• Championship on ESPN2
• Action Daily on ESPN3 from Basel, Valencia as Men Battle to Qualify for ATP Finals in London
Top-ranked Serena Williams is seeking her third straight title and fifth overall and ESPN3 has daily coverage of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals from Singapore with the championship of the eight-player round robin live on ESPN2 on Sunday, Oct. 26, at 7 a.m. Williams heads the Red Group, joined by Simona Halep, Eugenie Bouchard and Ana Ivanovic. (In today’s opening day of play, Williams defeated Ivanovic and Halep downed Bouchard.)The White Group has French Open champ Maria Sharapova (who won in 2004), Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova (who won this event in 2011), Agnieszka Radwanska and Caroline Wozniacki. Patrick McEnroe and analyst Rennae Stubbs will call the action for the championship. All players play three round-robin matches against players in their group to determine a winner and runner-up from each group, who advance to the knockout stage of the tournament. The winner of the White Group plays the runner-up of the Red Group, and the winner of the Red Group plays the runner-up of White Group in the semifinals, with the winners advancing to the Championship. All matches are best-of-three sets. ESPN3’s coverage will also include the doubles event. The Italian duo of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci is the top-ranked team, with wins this year at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, giving them a career Grand Slam.
Also this week, two ATP 500-level events are presented daily (generally early morning) on ESPN3 through the championships on Sunday, Oct. 26, as players vie for points to qualify for the final three slots in the eight-player, year-end ATP Finals next month in London. The Swiss Indoors Basel from Switzerland includes hometown favorite and five-time winner Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Stan Wawrinka who have all already qualified (along with Novak Djokovic and Marin Cilic who are taking the week off) plus Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov who are seeking to do so (currently ranked No.10 and No.11, respectively). The field at the Valencia Open 500 has three players hoping to go to London: Tomas Berdych (No. 7), Andy Murray (No. 8), and No. 9 David Ferrer – who has won the event in his homeland of Spain three times. The ATP Finals will be November 9-16 with more than 50 hours on ESPN3 and 10 on ESPN2, including the Championship on Sunday, Nov 16 at 1 p.m.
| Date | Time (ET) | Event | Network |
| Tue, Oct 21 | 6 a.m. | ATP Valencia Open 500 Valencia, Spain |
ESPN3 |
| 7:30 a.m. | BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singles Round Robin Singapore |
ESPN3 | |
| 10 a.m. | ATP Swiss Indoors Basel Basel, Switzerland |
ESPN3 | |
| Wed, Oct 22(Tue, Oct 21) | 1:30 a.m.(10:30 p.m. PT) | BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singles and Doubles Round Robin Singapore |
ESPN3 |
| 6 a.m. | ATP Valencia Open 500 Valencia, Spain |
ESPN3 | |
| 8 a.m. | ATP Swiss Indoors Basel Basel, Switzerland |
ESPN3 | |
| Thu, Oct 23(Wed, Oct 22) | 1:30 a.m.(10:30 p.m. PT) | BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singles and Doubles Round Robin Singapore |
ESPN3 |
| 7 a.m. | ATP Valencia Open 500 Valencia, Spain |
ESPN3 | |
| 8 a.m. | ATP Swiss Indoors Basel Basel, Switzerland |
ESPN3 | |
| 2 p.m. | ATP Valencia Open Valencia, Spain |
ESPN3 | |
| Fri, Oct 24(Thu, Oct 23) | 1:30 a.m.(10:30 p.m. PT) | BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singles and Doubles Round Robin Singapore |
ESPN3 |
| 7 a.m. | ATP Valencia Open 500 Quarterfinals #1-3 Valencia, Spain |
ESPN3 | |
| 8 a.m. | ATP Swiss Indoors Basel Quarterfinals Basel, Switzerland |
ESPN3 | |
| 2 p.m. | ATP Valencia Open Quarterfinal #4 Valencia, Spain |
ESPN3 | |
| Sat, Oct 25(Fri, Oct 24) | 12 a.m.(9 p.m. PT) | BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singles and Doubles Semifinals Singapore |
ESPN3 |
| 8:30 a.m. | ATP Swiss Indoors Basel Semifinals Basel, Switzerland |
ESPN3 | |
| 9 a.m. | ATP Valencia Open Semifinal #1 Valencia, Spain |
ESPN3 | |
| 2 p.m. | ATP Valencia Open Semifinal #2 Valencia, Spain |
ESPN3 | |
| Sun, Oct 26 | 4 a.m. | BNP Paribas WTA Finals Doubles and Singles Championship Singapore |
ESPN3 |
| 7 a.m. | BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singles Championship Singapore |
ESPN2 | |
| 9:30 a.m. | ATP Swiss Indoors Basel Championship Basel, Switzerland |
ESPN3 | |
| 11 a.m. | ATP Valencia Open 500 Championship Valencia, Spain |
ESPN3 |
ESPN – All Four Slams, All In One Place
Tennis has been part of ESPN since its first week on the air and provided many memorable moments, but it has never been as important as today, with the US Open joining the lineup in 2009, giving ESPN all four Grand Slam events, something no other U.S. network has ever done, let alone in one year. ESPN has presented the Australian Open since 1984, the French Open since 2002 (plus 1986 – 1993), and Wimbledon since 2003, with exclusivity for live television with all other rights extended in a 12-year agreement starting in 2012. Exclusivity for the US Open in an 11-year agreement begins in 2015. ESPN3 delivers an unmatched multi-screen presentation of the sport’s four majors, all ATP 1000 and 500 tournaments, WTA Premier Events and season-ending championships for both tours.
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