Hong Kong Tennis Classic

(Redirected from JB Group Classic)

The Hong Kong Tennis Classic (formerly known as the JB Group Classic and the Watsons Water Champions Challenge) is a women's exhibition tennis tournament held (with temporary stands) in Victoria Park, Hong Kong, in the first week of January. It is a warm-up tournament for the Australian Open.

Formerly, the tournament was played under a more traditional format, with 8 players invited to participate, who would play against each other in a round robin format (with two groups of 4 players), with the top two players from each group progressing to the final. However, in 2009, the tournament switched to a group format, with four Zonal groups of three players; Team Americas, Team Asia-Pacific, Team Europe and Team Russia. Two teams play against each other in a semifinal, with three singles ties (amongst the three players) and 1 doubles tie. The two winning teams progress to the Gold Group final, playing for 1st and 2nd, whilst the losing teams progress to the Silver Group final, playing off for 3rd and 4th.

Past finals

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Year Champion Runner-up Score
2011 Team Russia
  Vera Zvonareva
  Maria Kirilenko
  Yevgeny Kafelnikov
Team Europe
  Caroline Wozniacki
  Aravane Rezaï
  Stefan Edberg
3–1 (4 ties played)
2010 Team Russia
  Maria Sharapova
  Vera Zvonareva
  Yevgeny Kafelnikov
Team Europe
  Caroline Wozniacki
  Victoria Azarenka
  Stefan Edberg
2–1 (3 ties played)
2009 Team Americas
  Venus Williams
  Gisela Dulko
  Coco Vandeweghe
Team Russia
  Vera Zvonareva
  Anna Chakvetadze
  Alexandra Panova
3–1 (4 ties played)
2008   Venus Williams   Maria Sharapova 6–4, 6–3
2007   Kim Clijsters   Maria Sharapova 6–3, 7–6(10–8)
2006   Kim Clijsters   Lindsay Davenport 6–3, 7–5
2005   Elena Dementieva   Venus Williams 6–3, 6–2
2004   Venus Williams   Maria Sharapova 7–5, 6–3
2003   Monica Seles   Chanda Rubin 5–7, 6–1, 6–2
2002   Jennifer Capriati   Elena Dementieva 1–6, 6–4, 6–4
2001   Jelena Dokić   Anna Kournikova 7–6(7–3), 6–3
2000   Jennifer Capriati   Martina Hingis 7–6, 4–6, 6–3
1999   Venus Williams   Steffi Graf 2–2 retired

See also

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