THE WTA has welcomed the resignation of Raymond Moore as tournament director of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

Moore sparked outrage with his comments that women's tennis "rides on the coattails" of the men's game.

Moore said ahead of Sunday's women's final that female players should "go down every night on [their] knees and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born".

The WTA chief executive Steve Simon, Moore's predecessor at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, strongly criticised the comments in the aftermath and said the South African's decision to step down was the right one.

Simon's statement read: "Raymond Moore has taken full responsibility for the unacceptable comments he has made. It is the right decision for him to step down.

"The BNP Paribas Open has supported the payment of equal prize money to all players since 2009. The WTA looks forward to working with Mr Ellison and the Indian Wells team on continued efforts in making the sport better and equal for all players."

Larry Ellison, the owner of one of the biggest tournaments outside the grand slams, announced Moore's resignation yesterday.

He said in a statement on the tournament website: "Earlier today I had the opportunity to speak with Raymond Moore.

"Ray let me know that he has decided to step down from his roles as CEO and tournament director effective immediately. I fully understand his decision."

Moore had already apologised publicly for comments that received widespread criticism, including from Indian Wells finalist Serena Williams, who said: "Obviously I don't think any woman should be down on their knees thanking anybody like that."

Ellison, in announcing Moore's departure, took time to praise Williams and Billie Jean King among others for their role in the sport's progress towards gender equality.

He said: "Nearly half a century ago, Billie Jean King began her historic campaign for the equal treatment of women in tennis. What followed is an ongoing, multi-generational, progressive movement to treat women and men in sports equally.

"Thanks to the leadership of Billie Jean, Martina Navratilova, Venus Williams, Serena Williams and so many other great women athletes, an important measure of success has already been achieved. I'm proud to say that it is now a decade-long tradition at our tournament at Indian Wells, and all the major tennis tournaments, to pay equal prize money to both the women and the men.

"I would like to personally thank all the great women athletes who fought so hard for so many years in the pursuit of equal prize money in professional tennis. And I'd like to congratulate them on their success. All of us here at the BNP Paribas Open promise to continue working with everyone to make tennis a better sport for everybody."

Speaking to journalists on the morning of the final day of the tournament, Moore said: "In my next lifetime when I come back I want to be someone in the WTA, because they ride on the coattails of the men. They don't make any decisions and they are lucky. They are very, very lucky. If I was a lady player, I'd go down every night on my knees and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born, because they have carried this sport."

Meanwhile, the British teenager Katie Swan bowed out of the Miami Open in the final qualifying round.

The 16-year-old, who is originally from Bristol but is based in the United States, posted a career-best win over world No.102 Lauren Davis in the opening round of qualifying in Key Biscayne.

That set up a match against 109th-ranked Samantha Crawford for a place in the main draw, but it was the American who came through 6-2 4-6 6-2.