KUWAIT, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Sony Ericsson tennis championships kicks off on Tuesday in Qatari capital Doha with top eight women's tennis players contesting for the 4.55 million U.S dollars prizes, Pan-Arab al-Jazeera TV reported.

    The season-ending event of 2009 Sony Ericsson WTA tour season will be held this year at the Khalifa International Tennis complex in Doha for six days.

    The singles winner will get 1.55 million dollars while the winner doubles will get 375,000 dollars. The singles finalist will get 780,000 dollars and the finalist doubles will receive 187,500.

    The competitors have been divided into two groups, the White and Maroon, after the colors of Qatar's flag. The white group comprised Dinara Safina, Caroline Woznicki, Victoria Azarenka and Jelena Jankovic.

    The Maroon group will comprise Serena Williams, Svetlana Kuznetova, Elena Dementieva and Venus Williams.