The 1997 Japan Open Tennis Championships was a

tennis 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 ...

tournament played on outdoor hard courts at the Ariake Coliseum in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

that was part of the

Championship Series In sport, a championship is a Competition#Sports, competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match sy ...

of the

1997 ATP Tour The 1997 ATP Tour was the elite tour for professional tennis organised by the ATP that year. The ATP Tour included the four Grand Slam tournaments, the ATP Tour World Championships, the ATP Super 9, the Championship Series and the World Series ...

and of Tier III of the

1997 WTA Tour The WTA Tour is the elite tour for professional women's tennis organised by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). The WTA Tour includes the four Grand Slam tournaments, the WTA Tour Championships and the WTA Tier I, Tier II, Tier III and Tier IV ...

. The tournament was held from April 14 through April 21, 1997.

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 ...

and Ai Sugiyama won the singles titles.

Finals

Men's singles

defeated

Lionel Roux Lionel Roux (born 12 April 1973) is a former tennis player from France, who turned professional in 1991. He was French National Junior champion in 1991, but didn't win a tour-level title (singles or doubles) during his pro career. The right-han ...

6–2, 3–6, 6–1 * It was Krajicek's 2nd title of the year and the 15th of his career.

Women's singles

Ai Sugiyama defeated Amy Frazier 4–6, 6–4, 6–4 * It was Sugiyama's 1st title of the year and the 4th of her career.

Men's doubles

Martin Damm / Daniel Vacek defeated Justin Gimelstob / Patrick Rafter 2–6, 6–2, 7–6 * It was Damm's 2nd title of the year and the 10th of his career. It was Vacek's 2nd title of the year and the 16th of his career.

Women's doubles

Alexia Dechaume-Balleret Alexia Dechaume-Balleret (born 3 May 1970) is a former professional tennis player from France. In her career, she reached three finals on the WTA Tour: at Taranto in 1990, she lost to Raffaella Reggi, and in New York in 1991, she lost to Brend ...

Rika Hiraki Rika Hiraki ( ja, 平木理化, born 6 December 1971) is a former professional Japanese tennis player. She won the mixed-doubles title at the 1997 French Open (with Mahesh Bhupathi Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi (born 7 June 1974) is an Indi ...

defeated

Kerry-Anne Guse Kerry-Anne Guse (4 December 1972) is an Australian tennis player. Born in Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Aus ...

/ Corina Morariu 6–4, 6–2 * It was Dechaume-Balleret's only title of the year and the 6th of her career. It was Hiraki's 2nd title of the year and the 5th of her career.

References

External links

Official website

ATP tournament profile
{{1997 WTA Tour Open Tennis Championships

Japan Open Tennis Championships The Japan Open (currently sponsored by Rakuten) is a men's tennis tournament held in Ariake Tennis Forest Park with its center court Ariake Coliseum, located in Koto, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally founded in 1915 as the Japan International Ch ...

Japan Open (tennis)