Western & Southern Financial Group Masters is also known as Cincinnati Masters. It is an annual outdoor hard-court tennis event which is held in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.  This event began on September 18, 1899 and is the oldest tennis tournament in the United States played in its original city. The tournament was first played at Avondale Athletic Club and since then the event has come a long way and is now a grand-scale ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event.

The men’s event is one of the nine Master’s 1000 tournaments on the ATP World Tour. The women’s event is a Premier 5 event on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour and is the only WTA event held in American Midwest. In 2009 and 2010, men’s and women’s singles events will be played between August 8-23 in 2009 and August 7-22 in 2010. This is a back-to-back two week tournament, which will be held separately for men’s and women’s. But in 2011, the tournament for both will be played simultaneously in eight day’s span.

Tournament facts -

Venue - Lindner Family Tennis Center. This is the only venue outside the Grand Slams which consists of more than two permanent stadiums.
Surface – Hard / Outdoors
Official Ball – Penn
Men’s Singles – 56 players
Women’s Singles – 56 players
Men’s Doubles – 24 pairs
Women’s Doubles – 28 pairs
Courts – Matches are played on 4 to 5 courts.
Winner of most Men’s Singles titles - George Lott, Bobby Riggs, and Mats Wilander – 4 titles each.
Winner of most Women’s Singles titles - Ruth Sanders Cordes and Clara Louise Zinke – 5 titles each.
Men’s tournament – August 14 to 22, 2010.
Women’s tournament – August 7 to 15, 2010.
Next Tournament -August 15, 2011
Past Winners – Kim Clijsters

The Toray Pan Pacific Open is an annual hard-court tennis tournament which is held in Tokyo, Japan. This is a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament and is a Premier 5 event. The tournament began in 1984 and is held every year since then. The tournament was classified as Tier 1 tournament since 1993, but in 2009 it was upgraded to Premier 5 tournament. The tournament is known as Toray Pan Pacific Open as Toray Industries have sponsored the event.

Traditionally, the event has been played on indoor carpet at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, but in 2008 and 2009 the event took place on outdoor hard courts at the Ariake Coliseum. The event is scheduled to be held at the Ariake Coliseum in 2010 from 24th September to 2nd October and will be celebrating its 27th anniversary. As the tournament as a Premier 5 event now, 9 of the top 10 players have announced their intentions to play in this tournament.

Tournament facts –

Venue – Ariake Coliseum, Tokyo, Japan
Surface – Hard / Outdoors
Women’s Singles – 56 players
Women’s Doubles – 16 pairs
Courts – The venue features 48 tennis courts with the center court having a capacity of 10,000 spectators. 
Winner of most Women’s Singles titles – Martina Hingis – 5 titles
Next Tournament – September 26, 2011.
Past Winners – Caroline Wozniacki

The Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships is an annual hard-court tennis tournament which is held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The tournament was inaugurated in 1993 and since then the tournament has featured the best players of the world. The event also showcases the spectacular locations around Dubai. The event is organized by Dubai Duty Free and features both men’s as well as women’s competitions. It is classified as ATP World Tour 500 event for men and Premier event for women.

The Dubai Tennis Stadium was officially inaugurated in February 1996 and has been voted as the “Best Venue” by the players for three successive years. Dubai was also awarded as the ATP World Tour 500 Tournament of the Year, in 2009. This was the tournament’s 14th award in its 18 years of existence. The venue of the tournament is the Aviation Club Tennis Centre which has a picturesque surrounding including the very popular Irish Village, which has been voted as the Best Pub by the What’s On! magazine since four years. Entry to the venue clubhouse is restricted to players, officials, VIPs, members and corporate officials only during the week-long tournament.

Tournament facts –

Venue – Aviation Club Tennis Centre
Surface – Hard / Outdoors
Men’s Singles – 32 players
Women’s Singles – 56 players
Men’s Doubles – 16 pairs
Women’s Doubles – 16 pairs
Courts – The stadium is completely self-contained and comprises a 5,000 seat center court with VIP area, Royal enclosure, changing rooms etc.
Winner of most Men’s Singles titles – Roger Federer – 4 titles
Winner of most Women’s Singles titles – Justine Henin – 4 titles.
Next Tournament -February 14, 2010
Past Winners – Venus Williams

The Internazionali BNL d'Italia is an annual clay-court tennis tournament which is held in Rome, Italy. The tournament is an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event for men whereas it is a Premier 5 event on the WTA Tour for women’s competition. The tournament features the best players for the second of the three Masters 1000 event contested on clay. The event is not just about great tennis, but it is a total entertainment experience with great food, high fashion, fabulous shopping destinations and musical performances by celebrities. All this have contributed towards making this one of the most glamorous events on the calendar.

Earlier, the event was known as Italian Open but from 2002 it changed to its current name. The tournament was also known as Italian tennis championship when it was held for the first time in 1930 in Milan. The tournament moved to Foro Italico in Rome in 1935, which is also its present venue.

Tournament Facts –

Venue – Foro Italico
Surface – Clay / Outdoors
Men’s Singles – 56 players
Women’s Singles – 56 players
Men’s Doubles – 24 pairs
Women’s Doubles – 28 pairs
Courts – The center court has a capacity of 8,000 spectators.
Winner of most Men’s Singles titles – Rafael Nadal – 4 titles.
Winner of most Women’s Singles titles – Chris Evert – 5 titles.
Next Tournament – May 9, 2011.
Past Winners – María José Martínez Sánchez