Premier events

Premier events for women form the most prestigious level of events on the Women's Tennis Association Tour (WTA Tour) after the Grand Slam tournaments. These events offer the largest rewards in terms of points and prize money. The tiering system in women's tennis was introduced in 1988. At the time of its creation, only two tournaments, the Miami Masters in Florida and the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin, comprised the Premier category. In 2009, the category was expanded to include six tournaments, and subsequent additions to the category have resulted in nine events comprising the category today. Currently, two of these events (the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California and the Sony Ericsson Open) are held concurrently with men's Masters 1000 tournaments. In 2009, six Masters 1000 events will be combined with Premier WTA Tour tournaments.