
 A newcomer to Pattaya is Russian Ekaterina Makarova who along with fellow Russian and doubles partner Elena Vesnina won the French Open doubles title and were runners-up in the year-end WTA Championships.
 The pair are also accomplished singles players finishing the year at no’s 24 and 25 in the world respectively. Another new face to Pattaya is Germany’s Julia Goerges who after a relatively poor year in 2013 is looking to climb back up the rankings. The PTT Pattaya Open is celebrating its 23 rd anniversary in 2014, making it one of the longest running tournaments on the WTA calendar and the oldest women’s professional sporting event in South-East Asia. The 2014 PTT Pattaya Open will commence with the qualifying rounds on 26 – 27 January, with main draw matches starting on 27 January with play starting from 15.00 daily until Friday 31 January. 
 For the final 2 days of the tournament, Saturday 1 February and Sunday 2 February matches will start from 16.00