A view of the Khalifa Tennis Complex, which will host next week’s Qatar Total Open. The Tier I event will be held from February 18 to 24. The world’s top players, minus Justine Henin and Serena Williams, will be seen in action. (QASSIM RAHMATULLAH)

Doha • The Qatar Tennis Federation (QTF) will dole out the richest paycheck in the history of women’s tennis at the end of next week’s Qatar Total Open.

Doha will stage the first Tier I event of the new season from February 18 to 24.

The overall prize bag at the Doha event is $2.5m out of which the winner will take home a tax free chunk of $441,000, the biggest paycheck at a WTA Tour event outside the Grand Slams.

The Doha sum easily beats the top prizes offered at other Tier I events on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Faleh Al Thani, President of Qatar Tennis Federation (QTF) seen with Simon Casson, General Manager, Four Seasons, Doha, at an sponsorship signing ceremony yesterday. Four Seasons is the official hotel of next week’s Qatar Total Open. (ABDUL BASIT)

This was disclosed by Ayman Azmy, the tournament director, yesterday.

“What we are offering to the winner of our event is more than what is being given to the champions at events in Indian Wells and Miami (the other two Tier I hosts),” Azmy said yesterday.

It is the first time that QTF is staging a Tier I event in Qatar.

The other Tier I tournament staged by QTF is the Qatar Telecom German Open held in Berlin, Germany, in May every year.

This year, 12 Tier I events have been scheduled by the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. Three out of those 12 are going to be organised by QTF.

The world’s richest women’s event – the WTA Tour’s season-ending championship will be held in November in Doha.

The events staged in Indian Wells and Miami offer greater prize money to their champions, but the winner’s prize is chopped off by tax – a policy that brings down the overall figure the eventual champion takes home.

The season-ending championship to be staged at the Khalifa Tennis Complex in November offers greater sum of money to the winner – around $1.5m – but that event is held for the top eight players from each concluding season.

This year, QTF will stage the eight edition of the Qatar Open, an event that offered a measly sum of $27,000 to Martina Hingis, the Swiss star, who won the inaugural edition in 2001.

Among those chasing for the top prize in Doha next week include world number two Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, Maria Sharapova of Russia, her compatriot Anna Chatvetadze, Venus Williams of the US, Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia and Marion Bartoli of France.

However, world number one Justine Henin of Belgium has given the Doha event a miss because of prior engagements at home.

According to Sheikh Mohammed bin Faleh Al Thani, President of QTF, Henin will play in Doha next year.

“Henin could not come because she wanted to play her home event in Antwerp this year. She has told us she would be back next year,” Sheikh Mohammed said.

When asked about the absence of Serena Williams, the QTF president said: “Serena has pulled out of a few events this month because she is not fully fit.”