Events

APG took a brand new WTA tennis event to the beautiful international resort city of Hua Hin, Thailand and created the biggest tennis tournament in South East Asia and a glittering showcase both for the destination itself and for women’s tennis.

Once APG had got its first ‘win’ in securing a week for the tournament in the busy WTA calendar, we sent our experts in to mentor and work with a local team in Thailand – led by Thai tennis superstar Paradorn Srichaphan – on sponsor acquisition, media rights management, brand activation, event operations management and PR. The inaugural event in 2019 was an immediate success. This was followed up with an even bigger splash in 2020.

Thanks to APG’s continued work the tournament is also seeing sponsorship revenue rise and attracting a growing worldwide TV audience, with widespread media exposure for Hua Hin around the world. The 2020 Thailand Open attracted a global broadcast audience of 8.1 million, saw a 43% increase in social media mentions and 2,446 news articles mentioning the tournament which reached a potential household audience of 127.7 million (*WTA figures).

A charity initiative also helped raise over $50,000 for a local breast cancer charity and secured Thailand Open’s place in tennis history as the first outdoor tennis event to paint its match courts pink.

APG is proud to have helped the thriving international city of Seoul maintain a prestigious women’s tennis event worthy of its historic status as Asia’s sporting heartbeat. Held at the iconic Olympic Park Tennis Center, which also played host to the 1988 Olympic Games tennis competition, the Korea Open regularly attracts huge, excitable crowds to fill its majestic 10,000-seater stadium and boasts an impressive portfolio of international, Korean and regional commercial partners and some of the best female tennis players in the world.

The tournament is the only professional tennis event held in Korea and a key stop for the WTA’s Asian Swing, which is why the Korea Open consistently attracts some of the biggest names in the sport, including a host of former World No.1s and Grand Slam champions such as Maria Sharapova, Venus Williams and Caroline Wozniacki, as well as fan favourites like Jelena Ostapenko.

With APG’s help, the tournament has turned that prestige into tangible success, thanks to elite facilities, lasting partnerships and its trademark excellent tournament operations. Korea Open also capitalises on the vibrant Korean media landscape to make its mark year after year.

The 2019 edition was won by rising star and APG athlete Karolína Muchová, one of the most exciting young tennis players in world sport.

Ningbo, a key city in Zhejiang Province, is continuing to rise as a major hub for tennis sport. APG is proud to announce its partnership with Ningbo, which began in 2023, and its successful role in upgrading the Ningbo Open from a WTA 250 event to WTA 500 level in 2024.

APG team worked closely with Ningbo team to run a successful Ningbo Open, building a strong bond and connection. The international tennis world witnessed Ningbo’s passion and support for tennis. The tournament got positive feedback from WTA and players, who expressed their hope to come back again in the future. Now the venue upgrades are underway to enhance the overall experience for both players and spectators.

In the 2024 singles final, Daria Kasatkina triumphed in three sets over rising star Mirra Andreeva, claiming her 8th WTA singles title. In doubles, the pairing of Demi Shuurs and China’s Yuan Yue took home the championship, marking Yuan’s first-ever WTA doubles title.

Looking forward, we are filled with expectations and excitement for the future of the Ningbo Open. We believe that the venue upgrade will further improve the tournament, attracting even greater attention from both domestic and international audiences to Ningbo.

With APG’s expertise, the Jiangxi Open brings the exciting future and present of world class women’s tennis to Nanchang, a city rich in 2000 years of Chinese history. This thrilling meeting between the region’s future as a global sports hub and its iconic past makes Jiangxi Open a unique event. Working in close cooperation with a local team and event partners, the tournament is uniquely positioned to become even more successful.

Jiangxi Open began as a WTA $125k but in 2016 APG helped it secure elevation to become a WTA 250 event and make it the largest annual sporting event in the province of Jiangxi, which is home to an estimated 45 million people. With that promotion came stronger player line-ups each year and a growing global spotlight to the tournament and to the city of Nanchang.  Domestic interest was helped by the tournament boasting three Chinese champions in three years thanks to Duan Yingying (2016), Peng Shuai (2017) and Wang Qiang (2018). Its global live streaming audience continues to grow, with 2019 seeing a 12.4% increase from 2018 (*WTA figures).

Players competing at the Jiangxi Open can not only expect the top class facilities, but also enjoy getting to know one of China’s most picturesque and fascinating cities, where historic and cultural places of interest blend with beautiful natural scenery.

APG’s skill, experience and expertise helped Zhengzhou make its mark on the WTA Tour, helping secure a huge upgrade in status from a lower-tier WTA $125k to becoming a WTA 500 tournament and therefore joining the elite tier of events.

Zhengzhou Open was won by former World No.1 Karolina Pliskova in its hugely successful debut as a WTA 500 event in September 2019, attracting large crowds and bringing the historic, culturally significant central Chinese city of Zhengzhou to the attention of the world’s media and the global tennis audience. As well as a growing TV audience around the world, the tournament featured in 412 different TV news items worldwide, with a cumulative household reach of 1.4 billion (*WTA figures).

The tournament benefited from APG’s unique understanding of how to meet operational challenges with success and create strong foundations for ambitious events to grow and flourish.

APG brought in its team of experts in event planning, management, marketing and PR to form successful local partnerships and ensure a successful tournament in year one, creating a strong foundation for growth and development.

With a brand new state-of-the-art venue, Zhengzhou Open is fast establishing itself as one of the key women’s events of the WTA Tour’s Asian Swing.

APG has brought its expertise to a number of other sports and entertainment events. It provides tailored consultative support to a number of high profile tennis tournaments, including Wuhan Open, Miami Open, Qatar Open, ATP Shenzhen Open and the WTA Finals in Shenzhen. APG delivers bespoke services based on the clients needs and APG’s experts understand the delicate touch, nuanced communication and relationship-building required when delivering shared success in multi-organisational teams.

Kooza is a touring entertainment extravaganza from Cirque Du Soleil that APG was proud to provide operational support for, bringing the world’s best entertainment brand back to Hong Kong in 2018 after a 12-year hiatus. Kooza features traditional elements such as acrobatics, clowning, trapeze acts, unicycles and even a wheel of death, all helping to tell the story of its central character, the Innocent. The show has been seen around the world and attracted huge critical acclaim.

As operations and promotions partner for the event, APG brought its full breadth of experience to all areas of Kooza’s large scale Hong Kong production. APG led on ticketing, marketing and PR, VIP hospitality, sponsorship procurement and merchandising in addition to a wide range of event logistics on the ground. These included managing the large international crew, accommodation, catering and transport services as well as ensuring that more than 90 shipping containers arrived safely and supervising construction of Kooza’s iconic ‘Big Top’ circus tent.

Whether in sport or entertainment, APG’s organisational and operational knowledge and experience can create the best stage for talent and creativity to shine.