Kingfisher Airlines Tennis Open

Kingfisher Airlines Tennis Open
Defunct tennis tournament
Founded 1996
Abolished 2007
Editions 11
Location Shanghai
China
Venue KSLTA Signature Kingfisher Tennis Stadium
Category ATP International Series
Surface Carpet / Indoors (1996–98)
Hard / Outdoors (1999–01, 2003–04, 2006–07)
Hard / Indoors (2005)
Draw 32S/32Q/16D
Prize money $416,000
Website kingfisherairlinesopen.com

The Kingfisher Airlines Tennis Open (known as the Kingfisher Airlines Tennis Open for sponsorship reasons) was a professional men's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was part of the International Series of the ATP Tour and was held annually in Asia.

History

The tournament was first created in 1996 in Shanghai, China, on indoor carpet courts and as part of the ATP World Series. The second new tournament started by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in Asia in three years, after the Beijing Open, created in 1993, the Shanghai event ran as a men's only tournament during four years, seeing the likes of Michael Chang, Goran Ivanišević, Marcelo Ríos and Magnus Norman reaching the finals. In 2000, the Tier IV Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tournaments of Beijing was moved to Shanghai, allowing the city to hold both the ATP event, now part of the International Series, and the WTA event.

In 2004, as the ATP was increasing its presence in Asia, having brought the Tennis Masters Cup to Shanghai in 2002, working on moving several events to different new locations, the ATP and WTA Shanghai tournaments were both relocated, with the women's, now a Tier II tournament, returning to Beijing, and the men's moving to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. After the 2005 edition, the tournament moved once more to a new country, in India, taking place in the city of Mumbai first, in 2006 and 2007, and then moving again to Bangalore for the 2008 edition. The first event to be held in the new location, though, was cancelled due to security fears, and the first Bangalore Open consequently postponed to the next season. In 2009 a new tournament in Asia was created to replace it, the Malaysian Open, located on Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Past finals

The 2007 Men's doubles finals in action at CCI Tennis courts in Mumbai

Singles

Location Year Champions Runners-up Score
Bangalore 2008–09 Not held
Mumbai 2007 Richard Gasquet Olivier Rochus 6–3, 6–4
2006 Dmitry Tursunov Tomáš Berdych 6–3, 4–6, 7–6(7–5)
Ho Chi Minh City 2005 Jonas Björkman Radek Štěpánek 6–3, 7–6(7–4)
Shanghai 2004 Guillermo Cañas Lars Burgsmüller 6–1, 6–0
2003 Mark Philippoussis Jiří Novák 6–2, 6–1
2002 Not held
2001 Rainer Schüttler Michel Kratochvil 6–3, 6–4
2000 Magnus Norman Sjeng Schalken 6–4, 4–6, 6–3
1999 Magnus Norman Marcelo Ríos 2–6, 6–3, 7–5
1998 Michael Chang Goran Ivanišević 4–6, 6–1, 6–2
1997 Ján Krošlák Alexander Volkov 6–2, 7–6(7–2)
1996 Andrei Olhovskiy Mark Knowles 7–6(7–5), 6–2

Doubles

Location Year Champions Runners-up Score
Bangalore 2008–09 Not held
Mumbai 2007 Robert Lindstedt
Jarkko Nieminen
Rohan Bopanna
Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi
7–6(7–3), 7–6(7–5)
2006 Mario Ančić
Mahesh Bhupathi
Rohan Bopanna
Mustafa Ghouse
6–4, 6–7(6–8), 10–8
Ho Chi Minh City 2005 Lars Burgsmüller
Philipp Kohlschreiber
Ashley Fisher
Robert Lindstedt
5–6(3–7), 6–4, 6–2
Shanghai 2004 Jared Palmer
Pavel Vízner
Rick Leach
Brian MacPhie
4–6, 7–6(7–4), 7–6(13–11)
2003 Wayne Arthurs
Paul Hanley
Zeng Shaoxuan
Zhu Benqiang
6–2, 6–4
2002 Not held
2001 Byron Black
Thomas Shimada
John-Laffnie de Jager
Robbie Koenig
6–2, 3–6, 7–5
2000 Paul Haarhuis
Sjeng Schalken
Petr Pála
Pavel Vízner
6–2, 3–6, 6–4
1999 Sébastien Lareau
Daniel Nestor
Todd Woodbridge
Mark Woodforde
7–5, 6–3
1998 Mahesh Bhupathi
Leander Paes
Todd Woodbridge
Mark Woodforde
6–4, 6–7, 7–6
1997 Max Mirnyi
Kevin Ullyett
Tomas Nydahl
Stefano Pescosolido
7–6, 6–7, 7–5
1996 Mark Knowles
Roger Smith
Jim Grabb
Michael Tebbutt
4–6, 6–2, 7–6