One final tennis hurrah

MELISSA Pine lives and breathes tennis. Not only is she vice-president of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) in Asia-Pacific, she's also the tournament director of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global tournament. The next edition of the WTA Finals - the fifth and last one to be held here - will take place at the Sports Hub from Oct 21-28.

Ms Pine - a former NCAA tennis player at Washington State University who later served as assistant coach of the team after she graduated - has witnessed some of the greatest matches in women's professional tennis from courtside during her five-year stint in Singapore.

Next week, she will again welcome to town the world's top eight singles players and doubles teams as they compete for a slice of the US$7 million prize purse. Those coming include world No 1 Simona Halep, US Open champio…