Italian Open (tennis)
The Italian Open (Italian: Internazionali d'Italia; literally: Italy International), originally called the Italian International Championships,[1] is a tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is one of the most important clay tennis tournaments in the world with the men's competition being an ATP Tour Masters 1000 event on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour, and the women's competition being a Premier 5 event on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour. The two events were combined in 2011. The tournament is played on clay courts, currently during the second week of May. The event is also known as the "Rome Masters" for male edition, as well as sponsored name "Internazionali BNL d'Italia". Rafael Nadal has won the men's singles title a record nine times.
Italian Open Internazionali d'Italia | |||||||||
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Tournament information | |||||||||
Event name | Italian Open | ||||||||
Founded | 1930 | ||||||||
Location | Rome Italy | ||||||||
Venue | Foro Italico | ||||||||
Surface | Clay (outdoors) | ||||||||
Website | internazionalibnlditalia.com | ||||||||
Current champions (2020) | |||||||||
Men's singles | Novak Djokovic | ||||||||
Women's singles | Simona Halep | ||||||||
Men's doubles | Marcel Granollers Horacio Zeballos | ||||||||
Women's doubles | Hsieh Su-wei Barbora Strýcová | ||||||||
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History
The Italian tennis championship was first held in 1930 in Milan at the Tennis Club and was initiated by Count Alberto Bonacossa.[2] The singles events at the tournament were won by Bill Tilden and Lilí Álvarez. The championships were held in Milan until 1934. The next year, 1935, the event moved to the Foro Italico in Rome. No edition was held between 1936 and 1949. The competition resumed in 1950. In 1961 the tournament was held in Turin at the Sporting Club.
The Italian Open became "open" to professional players in 1969. Between 1970 and 1989 it was a premier tournament of the Grand Prix Tennis Tour and was part of the Grand Prix Super Series top tier events. In 1990 it became an ATP Championship Series Single Week tournament. In 1979 the women's event was held two weeks before the men's event. The women's event was played in Perugia from 1980 though 1984 and in Taranto in 1985. No women's event was held in 1986[lower-alpha 1] and it moved back to Rome again in 1987 where it has remained.[3]
Past finals
Men's singles
Women's singles
Men's doubles
Women's doubles
Records
Source: The Tennis Base[4]
Men's singles
Most titles | Rafael Nadal | 9 |
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Most finals | Rafael Nadal | 11 |
Most consecutive titles | Rafael Nadal |
3 |
Most consecutive finals | Rafael Nadal |
6 |
Most matches played | Nicola Pietrangeli | 72 |
Most matches won | Rafael Nadal | 63 |
Most consecutive matches won | Rafael Nadal | 17 |
Most editions played | Nicola Pietrangeli | 22 |
Best winning % | Rod Laver | 93.75% |
Björn Borg | ||
Youngest champion | Björn Borg | 17y, 11m, 2d (1974) |
Oldest champion | Bill Tilden | 38y, 2m, 18d (1930) |
Longest final | |||||
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2006 (57 games) | |||||
Rafael Nadal | 60 | 77 | 6 | 2 | 77 |
Roger Federer | 77 | 65 | 4 | 6 | 65 |
Shortest final | |||||
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2013 (16 games) | |||||
Rafael Nadal | 6 | 6 | |||
Roger Federer | 1 | 3 |
Women's singles
Most titles | Chris Evert | 5 |
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Most finals | Chris Evert | 7 |
Most runner-ups | Lucia Valerio | 4 |
/ Martina Navratilova | ||
Most consecutive titles | Conchita Martínez |
4 |
Most consecutive finals | Conchita Martínez |
5 |
Most consecutive runner-ups | Lucia Valerio |
2 |
Lesley Turner | ||
Martina Navratilova | ||
Virginia Ruzici | ||
Monica Seles | ||
Amélie Mauresmo | ||
Simona Halep | ||
Most matches played | Conchita Martínez | 53 |
Serena Williams | ||
Most matches won | Serena Williams | 45 |
Most consecutive matches won (during unbroken years of play) |
Conchita Martínez | 24 |
Most editions played | Lea Pericoli | 20 |
Best winning % (minimum of 20 matches played) |
Chris Evert (36-3) | 92.31% |
Margaret Court (24-2) | ||
Undefeated at this tournament (minimum of 1 title) |
Doris Hart | (7-0) (1951, 1953) |
Althea Gibson | (5-0) (1956) | |
Tracy Austin | (5-0) (1979) | |
Lilí Álvarez | (4-0) (1930) | |
Helen Jacobs | (4-0) (1934) | |
Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling | (4-0) (1935) |
Longest final:
1962 (36 games) | |||||
Margaret Court | 8 | 5 | 6 | ||
Maria Bueno | 6 | 7 | 4 |
Shortest fully played finals:
1959 (13 games) | |||||
Christine Truman | 6 | 6 | |||
Sandra Reynolds | 0 | 1 |
1975 (13 games) | |||||
Chris Evert | 6 | 6 | |||
Martina Navratilova | 1 | 0 |
1983 (13 games) | |||||
Andrea Temesvári | 6 | 6 | |||
Bonnie Gadusek | 1 | 0 |
Women's doubles
Individual | Team | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Most titles | Virginia Wade | 4 | Thelma Coyne Long Mary Hawton |
2 |
Paola Suárez Virginia Ruano Pascual | ||||
Hsieh Su-wei Peng Shuai | ||||
Most finals | Thelma Coyne Long | 5 | Silvana Lazzarino Lea Pericoli |
5 |
Silvana Lazzarino | ||||
Lea Pericoli | ||||
Virginia Wade | ||||
Virginia Ruzici | ||||
Martina Hingis | ||||
Most runner-ups | Silvana Lazzarino | 5 | Silvana Lazzarino Lea Pericoli |
5 |
Lea Pericoli | ||||
Most consecutive titles | Olga Morozova |
3 | Thelma Coyne Long Mary Hawton |
2 |
/ Monica Seles |
Gigi Fernández Natasha Zvereva | |||
Most consecutive finals | Silvana Lazzarino |
4 | Silvana Lazzarino Lea Pericoli |
4 |
Lea Pericoli | ||||
Most consecutive runner-ups | Silvana Lazzarino |
4 | Silvana Lazzarino Lea Pericoli |
4 |
Lea Pericoli |
Longest final:
1956 (40 games) | |||||
Thelma Coyne Long Mary Hawton |
6 | 6 | 9 | ||
Darlene Hard Angela Buxton |
4 | 8 | 7 |
Shortest fully played finals:
1957 (14 games) | |||||
Thelma Coyne Long Mary Bevis Hawton |
6 | 6 | |||
Rosa Reyes Yola Ramírez |
1 | 1 |
2001 (14 games) | |||||
Cara Black Elena Likhovtseva |
6 | 6 | |||
Paola Suárez Patricia Tarabini |
1 | 1 |
Notes
- The Ellesse Grand Prix women's tournament, part of the Virginia Slims World Championships Series, was held in Perugia in July but it was not recognized as the Italian Open.
- The final was stopped at two sets all due to bad light and the final set was played on 15 September in Houston, TX, USA.
References
- Garcia, Gabriel. "Italian International Championships - (Currently Italian Open ) - Roll of honour". thetennisbase.com. Madrid, Spain: Tennismem SAL. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
- "Athletes – Alberto, Count Bonacossa". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 2015-10-02.
- Bud Collins (2010). The Bud Collins History of Tennis (2nd ed.). New York City: New Chapter Press. pp. 740–741. ISBN 978-0942257700.
- "Italian Open, Rome, Tournament Records". thetennisbase.com. The Tennis Base, 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
External links
Awards and achievements | ||
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Preceded by Dubai Tennis Championships |
Favorite WTA Premier 5 Tournament 2016–2017 |
Succeeded by Incumbent |