1996 Toray Pan Pacific Open
Encyclopedia
The 1996 Toray Pan Pacific Open was a tennis
tournament played on indoor carpet courts at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium
in Tokyo
in Japan
that was part of Tier I of the 1996 WTA Tour
. The tournament was held from January 29 through February 4, 1996.
Iva Majoli
defeated
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
6–4, 6–1
Gigi Fernández
/
Natasha Zvereva
defeated
Mariaan de Swardt
/
Irina Spîrlea
7–6, 6–3
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
tournament played on indoor carpet courts at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium
Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium
is a world-class sporting complex in Sendagaya, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Built in 1954 for the World Wrestling Championship, it was also used as the venue for gymnastics events at the 1964 Summer Olympics...
in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
that was part of Tier I of the 1996 WTA Tour
1996 WTA Tour
The WTA Tour is the elite tour for professional women's tennis organised by the Women's Tennis Association . The WTA Tour includes the four Grand Slam tournaments, the WTA Tour Championships and the WTA Tier I, Tier II, Tier III and Tier IV events...
. The tournament was held from January 29 through February 4, 1996.
Women's Singles
Iva MajoliIva Majoli
Iva Majoli Marić is a former professional tennis player from Croatia. She upset Martina Hingis to win the women's singles title at the French Open in 1997. Majoli also won eight singles titles and one women's doubles title during her career.-Career:Majoli turned professional in 1991 at the age...
defeated
Arantxa Sánchez VicarioArantxa Sánchez Vicario
Aránzazu 'Arantxa' Isabel Maria Sánchez Vicario is a Spanish former professional tennis player...
6–4, 6–1
- It was Majoli's 1st title of the year and the 3rd of her career.
Women's Doubles
Gigi FernándezGigi Fernández
Beatriz "Gigi" Fernández is a former professional tennis player, the first female athlete from her native Puerto Rico to turn professional, the first Puerto Rican woman to ever win an Olympic gold medal and the first to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.Fernandez won 17 Grand...
/
Natasha ZverevaNatasha Zvereva
Natalya "Natasha" Zvereva, or Zverava is a former tennis player from Belarus. Zvereva was the first major athlete in the Soviet Union to demand publicly that she should be able to keep her tournament earnings...
defeated
Mariaan de SwardtMariaan de Swardt
Mariaan de Swardt is a former tennis player from South Africa, who played as a professional from 1988 to 2001. She twice represented her native country at the Summer Olympics, in 1992 and 1996, and was a member of the South African Fed Cup Team in 1992 and 1994-1997. In 2006, de Swardt became a U.S...
/
Irina SpîrleaIrina Spîrlea
Irina Spîrlea is a former tennis player from Romania, who turned professional in 1990. She won four singles and six doubles titles during her career. The right-hander reached her highest individual ranking on the WTA Tour on October 13, 1997, when she became number 7 in the world...
7–6, 6–3
- It was Fernández's 1st title of the year and the 64th of her career. It was Zvereva's 1st title of the year and the 61st of her career.