Unfortunately, they have run this tournament concurrently with an Asian tournament both times (although the Thailand Open was cancelled last year). It would make more sense to have it coincide with a European one or at least keep it part of an Asian leg of the circuit. From Seoul, Tokyo, or even Beijing, Vladivostok is closer than Taipei, Hong Kong or points south, and from Taipei, Vladivostok is much closer than Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur. By the way, sportswomen can go there, too. ;-)
Sharapova? Did you mean someone else? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Sharapova#Early_life Vladivostok makes sense given the proximity to China, Korea and Japan as wintessed by last years japanese participation. At the cost of european entries ... I guess it could've been paired with the Vietnam Open, probably in the same timezone (although what is a late August tournament doing here?). Having the Korean PSS and Malaysian SS back-to-back made and makes no sense either . edit: only a mere 3 hours time difference that's pretty far east then, VLAT.
Just now Korean pianist Cho finished his performance in Moscow competition by Есрфшлщцылн - just brilliant! Only 17 years old! Results will be later i'm sure he will be in top 3. So Koreans enter Russia not only in Vladivostok..