
The VanOpen, currently sponsored as Odlum Brown VanOpen, is a professional
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 played on outdoor
hardcourts
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 surf ...
. It is part of the
Association of Tennis Professionals
The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is the governing body of the men's professional tennis circuits – the ATP Tour and the ATP Challenger Tour. It was formed in September 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, and Cliff Drysdale to p ...
(ATP)
Challenger Tour, and of the
ITF Women's Circuit
The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, previously known as the ITF Women's Circuit, is a series of professional tennis tournaments run by the International Tennis Federation for female professional tennis players.
History
It serves as a developmenta ...
. It is held at Hollyburn Country Club in
West Vancouver
West Vancouver is a district municipality in the province of British Columbia, Canada. A member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District, West Vancouver is situated on the north shore of Burrard Inlet to the northwest of the city ...
,
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
, Canada. The event was hosted continuously from 2002 to 2015, but returned in 2017 after a one-year hiatus.
History
The inaugural Odlum Brown VanOpen took place in the summer of 2002, in the Jericho Tennis Club, before it eventually moved to Hollyburn Country Club, in West Vancouver, for the 2005 edition.
Started as a $25,000 ITF Women's Circuit event, the Van Open saw the victory of eventual
world No. 1 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 ...
over
Laura Granville
Laura Granville (born May 12, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. During the two years she spent at Stanford University, she set the record for most consecutive singles victories with 58 and finished with an overall record o ...
in 2002, and of then-Junior world No. 1 and
French Open girls' singles champion Anna-Lena Grönefeld
Anna-Lena Grönefeld (also spelled Groenefeld; married name Herzgerodt; born 4 June 1985) is a German former professional tennis player.
Competing as a professional from 2003 until 2019, she won one singles title on the WTA Tour, at the 2006 M ...
in 2003.
[
The following year, Tennis Canada and Tennis BC (tennis' governing body in ]British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
) joined to bring the event to the Women's Tennis Association
The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women's professional tennis. The association governs the WTA Tour, which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women, and was founded to create a better future fo ...
(WTA) Tour as a $110,000 Tier V event.[ Czech qualifier, and eventual top-ten member ]Nicole Vaidišová
Nicole Vaidišová Štěpánková (; born 23 April 1989) is a Czech former professional tennis player.
Vaidišová is an Australian Open and French Open semifinalist as well as a two-time quarterfinalist at Wimbledon. She started playing te ...
won the singles final over 2002 runner-up Laura Granville
Laura Granville (born May 12, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. During the two years she spent at Stanford University, she set the record for most consecutive singles victories with 58 and finished with an overall record o ...
, becoming, as World No. 180, the lowest-ranked player to win a tour title during the 2004 WTA Tour
The 2004 WTA Tour was the elite professional tennis circuit organized by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for the 2004 season. The 2004 WTA Tour calendar comprised the Grand Slam tournaments (supervised by the International Tennis Federation ...
season, and at 15 years, 3 months, and 23 days, the sixth youngest player to win a professional title in tour history.
While the women's event returned to its $25k format in 2005, "to help develop some of the world's best Canadian junior girls", a $100k men's Challenger event was added to the tournament, with the United States Tennis Association
The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tenn ...
(USTA) and the Association of Tennis Professionals
The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is the governing body of the men's professional tennis circuits – the ATP Tour and the ATP Challenger Tour. It was formed in September 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, and Cliff Drysdale to p ...
(ATP Tour) joining Tennis Canada, Tennis BC and the ITF in the organisation of the Open.[ Israeli ]Dudi Sela
David "Dudi" Sela (; born 4 April 1985) is an Israeli former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 29 in July 2009.
Sela won the French Open 2003 junior doubles title. Representing Israel Davis Cup te ...
won the inaugural men's singles event over Australian Paul Baccanello in straight sets, and American Ansley Cargill won the first of her two women's singles titles (2005, 2006).
The VanOpen continued to grow in the following editions, with the ITF event's prize money moving up to $50k in 2007, and $75k in 2009.[ Amongst the tournament's champions since 2005 have been, on the women's side, former junior world No. 1 ]Urszula Radwańska
Urszula Radwańska (; born 7 December 1990) is a Polish professional tennis player.
Radwańska has won one doubles title on the WTA Tour, as well as seven singles and eleven doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 8 October 2012, she reac ...
(2008 singles), Stéphanie Dubois (2007 doubles, 2009 singles), and on the men's side Rik de Voest (2006 singles, 2007 and 2009 doubles), Frédéric Niemeyer
Frédéric Niemeyer (born April 24, 1976) is a Canadian retired, professional tennis player and was tennis coach at Tennis Canada for 10 years and he is now a freelance Tennis Consultant and Coach.
Career
Niemeyer reached a career-high ATP s ...
(2007 singles), Dudi Sela (2005, 2008 and 2010
The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
singles), who claimed his second VanOpen title, and 2006 Australian Open
The 2006 Australian Open was played between 16 and 29 January 2006.
Marat Safin could not defend his 2005 title, due to an injury he suffered in late 2005. Roger Federer won his second Australian Open title, defeating Marcos Baghdatis in the fin ...
runner-up Marcos Baghdatis
Marcos Baghdatis (Greek language, Greek: Μάρκος Παγδατής, Arabic language, Arabic: ماركوس بغداتيس); born 17 June 1985 is a Greek Cypriot former professional tennis player and coach. He was the runner-up at the 2006 Aus ...
(2009 singles), who won in Vancouver his first title since February 2007.
Past finals
Men's singles
Women's singles
Men's doubles
Women's doubles
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vancouver Open
ATP Challenger Tour
ITF Women's World Tennis Tour
Tennis tournaments in Canada
Hard court tennis tournaments
Sport in Vancouver
Tennis in British Columbia
Recurring sporting events established in 2002
2002 establishments in British Columbia