Taipei Open

The Taipei Open or Taipei WTA Challenger (Chinese: 台北海碩網球公開賽) is a tournament for female professional tennis players played on indoor carpet courts. The event is currently classified as an WTA 125K tournament. It has been held annually in November in Taipei City, Taiwan, from 2008 until 2015, and was sponsored by the OEC Group. In 2012, the event was upgraded from a $100,000 ITF tournament to a WTA Challenger tournament.

Taipei WTA Challenger
Tournament information
Event name	Taipei WTA Challenger
Location	Taipei City Taiwan
Venue	Taipei Arena
Category	WTA 125K series
Surface	Carpet - indoors
Draw	32S / 16Q / 16D
Prize money	US$125,000 (2019)
Website	oectennis.com
Current champions (2019)
Singles	Vitalia Diatchenko
Doubles	Lee Ya-hsuan Wu Fang-hsien

Chuang Chia-jung has lifted the doubles trophy three times at this event as the home-crowd favourite

Japan's Ayumi Morita has reached the singles final three times here; winning the title in 2011 and finishing runner-up in 2009 & 2010

History

In 2007, OEC Group Chairman Robert Han organized an ITF tournament in Taoyuan where the prize was $50,000 plus hotel.[1][2][3] OEC has retroactively referred to the event as the 2007 OEC Cup Taiwan Ladies Open.[1][4]

In October 18–20, 2008, the OEC Group held the 2008 OEC Taipei Ladies Open, which was a WTA-sanctioned ITF $100,000+H Tournament.[5] held at the National Taiwan University Gymnasium and the Taipei Arena.[6][7] In 2010 and 2011 it was called the OEC Taipei Ladies Open, and it has also been referred to as the Haishuo Cup (海碩盃).[1][8][9]

In 2012, the event was upgraded to a WTA 125K series event.[5][10] It had attracted over 60,000 visitors.[11] In 2013, the tournament was renamed to OEC Taipei WTA Challenger.[1][12][13][14] and has used that name since.[15]

Past finals

Singles

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Score
↓   ITF 75K Kaohsiung event   ↓
2006	Chan Yung-jan	Hsieh Su-wei	5–7, 7–6^(8–6), 6–0
↓   ITF 50K Taoyuan event   ↓
†2007	Akiko Morigami	Yanina Wickmayer	6–4, 7–6 ^(7–5)[16]
↓   ITF 100K+H event   ↓
2008	Jarmila Gajdošová	Corinna Dentoni	4–6, 6–4, 6–1
2009	Chan Yung-jan	Ayumi Morita	6–4, 2–6, 6–2
2010	Peng Shuai [17]	Ayumi Morita	6–1, 6–4
2011	Ayumi Morita	Kimiko Date-Krumm	6–2, 6–2
↓   WTA 125K series event   ↓
2012	Kristina Mladenovic	Chang Kai-chen	6–4, 6–3
2013	Alison Van Uytvanck	Yanina Wickmayer	6–4, 6–2
2014	Vitalia Diatchenko	Chan Yung-jan	1–6, 6–2, 6–4
2015	Tímea Babos	Misaki Doi	7–5, 6–3
2016	Evgeniya Rodina	Chang Kai-chen	6–4, 6–3
2017	Belinda Bencic	Arantxa Rus	7–6^(7–3), 6–1
2018	Luksika Kumkhum	Sabine Lisicki	6–1, 6–3
2019	Vitalia Diatchenko (2)	Tímea Babos	6–3, 6–2

† – note: not considered the Taipei Open by some sources

Doubles

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Score
↓   ITF 50K Taoyuan event   ↓
†2007	Chan Yung-jan Chan Hao-ching	Hsieh Shu-ying Hsieh Su-wei	6–1, 2–6, [14–12][16]
↓   ITF 100K+H event   ↓
2008	Chuang Chia-jung Hsieh Su-wei	Hsu Wen-hsin Hwang I-hsuan	6–3, 6–3
2009	Chan Yung-jan (2) Chuang Chia-jung (2)	Yayuk Basuki Riza Zalameda	6–3, 3–6, [10–7]
2010	Chang Kai-chen Chuang Chia-jung (3)	Hsieh Su-wei Sania Mirza	6–4, 6–2
2011	Chan Yung-jan (3) Zheng Jie	Karolína Plíšková Kristýna Plíšková	7–6^(7–5), 5–7, [10–5]
↓   WTA 125K series event   ↓
2012	Chan Hao-ching (2) Kristina Mladenovic	Chang Kai-chen Olga Govortsova	5–7, 6–2, [10–8]
2013	Caroline Garcia Yaroslava Shvedova	Anna-Lena Friedsam Alison Van Uytvanck	6–3, 6–3
2014	Chan Hao-ching (3) Chan Yung-jan (4)	Chang Kai-chen Chuang Chia-jung	6–4, 6–3
2015	Kanae Hisami Kotomi Takahata	Marina Melnikova Elise Mertens	6–1, 6–2
2016	Natela Dzalamidze Veronika Kudermetova	Chang Kai-chen Chuang Chia-jung	4–6, 6–3, [10–5]
2017	Veronika Kudermetova (2) Aryna Sabalenka	Monique Adamczak Naomi Broady	2–6, 7–6^(7–5), [10–6]
2018	Ankita Raina Karman Thandi	Olga Doroshina Natela Dzalamidze	6–3, 5–7, [12–12], ret.
2019	Lee Ya-hsuan Wu Fang-hsien	Dalila Jakupović Danka Kovinić	4–6, 6–4, [10–7]

† – note: not considered the Taipei Open by some sources

References

1. "Tournament History". Archived from the original on December 27, 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
2. "Steve Tennis – 50k Taoyuan". Retrieved 6 December 2015.
3. "ITF $50,000 Taoyuan event". Retrieved 6 December 2015.
4. "OEC GROUP". oecgroup.com. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
5. "OEC Taipei WTA Ladies Open". On Tennis. Retrieved 6 December 2015. Chinese Taipei is not a traditional tennis heartland, but it is fast becoming a force to be reckoned with. And now it has its first WTA-sanctioned tournament, the OEC Taipei WTA Ladies Open, which is staged on the indoor hardcourts of the capital's Taipei Arena. The tournament, an ITF stop between 2008 and 2011 before being upgraded, was the first of the new WTA 125K Series events that launched in the fall of 2012. Capturing the inaugural edition was French teen Kristina Mladenovic, who also was victorious in doubles.
6. 應-許景維 (20 July 2009). "Part2　Hosting International Sporting Events". gov.taipei. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
7. 應-許景維 (6 September 2010). "Part 2 Raising the Level of Competitive Sports to Facilitate International Exchanges". gov.taipei. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
8. 應-黃惠珍 (26 September 2011). "Part 2 Elevating Competitive Standard and Stimulating". gov.taipei. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
9. 吳明璇 (3 August 2012). "Part 2 Upgrading Competitiveness Promotes International Exchange". gov.taipei. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
10. "http://www.wtatennis.com/SEWTATour-Archive/Archive/Draws/2012/1059.pdf" (PDF). wtatennis.com. Retrieved 1 June 2016. External link in |title= (help)
11. 臺北市政府 (11 December 2013). "Part 2 Implementation of Competitive Sports to Provide more Opportunities for Players". gov.taipei. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
12. "http://www.wtatennis.com/SEWTATour-Archive/Archive/Draws/2013/1059.pdf" (PDF). wtatennis.com. Retrieved 1 June 2016. External link in |title= (help)
13. "Date-Krumm falls in first round again". upi.com. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
14. 年鑑1 (14 August 2014). "Part2 Implementation of Competitive Sports to Provide more Opportunities for Players". gov.taipei. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
15. "台北/高雄海碩盃官方網站". oectennis.com. Archived from the original on 5 June 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
16. "http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/tournaments/women's-tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100016446". itftennis.com. Retrieved 1 June 2016. External link in |title= (help)
17. 'China’s Peng claims Taipei Ladies title' (Retrieved November 8, 2010)

External links

• Official website (in Chinese)
• OEC Taipei WTA Challenger profile at WTATennis.com