The Royal Indian Open is a tournament organized for female professional

tennis player Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball co ...

s, played on outdoor hard courts. The event is classified as a WTA Challenger Series tournament. It made its debut in 2012, in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

, India. It is played at the

Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex The Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex is a sports complex located in Pune, India. The complex is situated about 15 km from Pune downtown and 5 km from Hinjawadi. This complex was the venue for the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games, ...

. In 2012, a tournament, classified as a WTA Challenger Series tournament, made its debut in

, India. The Challenger tournament has since been relocated to

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

History

Pune is the fourth town in the history of India to host a WTA event, after Kolkata (2005–2007), Hyderabad (2003–2005) and Bangalore (2006–2008). India's renewed participation through this ''Challenger'' event was originally supposed to be held in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders wi ...

, but on 17 October 2012, just a few weeks before the tournament's first edition, it was announced the event had been shifted to

. In 2012, it became the second event (after the OEC Taipei Ladies Open) to be part of the

WTA 125s WTA 125 tournaments are an international series of professional women's tennis tournaments organized by the Women's Tennis Association since 2012. In the past (2012–2015) sometimes called the WTA Challenger series Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

, and Kolkata (Sunfeast Open). Later, Mumbai became the fifth city to do the same. India's renewed participation through this ''Challenger'' event was originally supposed to be held in

,'WTA Challenger series heads to Delhi'
''WTA'' (retrieved 25 July 2012) but on 17 October 2012, just a few weeks before the tournament's first edition, it was announced the event had been shifted to Pune, to be held at the

. In 2012, it became the second event (after the OEC Taipei Ladies Open) to be part of the

WTA 125s WTA 125 tournaments are an international series of professional women's tennis tournaments organized by the Women's Tennis Association since 2012. In the past (2012–2015) sometimes called the WTA Challenger series WTA Indian Open The WTA Indian Open is a tournament for professional female tennis players, held regularly since 2003 in various Indian cities. It was a WTA Tour event played on outdoor hardcourts. In 2008, it was classified as a Tier II event with the prize ...

Mumbai Open This was a former WTA 125K tennis tournament. The tournament was not held between 2013–16 due to various reasons, but in 2017 it was reinstated as a WTA 125K series tournament and relocated to Mumbai. The Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Assoc ...

References

External links

Official website
{{ITF Women's Circuit WTA 125 tournaments Tennis tournaments in India Sport in Pune Hard court tennis tournaments 2012 establishments in India 2013 disestablishments in India ITF Women's World Tennis Tour 2001 establishments in India