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Tel Aviv Open

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(Redirected from Riklis Classic)
Tel Aviv Open
Defunct tennis tournament
SponsorWatergen
Founded1978; 46 years ago (1978)
LocationTel Aviv
Israel
VenueExpo Tel Aviv
(2022-current)

Israel Tennis Centers
(1978-1999)
CategoryATP Tour 250
(2022–current)
ATP Challenger Series
(1978, 1998-1999)
ATP World Series
(1990–96)
Grand Prix circuit
(1979-81, 1983-89)
SurfaceHard / Indoors
(2022-current)

Hard / Outdoors
(1978-1999)

Draw28S/28Q/16D
Prize money$949,475 (2022)
Websiteatptour.com
Current champions (2022)
SinglesSerbia Novak Djokovic
DoublesIndia Rohan Bopanna / Netherlands Matwé Middelkoop

The Tel Aviv Open (also known as the Tel Aviv Watergen Open due to sponsorship reasons) is an ATP Tour-affiliated tennis tournament. It was first played from 1978 through 1999 (skipping 1982 due to the 1982 Lebanon War and 1997 as it transitioned back to the Challenger Series) and was to be resumed in 2014 as a replacement for the St. Petersburg Open,[1] however its return was cancelled due to security concerns arising from the 2014 Gaza War and scrapped permanently in 2015. On June 21, 2022, it was announced that the tournament would return later that year, albeit in a different venue than previous editions. The tournament was planned to continue in 2023, but was cancelled due to the Israel–Hamas war.[2]

Israeli tennis player Amos Mansdorf appeared in the final five times, winning in 1987, making him the only Israeli to win the event. Jimmy Connors won his final career singles title at the event in 1989.

In 1990 and 1991 the tournament was known as the Riklis Classic and in 1996 it was known as the Eisenberg Israel Open.

The tournament still holds the ATP record for the youngest winner of an ATP event (Aaron Krickstein in 1983, at the age of 16 and 2 months).

Finals

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Singles

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Year Champions Runners-up Score
↓  ATP Challenger Series event  ↓
1978 Netherlands Tom Okker Austria Peter Feigl 6-7, 6-4, 6-2
↓  Grand Prix event  ↓
1979 Netherlands Tom Okker Sweden Per Hjertquist 6–4, 6–3
1980 United States Harold Solomon Israel Shlomo Glickstein 6–2, 6–3
1981 United States Mel Purcell Sweden Per Hjertquist 6–1, 6–1
1982 Not held due to the 1982 Lebanon War
1983 United States Aaron Krickstein West Germany Christoph Zipf 7–6, 6–3
1984 United States Aaron Krickstein Israel Shahar Perkiss 6–4, 6–1
1985 United States Brad Gilbert Israel Amos Mansdorf 6–3, 6–2
1986 United States Brad Gilbert United States Aaron Krickstein 7–5, 6–2
1987 Israel Amos Mansdorf United States Brad Gilbert 3–6, 6–3, 6–4
1988 United States Brad Gilbert United States Aaron Krickstein 4–6, 7–6, 6–2
1989 United States Jimmy Connors Israel Gilad Bloom 2–6, 6–2, 6–1
↓  ATP World Series event  ↓
1990 Soviet Union Andrei Chesnokov Israel Amos Mansdorf 6–4, 6–3
1991 Mexico Leonardo Lavalle South Africa Christo van Rensburg 6–2, 3–6, 6–3
1992 United States Jeff Tarango France Stephane Simian 4–6, 6–3, 6–4
1993 Italy Stefano Pescosolido Israel Amos Mansdorf 7–6, 7–5
1994 South Africa Wayne Ferreira Israel Amos Mansdorf 7–6, 6–3
1995 Slovakia Ján Krošlák Spain Javier Sánchez 6–3, 6–4
1996 Spain Javier Sánchez South Africa Marcos Ondruska 6–4, 7–5
1997 Not held
↓  ATP Challenger Series event  ↓
1998 Italy Gianluca Pozzi Israel Lior Mor 6–1, 6–7, 6–3
1999 Czech Republic Ctislav Doseděl Israel Noam Okun 7–6, 6–3
2000–2021 Not held; return cancelled due to 2014 Gaza War
↓  ATP Tour 250 event  ↓
2022 Serbia Novak Djokovic Croatia Marin Čilić 6–3, 6–4
2023 Not held due to Israel–Hamas war

Doubles

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Year Champions Runners-up Score
↓  ATP Challenger Series event  ↓
1978 Austria Peter Feigl
United States Eric Friedler
United States Mike Fishbach
Netherlands Tom Okker
6-3, 6-7, 6-3
↓  Grand Prix event  ↓
1979 Romania Ilie Năstase
Netherlands Tom Okker
United States Mike Cahill
Australia Colin Dibley
7–5, 6–4
1980 Sweden Per Hjertquist
Israel Steve Krulevitz
United States Eric Fromm
United States Cary Leeds
7–6, 6–3
1981 United States Steve Meister
United States Van Winitsky
United Kingdom John Feaver
United States Steve Krulevitz
3–6, 6–3, 6–3
1982 Not held due to the 1982 Lebanon War
1983 United Kingdom Colin Dowdeswell
Hungary Zoltán Kuhárszky
West Germany Peter Elter
Austria Peter Feigl
6–3, 7–5
1984 Australia Peter Doohan
South Africa Brian Levine
United Kingdom Colin Dowdeswell
Switzerland Jakob Hlasek
6–3, 6–4
1985 United States Brad Gilbert
Romania Ilie Năstase
South Africa Michael Robertson
Romania Florin Segărceanu
6–3, 6–2
1986 United States John Letts
Sweden Peter Lundgren
South Africa Christo Steyn
South Africa Danie Visser
6–3, 3–6, 6–3
1987 Israel Gilad Bloom
Israel Shahar Perkiss
West Germany Wolfgang Popp
Netherlands Huub van Boeckel
6–2, 6–4
1988 The Bahamas Roger Smith
Kenya Paul Wekesa
West Germany Patrick Baur
West Germany Alexander Mronz
6–3, 6–3
1989 United Kingdom Jeremy Bates
West Germany Patrick Baur
Sweden Rikard Bergh
Sweden Per Henricsson
6–1, 4–6, 6–1
↓  ATP World Series event  ↓
1990 Nigeria Nduka Odizor
South Africa Christo van Rensburg
Sweden Ronnie Båthman
Sweden Rikard Bergh
6–3, 6–4
1991 Czechoslovakia David Rikl
Netherlands Michiel Schapers
Argentina Javier Frana
Mexico Leonardo Lavalle
6–2, 6–7, 6–3
1992 United States Mike Bauer
Portugal João Cunha Silva
Netherlands Mark Koevermans
Sweden Tobias Svantesson
6–3, 6–4
1993 Spain Sergio Casal
Spain Emilio Sánchez
United States Mike Bauer
Czech Republic David Rikl
6–4, 6–4
1994 South Africa Lan Bale
South Africa John-Laffnie de Jager
Sweden Jan Apell
Sweden Jonas Björkman
6–7, 6–2, 7–6
1995 United States Jim Grabb
United States Jared Palmer
United States Kent Kinnear
United States David Wheaton
6–4, 7–5
1996 South Africa Marcos Ondruska
South Africa Grant Stafford
Israel Noam Behr
Israel Eyal Erlich
6–3, 6–2
1997 Not held
↓  ATP Challenger Series event  ↓
1998 Czech Republic Radek Štěpánek
Czech Republic Michal Tabara
Israel Noam Okun
Israel Nir Welgreen
7–6, 6–3
1999 Israel Noam Behr
Israel Eyal Ran
Israel Amir Hadad
Australia Andrew Ilie
6–3, 6–2
2000–2021 Not held; return cancelled due to 2014 Gaza War
↓  ATP Tour 250 event  ↓
2022 India Rohan Bopanna
Netherlands Matwé Middelkoop
Mexico Santiago González
Argentina Andrés Molteni
6–2, 6–4
2023 Not held due to Israel–Hamas war

References

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  1. ^ "News | ATP Tour | Tennis".
  2. ^ "2023 Tel Aviv Watergen Open Cancelled | ATP Tour | Tennis". ATP Tour. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
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