The Linz Open, currently "Upper Austria Ladies Linz" and formerly sponsored by Generali Gruppe, is a women's
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
A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:
# One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...
held in
Linz
Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...
, Austria. It is played on indoor
hardcourt
A hardcourt (or hard court) is a type of surface or floor on which a sport is played, most usually in reference to tennis courts. It is typically made of rigid materials such as asphalt or concrete, and covered with acrylic resins to seal the s ...
s.
The inaugural event took place in 1987 in
Wels
Wels (; Central Bavarian: ''Wös'') is a city in Upper Austria, on the Traun River near Linz. It is the county seat of Wels-Land, and with a population of approximately 60,000, the List of cities and towns in Austria, eighth largest city in Aus ...
, Austria and was organized by the
ITF as a $10,000 tournament. Starting 1991, it has been organized in
Linz
Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...
as a
WTA Tour
The WTA Tour (also known as the Hologic WTA Tour for sponsorship reasons) is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women and organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125 series, and third-tier is the ITF Wome ...
event, initially on the
Tier V-level. In 1993 it got promoted to
Tier III-level, and since 1998 it was organized as a
Tier II-tournament. In 2009, it was designated as a
WTA International Tournament and subsequently
WTA 250 in 2021 with the change in tournament tier nomenclature. In 2023, the scheduling change in the WTA calendar saw the tournament being held in February instead of October as in the past editions. In 2024, the tournament was once again upgraded to
WTA 500 level event.
Past champions of the tournament include former world number ones
Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Ann Davenport Leach (born June 8, 1976) is an American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 98 weeks (including as the year-end No. 1 four ...
,
Justine Henin-Hardenne
Justine Henin (; born 1 June 1982) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 117 weeks, including as the year-end No. 1 in 2003, 2006 and 20 ...
,
Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Simone Mauresmo (; born 5 July 1979) is a French former professional tennis player, tennis coach, and tournament director. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 39 weeks. Maur ...
,
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova (, ; born 19 April 1987) is a Russian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 21 weeks. Sharapova won 36 WTA Tour-level sin ...
and
Ana Ivanovic
Ana Schweinsteiger (name at birth, née Ivanovic; born 6 November 1987) is a Serbian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tenn ...
. More recent champions include
Petra Kvitová
Petra Kvitová (; born 8 March 1990) is a Czech professional tennis player. Known for her powerful left-handed groundstrokes and variety, Kvitová has won 31 career singles titles, including two Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major titles ...
,
Victoria Azarenka
Victoria Fiodaraŭna Azarenka (born 31 July 1989) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), having held the position for a total of 51 weeks ...
,
Angelique Kerber
Angelique Kerber (; born 18 January 1988) is a German former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 34 wee ...
,
Karolína Plíšková
Karolína Plíšková (; born 21 March 1992) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), holding the position for a total of eight weeks, and has been ...
and
Dominika Cibulková
Dominika Cibulková (; born 6 May 1989) is a Slovak former professional tennis player. She is the 2016 WTA Finals champion, becoming the fourth player (after Serena Williams in 2001 WTA Tour Championships, 2001, Maria Sharapova in 2004 WTA Tour ...
.
Past finals
Singles
Doubles
See also
*
List of tennis tournaments
List of current and past men's and women's tennis tournaments.
Criteria for inclusion:
*The tournament is notable enough to have its own article on Wikipedia
*Historic tournaments are included if notability can be established by reliable third-par ...
References
External links
Upper Austria Ladies Linz Overview WTA Tour TennisOfficial website
{{navboxes, title=Previous women's tournament categories
(1991–2020)
, list1=
{{WTA International tournaments
{{WTA Tier II tournaments
{{WTA Tier III tournaments
{{WTA Tier V tournaments
Tennis tournaments in Austria
Indoor tennis tournaments
Hard court tennis tournaments
WTA Tour
Recurring sporting events established in 1987
Sport in Linz