| Connecticut Open | |
|---|---|
| Defunct tennis tournament | |
| Tour | WTA Tour |
| Founded | 1948 |
| Abolished | 2019 |
| Editions | 50 |
| Location | New Haven, Connecticut United States |
| Category | ATP World Series (1990–1997) ATP International Series (1998–2008) ATP World Tour 250 series (2009–2010) WTA Tier IV (1988–1989) WTA Tier III (1990–1994) WTA Tier II (1997–2008) WTA Premier (2009–2018) |
| Surface | Hard / outdoor |
TheConnecticut Open was a professionaltennis tournament played on outdoorhard courts under various names and in various venues from 1948 until 2019.
It was most recently aWomen's Tennis Association (WTA) Premier Tournament on theWTA Tour, held annually at theCullman-Heyman Tennis Center inNew Haven, Connecticut, United States, just before the fourth and lastGrand Slam tournament of the year, theUS Open.[1] From 2005 through 2010, the tournament was also part of theATP World Tour 250 series of theATP Tour.
In 2019, the tournament sanction was sold to APG, a sports and entertainment company, which transferred it toZhengzhou, China.[2]
The tournament was created in 1948 as theU.S. Women's Hardcourt Championships and first played inSacramento, California, in the United States. Over the 20 years of its first run, the event was held in various locations in the western United States: San Francisco;Berkeley, California;Salt Lake City, Utah;Seattle, Washington;La Jolla, California; andDenver, Colorado. Among the winners of the event wereDoris Hart,Darlene Hard,Nancy Richey,Rosemary Casals,Billie Jean King, andJane Bartkowicz. The event was discontinued in 1969 after the beginning of theOpen Era.[3]
In 1988, theUnited States Tennis Association (USTA) reinstated the tournament. The first edition of the new U.S. Women's Hardcourt Championships was held that year inSan Antonio, Texas, first as part ofTier IV of theWTA Tour, then as an upgradedTier III event in 1990. The championships were sponsored byPost Cereals in 1990[4] and byAcura from 1992 to 1994.[4] Over the first years of its second run, the tournament was won by several past or futureWorld No. 1s, includingSteffi Graf,Monica Seles, andMartina Navratilova. The event was held inStratton Mountain, Vermont, in 1993 and 1994, but conflicts with the1996 Summer Olympics prevented the tournament from being held the following two years. In 1997, the event returned again, now withinTier II and first inStone Mountain, Georgia, then settling in 1998 inNew Haven, Connecticut, under the new sponsorship ofPilot Pen.[3] In the first years of its run in New Haven, the renamedPilot Pen International saw its competition dominated byLindsay Davenport (four-time runner-up in New Haven, one previous time in Stone Mountain, and 2005 champion) andVenus Williams (four-time champion from 1999 to 2002).
New Haven was already host to a men's tournament, thePilot Pen International. It was created in 1973 inBretton Woods, New Hampshire, as the Volvo International, and moved toConnecticut in 1990, where it took Pilot Pen sponsorship in 1997. When the men's event was cancelled in 1999, the women's Pilot Pen tournament remained the only one of the region.
In 2005, the USTA purchased the men's tournament ofLong Island, New York,[5] and merged it with the women's Pilot Pen International to createPilot Pen Tennis, the first large jointATP–WTA tournament leading to theUS Open.[6] The tournament became the last event of theUS Open Series and continued to attract top players, including championsCaroline Wozniacki,Svetlana Kuznetsova,James Blake,Justine Henin, andNikolay Davydenko.
In 2011, after the men's competition moved toWinston-Salem, the newly women's-only event was renamed theNew Haven Open at Yale.[7] In 2014, it was renamed theConnecticut Open.[8]
In 2019, the Connecticut Open ended due to a lack of funding. The tournament's sanction was sold and assigned toZhengzhou, China, after the 2019 US Open.[9] In 2021, theTennis in the Land tournament in Cleveland took over its former spot on the WTA schedule.[10]
| Location | Year | Champion | Runner-up | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | 1948* |  Gussie Moran |  Virginia Wolfenden Kovacs | 2–6, 6–1, 6–2 |
| 1949* | Doris Hart | Dorothy Head Knode | 6–3, 6–4 | |
| Berkeley, California | 1950* | Patricia Canning Todd |  Magda Rurac | 6–2, 6–1 |
| Salt Lake City | 1951 | Patricia Canning Todd (2) | Anita Kanter | 6–1, 6–4 |
| Seattle | 1952 | Mary Arnold Prentiss | Anita Kanter | 6–1, 8–6 |
| Salt Like City | 1953 | Anita Kanter | Joan Merciadis | 6–0, 6–4 |
| 1954 | Beverly Baker Fleitz | Barbara Green | 6–1, 6–3 | |
| La Jolla, California | 1955 | Mimi Arnold | Patricia Canning Todd | 6–0, 6–0 |
| 1956 | Nancy Chaffee Kiner | Patricia Canning Todd | 6–4, 5–7, 7–5 | |
| 1957 | Beverly Baker Fleitz (2) | Mimi Arnold | 6–1, 6–1 | |
| 1958 | Beverly Baker Fleitz (3) | Karen Hantze | 6–1, 8–6 | |
| Denver, Colorado | 1959 |  Sandra Reynolds | Beverly Baker Fleitz | 6–3, 6–2 |
| La Jolla, California | 1960 | Katherine D. Chabot | Karen Hantze | 4–6, 7–5, 7–5 |
| 1961 | Nancy Richey | Dorothy Head Knode | 6–1, 6–1 | |
| Seattle | 1962 | Carol Hanks | Marilyn Montgomery | 7–5, 6–3 |
| La Jolla, California | 1963 | Darlene Hard | Tory Fretz | 6–1, 8–6 |
| Sacramento, California | 1964 | Kathleen Harter | Kathy Blake | 6–1, 6–0 |
| 1965 | Rosemary Casals | Kathleen Harter | 6–4, 4–6, 6–2 | |
| La Jolla, California | 1966 | Billie Jean King | Patti Hogan | 7–5, 6–0 |
| Sacramento, California | 1967 | Jane "Peaches" Bartkowicz | Valerie Ziegenfuss | 6–4, 6–4 |
| La Jolla, California | 1968 | Maryna Godwin | Janet Newberry | 6–3, 8–6 |
| Sacramento, California | 1969 | Eliza Pande | Kristien Kemmer | 7–5, 6–4 |
| 1970– 1987 | Not held | |||
| San Antonio, Texas | 1988 |  Steffi Graf |  Katerina Maleeva | 6–4, 6–1 |
| 1989 | Steffi Graf (2) | Ann Henricksson | 6–1, 6–4 | |
| 1990 |  Monica Seles |  Manuela Maleeva-Fragnière | 6–4, 6–3 | |
| 1991 | Steffi Graf (3) | Monica Seles | 6–4, 6–3 | |
| 1992 | Martina Navratilova |  Nathalie Tauziat | 6–2, 6–1 | |
| Stratton Mountain, Vermont | 1993 |  Conchita Martínez | Zina Garrison | 6–3, 6–2 |
| 1994 | Conchita Martínez (2) | Arantxa Sánchez Vicario | 4–6, 6–3, 6–4 | |
| 1995 | Not held | |||
| 1996 | Not held | |||
| Stone Mountain, Georgia | 1997 | Lindsay Davenport | Sandrine Testud | 6–4, 6–1 |
| New Haven, Connecticut | 1998 | Steffi Graf (4) |  Jana Novotná | 6–4, 6–1 |
| 1999 | Venus Williams | Lindsay Davenport | 6–2, 7–5 | |
| 2000 | Venus Williams (2) | Monica Seles | 6–2, 6–4 | |
| 2001 | Venus Williams (3) | Lindsay Davenport | 7–6(8–6), 6–4 | |
| 2002 | Venus Williams (4) | Lindsay Davenport | 7–5, 6–0 | |
| 2003 | Jennifer Capriati | Lindsay Davenport | 6–2, 4–0 retired | |
| 2004 |  Elena Bovina | Nathalie Dechy | 6–2, 2–6, 7–5 | |
| 2005 | Lindsay Davenport (2) | Amélie Mauresmo | 6–4, 6–4 | |
| 2006 |  Justine Henin | Lindsay Davenport | 6–0, 1–0 retired | |
| 2007 | Svetlana Kuznetsova |  Ágnes Szávay | 4–6, 3–0 retired | |
| 2008 |  Caroline Wozniacki | Anna Chakvetadze | 3–6, 6–4, 6–1 | |
| 2009 | Caroline Wozniacki (2) | Elena Vesnina | 6–2, 6–4 | |
| 2010 | Caroline Wozniacki (3) | Nadia Petrova | 6–3, 3–6, 6–3 | |
| 2011 | Caroline Wozniacki (4) | Petra Cetkovská | 6–4, 6–1 | |
| 2012 | Petra Kvitová | Maria Kirilenko | 7–6(11–9), 7–5 | |
| 2013 | Simona Halep | Petra Kvitová | 6–2, 6–2 | |
| 2014 | Petra Kvitová (2) |  Magdaléna Rybáriková | 6–4, 6–2 | |
| 2015 | Petra Kvitová (3) | Lucie Šafářová | 6–7(6–8), 6–2, 6–2 | |
| 2016 |  Agnieszka Radwańska |  Elina Svitolina | 6–1, 7–6(7–3) | |
| 2017 |  Daria Gavrilova | Dominika Cibulková | 4–6, 6–3, 6–4 | |
| 2018 |  Aryna Sabalenka | Carla Suárez Navarro | 6–1, 6–4 | |
On August 23, 2011, 1:51 PM local time[11]a 5.8 magnitude earthquake in Virginia stopped play for two hours[12] while the main stadium was checked for damage by the fire department.
