The Ladies Open Lausanne originally founded in 1899 as the

Swiss International Championships The Swiss International Championships also called the International Swiss Championships or Championship of Switzerland or simply Swiss Championships was a combined men's and women's clay court tennis tournament established by the Swiss Lawn Tennis ...

. It is a women's professional tennis tournament which is currently played in

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

but has played in a number of locations in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

History

The

was founded in 1897 as a men's only event and staged at the Grasshopper Club, Zurich under the auspices of the Swiss Lawn Tennis Association. In 1898 the Swiss Lawn Tennis Association staged the event at Château d’Oex. In 1899 an open women's singles event was added to the schedule, when the venue was still in Saint Moritz. It was then hosted at multiple locations throughout its run including Gstaad. The first edition of the Gstaad International tournament was played in 1915 at the '' Gstaad Palace Hotel'', which was known at the time as the ''Royal Hotel, Winter & Gstaad Palace'', and was organized in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Club (LTC) Gstaad. In 1968 the tournament was renamed the Swiss Open International Championships or simply Swiss Open Championships, and was then staged permanently at Gstaad. The women's event was called the Gstaad International from 1969. The

were staged at the following locations throughout its run including

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

, Champéry,

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

Gstaad Gstaad ( ; ) is a town in the German-speaking section of the Canton of Bern in southwestern Switzerland. It is part of the municipality of Saanen and is known as a major ski resort and a popular destination amongst high society and the internatio ...

Les Avants Les Avants (Montreux) is a village in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is located in the municipality of Montreux, in the east of the canton, in the district of Riviera-Pays-d’Enhaut. It lies north-east of the town of Montreux and east ...

Montreux Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approximat ...

Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...

Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...

Ragatz Ragatz, also known as "''Old Baths Pfäfers''" or "''Old Baths of Pfäfersin''" in the 19th century and earlier, was a famous watering-place in the Swiss village of Bad Ragaz, situated on the left bank of the Rhine, and by rail 22 km north of ...

, St. Moritz,

Zermatt Zermatt () is a municipality in the district of Visp in the German-speaking section of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a year-round population of about 5,800 and is classified as a town by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO). ...

, and Zurich from 1897 to 1967. The event was called the WTA Swiss Open from 1977 to 1985, and was played on outdoor

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. The tournament underwent a name change in 1986, when it was titled the European Open until its discontinuation. It formed part of 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 ...

(WTA) Tour. When the WTA introduced the tiering format to its circuit, the event gradually moved up, from being a Tier V in 1988–1989, a Tier IV from 1990 to 1992, and a Tier III for its remaining years. The WTA announced that the tournament would return in Gstaad as a clay event on the 2016 Tour, replacing another clay court event held in Bad Gastein. Four Swiss players won the event:

Viktorija Golubic Viktorija Golubic ( sr, Викторија Голубић, Viktorija Golubić; ; born 16 October 1992) is a Swiss professional tennis player. Golubic has won one singles title on the WTA Tour, two singles WTA Challenger titles, as well as ten s ...

in 2016 as well as

Manuela Maleeva Manuela Georgieva Maleeva ( bg, Мануела Георгиева Малеева; born 14 February 1967) is a Bulgarian former professional tennis player. She played on the WTA Tour between 1982 and 1994. Through her marriage, Maleeva began re ...

(who formerly represented

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

) in 1991 won the singles, and

Xenia Knoll Xenia Knoll ( sr-Cyrl, Ксенија Кнол, Ksenija Knol; born 2 September 1992) is a Swiss tennis player. Knoll has won two doubles titles on the WTA Tour and one WTA 125 doubles title, as well as four singles and 30 doubles titles on the ...

(in 2016) as well as Christiane Jolissaint won the doubles, the latter on three occasions: 1983, 1984, and 1988. Maleeva holds the record, along with

Chris Evert Christine Marie Evert (born December 21, 1954), known as Chris Evert Lloyd from 1979 to 1987, is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. Evert won 18 major singles titles, including a record seven French Open titles and a joint-record ...

, for most singles wins; both players won the event three times, and Maleeva finished runner-up a further three occasions.

Past finals

Singles

Doubles

Notes

References

External links

*
ITF Women's Circuit

WTA website
{{navboxes, title=Previous women's tournament categories (1990–2020) , list1= {{WTA International tournaments {{WTA Tier III tournaments {{WTA Tier IV tournaments Tennis tournaments in Europe Tennis tournaments in Switzerland Recurring sporting events established in 2016 Sport in the Canton of Bern Sport in Lausanne