The USTA has "come to an agreement in principle" with
the Pilot Pen Int'l tennis tournament to bring the U.S.
Women's Hardcourt Championship to New Haven, CT, this
summer, according to Dave Solomon of the NEW HAVEN REGISTER.
A news conference has been set for today to announce the
event, which will take place August 24-31, the week
following the Pilot Pen Int'l men's tournament at the CT
Tennis Center at Yale. Solomon writes that talks have been
"ongoing to move the struggling Stone Mountain, Ga-based
event to New Haven." Though it is owned by the USTA, the
Pilot Pen group, headed by CEO Mike Davies and Tournament
Dir Butch Buchholz "would effectively lease the event on a
multi-year basis." Buchholz, who will become the women's
Tournament Dir (NEW HAVEN REGISTER, 4/28). Tournament execs
"were scrambling" to come up with an official name, but
"sources suggest Pilot Pen will attach its name to the
women's event" (Greg Garber, HARTFORD COURANT, 4/28).
CHANGE IN WOMEN'S SCHEDULE: The WTA Tour announced that
the Sparkassen Cup in Germany has been moved from its
original week of September 28 to the week of November 2.
The event scheduled for that week in Chicago will be removed
from the calendar in '98, but is scheduled to return in '99.
The Sparkassen Cup was moved due to the women's Grand Slam
Cup held in Munich the week of September 28 (WTA Tour).
