The Moscow International Championships was a men's and women's open international outdoor tennis tournament founded in 1956. The tournament was organised by the Tennis Federation of the USSR was played on

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 in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

until 1975. The event also carried the joint denomination of USSR International Championships. The championships were part ILTF European Circuit a sub circuit of the ILTF World Circuit until 1972 then became part of the ILTF Independent Tour from 1973 until it was discontinued.

History

In the mid-1950s confrontational relations between the Western Bloc and

eased in part the

Khrushchev Thaw The Khrushchev Thaw ( rus, хрущёвская о́ттепель, r=khrushchovskaya ottepel, p=xrʊˈɕːɵfskəjə ˈotʲ:ɪpʲɪlʲ or simply ''ottepel'')William Taubman, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era, London: Free Press, 2004 is the period ...

a policy of de-Stalinization by then Soviet leader

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

, meant that Soviet players were free to travel to overseas international tournaments, while foreign players could take part in a limited number of tournaments within the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, mainly in the capital

. The two prominent international tournaments for foreign players to participate in were the '' Moscow International Indoor Championships'' or ( USSR International Indoor Championships) usually late winter in February to early spring in March. The second international tennis event was ''Moscow International Championships'' usually staged in the summer at the end of July, beginning of August and was played on clay courts. Additionally two

closed tournament This page is a glossary of tennis terminology. A * Ace: Serve where the tennis ball lands inside the '' service box'' and is not touched by the receiver; thus, a shot that is both a serve and a winner is an ace. Aces are usually powerful and gen ...

s were also held in Moscow for Soviet players only the Moscow Indoor Championships and the Moscow Outdoor Championships.

Finals

Men's singles

(incomplete roll) (incomplete roll) summers

Women's singles

(incomplete roll)

References

{{Reflist, 2 Clay court tennis tournaments Defunct tennis tournaments in the Soviet Union