Petra Martic

The week-long Hong Kong Tennis Open in September 2014 will be played in Victoria Park, the city's major downtown green space, and there are hopes of attracting the international stars of women's tennis.

Williams collected her 11th title of the year and became the first player to defend the title since Justine Henin in 2007.

Serena Williams, who claims to be exhausted near the end of a long season, reacted with fretful worrying, and sometimes distracting behaviour while struggling to a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 two-hour win over Jelena Jankovic.

The world No.1 overcame physical difficulties, emotional distress as well as a stubborn opponent in Jelena Jankovic before reaching the final of the WTA Championships with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 win.

The fourth-seeded Li Na will play 2011 champion Petra Kvitova, who came from behind to beat Angelique Kerber 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-3.

Serena Williams was relentlessly focussed against 2011 winner Petra Kvitova, hitting 27 winners and 11 immaculately delivered aces.

Li Na is already the first Chinese singles player to have won a Grand Slam title and to have reached the world's top five.

The world number two from Belarussia admits to having become over-tired near the end of the season, and once the intelligent and strongly-focussed Jankovic had tenaciously clung to her break to take the first set she began to make steady progress.

The world number one from the United States took little more than an hour and allowed only four games to Angelique Kerber, who beat her in Cincinnati last year but who was now outplayed almost from the moment she dropped serve in her opening service game.

The 26-year-old Russian -- presently number three in the world -- had had to withdraw from the US Open on the eve of the tournament because of the injury and owing to a previous hip problem has played just one match since a second round exit at Wimbledon in June.

The world number five booked her place in next month's WTA Championships in Istanbul featuring the top eight women's players.

Allaster, chairman and CEO of the Women's Tennis Association, said female competitors would be quite happy to play for as long as the men if asked by the Grand Slam tournaments.

Another inductee was Australian legend Long, who is now 94 years old and won a total of 19 Grand Slam titles between the 1930s and 1950s. Hall of Famer Rod Laver accepted Long's award on her behalf.

It is also a major addition to the portfolio of sports events in Singapore, which bills itself as an Asian events capital, alongside its Formula One grand prix and international golf tournaments.

Williams did not commit a double fault but took full advantage of 12 by Camila Giorgi to win 6-2, 6-3 after 82 minutes in her first match since capturing the WTA Miami crown last Saturday by beating Maria Sharapova in the final.

The US Tennis Association (USTA) boosted the base prize money for this year's US Open by $4.1 million beyond the $4 million jump announced last December, raising the total to $33.6 million compared to $25.5 million in 2012.

Japan's Ayumi Morita edged closer to winning her first ever WTA title after reaching the semi-finals of the BMW Malaysian Open on Friday.

The 31-year-old twisted her ankle twice during her three-set loss to Victoria Azarenka in Melbourne.