GSTAAD, June 1, 2016

Patty Schnyder, who returned to the courts last year, will receive a wild card for the inaugural edition of the $226,750 WTA Ladies Championship in Gstaad, taking place from 9 to 17 July 2016. The tournament will be held the week ahead of the J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open, which is part of the ATP 250 series.

The 37-year-old from Basel retired from professional tennis in 2011 and started a comeback four years later, claiming the title at an ITF tournament in Prague as well as making her first appearance on the WTA Tour in Charleston last month.

“The interest in women’s tennis in Switzerland is continously growing. The great effort of the girls in the Fed Cup in March might be one of the reasons for that. We are happy to announce that with Timea Bacsinszky, Viktorija Golubic as well as Stefanie Voegele three locals will join Patty in Gstaad,” tournament director Jeff Collet told.

Caroline Garcia in Paris last week

Further international competitors entered the tournament. World number 14 Carla Suárez Navarro from Spain is the highest ranked player. Caroline Garcia from France is one of the rising stars on the tour and is the current number 21 in the 2016 Race to the WTA Finals in Singapore. Kiki Bertens will also come to Gstaad. The Dutch knocked out Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber in the opening round at Roland Garros and qualified for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Entry List Main Draw (Rankings WTA as of 30 May, 2016)

Timea Bacsinszky (SUI, WTA 9)

Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA, WTA 86)

Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP, WTA 14)

Lara Arruabarrena (ESP, WTA 92)

Annika Beck (GER, WTA 39)

Carina Witthoeft (GER, WTA 100)

Caroline Garcia (FRA, WTA 40)

Stefanie Voegele (SUI, WTA 103)

Daria Gavrilova (AUS, WTA 46)

Katerina Siniakova (CZE, WTA 104)

Julia Goerges (GER, WTA 57)

Lourdes Domínguez Lino (ESP, WTA 112)

Kiki Bertens (NED, WTA 58)

Maria Sakkari (GRE, WTA 114)

Johanna Larsson (SWE, WTA 62)

Evgeniya Rodina (RUS, WTA 121)

Mona Barthel (GER, WTA 66)

Rebecca Peterson (SWE, WTA 122)

Christina Mchale (USA, WTA 67)

Tamira Paszek (AUT, WTA 123)

Anett Kontaveit (EST, WTA 82)

Viktorija Golubic (SUI, WTA 130 / Wild Card)

Patty Schnyder (SUI, WTA 434 / Wild Card)