The Campionati Internazionali di Sicilia or International Championships of Sicily, also known as the Palermo Open, was a combined men's and women's

clay court A clay court is one of the types of tennis court on which the sport of tennis is played. Clay courts are built on a foundation of crushed stone, brick, shale, and other construction aggregate, aggregate, with a thin layer of fine clay particles ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

tournament founded in 1935 and played annually at the Circolo Tennis Palermo in

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

in Italy. In 1971 the women's event was discontinued leaving just the men's event that ran until 2006.

History

The International Championships of Sicily were established in 1935 as a combined tournament for men and women. In 1955 the Campionati Internazionali di Sicilia were disputed in

Messina Messina ( , ; ; ; ) is a harbour city and the capital city, capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of 216,918 inhabitants ...

and won among the men

Nicola Pietrangeli Nicola "Nicky" Pietrangeli (; born 11 September 1933) is an Italian former tennis player. He won two singles titles at the French Championships and is considered by many to be one of Italy's greatest tennis champions. Biography Nicola Chirinsky ...

who beat in final

Fausto Gardini Fausto Gardini (8 March 1930 – 17 September 2008) was an Italian tennis player. He was an Italian Davis Cup player and later captain. Gardini had long arms and legs, was renowned for keeping the ball in play and was very determined. "I could n ...

in five sets, and in female tournament

Silvana Lazzarino Silvana Lazzarino (19 May 1933) is a former female tennis player from Italy. She reached the semifinals at 1954 French Championships. In doubles, she reached the French semifinals in 1953, 1957 and 1964. Her best results at Wimbledon was reachin ...

that won in final against

Lea Pericoli Lea Pericoli (22 March 1935 – 4 October 2024) was an Italian tennis player and later television presenter and journalist from Milan. She reached the last sixteen of the French Open twice and the Wimbledon Championships three times, and is als ...

. The tournament continued under a joint format until 1971 when the women's event was discontinued. In 1988 a new international tournament for women held in

was reestablished known as the

Internazionali Femminili di Palermo The Palermo Ladies Open, is a women's tennis tournament in Palermo, Italy that is played on outdoor clay courts at the Country Time Club. The first two editions were part of the Satellite Circuit, but since 1990 it has been part of the WTA Tour. In ...

. The tournament was a part of the

ATP Tour The ATP Tour (known as ATP World Tour between January 2009 and December 2018) is the sole worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) founded in 1990 that replaced the earlier dual Grand Prix ...

schedule from 1990 to 2006. The event was part of the ATP World Series from 1990 until 1999 and part of its successor, the ATP International Series, from 2000 until its final edition in 2006. That year the ATP bought back the tournament sanction. In 2009 a new successor tournament to this event was established called the Sicilia Classic.

Finals

Men's singles

Doubles

References

External links

Campionati Internazionali di Sicilia
at circolotennis.palermo.it {{ATP World Series tournaments Grand Prix tennis circuit Defunct tennis tournaments in Italy Tennis tournaments in Italy Clay court tennis tournaments Sport in Sicily ATP Tour