WTA Indian Open

The WTA Indian Open is a tournament for professional female tennis players, held regularly since 2003 in various Indian cities. It was a WTA Tour event played on outdoor hardcourts. In 2008, it was classified as a Tier II event with the prize money of $600,000 – this made it the biggest women's tennis tournament in South and Southeast Asia that year. Following the restructure of the WTA in 2008, there has been no WTA tournaments in India since. In 2012, a tournament, classified as a WTA Challenger Series tournament, made its debut in Pune, India.[3] The Challenger tournament has since been relocated to Mumbai.

Mumbai Open
Tournament information
Founded2003
Abolished2018
Editions9
LocationHyderabad, Bangalore, Pune[1]
Mumbai[2]
India
VenueSAAP Tennis Complex (2003–05)
Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex (2012)
Cricket Club of India (2017–18)
CategoryChallenger
SurfaceDecoTurf (hard) – outdoors
Draw32S / 16Q / 8D
Prize money$125,000 (2018)
Websitemumbaiopen.in
Current champions (2018)
Singles Luksika Kumkhum
Doubles Natela Dzalamidze
Veronika Kudermetova

History

The event started in 2003 as a Tier IV event. It was held in SAAP Tennis Complex in Hyderabad, Telangana until 2005. In 2006, the event was upgraded to a Tier III event, and was moved to Bangalore. In 2008, it was upgraded further to a Tier II event.

The 2008 edition was won by 26-year-old, then eight-time Grand-Slam champion Serena Williams, who defeated Patty Schnyder in the finals, winning her 29th WTA Tour title.[4]

In 2012, the tournament was featured as a WTA Challenger event, and named the Royal Indian Open. Pune is the fourth city in the history of India to host a WTA event, after Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Kolkata (Sunfeast Open). Later, Mumbai became the fifth city to do the same.

India's renewed participation through this Challenger event was originally supposed to be held in Delhi,[5] but on 17 October 2012, just a few weeks before the tournament's first edition, it was announced the event had been shifted to Pune, to be held at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex.

In 2012, it became the second event (after the OEC Taipei Ladies Open) to be part of the WTA 125s.

The tournament was not held between 2013–16 due to various reasons, but in 2017 it was reinstated as a WTA 125K series tournament & relocated to Mumbai.

The Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) and the Maharashtra State Government came together to reinstate the event, the first of its kind to be held in India since 2012 and the second overall in almost a decade. The Cricket Club of India, a prestigious sporting venue in Mumbai hosted the tournament.

Sponsors

From 2003–2005, the event was sponsored by Andhra Pradesh Tourism (AP Tourism), and the tournament was named accordingly. In 2006 and 2007, the event was sponsored by Sony Ericsson, and the tournament was also named after the sponsor. In 2008, it was sponsored by the Canara Bank which would have continued to sponsor the event if it had been held 2009 onwards. The 2017 and 2018 editions were sponsored by Larsen & Toubro.

Past finals

Singles

LocationYearChampionRunner-upScore
Mumbai
2018 Luksika Kumkhum Irina Khromacheva1–6, 6–2, 6–3
2017 Aryna Sabalenka Dalila Jakupović6–2, 6–3
Pune
2013–16Not held
2012 Elina Svitolina Kimiko Date-Krumm6–2, 6–3
   WTA 125K series event   
Bangalore
2009–11Not held
2008 Serena Williams Patty Schnyder7–5, 6–3
   Tier II event   
2007 Yaroslava Shvedova Mara Santangelo6–4, 6–4
2006 Mara Santangelo Jelena Kostanić3–6, 7–6(7–5), 6–3
   Tier III event   
Hyderabad 2005 Sania Mirza Alona Bondarenko6–4, 5–7, 6–3
2004 Nicole Pratt Maria Kirilenko7–6(7–3), 6–1
2003 Tamarine Tanasugarn Iroda Tulyaganova6–4, 6–4
   Tier IV event   

Doubles

LocationYearChampionsRunners-upScore
Mumbai
2018 Natela Dzalamidze
Veronika Kudermetova
Bibiane Schoofs
Barbora Štefková
6–4, 7–6(7–4)
2017 Victoria Rodriguez
Bibiane Schoofs
Dalila Jakupović
Irina Khromacheva
7–5, 3–6, [10–7]
Pune
2013–16Not held
2012 Nina Bratchikova
Oksana Kalashnikova
Julia Glushko
Noppawan Lertcheewakarn
6–0, 4–6, [10–8]
   WTA 125K series event   
Bangalore
2009–11Not held
2008 Peng Shuai
Sun Tiantian
Chan Yung-jan
Chuang Chia-jung
6–4, 5–7, [10–8]
   Tier II event   
2007 Chan Yung-jan
Chuang Chia-jung
Hsieh Su-wei
Alla Kudryavtseva
6–7(4–7), 6–2, [11–9]
2006 Liezel Huber (2)
Sania Mirza (2)
Anastasia Rodionova
Elena Vesnina
6–3, 6–3
   Tier III event   
Hyderabad 2005 Yan Zi
Zheng Jie
Li Ting
Sun Tiantian
6–4, 6–1
2004 Liezel Huber
Sania Mirza
Li Ting
Sun Tiantian
7–6(7–1), 6–4
2003 Elena Likhovtseva
Iroda Tulyaganova
Eugenia Kulikovskaya
Tatiana Poutchek
6–4, 6–4
   Tier IV event   

See also

References

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