South African Open (tennis)

The South African Open – formerly the South African Championships, the Altech NCR South African Open and the Panasonic South African Open – is a defunct Grand Prix Tennis Tour, World Championship Series and ATP Tour affiliated tennis tournament played from 1891 to 1995. The tournament was independent in 1970 and 1971 and between 1970 and 1974 the event was part of the Grand Prix Championship Series of tournaments that were the precursors to the current ATP World Tour Masters 1000. It was mainly held in Johannesburg in South Africa, except in 1993, when it was held in Durban, and in 1994, when it was held in Sun City. The tournament was played on outdoor hard courts.

ATP Tour tennis returned to South Africa in 2009 under the banner of the SA Tennis Open. The history of this event, however, is not part of the history of the Open.^[1] The Tennis Open, which was part of the 250 series of events, was discontinued in 2011.^[2]

History

The first South African Championships were played in 1891 and took place in Port Elizabeth. The tournament was held at and organized by the Port Elizabeth Lawn Tennis Club. This inaugural edition consisted of a men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles and mixed doubles event. In 1905 the women's doubles competition was added. The first men's singles winner was Lionel Richardson from Bloemfontein. After the formation of the South African Lawn Tennis Union in 1903 the location of the tournament circulated between Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, East London, Bloemfontein, Kimberly and Pretoria. In 1931 Ellis Park in Johannesburg became the permanent venue for the championships.^[3]

Results

NB: The following tables comprise only of champions in the Open Era. For a full list of champions, see their respective main articles.

Men's singles

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Score
1969	Rod Laver	Tom Okker	6–3, 10–8, 6–3
1970	Rod Laver	Frew McMillan	4–6, 6–2, 6–1, 6–2
1971	Ken Rosewall	Fred Stolle	6–4, 6–0, 6–4
1972	Cliff Richey	Manuel Orantes	6–4, 7–5, 3–6, 6–4
1973	Jimmy Connors	Arthur Ashe	6–4, 7–6, 6–3
1974	Jimmy Connors	Arthur Ashe	7–6, 6–3, 6–1
1975	Harold Solomon	Brian Gottfried	6–2, 6–4, 5–7, 6–1
1976	Harold Solomon	Brian Gottfried	6–2, 6–7, 6–3, 6–4
1977	Guillermo Vilas	Buster Mottram	7–6, 6–3, 6–4
1978	Tim Gullikson	Harold Solomon	2–6, 7–6, 7–6, 6–7, 6–4
1979	Andrew Pattison	Victor Pecci	2–6, 6–3, 6–2, 6–3
1980	Kim Warwick	Fritz Buehning	6–2, 6–1, 6–2
1981	Vitas Gerulaitis	Jeff Borowiak	6–4, 7–6, 6–1
1982	Vitas Gerulaitis	Guillermo Vilas	7–6, 6–2, 4–6, 7–6
1983	Johan Kriek	Colin Dowdeswell	6–4, 4–6, 1–6, 7–5, 6–3
1984	Eliot Teltscher	Vitas Gerulaitis	6–3, 6–1, 7–6
1985	Matt Anger	Brad Gilbert	6–4, 3–6, 6–3, 6–2
1986	Amos Mansdorf	Matt Anger	6–3, 3–6, 6–2, 7–5
1987	Pat Cash	Brad Gilbert	7–6, 4–6, 2–6, 6–0, 6–1
1988	Jakob Hlasek	Christo van Rensburg	6–7, 6–4, 6–1, 7–6
1989	Christo van Rensburg	Paul Chamberlin	6–4, 7–6, 6–3
1990–1991	Not Held
1992	Aaron Krickstein	Alexander Volkov	6–4, 6–4
1993	Aaron Krickstein	Grant Stafford	6–3, 7–6
1994	Markus Zoecke	Hendrik Dreekmann	6–4, 6–1
1995	Martin Sinner	Guillaume Raoux	6–1, 6–4

Men's doubles

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Score
1969	Pancho Gonzales Ray Moore	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	6–3, 4–6, 6–1, 6–3
1972	John Newcombe Fred Stolle	Terry Addison Bob Carmichael	6–3, 6–4
1973	Arthur Ashe Tom Okker	Lew Hoad Robert Maud	6–2, 4–6, 6–2, 6–4
1974	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	Tom Okker Marty Riessen	7–6, 6–4, 6–3
1975	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	Karl Meiler Charlie Pasarell	7–5, 6–4
1976	Brian Gottfried Sherwood Stewart	Juan Gisbert Stan Smith	1–6, 6–1, 6–2, 7–6
1977	Robert Lutz Stan Smith	Peter Fleming Raymond Moore	6–3, 7–5, 6–7, 7–6
1978	Peter Fleming Raymond Moore	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	6–3, 7–6
1979	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	Mike Cahill Christopher Mottram	1–6, 6–1, 6–4
1980	Robert Lutz Stan Smith	Heinz Günthardt Paul McNamee	6–7, 6–3, 6–4
1981	Terry Moor John Yuill	Fritz Buehning Russell Simpson	6–3, 5–7, 6–4, 6–7, 12–10
1982	Brian Gottfried Frew McMillan	Shlomo Glickstein Andrew Pattison	6–2, 6–2
1983	Steve Meister Brian Teacher	Andrés Gómez Sherwood Stewart	6–7, 7–6, 6–2
1984	Tracy Delatte Francisco González	Steve Meister Eliot Teltscher	7–6, 6–1
1985	Colin Dowdeswell Christo van Rensburg	Amos Mansdorf Shahar Perkiss	3–6, 7–6, 6–4
1986	Mike De Palmer Christo van Rensburg	Andrés Gómez Sherwood Stewart	3–6, 6–2, 7–6
1987	Kevin Curren David Pate	Eric Korita Brad Pearce	6–4, 6–4
1988	Kevin Curren David Pate	Gary Muller Tim Wilkison	7–6, 6–4
1989	Luke Jensen Richey Reneberg	Kelly Jones Joey Rive	6–0, 6–4
1990-1991	Not Held
1992	Pieter Aldrich Danie Visser	Wayne Ferreira Piet Norval	6–4, 6–4
1993	Lan Bale Byron Black	Johan de Beer Marcos Ondruska	7–6, 6–2
1994	Marius Barnard Brent Haygarth	Ellis Ferreira Grant Stafford	6–3, 7–5
1995	Rodolphe Gilbert Guillaume Raoux	Martin Sinner Joost Winnink	6–4, 3–6, 6–3

Women's singles

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Score
1968	Margaret Court	Virginia Wade	6–4, 6–4
1969	Billie Jean King	Nancy Richey	6–3, 6–4
1970	Margaret Court	Billie Jean King	6–4, 1–6, 6–3
1971	Margaret Court	Evonne Goolagong	6–3, 6–1
1972	Evonne Goolagong	Virginia Wade	4–6, 6–3, 6–0
1973	Chris Evert	Evonne Goolagong	6–3, 6–3
1974	Kerry Melville	Dianne Fromholtz	6–3, 7–5
1975	Annette du Plooy	Brigitte Cuypers	6–3, 3–6, 6–4
1976	Brigitte Cuypers	Laura DuPont	6–7, 6–4, 6–1
1977	Linky Boshoff	Brigitte Cuypers	6–1, 6–4
1978	Brigitte Cuypers	Linda Siegel	6–1, 6–0
1979	Brigitte Cuypers	Tanya Harford	7–6, 6–2
1980	Lesley Charles	Rene Uys	7–5, 6–4
1981	Kathleen Horvath	Kathy Rinaldi	7–6, 6–4
1982–1983	Not Available
1984	Chris Evert-Lloyd	Andrea Jaeger	6–3, 6–0
1985	Not Available
1986	Dinky van Rensburg	Rene Mentz	6–3, 6–1
1987	Gretchen Magers	Louise Allen	6–7, 7–6, 6–4
1988–1995	Not Held

See also

• SA Tennis Open

References