The Barcelona Ladies Open is a tennis tournament for women held in Barcelona in Spain and is played on outdoor clay courts. It is an International-level tournament on the WTA Tour with total prize money of $220,000.
The tournament began in November 2003 as a $10,000 challenger event on the ITF Women's Circuit. Prize money was increased to $25,000 the following year; in 2005, the event was moved to October with the prize money increasing to $75,000. In 2007, the tournament was upgraded to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, becoming a Tier IV played in June, and remained in this classification through 2008. Since 2009, the event has been held in April. For 2013, the event is cancelled and its place will be occupied by a new tournament in Nuremberg, Germany, the week after Roland Garros.
Famous quotes containing the words ladies and/or open:
“Almost yesterday, those gentle ladies stole
to their baths in Atlantic City, for the lost
rites of the first sea of the first salt
running from a faucet.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Rats!
They fought the dogs and killed the cats,
And bit the babies in the cradles,
And ate the cheeses out of the vats,
And licked the soup from the cooks’ own ladles,
Split open the kegs of salted sprats,
Made nests inside men’s Sunday hats,
And even spoiled the women’s chats
By drowning their speaking
With shrieking and squeaking
In fifty different sharps and flats.”
—Robert Browning (1812–1889)