The 1996 Italian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 53rd edition of the Rome Masters and was part of the Mercedes Super 9 of the

1996 ATP Tour The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour is the elite tour for professional tennis organized by the ATP. The ATP Tour includes the Grand Slam tournaments (organized by the International Tennis Federation (ITF)), the ATP Super 9, the A ...

and of Tier I of the

1996 WTA Tour The WTA Tour is the elite tour for professional women's tennis organised by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). The 1996 WTA Tour included the four Grand Slam tournaments, the WTA Tour Championships and the WTA Tier I, Tier II, Tier III and Tie ...

. Both the men's and women's events took place at the Foro Italico in Rome in Italy. The women's tournament was played from May 6 through May 12, 1996, while the men's tournament was played from May 13 through May 19, 1996. The men's tournament was headlined by ATP No. 2, Monte Carlo, Estoril,

Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , also , nah, Acapolco), is a city and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has bee ...

and Barcelona champion Thomas Muster, Zagreb, Dubai, Milan, Rotterdam titlist and Key Biscayne runner-up Goran Ivanišević and Adelaide winner, St. Petersburg and Rotterdam finalist Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Also present were Chennai winner Thomas Enqvist, Philadelphia champion Jim Courier, Wayne Ferreira, Marcelo Ríos and Sergi Bruguera. The women's field was led by WTA No. 1, Indian Wells, Key Biscayne, Berlin champion and WTA Tour Championships defending champion

Steffi Graf Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 for a record 377 weeks and won 22 major singles titles, ...

, Indian Wells, Hamburg runner-up and

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

quarterfinalist Conchita Martínez and Hilton Head winner and Wimbledon runner-up Arantxa Sánchez Vicario. Also competing were Tokyo winner Iva Majoli,

Magdalena Maleeva Magdalena Georgieva Maleeva ( bg, Магдалена Георгиева Малеева, ; born 1 April 1975) is a Bulgarian former professional tennis player. She played on the WTA Tour competing in singles and doubles, from April 1989 to Octo ...

, Martina Hingis,

Irina Spîrlea Irina Spîrlea (born 26 March 1974) is a retired tennis player from Romania who turned professional in 1990. She won four singles and six doubles titles. Spîrlea reached her career-high ranking on the WTA Tour on 13 October 1997, when she becam ...

and

Nathalie Tauziat Nathalie Tauziat (born 17 October 1967) is a French former professional tennis player. She was the runner-up in women's singles at the 1998 Wimbledon Championships and runner-up in the women's doubles at the 2001 US Open partnering Kimberl ...

Finals

Men's singles

Thomas Muster defeated

Richard Krajicek Richard Peter Stanislav Krajicek ( cz, Krajíček; born 6 December 1971) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. In 1996, he won the men's singles title at Wimbledon, and remains the only Dutch player to have won a major singles title. In ...

6–2, 6–4, 3–6, 6–3 * It was Muster's 5th title of the year and the 41st of his career. It was his 2nd Masters title of the year and his 7th overall. It was his 3rd title at the event, having also won in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

and

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

Women's singles

Conchita Martínez defeated Martina Hingis 6–2, 6–3 * It was Martínez's 1st title of the year and the 31st of her career. It was her 1st Tier I title of the year and her 6th overall. It was her 4th title at the event, having also won in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

and

Men's doubles

Byron Black Byron Hamish Black (born 6 October 1969) is a former touring professional tennis and Davis Cup player for Zimbabwe. Personal life He is the son of Donald Black and Velia Black and brother to Wayne Black and Cara, who were also professional ten ...

/ Grant Connell defeated Libor Pimek / Byron Talbot 6–2, 6–3 * It was Black's 3rd title of the year and the 15th of his career. It was Connell's 2nd title of the year and the 19th of his career.

Women's doubles

Arantxa Sánchez Vicario /

defeated

Gigi Fernández Beatriz "Gigi" Fernández (born February 22, 1964) is a Puerto Rican former professional tennis player. Fernández won 17 major doubles titles and two Olympic gold medals representing the United States, and reached the world No. 1 ranking in do ...

/ Martina Hingis 6–4, 3–6, 6–3 * It was Sánchez Vicario's 8th title of the year and the 70th of her career. It was Spîrlea's 2nd title of the year and the 6th of her career.

External links

Official website

Official website

ATP Tournament Profile

{{1996 WTA Tour

Italian Open Italian Open may refer to: *Italian Open (tennis), a Masters 1000 level tennis tournament played in Rome each year. *Italian Open (golf) The DS Automobiles Italian Open ( it, Open d'Italia) is the men's national open golf championship of Italy. It ...

Italian Open (tennis)