Stephens, Vandeweghe headline WTA Elite line-up

[October 25, 2017]    (Reuters) - U.S. Open winner Sloane Stephens, compatriot CoCo Vandeweghe and double grand slam champion Angelique Kerber will headline the field at the WTA Elite Trophy, which will be played from Oct. 31 to Nov. 5 in Zhuhai.

 Sloane Stephens of the USA with the US Open Trophy after beating Madison Keys of the USA in the Women's Final in Ashe Stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Stephens won her maiden grand slam title in August and reached the semi-finals of the Rogers Cup and the Cincinnati Open while compatriot Vandeweghe won the Stanford Classic and reached the last four of the U.S. and Australian Opens.

The line-up also features St. Petersburg Trophy winner Kristina Mladenovic, Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who has won three titles this year, and Indian Wells champion Elena Vesnina.

"This signature event showcases top players along with up and coming stars, all joining together and celebrating their successes of the 2017 WTA season," WTA CEO and Chairman Steve Simon said.

The WTA Elite is a season-ending event that features both singles and doubles competitions. The 12 highest ranked women that did not qualify for the WTA Finals compete in the singles tournament for a total prize money of over $2.2 million.

Chinese number one Peng Shuai, who was beaten by Russian Maria Sharapova in the semi-finals of the Tianjin Open, was handed the singles wild card for the tournament.

(Reporting by Aditi Prakash in Bengaluru; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)

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