The Taipei Open or Taipei WTA Challenger (Chinese: 台北海碩網球公開賽) was a tournament for female professional tennis players played on indoor carpet courts. The event was classified as a WTA 125 tournament, and held annually in November in Taipei City, from 2008 until 2015, and was sponsored by the OEC Group. In 2012, the event was upgraded from a $100k ITF tournament to a WTA Challenger tournament. Its final edition took place in 2019.

Taipei WTA Challenger
Tournament information
Event nameTaipei WTA Challenger
LocationTaipei City
Taiwan
VenueTaipei Arena
CategoryWTA 125K series
SurfaceCarpet - indoors
Draw32S / 16Q / 16D
Prize moneyUS$125,000 (2019)
Websitewww.oectennis.com
Current champions (2019)
SinglesRussia Vitalia Diatchenko
DoublesChinese Taipei Lee Ya-hsuan
Chinese Taipei 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

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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 was also sometimes referred to as the Haishuo Cup (海碩盃).[1][8][9]

In 2012, the event was upgraded to a WTA 125 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 used that name subsequently.[15]

Past finals

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Singles

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Year Champion Runner-up Score
↓   ITF $75k Kaohsiung event   ↓
†2006   Chan Yung-jan   Hsieh Su-wei 5–7, 7–6(8–6), 6–0
↓   $50k Taoyuan event   ↓
2007   Akiko Morigami   Yanina Wickmayer 6–4, 7–6 (7–5) [16]
↓   $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 125 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
2020 cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic

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

Doubles

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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]
↓   $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 125 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]
2020 cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic

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

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "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. ^ a b "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. ^ "OEC Taipei WTA Ladies Open" (PDF). www.wtatennis.com. Women's Tennis Association. 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 13, 2013. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
  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. ^ "OEC Taipei WTA 125K Series" (PDF). www.wtatennis.com. Women's Tennis Association. 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 26, 2013. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
  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.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  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. ^ a b "Archived". www.itftennis.com. International Tennis Federation. Archived from the original on September 25, 2021. Retrieved 2023-04-15.[dead link]
  17. ^ 'China’s Peng claims Taipei Ladies title' (retrieved November 8, 2010)
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