The Amelia Island Championships was a women's

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 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 concentr ...

held in

Amelia Island Plantation Omni Amelia Island Resort is a luxury resort community located on Amelia Island, Florida, the westernmost barrier island on the Atlantic Ocean in the U.S. The resort's tennis facility hosted the Bausch & Lomb Championships, a major Women's Tenn ...

and later

Ponte Vedra Beach Ponte Vedra Beach is a wealthy unincorporated seaside community and suburb of Jacksonville, Florida in St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Located southeast of downtown Jacksonville and north of St. Augustine, it is part of the Jackso ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, United States. The

Women's Tennis Association The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women's professional tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women and was founded to create a better future for women's tenni ...

event was an International series tournament played on outdoor green

clay court A clay court is one of the types of tennis court on which the sport of tennis, originally known as "lawn tennis", is played. Clay courts are made of crushed stone, brick, shale, or other unbound mineral aggregate depending on the tournament. ...

s from 1980 to 2010.

History

Formerly the ''Bausch & Lomb Championships'', the tournament lost its title sponsor when

Bausch & Lomb Bausch + Lomb is an eye health products company based in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the world's largest suppliers of contact lenses, lens care products, pharmaceuticals, intraocular lenses, and other eye surgery products. The compan ...

did not renew its contract following the 2008 event at

Amelia Island, Florida Amelia Island is a part of the Sea Islands chain that stretches along the East Coast of the United States from South Carolina to Florida; it is the southernmost of the Sea Islands, and the northernmost of the barrier islands on Florida's Atlantic ...

. Tournament organizers Octagon hired

Axia Public Relations Axia may refer to: * Axia (gens), an ancient Roman family * Axia, a division of Telos Systems * Axia, a Japanese market brand of cassette tapes and optical media by Fujifilm * ''Axia'' (album), the 1985 debut album from Japanese singer Yuki Saito ...

, a public relations firm, to find a new title sponsor. In August 2008, Axia and Octagon announced Fortune 1000 global staffing firm

MPS Group The Adecco Group North America, based in Jacksonville, Florida, provides professional recruiting, staffing, consulting and business services to various industries in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and Asia. For 2 ...

(NYSE:MPS) of

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

as the official tournament title sponsor. Octagon moved the annual event to Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach as part of the tournament changes to attract more attendees and enjoy upgraded facilities. On May 21, 2010 tournament officials announced that the event would not be held in 2011. The WTA wanted to reduce the number of spring

events and the MPS Group Championships offered the smallest prize money. The WTA offered replacement dates in February and July, but no facility was available in February, and temperatures in July can be unbearable. One of the most unusual matches in the tournament's history occurred in the first round of the 2002 event.

Anne Kremer Anne Kremer (born 17 October 1975) is a Luxembourgish retired tennis player. Anne won two singles titles on the WTA Tour. On 29 July 2002, she achieved her best WTA ranking of world No. 18. Anne completed her schooling at the Athénée de Luxe ...

defeated Jennifer Hopkins 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, with both players serving a combined 29 double faults. An investigation discovered that the court markings had been incorrectly measured, resulting in a smaller service box than normal.

Past finals

Singles

Doubles

References

External links

Official website
{{coord, 30, 11, 37, N, 81, 22, 18, W, type:landmark, display=title Clay court tennis tournaments Recurring sporting events established in 1980 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2010

Amelia Island Championships The Amelia Island Championships was a women's tennis tournament held in Amelia Island Plantation and later Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, United States. The Women's Tennis Association event was an International series tournament played on outdoor gr ...

WTA Tour 1980 establishments in Florida 2010 disestablishments in Florida Women's tennis tournaments in the United States