Calcutta: The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour has come a long way in the last few years. And with its growth, Asia has emerged a very important region in the Tour’s scheme of things. So much so that from early 2008, an office will be opened in Beijing to run activities in the Asia-Pacific region.

“This significant decision points to the emerging importance of the region,” said Fabrice Chouquet, the WTA Tour supervisor for the ongoing Sunfeast Open.

Asian women, too, have come to the forefront. “Sania Mirza is a great ambassador for India. China’s Zheng Jie has been named Unesco’s Promoter of Gender Equality. The Tour has never been so active as it is today,” added Chouquet.

Coming back to the Sunfeast Open, there was a power failure while two singles matches were on early in the day. Would this hamper the future of this venue?

“Not really,” said Chouquet, who has been a full-time Tour supervisor for the past four years. “Power cuts are not so uncommon and happen the world over. Though not an ideal situation, we consider it as a part of natural hazards like, say rain.

“Today, the power had gone off very briefly. But the lights used in these stadiums are such that once electricity is cut off, the lamps need to cool before they can be restarted. The process takes 15-20 minutes.”

On the quality of the practice courts, he felt there was scope for improvement. “The organisers are working towards that end and the Tour is working with them. ”

Talking on the rule changes, Chouquet pointed out two significant ones. One, the format of doubles was modified to make it tighter so that 93 per cent of doubles matches ended in 90 minutes or less. This was tried out from the middle of last year till this May and officially approved by the Board at Wimbledon.

The second — on-court coaching — was still at an experimental stage, tried out mainly in Tier I and II level tournaments.