Hobart International

This article is about women's tennis tournament. For airport, see Hobart International Airport.

The Hobart International is a women's professional tennis tournament held at the Hobart International Tennis Centre in Hobart, Australia. The tournament was founded in 1994 as the Tasmanian International Open,^[1] it forms a part of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour and is classed as an International tournament (previously Tier IV). It is competed on outdoor hardcourts, and is held in the run-up to the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, the Australian Open as part of the Australian Open Series.

Hobart International
Tournament information
Founded	1994; 29 years ago (1994)
Location	Hobart Australia
Venue	Hobart International Tennis Centre
Category	WTA 250
Surface	Hard (Plexicushion) – outdoors
Draw	32S / 24Q / 16D
Prize money	US$259,303 (2023)
Website	HobartInternational.com.au
Current champions (2023)
Singles	Lauren Davis
Doubles	Kirsten Flipkens Laura Siegemund

The tournament is held at the Hobart International Tennis Centre. It was previously sponsored by Moorilla Wines, ANZ and Schweppes. The tournament has played host to a number of top players in the past, such as World #1's Victoria Azarenka, Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin and Serena Williams. Other top players who have participated in the event include Australian Open and Wimbledon semifinalist Zheng Jie, and current/former Top 10 players Jelena Dokić, Alicia Molik, Flavia Pennetta, Chanda Rubin, Patty Schnyder, Samantha Stosur and Vera Zvonareva.

History

In 1893 the Tasmanian Lawn Tennis Championships were established as a combined mens and womens international tennis tournament. In 1969 that tournaments names was changed to the Tasmanian Open Championships,^[2] becoming the Tasmanian Open^[3] played in Hobart on hard courts in 1978. That tournament ended in 1980. In 1994 this successor event for former womens tournament was revived as the Tasmanian International Open^[4] and remained branded under that name until 2003 when the tournament name was changed to the Moorilla Hobart International. In 2014 the tournament was rebranded again as the Hobart International.

Redevelopment

Prior to the Australian Open changing its court surface, the tournament was played on Rebound Ace. When the Australian Open changed to Plexicushion in 2008, all Australian Open Series tournaments were required to change their court surfaces to Plexicushion. The Moorilla Hobart International, however, retained Rebound Ace. Tennis Australia announced that in order for Hobart to keep its tournament, it was required to make significant improvements to the facility, including resurfacing the courts to Plexicushion and improving the seating facilities. The Domain Tennis Centre resurfaced its hardcourts to Plexicushion in late 2008, in time for the 2009 tournament.

Midway through 2009, the Tasmanian Government announced a $2.25 million to fund redevelopments to the Domain Tennis Centre over 2009–10.^[5] This announcement was to ensure that the Moorilla Hobart International tournament was retained. Prior to the 2010 singles final, representatives from Tennis Australia, along with tournament director Michael Roberts, announced that the future of the tournament would be secured through to 2013.^[6]

In 2009, the Domain Tennis Centre began a series of redevelopments in order to ensure the tournament's future.^[7] The first stage of these redevelopments included the demolition of the northern seating to make way for a permanent Corporate Stand and also a new Media Stand at the southern end of the Centre Court. This was completed prior to the 2010 tournament. The second stage of the redevelopment is to construct new permanent grandstands at the eastern and western ends of the court, increasing seating from around 1000 spectators to 2800. The redevelopment was completed by the 2011 tournament.^[8]

Past finals

Singles

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Score
↓  Tier IV  ↓
1994	Mana Endo	Rachel McQuillan	6–1, 6–7 ^(1–7), 6–4
1995	Leila Meskhi	Li Fang	6–2, 6–3
1996	Julie Halard-Decugis	Mana Endo	6–1, 6–2
1997	Dominique van Roost	Marianne Werdel Witmeyer	6–3, 6–3
1998	Patty Schnyder	Dominique van Roost	6–3, 6–2
1999	Chanda Rubin	Rita Grande	6–2, 6–3
2000	Kim Clijsters	Chanda Rubin	2–6, 6–2, 6–2
↓  Tier V  ↓
2001	Rita Grande	Jennifer Hopkins	0–6, 6–3, 6–3
2002	Martina Suchá	Anabel Medina Garrigues	7–6 ^(9–7), 6–1
2003	Alicia Molik	Amy Frazier	6–2, 4–6, 6–4
2004	Amy Frazier	Shinobu Asagoe	6–3, 6–3
2005	Zheng Jie	Gisela Dulko	6–2, 6–0
↓  Tier IV  ↓
2006	Michaëlla Krajicek	Iveta Benešová	6–2, 6–1
2007	Anna Chakvetadze	Vasilisa Bardina	6–3, 7–6 ^(7–3)
2008	Eleni Daniilidou	Vera Zvonareva	walkover
↓  International  ↓
2009	Petra Kvitová	Iveta Benešová	7–5, 6–1
2010	Alona Bondarenko	Shahar Pe'er	6–2, 6–4
2011	Jarmila Groth	Bethanie Mattek-Sands	6–4, 6–3
2012	Mona Barthel	Yanina Wickmayer	6–1, 6–2
2013	Elena Vesnina	Mona Barthel	6–3, 6–4
2014	Garbiñe Muguruza	Klára Zakopalová	6–4, 6–0
2015	Heather Watson	Madison Brengle	6–3, 6–4
2016	Alizé Cornet	Eugenie Bouchard	6–1, 6–2
2017	Elise Mertens	Monica Niculescu	6–3, 6–1
2018	Elise Mertens (2)	Mihaela Buzărnescu	6–1, 4–6, 6–3
2019	Sofia Kenin	Anna Karolína Schmiedlová	6–3, 6–0
2020	Elena Rybakina	Zhang Shuai	7–6^(9–7), 6–3
2021	not held
2022
2023	Lauren Davis	Elisabetta Cocciaretto	7–6^(7–0), 6–2

Doubles

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Score
1994	Linda Wild   Chanda Rubin	Jenny Byrne   Rachel McQuillan	7–5, 4–6, 7–6^(7–1)
1995	Kyōko Nagatsuka   Ai Sugiyama	Manon Bollegraf   Larisa Neiland	2–6, 6–4, 6–2
1996	Yayuk Basuki   Kyōko Nagatsuka (2)	Kerry-Anne Guse   Park Sung-hee	7–6^(9–7), 6–3
1997	Naoko Kijimuta   Nana Miyagi	Barbara Rittner   Dominique Monami	6–3, 6–1
1998	Virginia Ruano Pascual   Paola Suárez	Julie Halard-Decugis   Janette Husárová	7–6^(8–6), 6–3
1999	Mariaan de Swardt   Elena Tatarkova	Alexia Dechaume-Balleret   Émilie Loit	6–2, 6–2
2000	Rita Grande   Émilie Loit	Kim Clijsters   Alicia Molik	6–2, 2–6, 6–3
2001	Cara Black   Elena Likhovtseva	Ruxandra Dragomir   Virginia Ruano Pascual	6–4, 6–1
2002	Tathiana Garbin   Rita Grande (2)	Catherine Barclay-Reitz   Christina Wheeler	6–2, 7–6^(7–3)
2003	Cara Black (2)   Elena Likhovtseva (2)	Barbara Schett   Patricia Wartusch	7–5, 7–6^(7–1)
2004	Shinobu Asagoe   Seiko Okamoto	Els Callens   Barbara Schett	2–6, 6–4, 6–3
2005	Yan Zi   Zheng Jie	Anabel Medina Garrigues   Dinara Safina	6–4, 7–5
2006	Émilie Loit (2)   Nicole Pratt	Jill Craybas   Jelena Kostanić	6–2, 6–1
2007	Elena Likhovtseva (3)   Elena Vesnina	Anabel Medina Garrigues   Virginia Ruano Pascual	2–6, 6–1, 6–2
2008	Anabel Medina Garrigues   Virginia Ruano Pascual (2)	Eleni Daniilidou   Jasmin Wöhr	6–2, 6–4
2009	Gisela Dulko   Flavia Pennetta	Alona Bondarenko   Kateryna Bondarenko	6–2, 7–6^(7–4)
2010	Chuang Chia-jung   Květa Peschke	Chan Yung-jan   Monica Niculescu	3–6, 6–3, [10–7]
2011	Sara Errani   Roberta Vinci	Kateryna Bondarenko   Līga Dekmeijere	6–3, 7–5
2012	Irina-Camelia Begu   Monica Niculescu	Chuang Chia-jung   Marina Erakovic	6–7^(4–7), 7–6^(7–4), [10–5]
2013	Garbiñe Muguruza   María Teresa Torró Flor	Tímea Babos   Mandy Minella	6–3, 7–6^(7–5)
2014	Monica Niculescu (2)   Klára Zakopalová	Lisa Raymond   Zhang Shuai	6–2, 6–7^(5–7), [10–8]
2015	Kiki Bertens   Johanna Larsson	Vitalia Diatchenko   Monica Niculescu	7–5, 6–3
2016	Han Xinyun   Christina McHale	Kimberly Birrell   Jarmila Wolfe	6–3, 6–0
2017	Raluca Olaru   Olga Savchuk	Gabriela Dabrowski   Yang Zhaoxuan	0–6, 6–4, [10–5]
2018	Elise Mertens   Demi Schuurs	Lyudmyla Kichenok   Makoto Ninomiya	6–2, 6–2
2019	Chan Hao-ching   Latisha Chan	Kirsten Flipkens   Johanna Larsson	6–3, 3–6, [10–6]
2020	Nadiia Kichenok   Sania Mirza	Peng Shuai   Zhang Shuai	6–4, 6–4
2021	not held
2022
2023	Kirsten Flipkens   Laura Siegemund	Viktorija Golubic   Panna Udvardy	6–4, 7–5

See also

• List of tennis tournaments

References

1. "Endo Wins First Event". Cumberland Sunday Times News. Cumberland, Maryland, USA: Newspaper Archives. 16 January 1994. p. 17. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
2. "Miss Casals Advances". Phoenix Arizona Republic. Phoenix, Arizona, United States: Newspaper Archives. 4 January 1969. p. 96. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
3. Barrett, John; Tingay, Lance (1979). World of tennis : a BP yearbook. 1979. London: Macdonald and Jane's. p. 191. ISBN 0354090682.
4. "Endo Wins First Event". Cumberland Sunday Times News. Cumberland, Maryland, USA: Newspaper Archives. 16 January 1994. p. 17. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
5. "$6.5 Million for Sport and Recreation Infrastructure". tas.gov.au. 11 June 2009. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
6. "Event's future secured". themercury.com.au. 14 January 2010. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
7. "Development begins at the Domain Tennis Centre". hobartinternational.com.au. 24 August 2009. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
8. "Celebrating 25 years in Hobart". Hobart International. 31 December 2017.

External links

• Official website