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LA Women's Tennis Championships

Tennis tournament

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Source updated March 15, 2026

The LA Women's Tennis Championships was a Premier-level women's tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held in Carson, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. The tournament was played on outdoor hard courts and a part of the US Open Series.

The tournament was founded in 1971 as the Billie Jean King Invitational as part of the inaugural Virginia Slims Circuit in Long Beach, California in 1971 by Jerry Diamond, one of the tour's organizers. In 1973, it moved to Los Angeles. The event was off the tour calendar for three years (1974-1976) when the season-ending championships were played in Los Angeles. The tournament was an indoor event until 1983, when it switched to outdoor hard courts in Manhattan Beach where it stayed for 20 years. IMG bought the event from Diamond in 1996. The event was moved to its final location in Carson in 2003. It was acquired by its new landlord, AEG, in 2004.

In 2009 AEG and USTA sold the tournament to Octagon, who moved the event to Carlsbad, California. It was renamed the Mercury Insurance Open.

01Past finals

Martina Navratilova was the most successful player winning 8 singles titles.

Singles

Year	Location	Champion	Runner-up	Score	Name
1971	Long Beach	Billie Jean King	Rosemary Casals	6-1, 6-2	Billie Jean King Invitational
1972	Long Beach	Rosemary Casals	Françoise Dürr	6-2, 6-7^(4-5), 6-3	Independent Press-Telegram's Women's Tennis Championships
1973	Los Angeles	Margaret Court	Nancy Gunter	7-5, 6-7^(1-5), 7-5	British Motor Cars Tournament
1974-76		Not held
1977		Chris Evert	Martina Navratilova	6-2, 2-6, 6-1	Virginia Slims of Los Angeles
1978		Martina Navratilova	Rosemary Casals	6-3, 6-2	Virginia Slims of Los Angeles
1979		Chris Evert (2)	Martina Navratilova	6-3, 6-4	Avon Championships of Los Angeles
1980		Martina Navratilova (2)	Tracy Austin	6-2, 6-0
1981		Martina Navratilova (3)	Andrea Jaeger	6-4, 6-0
1982		Mima Jaušovec	Sylvia Hanika	6-2, 7-6^(7-4)
1983	Manhattan Beach	Martina Navratilova (4)	Chris Evert	6-1, 6-3	Virginia Slims of Los Angeles (II)
1984		Chris Evert (3)	Wendy Turnbull	6-2, 6-3
1985		Claudia Kohde-Kilsch	Pam Shriver	6-2, 6-4
1986		Martina Navratilova (5)	Chris Evert	7-6^(7-5), 6-3
1987		Steffi Graf	Chris Evert	6-3, 6-4
1988		Chris Evert (4)	Gabriela Sabatini	2-6, 6-1, 6-1
1989		Martina Navratilova (6)	Gabriela Sabatini	6-0, 6-2
1990		Monica Seleš	Martina Navratilova	6-4, 3-6, 7-6^(8-6)
1991		Monica Seleš (2)	Kimiko Date	6-3, 6-1
1992		Martina Navratilova (7)	Monica Seleš	6-4, 6-2
1993		Martina Navratilova (8)	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	7-5, 7-6^(7-4)
1994		Amy Frazier	Ann Grossman	6-1, 6-3
1995		Conchita Martínez	Chanda Rubin	4-6, 6-1, 6-3	Acura Classic
1996		Lindsay Davenport	Anke Huber	6-2, 6-3
1997		Monica Seles (3)	Lindsay Davenport	5-7, 7-5, 6-4
1998		Lindsay Davenport (2)	Martina Hingis	4-6, 6-4, 6-3
1999		Serena Williams	Julie Halard-Decugis	6-1, 6-4
2000		Serena Williams (2)	Lindsay Davenport	4-6, 6-4, 7-6^(7-1)	estyle.com Classic
2001		Lindsay Davenport (3)	Monica Seleš	6-3, 7-5	estyle.com Classic
2002		Chanda Rubin	Lindsay Davenport	5-7, 7-6^(7-5), 6-3	JPMorgan Chase Open
2003	Carson	Kim Clijsters	Lindsay Davenport	6-1, 3-6, 6-1
2004		Lindsay Davenport (4)	Serena Williams	6-1, 6-3
2005		Kim Clijsters (2)	Daniela Hantuchová	6-4, 6-1
2006		Elena Dementieva	Jelena Janković	6-3, 4-6, 6-4
2007		Ana Ivanovic	Nadia Petrova	7-5, 6-4	East West Bank Classic
2008		Dinara Safina	Flavia Pennetta	6-4, 6-2	East West Bank Classic
2009		Flavia Pennetta	Samantha Stosur	6-4, 6-3	LA Women's Tennis Championships
2010	Succeeded by San Diego Open

Doubles

Year	Location	Champion	Runner-up	Score	Name
1971	Long Beach	Rosemary Casals Billie Jean King	Françoise Dürr Ann Haydon-Jones	7-5, 6-3	Billie Jean King Invitational
1972	Long Beach	Rosemary Casals (2) Virginia Wade	Helen Gourlay Karen Krantzcke	6-4, 5-7, 7-5	Independent Press-Telegram's Women's Tennis Championships
1973	Los Angeles	Rosemary Casals (3) Julie Heldman	Margaret Court Lesley Hunt	walkover	British Motor Cars Tournament
1974-76		Not held
1977		Rosemary Casals (4) Chris Evert	Martina Navratilova Betty Stöve	6-2, 6-4	Virginia Slims of Los Angeles
1978		Betty Stöve Virginia Wade (2)	Greer Stevens Pam Teeguarden	6-3, 6-2	Virginia Slims of Los Angeles
1979		Rosemary Casals (5) Chris Evert (2)	Martina Navratilova Anne Smith	6-4, 1-6, 6-3	Avon Championships of Los Angeles
1980		Rosemary Casals (6) Martina Navratilova	Kathy Jordan Anne Smith	7-6, 6-2
1981		Sue Barker Ann Kiyomura	Marita Redondo Peanut Louie	6-1, 4-6, 6-1
1982		Kathy Jordan Anne Smith	Barbara Potter Sharon Walsh	6-3, 7-5
1983	Manhattan Beach	Martina Navratilova (2) Pam Shriver	Betsy Nagelsen Virginia Ruzici	6-1, 6-0	Virginia Slims of Los Angeles (II)
1984		Chris Evert Lloyd (3) Wendy Turnbull	Bettina Bunge Eva Pfaff	6-2, 6-4
1985		Claudia Kohde-Kilsch Helena Suková	Hana Mandlíková Wendy Turnbull	6-4, 6-2
1986		Martina Navratilova (3) Pam Shriver (2)	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch Helena Suková	6-4, 6-3
1987		Martina Navratilova (4) Pam Shriver (3)	Zina Garrison Lori McNeil	6-3, 6-4
1988		Patty Fendick Jill Hetherington	Gigi Fernández Robin White	7-6^(7-2), 5-7, 6-4
1989		Martina Navratilova (5) Wendy Turnbull (2)	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch Mary Joe Fernández	5-2 retired
1990		Gigi Fernández Jana Novotná	Mercedes Paz Gabriela Sabatini	6-3, 4-6, 6-4
1991		Larisa Savchenko Natalia Zvereva	Gretchen Rush Magers Robin White	6-1, 2-6, 6-2
1992		Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Helena Suková (2)	Zina Garrison Pam Shriver	6-4, 6-2
1993		Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (2) Helena Suková (3)	Gigi Fernández Natalia Zvereva	7-6^(7-3), 6-3
1994		Julie Halard Nathalie Tauziat	Jana Novotná Lisa Raymond	6-1, 0-6, 6-1
1995		Gigi Fernández (2) Natasha Zvereva (2)	Gabriela Sabatini Larisa Savchenko Neiland	7-5, 6-7^(2-7), 7-5	Acura Classic
1996		Lindsay Davenport Natasha Zvereva (3)	Amy Frazier Kimberly Po	6-1, 6-4
1997		Yayuk Basuki Caroline Vis	Larisa Savchenko Neiland Helena Suková	7-6^(9-7), 6-3
1998		Martina Hingis Natasha Zvereva (4)	Tamarine Tanasugarn Elena Tatarkova	6-4, 6-2
1999		Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (3) Larisa Savchenko Neiland	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	6-2, 6-7^(5-7), 6-0
2000		Els Callens Dominique Monami Van Roost	Kimberly Po Anne-Gaëlle Sidot	6-2, 7-5	estyle.com Classic
2001		Kimberly Po-Messerli Nathalie Tauziat (2)	Nicole Arendt Caroline Vis	6-3, 7-5	estyle.com Classic
2002		Kim Clijsters Jelena Dokić	Daniela Hantuchová Ai Sugiyama	6-2, 6-3	JPMorgan Chase Open
2003	Carson	Mary Pierce Rennae Stubbs	Elena Bovina Els Callens	6-3, 6-3
2004		Nadia Petrova Meghann Shaughnessy	Conchita Martínez Virginia Ruano Pascual	6-7^(2-7), 6-4, 6-3
2005		Elena Dementieva Flavia Pennetta	Angela Haynes Bethanie Mattek	6-2, 6-4
2006		Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez	Daniela Hantuchová Ai Sugiyama	6-3, 6-4
2007		Květa Hrdličková Peschke Rennae Stubbs (2)	Alicia Molik Mara Santangelo	6-0, 6-1	East West Bank Classic
2008		Yung-jan Chan Chia-Jung Chuang	Eva Hrdinová Vladimíra Uhlířová	2-6, 7-5, (10-4)	East West Bank Classic
2009		Chia-Jung Chuang (2) Yan Zi	Maria Kirilenko Agnieszka Radwańska	6-0, 4-6, 10-7	LA Women's Tennis Championships
2010	Succeeded by San Diego Open

Watch videos about LA Women's Tennis ChampionshipsExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “LA Women's Tennis Championships”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

Martina Navratilova trim.jpg by dbking, CC BY 2.0

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