Washington Open (tennis)

The Washington Open (branded as the Mubadala Citi DC Open for sponsorship reasons and sometimes called the DC Open) is an annual professional outdoor hardcourt tennis tournament played at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center in Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C. The event is categorized as an ATP 500 event on the ATP Tour and a WTA 500 event on the WTA Tour. The tournament is owned and managed by Mark Ein in partnership with IMG.

Washington Open
Tournament information
Tour	ATP Tour WTA Tour
Founded	1969; 55 years ago (1969)
Location	Washington, D.C.
Venue	William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center
Category	ATP Tour 500 WTA 500
Surface	Hardcourt
Draw	48S/24Q/16D (men) 32S/16Q/16D (women)
Prize money	US$2,013,940 (2023) (men) US$922,573 (2024) (women)
Website	mubadalacitidcopen.com
Current champions (2024)
Men's singles	Sebastian Korda
Women's singles	Paula Badosa
Men's doubles	Nathaniel Lammons Jackson Withrow
Women's doubles	Asia Muhammad Taylor Townsend

Organized annually in the summer schedule of events on North American hardcourts leading up to the US Open, known as the US Open Series, the Washington Open was first held in 1969 as the Washington Star International. It was held on clay courts until 1986, when the surface was changed to hardcourts. In 2011, the event expanded to include its first women's tournament, a WTA International (now WTA 250) competition held in a separate venue in College Park, Maryland. The following year, the men's and women's events were consolidated at the Washington venue.

In 2023, the WTA 500-level Silicon Valley Classic was discontinued and merged into the Washington Open, forming the first and only joint-500-level event on the ATP and WTA tours.

History

The tournament was first held on the men's tour in 1969, known as the Washington Star International from 1969 to 1981, the Sovran Bank Classic from 1982 to 1992, the Newsweek Tennis Classic in 1993, the Legg Mason Tennis Classic from 1994 to 2011, and the Citi Open from 2012 to 2022. Competition was held on outdoor clay courts until 1986 when it switched to the current hard courts. Co-founders John A Harris and Donald Dell, founder of ProServ International, have since remained closely involved. The location of the event in Washington, D.C., was chosen at the urging of Arthur Ashe, an early supporter.

The tournament's center court

The women's event was first held in 2011 in College Park, Maryland, as the Citi Open, and for the 2012 season, the ATP and WTA decided to merge their Maryland and Washington spots into a joint tournament, with the women's event moving to the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center, and Citi replacing Legg Mason as title sponsor of the joint event.^[1]

In 2015, the Washington Open dropped out of the US Open Series because of disagreements with ESPN, which that year took over broadcast rights to the US Open and US Open Series events. ESPN would not commit to air more than four hours of the tournament on its ESPN2 network; the remainer would be relegated to ESPN3 online streaming. (In 2014, coverage was split between ESPN and Tennis Channel.)^[2] Donald Dell criticized ESPN for using ESPN3 to acquire sports rights without any intent to broadcast them on television: "If you're running a tournament, and it's $2 million, and sponsorship money in the $6 million-to-$8 million range, you've got sponsors that don't want to be having only four or six hours on television." Citi Open organizers withdrew from the US Open Series so it could establish a new broadcast rights agreement with Tennis Channel. The four-year, $2.1 million deal included funding for additional amenities and 171 hours of television coverage.^[3][4]

In 2019, the Washington Open was acquired by venture capitalist and USTA board member Mark Ein. It returned to the US Open Series, and also signed a five-year extension of its media rights with Tennis Channel.^[5] The 2020 tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The men's event returned for 2021, but the women's event remained cancelled; the WTA did not reinstate its sanctioning of the tournament due to conflicts with the 2020 Summer Olympics.^[6][7] The tournament instead organized a women's invitational, featuring Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, and Jennifer Brady.^[8][9][10]

In June 2023, Ein and IMG announced that the Washington Open would merge with the Silicon Valley Classic to form a single tournament in Washington, D.C.; this therefore promoted the Washington Open from a WTA 250 event to a WTA 500 event. Players had usually been divided between the two tournaments, as the Silicon Valley Classic was more prestigious, but the Washington Open was located closer to the rest of the US Open Series events. As a result of the merger, the Silicon Valley Classic's title sponsor Mubadala Investment Company became a co-title sponsor of the event, and the tournament was renamed the Mubadala Citi DC Open. The tournament is the first-ever joint 500-level event on the ATP and WTA tours.^[11][12][13]

Past finals

A night match in 2018.

Grandstand in 2017.

A side court in 2017.

In the men's singles, Andre Agassi (1990–91, 1995, 1998–99) holds the records for most titles (five) and most finals overall (six, runner-up in 2000). He also shares with Michael Chang (1996–97), Juan Martín del Potro (2008–09) and Alexander Zverev (2017–18) the record for most consecutive titles, with two. In the women's singles, Magdaléna Rybáriková (2012–13) holds the record for most titles (two) and co-holds the record for most finals (two) with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (runner-up in 2012, 2015). In the men's doubles, Marty Riessen (1971–72, 1974, 1979) and the Bryan brothers (2005–07, 2015) hold the record for most titles (four), with the Bryans also holding the record for most consecutive titles (three). The Bryans co-hold the record for most finals (six, runners-up in 2001–02) with Raúl Ramírez (winner in 1976, 1981–82, runner-up in 1975, 1978–79). In the women's doubles, Shuko Aoyama (2012–14) holds alone the record for most titles, most consecutive titles and most finals (three).

Men's singles

American legend Arthur Ashe won the 1973 title.

Andre Agassi has won the most titles of any man, with five titles.

Gael Monfils, shown here serving in 2016, won the 2016 Washington Open title.

Alexander Zverev holding the trophy after winning the 2018 title.

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Score
1969	Thomaz Koch	Arthur Ashe	7–5, 9–7, 4–6, 2–6, 6–4
↓ Grand Prix circuit ↓
1970	Cliff Richey	Arthur Ashe	7–5, 6–1, 6–2
↓ WCT circuit ↓
1971	Ken Rosewall	Marty Riessen	6–2, 7–5, 6–1
1972	Tony Roche	Marty Riessen	3–6, 7–6, 6–4
↓ Grand Prix circuit ↓
1973	Arthur Ashe	Tom Okker	6–4, 6–2
1974	Harold Solomon	Guillermo Vilas	1–6, 6–3, 6–4
1975	Guillermo Vilas	Harold Solomon	6–1, 6–3
1976	Jimmy Connors	Raúl Ramírez	6–2, 6–4
1977	Guillermo Vilas (2)	Brian Gottfried	6–4, 7–5
1978	Jimmy Connors (2)	Eddie Dibbs	7–5, 7–5
1979	Guillermo Vilas (3)	Víctor Pecci Sr.	7–6(7–4), 7–6(7–3)
1980	Brian Gottfried	José Luis Clerc	7–5, 4–6, 6–4
1981	José Luis Clerc	Guillermo Vilas	7–5, 6–2
1982	Ivan Lendl	Jimmy Arias	6–3, 6–3
1983	José Luis Clerc (2)	Jimmy Arias	6–3, 3–6, 6–0
1984	Andrés Gómez	Aaron Krickstein	6–2, 6–2
1985	Yannick Noah	Martín Jaite	6–4, 6–3
1986	Karel Nováček	Thierry Tulasne	6–1, 7–6(7–4)
1987	Ivan Lendl (2)	Brad Gilbert	6–1, 6–0
1988	Jimmy Connors (3)	Andrés Gómez	6–1, 6–4
1989	Tim Mayotte	Brad Gilbert	3–6, 6–4, 7–5
↓ ATP Tour 500[a] ↓
1990	Andre Agassi	Jim Grabb	6–1, 6–4
1991	Andre Agassi (2)	Petr Korda	6–3, 6–4
1992	Petr Korda	Henrik Holm	6–4, 6–4
1993	Amos Mansdorf	Todd Martin	7–6(7–3), 7–5
1994	Stefan Edberg	Jason Stoltenberg	6–4, 6–2
1995	Andre Agassi (3)	Stefan Edberg	6–4, 2–6, 7–5
1996	Michael Chang	Wayne Ferreira	6–2, 6–4
1997	Michael Chang (2)	Petr Korda	5–7, 6–2, 6–1
1998	Andre Agassi (4)	Scott Draper	6–2, 6–0
1999	Andre Agassi (5)	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	7–6(7–3), 6–1
2000	Àlex Corretja	Andre Agassi	6–2, 6–3
2001	Andy Roddick	Sjeng Schalken	6–2, 6–3
2002	James Blake	Paradorn Srichaphan	1–6, 7–6(7–5), 6–4
↓ ATP Tour 250[b] ↓
2003	Tim Henman	Fernando González	6–3, 6–4
2004	Lleyton Hewitt	Gilles Müller	6–3, 6–4
2005	Andy Roddick (2)	James Blake	7–5, 6–3
2006	Arnaud Clément	Andy Murray	7–6(7–3), 6–2
2007	Andy Roddick (3)	John Isner	6–4, 7–6(7–4)
2008	Juan Martín del Potro	Viktor Troicki	6–3, 6–3
↓ ATP Tour 500 ↓
2009	Juan Martín del Potro (2)	Andy Roddick	3–6, 7–5, 7–6(8–6)
2010	David Nalbandian	Marcos Baghdatis	6–2, 7–6(7–4)
2011	Radek Štěpánek	Gaël Monfils	6–4, 6–4
2012	Alexandr Dolgopolov	Tommy Haas	6–7(7–9), 6–4, 6–1
2013	Juan Martín del Potro (3)	John Isner	3–6, 6–1, 6–2
2014	Milos Raonic	Vasek Pospisil	6–1, 6–4
2015	Kei Nishikori	John Isner	4–6, 6–4, 6–4
2016	Gaël Monfils	Ivo Karlović	5–7, 7–6(8–6), 6–4
2017	Alexander Zverev	Kevin Anderson	6–4, 6–4
2018	Alexander Zverev (2)	Alex de Minaur	6–2, 6–4
2019	Nick Kyrgios	Daniil Medvedev	7–6(8–6), 7–6(7–4)
2020	Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021	Jannik Sinner	Mackenzie McDonald	7–5, 4–6, 7–5
2022	Nick Kyrgios (2)	Yoshihito Nishioka	6–4, 6–3
2023	Dan Evans	Tallon Griekspoor	7–5, 6–3
2024	Sebastian Korda	Flavio Cobolli	4–6, 6–2, 6–0

Women's singles

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Score
2011	Nadia Petrova	Shahar Pe'er	7–5, 6–2
2012	Magdaléna Rybáriková	Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova	6–1, 6–1
2013	Magdaléna Rybáriková (2)	Andrea Petkovic	6–4, 7–6(7–2)
2014	Svetlana Kuznetsova	Kurumi Nara	6–3, 4–6, 6–4
2015	Sloane Stephens	Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova	6–1, 6–2
2016	Yanina Wickmayer	Lauren Davis	6–4, 6–2
2017	Ekaterina Makarova	Julia Görges	3–6, 7–6(7–2), 6–0
2018	Svetlana Kuznetsova (2)	Donna Vekić	4–6, 7–6(9–7), 6–2
2019	Jessica Pegula	Camila Giorgi	6–2, 6–2
2020	Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
↓ Exhibition (WTA revoked sanction) ↓
2021	Jessica Pegula	Coco Gauff	4–6, 7–5, [10-8] [c]
↓ WTA 250 ↓
2022	[d] Liudmila Samsonova	Kaia Kanepi	4–6, 6–3, 6–3
↓ WTA 500 ↓
2023	Coco Gauff	Maria Sakkari	6–2, 6–3
2024	Paula Badosa	Marie Bouzková	6–1, 4–6, 6–4

Men's doubles

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Score
1969	Patricio Cornejo Jaime Fillol	Robert Lutz Stan Smith	4–6, 6–1, 6–4
↓ Grand Prix circuit ↓
1970	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	Ilie Năstase Ion Țiriac	7–5, 6–0
↓ WCT circuit ↓
1971	Tom Okker Marty Riessen	Bob Carmichael Ray Ruffels	7–6, 6–2
1972	Tom Okker (2) Marty Riessen (2)	John Newcombe Tony Roche	3–6, 6–3, 6–2
↓ Grand Prix circuit ↓
1973	Ross Case Geoff Masters	Dick Crealy Andrew Pattison	2–6, 6–1, 6–4
1974	Tom Gorman Marty Riessen (3)	Patricio Cornejo Jaime Fillol	7–5, 6–1
1975	Robert Lutz Stan Smith	Brian Gottfried Raúl Ramírez	7–5, 2–6, 6–1
1976	Brian Gottfried Raúl Ramírez	Arthur Ashe Jimmy Connors	6–3, 6–3
1977	John Alexander Phil Dent	Fred McNair Sherwood Stewart	7–5, 7–5
1978	Arthur Ashe Bob Hewitt (2)	Fred McNair Raúl Ramírez	6–3, 6–4
1979	Marty Riessen (4) Sherwood Stewart	Brian Gottfried Raúl Ramírez	2–6, 6–3, 6–4
1980	Hans Gildemeister Andrés Gómez	Gene Mayer Sandy Mayer	6–4, 7–5
1981	Raúl Ramírez (2) Van Winitsky	Pavel Složil Ferdi Taygan	5–7, 7–6(9–7), 7–6(8–6)
1982	Raúl Ramírez (3) Van Winitsky (2)	Hans Gildemeister Andrés Gómez	7–5, 7–6
1983	Mark Dickson Cássio Motta	Paul McNamee Ferdi Taygan	6–2, 1–6, 6–4
1984	Pavel Složil Ferdi Taygan	Drew Gitlin Blaine Willenborg	7–6, 6–1
1985	Hans Gildemeister (2) Víctor Pecci	David Graham Balázs Taróczy	6–3, 1–6, 6–4
1986	Hans Gildemeister (3) Andrés Gómez (2)	Ricardo Acioly César Kist	6–3, 7–5
1987	Gary Donnelly Peter Fleming	Laurie Warder Blaine Willenborg	6–2, 7–6
1988	Rick Leach Jim Pugh	Jorge Lozano Todd Witsken	6–3, 6–7, 6–2
1989	Neil Broad Gary Muller	Jim Grabb Patrick McEnroe	6–7, 7–6, 6–4
↓ ATP Tour 500[a] ↓
1990	Grant Connell Glenn Michibata	Jorge Lozano Todd Witsken	6–3, 6–7, 6–2
1991	Scott Davis David Pate	Ken Flach Robert Seguso	6–4, 6–2
1992	Bret Garnett Jared Palmer	Ken Flach Todd Witsken	6–2, 6–3
1993	Byron Black Rick Leach (2)	Grant Connell Patrick Galbraith	6–4, 7–5
1994	Grant Connell (2) Patrick Galbraith	Jonas Björkman Jakob Hlasek	6–4, 4–6, 6–3
1995	Olivier Delaître Jeff Tarango	Petr Korda Cyril Suk	1–6, 6–3, 6–2
1996	Grant Connell (3) Scott Davis (2)	Doug Flach Chris Woodruff	7–6, 3–6, 6–3
1997	Luke Jensen Murphy Jensen	Neville Godwin Fernon Wibier	6–4, 6–4
1998	Grant Stafford Kevin Ullyett	Wayne Ferreira Patrick Galbraith	6–2, 6–4
1999	Justin Gimelstob Sébastien Lareau	David Adams John-Laffnie de Jager	7–5, 6–7(2–7), 6–3
2000	Alex O'Brien Jared Palmer (2)	Andre Agassi Sargis Sargsian	7–5, 6–1
2001	Martin Damm David Prinosil	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	7–6(7–5), 6–3
2002	Wayne Black Kevin Ullyett (2)	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	3–6, 6–3, 7–5
↓ ATP Tour 250[b] ↓
2003	Yevgeny Kafelnikov Sargis Sargsian	Chris Haggard Paul Hanley	7–5, 4–6, 6–2
2004	Chris Haggard Robbie Koenig	Travis Parrott Dmitry Tursunov	7–6(7–3), 6–1
2005	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	Wayne Black Kevin Ullyett	6–4, 6–2
2006	Bob Bryan (2) Mike Bryan (2)	Paul Hanley Kevin Ullyett	6–3, 5–7, [10–3]
2007	Bob Bryan (3) Mike Bryan (3)	Jonathan Erlich Andy Ram	7–6(7–5), 3–6, [10–7]
2008	Marc Gicquel Robert Lindstedt	Bruno Soares Kevin Ullyett	7–6(8–6), 6–3
↓ ATP Tour 500 ↓
2009	Martin Damm (2) Robert Lindstedt (2)	Mariusz Fyrstenberg Marcin Matkowski	7–5, 7–6(7–3)
2010	Mardy Fish Mark Knowles	Tomáš Berdych Radek Štěpánek	4–6, 7–6(9–7), [10–7]
2011	Michaël Llodra Nenad Zimonjić	Robert Lindstedt Horia Tecău	6–7(3–7), 7–6(8–6), [10–7]
2012	Treat Conrad Huey Dominic Inglot	Kevin Anderson Sam Querrey	7–6(9–7), 6–7(9–11), [10–5]
2013	Julien Benneteau Nenad Zimonjić (2)	Mardy Fish Radek Štěpánek	7–6(7–5), 7–5
2014	Jean-Julien Rojer Horia Tecău	Sam Groth Leander Paes	7–5, 6–4
2015	Bob Bryan (4) Mike Bryan (4)	Ivan Dodig Marcelo Melo	6–4, 6–2
2016	Daniel Nestor Édouard Roger-Vasselin	Łukasz Kubot Alexander Peya	7–6(7–3), 7–6(7–4)
2017	Henri Kontinen John Peers	Łukasz Kubot Marcelo Melo	7–6(7–5), 6–4
2018	Jamie Murray Bruno Soares	Mike Bryan Édouard Roger-Vasselin	3–6, 6–3, [10–4]
2019	Raven Klaasen Michael Venus	Jean-Julien Rojer Horia Tecău	3–6, 6–3, [10–2]
2020	Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021	Raven Klaasen (2) Ben McLachlan	Neal Skupski Michael Venus	7–6(7–4), 6–4
2022	Nick Kyrgios Jack Sock	Ivan Dodig Austin Krajicek	7–5, 6–4
2023	Máximo González Andrés Molteni	Mackenzie McDonald Ben Shelton	6–7, 6–2, [10-8]
2024	Nathaniel Lammons Jackson Withrow	Rafael Matos Marcelo Melo	7–5, 6–3

Women's doubles

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Score
2011	Sania Mirza Yaroslava Shvedova	Olga Govortsova Alla Kudryavtseva	6–3, 6–3
2012	Shuko Aoyama Chang Kai-chen	Irina Falconi Chanelle Scheepers	7–5, 6–2
2013	Shuko Aoyama (2) Vera Dushevina	Eugenie Bouchard Taylor Townsend	6–3, 6–3
2014	Shuko Aoyama (3) Gabriela Dabrowski	Hiroko Kuwata Kurumi Nara	6–1, 6–2
2015	Belinda Bencic Kristina Mladenovic	Lara Arruabarrena Andreja Klepač	7–5, 7–6(9–7)
2016	Monica Niculescu Yanina Wickmayer	Shuko Aoyama Risa Ozaki	6–4, 6–3
2017	Shuko Aoyama (4) Renata Voráčová	Eugenie Bouchard Sloane Stephens	6–3, 6–2
2018	Han Xinyun Darija Jurak	Alexa Guarachi Erin Routliffe	6–3, 6–2
2019	Caty McNally Coco Gauff	Maria Sanchez Fanny Stollar	6–2, 6–2
2020–21	Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
↓ WTA 250 ↓
2022	Jessica Pegula Erin Routliffe	Anna Kalinskaya Caty McNally	6–3, 5–7, [12–10]
↓ WTA 500 ↓
2023	Laura Siegemund Vera Zvonareva	Alexa Guarachi Monica Niculescu	6–4, 6–4
2024	Asia Muhammad Taylor Townsend	Jiang Xinyu Wu Fang-hsien	7–6(7–0), 6–3

See also

• Virginia Slims of Washington – women's tournament (1972–1991)
• Washington Kastles – World TeamTennis (WTT) franchise
• Sports in Washington, D.C.

Notes

1. Known as Championship Series from 1990 till 1999. International Series Gold from 2000 till 2008.
2. Known as International Series from 2000 till 2008.
3. Because of the exhibition nature of the event, each match was a two-set match. A ten-point tiebreaker was used in lieu of the third set.
4. As of March 1, 2022, the WTA announced that players from Russia and Belarus will not compete under the name or flag of Russia or Belarus due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

References

1. "Legg Mason Classic in Washington, D.C. changes name to Citi Open – ESPN". ESPN Internet Ventures. Associated Press. April 24, 2012. Retrieved July 27, 2012.
2. Reynolds, Mike (July 24, 2014). "Tennis, ESPN2 Serve Up 230-Plus U.S. Open Series Hours". Multichannel-us. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
3. Rothenberg, Ben (August 13, 2015). "Why DC's Citi Open separated from U.S. Open Series". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
4. "DC's Citi Open Bumped Out Of U.S. Open Series Due To TV Deal With Tennis Channel". Sports Business Daily. Retrieved April 3, 2019.
5. "Citi Open returns to US Open Series for 2019". US Open Series. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
6. Malet, Jeff (August 2, 2021). "D.C.'s Citi Open Tennis Tournament Underway After Two-Year Hiatus (photos)". The Georgetowner. Archived from the original on August 8, 2021. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
7. Clarke, Liz (June 10, 2021). "Citi Open to return at 50 percent capacity after tournament was canceled in 2020". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
8. Malet, Jeff (August 2, 2021). "D.C.'s Citi Open Tennis Tournament Underway After Two-Year Hiatus (photos)". The Georgetowner. Archived from the original on August 8, 2021. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
9. Byrum, Tyler (August 6, 2021). "Citi Open tournament information". NBC Sports Washington. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
10. Clarke, Liz (August 7, 2021). "At Citi Open exhibition, Coco Gauff talks about her bout with covid and getting vaccinated". Washington Post. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
11. Wallace, Ava (June 1, 2023). "D.C.'s Citi Open merges with Silicon Valley Classic to boost women's event". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
12. "San Jose moves to Washington D.C. to operate as Mubadala Citi DC Open". Women's Tennis Association. June 1, 2023. Archived from the original on June 8, 2023. Retrieved July 17, 2023.
13. Simon, Alex; Mastrodonato, Jason (June 2, 2023). "Bay Area loses longtime women's tennis event as WTA moves to Washington, D.C." The Mercury News. Archived from the original on June 8, 2023. Retrieved July 17, 2023.

External links

• Official website
• Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tournament profile

38.954°N 77.037°W / 38.954; -77.037