The Philippines Open International Championships^[1] and later known as PHILTA International Championships or simply the Philippines Open was an international men's and women's clay then later court tennis tournament founded in 1918 as the Philippine Championships . It was first organised by the Philippine Tennis Association (PhilTA) and first played at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center, Manila, Philippines. This international tournament was part of the ILTF World Circuit until 1978 when it was discontinued.^[1]

History

The Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, Manila. Center left and below the baseball field is the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center with the Rizal Memorial Coliseum indoor venue adjacent to the outside tennis courts this was the location of these championships

In 1906 the Manila (Philippine Islands) Lawn Tennis Association was founded. In 1913 it became the Philippine Lawn Tennis Association formally incorporated in 1920. In 1936 it joined the International Lawn Tennis Federation.^[2] In 1920 PhilLTA organised the first International Championships of the Philippines.^[1]

In 1907 the Championship of the Orient tournament was held in Manila until 1909 and played at the Philippine Amateur Athletic Association tennis court grounds before it was discontinued for one year.^[3] In 1911 it was revived until 1917.^[4] The Philippines Championships tournament had its origins in the Oriental Tennis Championships event,^[5] an early ancestor event of the Asian Championships.^[1]

In 1918 the Philippines Championships were held for the first time, and were played at the Manila Tennis Club. In 1920 that tournament became a fully open event called the Philippines Open Championships.^[1] From 1918 until 1924 it was an event for men only.^[1] In 1925 a women's event was established.^[1] In 1934 the Manila Carnival Grounds was renamed and this tournament was then played at the newly built Rizal Memorial Tennis Stadium on clay courts. In 1940 the Rizal Memorial Tennis Stadium was renamed as the Rizal Memorial Coliseum, that now included an indoor stadium.

In 1959 two editions of the men's event were held one in later January and the other in early December.^[1] In 1961 two editions of the men's event were played again one in the first week of February on outdoor clay courts,^[1] the second during the mid two weeks of month on outdoor hard courts.^[1] In 1972 this tournament usually held in February was moved to November that year.^[1] For the years 1973 to 1978 it was also valid as the Manila International Championships (f.1968) or Manila Open also played in November.^[6] The tournament was discontinued in 1978.

In 1981 PHILTA staged a new tournament called the Philippine Classic that was won by Ramesh Krishnan.^[7] After a period of 35 years international tennis returned to the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center in the form of the Manila Challenger (also known as the Philippine Open), a clay court event that was won by Mikhail Youzhny.^[8]

This tournament went through a number of different denominations see tournament names below.

Event names

• Philippines Championships (1918–1920).^[1]
• International Championships of the Philippines (1920–1941).^[1]
• Philippines International Championships (1950–1972).^[1]
• Philippines Championships (1973–1974).^[1]
• Philta International Championships (1975).^[1]
• Philippine Open (1976).^[1]
• Philta International Championships (1975, 1977–1978).^[1]

Finals

Men' singles

Notes: In 1959 two editions of the men's event were held one in January denoted as (*) the other in December denoted as (**). In 1961 two editions of the men's were held one in early February denoted as (*) the other in mid February denoted as (**).
(incomplete roll)

International Championships of the Philippines
Year	Champions	Runners-up	Score
↓  PHILTA Circuit  ↓
1932	Hyotaro Sato	Ryosuke Nunoi	6–4, 6–1, 2–6, 6–3.[1]
1935	Leonardo Gavia[9]	Edgar Moon	8–6, 3–6, 6–4, 4–6, 6–2.[1]
↓  ILTF World Circuit  ↓
1936	Eugène Smith	Leonardo Gavia	6–3, 6–4.[1]
1937	Leonardo Gavia (2)	Felicisimo Ampon	6–3, 7–5, 2–6, 6–3.[1]
1938	Takeo Matsumoto[10]	Juan Ladaw	6–0, 6–1, 7–5.[1]
1941	Felicisimo Ampon	Amado Sanchez[11]	5–7, 4–6 6–2, 6–2, 8–6 .[1]
1942/1949	Not held (due to World War II) and after
Philippines International Championships
1950	Pedro Masip	Felicisimo Ampon	6–4, 2–6, 3–6, 6–3, 6–1.[1]
1951	Sven Davidson	Irvin Dorfman	6–3, 6–1, 6–2.[1]
1952	Felicisimo Ampon (2)	Raymundo Deyro	3–6, 6–4, 6–2, 7–5.[1]
1953	Felicisimo Ampon (3)	Fausto Gardini	4–6, 6–3, 0–6, 6–3, 6–4.[1]
1954	Raymundo Deyro	Atsushi Miyagi	6–2, 6–3, 6–0.[1]
1955	Felicisimo Ampon (4)	Sven Davidson	6–1, 6–4, 1–6, 6–2.[1]
1956	Raymundo Deyro (2)	Herb Flam	6–2, 6–1, 7–5.[1]
1957	Raymundo Deyro (3)	Felicisimo Ampon	6–2, 6–3, 6–2.[1]
1958	Ulf Schmidt	Raymundo Deyro	6–2, 6–4, 6–1.[1]
1959*	Felicisimo Ampon (5)	Raymundo Deyro	2–6, 6–2, 8–6, 6–3.[1]
1959**	Felicisimo Ampon (6)	Raymundo Deyro	6–4, 7–5.[1]
1960	Raymundo Deyro (4)	Johnny Jose	6–2, 6–1, 7–5.[1]
1961 *	Mike Sangster	Johnny Jose	5–7, 6–3, 7–5, 6–4.[1]
1961 **	Neil Gibson	Barry Phillips-Moore	6–4, 6–2, 6–1.[1]
1962	Ken Fletcher	Raymundo Deyro	9–7, 6–2, 7–5.[1]
1963	Felicisimo Ampon (7)	Johnny Jose	5–7, 4–6, 7–5, 6–0, 6–1.[1]
1964	Raymundo Deyro (5)	Felicisimo Ampon	6–4, 4–6, 2–6, 11–9, 6–3.[1]
1965	Ken Fletcher (2)	Raymundo Deyro	2–6, 9–7, 0–6, 6–4, 6–2.[1]
1966	Felicisimo Ampon (8)	Jesus Hernandez[12]	6–1, 6–0, 6–0
1967	Ron McKenzie	Felicisimo Ampon	4–6, 2–6, 6–1, 6–3, 6–2.[1]
1968	Ray Keldie	Eduardo Cruz	6–3, 6–3, 2–6, 7–5.[1]
↓  Open era  ↓
1969	Dick Crealy	Eduardo Cruz	2–6, 4–6, 6–2, 6–2, 6–3.[1]
↓  ILTF Independent Tour  ↓
1970	Raymundo Deyro (6)	Ron McKenzie	6–3, 6–3, 6–2.[1]
1971	Greg Perkins	Raymundo Deyro	6–2, 3–6, 7–9, 6–4, 6–0
1972	Marcelo Lara	Dick Dell	6–1, 6–4.[1]
↓  ILTF Grand Prix circuit  ↓
1973[13]	Ross Case	Geoff Masters	6–1, 6–0.
1974[14]	Ismail El Shafei	Hans-Jürgen Pohmann	7–6, 6–1.
1975[15]	Ross Case (2)	Corrado Barazzutti	6–2, 6–1.
1976[16]	Brian Fairlie	Ray Ruffels	7–5, 6–7, 7–6
1977[17]	Karl Meiler	Manuel Orantes	w.o.
1978[18]	Yannick Noah	Peter Feigl	7–6, 6–0

Women's singles

(incomplete roll)

International Championships of the Philippines
Year	Champions	Runners-up	Score
↓  PHILTA Circuit  ↓
1925	Clarissa Mitchell	Elisa Rosales Ochoa	6–3, 6–2
1926	Clarissa Mitchell (2)	Elisa Rosales Ochoa	6–4, 6–2
1927	Clarissa Mitchell (3)	Elisa Rosales Ochoa	6–3, 3–6, 7–5
1930	Elisa Rosales Ochoa	Alice Davis	6–4, 6–4
1931	Irmgard Baumann	B. Calma	6–1, 6–0
1932	Elisa Rosales Ochoa (2)	Irmgard Baumann	6–4, 3–6, 6–2
1933	Elisa Rosales Ochoa (3)	Irmgard Baumann	6–3, 6–3
1934	Irmgard Baumann (2)	Elisa Rosales Ochoa	6–2, 3–6, 6–1
1935	Minda Ochoa	Elisa Rosales Ochoa	6–3, 3–6, 6–4
↓  ILTF World Circuit  ↓
1936	Minda Ochoa (2)	Helen Marlowe Dimitrijevic	6–0, 7–9, 6–1
1937	Minda Ochoa (3)	Irmgard Baumann	7–5, 6–4
1938	Minda Ochoa (4)	Estrella Alburo	6–1, 6–3
1939	Minda Ochoa (5)	Aida Ochoa	6–4, 7–5
1940	Liberty Solisa Minda Ochoa	Aida Ochoa	6–2, 3–6, 6–4
1941	Liberty Solisa (2)	Estrella Alburo	6–0, 6–3
1942/1949	Not held (due to World War II) and after
Philippines International Championships
1950	Mary Terán de Weiss	Minda Ochoa Moldero	6–1, 6–1
1951[19]	Dorothy Head	Helen Kingsley	6–0, 6–2
1952	Joy Gannon Mottram	Liu Shang Kuo	6–2, 6–1
1953	Joy Gannon Mottram (2)	Minda Ochoa Moldero	6–3, 6–1
1955	Desideria Ampon	Teresita Cosca	6–2, 7–5
1956	Desideria Ampon (2)	Mary Lou Ang	6–2, 6–2
1957	Patricia Ward	Desideria Ampon	6–0, 6–1
1958	Desideria Ampon (3)	Patricia Yngayo[20]	6–2, 6–1
1959	Desideria Ampon (4)	Patricia Yngayo	6–2, 6–4
1960	Desideria Ampon (5)	Patricia Yngayo	6–3, 6–1
1961	Rosemary White Gibson	Desideria Ampon	6–2, 6–3
1962	Dorothy Head Knode (2)	Desideria Ampon	6–2, 6–1
1963	Dorothy Head Knode (3)	Rita Bentley	6–4, 5–7, 6–2
1964	Reiko Miyagi	Dorothy Head Knode	6–3, 6–1
1965	Desideria Ampon (6)	Francesca Gordigiani	9–7, 6–2
1966	Desideria Ampon (7)	Patricia Yngayo	6–1, 6–2
1967	Desideria Ampon (8)	Linda Lanuza	6–4, 6–2
1968	Desideria Ampon (9)	Teresita Cosca	6–4, 6–1
↓  Open era  ↓
1969	Desideria Ampon (10)	Patricia Yngayo	6–3, 6–0
1970	Ceci Martinez	Patricia Yngayo	6–0, 6–0
1971	Desideria Ampon (11)	Patricia Yngayo	6–1, 6–0
1972	Isabel Fernández de Soto	Fiorella Bonicelli	6–4, 6–4

Other tournaments

• Manila Challenger (an ATP Challenger tournament held in Manila in 2016)
• Manila International Championships (an international tournament founded in 1968 and played in November through till 1978, and again in 1981.)
• Manila Invitational (a 4 four man exhibition tournament held in 1978 and won by Björn Borg).
• Manila Metropolitan Championships (founded in 1930 held in Manila until 1972, revived by PHILTA in 2023 as the Metro Manila Open).^[21]
• Philippine Championships (closed) officially the Philippine National Championships (founded in 1920 ran till 1971).
• Philippine Indoor Championships (founded in 1940 ran till 1950).

References