Southern California Open

The Southern California Open was a WTA 125K series affiliated professional women's tennis tournament held at the La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California.

Mercury Insurance Open
Tournament information
Founded	1971
Location	Carlsbad, California United States
Venue	La Costa Resort and Spa
Category	WTA Tier I (2004–2007) WTA Premier tournaments (2010–2013) WTA 125K series (2015)
Surface	Hardcourt / Outdoor
Draw	32S / 16SQ / 16D
Prize money	$125,000

History

The event was formed in 1984 by Raquel Giscafré as the Ginny of San Diego.[1][2] Prior to this there had been two previous women's tennis tournaments in San Diego: a Virginia Slims event in 1971 and the Wells Fargo Open, which ran from 1979 to 1982. Giscafre's former doubles partner, Jane Stratton, attained co-ownership of the tournament from 1986 until the event's cessation. The tournament has had various principal sponsors throughout its history, and has been played under the headings of the Great American Bank Classic, the Mazda Classic and the Toshiba Classic. The tournament was known for its strong player fields, location in the hills and atmosphere.

Although the tournament achieved Tier-I status only in 2004, it became a draw to the heavyweights in women's tennis since its inception in the 1980s, being a crucial warm-up tournament leading to the US Open. Past champions of the tournament include former world number ones Steffi Graf, Jennifer Capriati, Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams, Martina Hingis, Justine Henin, and Maria Sharapova. Six players won the tournament more than once, four of them consecutively. Graf holds the record for most wins (4); Venus Williams holds the record for most consecutive titles (3).

The tournament's purse doubled to $200,000 in 1989, when the sponsor changed to San Diego-based Great American Bank from Virginia Slims, a cigarette brand owned by Philip Morris.[3] The tournament moved from the San Diego Tennis & Racquet Club to the La Costa Resort and Spa in 1991, when the sponsor was changed to Mazda from Great American, which was in financial decline.[4] On September 7, 2009, the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour announced the return of professional women's tennis to San Diego in 2010, under the sponsorship of Mercury Insurance. The Mercury Insurance Open was renamed the Southern California Open starting in 2013.

In 2014, the event was relocated to Tokyo, Japan.[5]

The tournament became the Carlsbad Classic in 2015, hosted by the Park Hyatt Aviara Resort in Carlsbad, California, from November 23–29.[6] As a WTA 125K Series event, the Carlsbad Classic[7] featured a 32-player singles main draw, an 8-player qualifying draw, and an 8-team doubles draw with $125,000 in prize money. It was the first WTA tournament held during Thanksgiving week.

Sponsor history:

• Virginia Slims of San Diego: 1971, 1985–1988
• Wells Fargo Open: 1979–1982
• Ginny of San Diego: 1984
• Great American Bank Classic: 1989–1990
• Mazda Classic: 1991–1993
• Toshiba Classic; 1994–1998
• TIG Classic: 1999
• Acura Classic: 2000–2007
• Mercury Insurance Open: 2010–2012
• Southern California Open: 2013
• GoMacro: 2015

Past finals

Prior tournaments in San Diego area

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Score
1971	Billie Jean King	Rosemary Casals	3–6, 7–5, 6–1

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Score
1979	Tracy Austin	Martina Navratilova	6–4, 6–2
1980	Tracy Austin (2)	Wendy Turnbull	6–1, 6–3
1981	Tracy Austin (3)	Pam Shriver	6–2, 5–7, 6–2
1982	Tracy Austin (4)	Kathy Rinaldi	7–6, 6–3

Subsequent and current organized event

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Score
1984	Debbie Spence	Betsy Nagelsen	6–3, 6–7^(3–7), 6–4
1985	Annabel Croft	Wendy Turnbull	6–0, 7–6^(7–5)
1986	Melissa Gurney	Stephanie Rehe	6–2, 6–4
1987	Raffaella Reggi	Anne Minter	6–0, 6–4
1988	Stephanie Rehe	Ann Grossman	6–1, 6–1
1989	Steffi Graf	Zina Garrison	6–4, 7–5
1990	Steffi Graf (2)	Manuela Maleeva-Fragnière	6–3, 6–2
1991	Jennifer Capriati	Monica Seles	4–6, 6–1, 7–6^(7–2)
1992	Jennifer Capriati (2)	Conchita Martínez	6–3, 6–2
1993	Steffi Graf (3)	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–4, 4–6, 6–1
1994	Steffi Graf (4)	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–2, 6–1
1995	Conchita Martínez	Lisa Raymond	6–2, 6–0
1996	Kimiko Date	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	3–6, 6–3, 6–0
1997	Martina Hingis	Monica Seles	7–6^(7–4), 6–4
1998	Lindsay Davenport	Mary Pierce	6–3, 6–1
1999	Martina Hingis (2)	Venus Williams	6–4, 6–0
2000	Venus Williams	Monica Seles	6–0, 6–7^(3–7), 6–2
2001	Venus Williams (2)	Monica Seles	6–2, 6–3
2002	Venus Williams (3)	Jelena Dokić	6–2, 6–2
2003	Justine Henin	Kim Clijsters	3–6, 6–2, 6–3
↓  Tier I tournament  ↓
2004	Lindsay Davenport (2)	Anastasia Myskina	6–1, 6–1
2005	Mary Pierce	Ai Sugiyama	6–0, 6–3
2006	Maria Sharapova	Kim Clijsters	7–5, 7–5
2007	Maria Sharapova (2)	Patty Schnyder	6–2, 3–6, 6–0
2008–2009	Not Held
2010	Svetlana Kuznetsova	Agnieszka Radwańska	6–4, 6–7^(7–9), 6–3
2011	Agnieszka Radwańska	Vera Zvonareva	6–3, 6–4
2012	Dominika Cibulková	Marion Bartoli	6–1, 7–5
2013	Samantha Stosur	Victoria Azarenka	6–2, 6–3
2014	Not held
↓  WTA 125K tournament  ↓
2015	Yanina Wickmayer	Nicole Gibbs	6–3, 7–6^(7–4)

Prior

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Score
1971	Rosemary Casals Billie Jean King	Françoise Dürr Judy Tegart Dalton	6–7, 6–2, 6–3

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Score
1979	Rosemary Casals (2) Martina Navratilova	Betty Ann Grubb Stuart Ann Kiyomura	3–6, 6–4, 6–2
1980	Tracy Austin Ann Kiyomura	Rosemary Casals Wendy Turnbull	3–6, 6–4, 6–3
1981	Kathy Jordan Candy Reynolds	Rosemary Casals Pam Shriver	6–1, 2–6, 6–4
1982	Kathy Jordan (2) Paula Smith	Patricia Medrado Cláudia Monteiro	6–3, 5–7, 7–6

Subsequent & current

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Score
1984	Betsy Nagelsen Paula Smith (2)	Terry Holladay Iwona Kuczyńska	6–2, 6–4
1985	Candy Reynolds (2) Wendy Turnbull	Rosalyn Fairbank Susan Leo	6–4, 6–0
1986	Beth Herr Alycia Moulton	Elise Burgin Rosalyn Fairbank	5–7, 6–2, 6–4
1987	Jana Novotná Catherine Suire	Elise Burgin Sharon Walsh	6–3, 6–4
1988	Patty Fendick Jill Hetherington	Betsy Nagelsen Dinky Van Rensburg	7–6^(12–10), 6–4
1989	Elise Burgin Rosalyn Fairbank	Gretchen Magers Robin White	4–6, 6–3, 6–3
1990	Patty Fendick (2) Zina Garrison	Elise Burgin Rosalyn Fairbank-Nideffer	6–4, 7–6^(7–5)
1991	Jill Hetherington (2) Kathy Rinaldi	Gigi Fernández Nathalie Tauziat	6–4, 3–6, 6–2
1992	Jana Novotná (2) Larisa Neiland	Conchita Martínez Mercedes Paz	6–1, 6–4
1993	Gigi Fernández Helena Suková	Pam Shriver Elizabeth Smylie	6–4, 6–3
1994	Jana Novotná (2) Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Ginger Helgeson Rachel McQuillan	6–3, 6–3
1995	Gigi Fernández (2) Natasha Zvereva	Alexia Dechaume-Balleret Sandrine Testud	6–2, 6–1
1996	Gigi Fernández (3) Conchita Martínez	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Larisa Neiland	4–6, 6–3, 6–4
1997	Martina Hingis Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (2)	Amy Frazier Kimberly Po	6–3, 7–5
1998	Lindsay Davenport Natasha Zvereva (2)	Alexandra Fusai Nathalie Tauziat	6–2, 6–1
1999	Lindsay Davenport (2) Corina Morariu	Serena Williams Venus Williams	6–4, 6–1
2000	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	Lindsay Davenport Anna Kournikova	4–6, 6–3, 7–6^(8–6)
2001	Cara Black Elena Likhovtseva	Martina Hingis Anna Kournikova	6–4, 1–6, 6–4
2002	Elena Dementieva Janette Husárová	Daniela Hantuchová Ai Sugiyama	6–2, 6–4
2003	Kim Clijsters Ai Sugiyama	Lindsay Davenport Lisa Raymond	6–4, 7–5
↓  Tier I tournament  ↓
2004	Cara Black (2) Rennae Stubbs (2)	Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez	4–6, 6–1, 6–4
2005	Conchita Martínez (2) Virginia Ruano Pascual	Daniela Hantuchová Ai Sugiyama	6–7^(7–9), 6–1, 7–5
2006	Cara Black (3) Rennae Stubbs (3)	Anna-Lena Grönefeld Meghann Shaughnessy	6–2, 6–2
2007	Cara Black (4) Liezel Huber	Anna Chakvetadze Victoria Azarenka	7–5, 6–3
2008–2009	Not Held
2010	Maria Kirilenko Zheng Jie	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	6–4, 6–4
2011	Kvĕta Peschke Katarina Srebotnik	Raquel Kops-Jones Abigail Spears	6–0, 6–2
2012	Raquel Kops-Jones Abigail Spears	Vania King Nadia Petrova	6–2, 6–4
2013	Raquel Kops-Jones (2) Abigail Spears (2)	Chan Hao-ching Janette Husárová	6–4, 6–1
2014	Not held
2015	Gabriela Cé Verónica Cepede Royg	Oksana Kalashnikova Tatjana Maria	1–6, 6–4, [10–8]

See also

• 1990 Great American Bank Classic
• List of tennis tournaments

External links

• Official Website

References and footnotes

1. "Acura has come a long way, baby, but its run is ending". Retrieved 2007-08-04.
2. Keith Kattan Raising Big Smiling Tennis Kids: A Complete Roadmap for Every Parent and Coach 2006 Page 208 "players-turned-entrepreneurs like Jane Stratton and Raquel Giscafré, who run a prestigious WTA tournament in San Diego "
3. Freeman, John (December 20, 1988). "New name, purse for Slims Tourney banking on new sponsor". Evening Tribune. p. D-3.
4. Freeman, John (November 3, 1990). "Tennis event will move to La Costa site". Evening Tribune. p. C-5.
5. "Carlsbad WTA tournament moves to Tokyo". tennis.com. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
6. "Carlsbad Classic". Retrieved 29 October 2015.
7. "Carlsbad Classic Tennis Homepage". Retrieved 29 October 2015.