The Milan Indoor, also known under various sponsored names, was a men's professional tennis tournament founded in 1973 as the ATP Milano Indoors an indoor carpet court event, that was the successor event the Milano International Indoors (1933-38, 1957-63) an indoor wood court tournament. In 1978 the event was revived as the Milan Indoor and held until 2005 when it was branded as the International of Lombardy or Internazionali di Lombardia. It took placed in Milan, Italy with the exception of three years (1998–2000) when it was held in London, United Kingdom. The event was part of the Grand Prix circuit (1981–89) and ATP Tour (1990–2005) and was played on indoor carpet courts, except for the 2000 edition which was played on an indoor hard court. The most successful singles players were John McEnroe and Boris Becker who both won four titles. Stefan Edberg and Roger Federer won the first singles title of their career at the event.[1] A single female edition of the event was held in 1991, won by Monica Seles. Due to a lack of sponsorship the tournament was replaced on the 2006 ATP Tour by the Zagreb Indoors.[2]

Milan Indoor
Defunct tennis tournament
Event nameMilan (1978–97, 2001–05)
London (1998–2000)
TourATP Tour (1990–2005)
Grand Prix circuit (1981–89)
WCT circuit (1978–80)
Founded1978 (1978)
Abolished2005
Editions28
LocationMilan, Italy (1978–97, 2001–05)
London, UK (1998–2000)
VenuePalazzo dello Sport
PalaLido
Palazzo Trussardi
Assago Forum
Battersea Park
London Arena
SurfaceCarpet (i) (1978–99, 2001–05)
Hard (i) (2000)

History

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The first four editions of the tournament, from 1978 until 1982, were part of the World Championship Tennis Series of tournaments, which during that time was incorporated into the Grand Prix calendar. From 1982 through 1989 the event was part of the Super Series tier of the Grand Prix circuit. Initially the tournament was played at the Palazzo dello Sport, near the San Siro stadium, but in 1985 the PalaLido became the event venue after heavy snowfall in January that year had caused the roof of the Palazzo dello Sport to collapse, forcing it to close. In 1987 the tournament moved again, this time to the newly-build Palazzo Trussardi. From 1990 to 1992, during the first years of the ATP Tour, the tournament was part of the World Series, its lowest tier, but in 1993 it was upgraded to the Championship Series tier. In 1991, the Assago Forum became the host of the event, before it moved back again to the Palatrussardi for the 1996 and 1997 editions.

In 1998 the tournament moved to London, England and was played at Battersea Park before moving to the London Arena in 2000 when it became part of the International Series Gold category. Due to the loss of its main sponsor the tournament moved back to its original host city Milan in 2001 where it was held at the PalaLido until its last edition in 2005.[3] John McEnroe and Boris Becker won the singles title four times and the roll of honor contains 10 Grand Slam tournament winners, including Stefan Edberg and Roger Federer, who both won their first career singles title in Milan.

During its history the tournament was known under various, mostly sponsored, names; WCT Milan, the Cuore Tennis Cup, the Fila Trophy, the Stella Artois Indoor, the Muratti Time Indoors, the Italian Indoors, the Guardian Direct Cup, the AXA Cup, the Breil Milano Indoors, the ATP Indesit Milano Indoors, and the Internazionali di Lombardia.[4]

Past finals

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Roger Federer won his first career title in Milan in 2001, defeating Julien Boutter in the final
 
Boris Becker was the most successful player at the event, reaching five singles finals -winning four- and three doubles finals -winning all three of them-

Singles

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Location Year Champion Runner-up Score
Milan 1978   Björn Borg   Vitas Gerulaitis 6–3, 6–3
1979   John McEnroe   John Alexander 6–4, 6–3
1980   John McEnroe   Vijay Amitraj 6–1, 6–4
1981   John McEnroe   Björn Borg 7–6(7–2), 6–4
1982   Guillermo Vilas   Jimmy Connors 6–3, 6–3
1983   Ivan Lendl   Kevin Curren 5–7, 6–3, 7–6
1984   Stefan Edberg   Mats Wilander 6–4, 6–2
1985   John McEnroe   Anders Järryd 6–4, 6–1
1986   Ivan Lendl   Joakim Nyström 6–2, 6–2, 6–4
1987   Boris Becker   Miloslav Mečíř 6–4, 6–3
1988   Yannick Noah   Jimmy Connors 4–4 retired
1989   Boris Becker   Alexander Volkov 6–1, 6–2
1990   Ivan Lendl   Tim Mayotte 6–3, 6–2
1991   Alexander Volkov   Cristiano Caratti 6–1, 7–5
1992   Omar Camporese   Goran Ivanišević 3–6, 6–3, 6–4
1993   Boris Becker   Sergi Bruguera 6–3, 6–3
1994   Boris Becker   Petr Korda 6–2, 3–6, 6–3
1995   Yevgeny Kafelnikov   Boris Becker 7–5, 5–7, 7–6(8–6)
1996   Goran Ivanišević   Marc Rosset 6–3, 7–6(7–3)
1997   Goran Ivanišević   Sergi Bruguera 6–2, 6–2
London 1998   Yevgeny Kafelnikov   Cédric Pioline 7–5, 6–4
1999   Richard Krajicek   Greg Rusedski 7–6(8–6), 6–7(5–7), 7–5
2000   Marc Rosset   Yevgeny Kafelnikov 6–4, 6–4
Milan 2001   Roger Federer   Julien Boutter 6–4, 6–7(7–9), 6–4
2002   Davide Sanguinetti   Roger Federer 7–6(7–2), 4–6, 6–1
2003   Martin Verkerk   Yevgeny Kafelnikov 6–4, 5–7, 7–5
2004   Antony Dupuis   Mario Ančić 6–4, 6–7(12–14), 7–6(7–5)
2005   Robin Söderling   Radek Štěpánek 6–3, 6–7(2–7), 7–6(7–5)
replaced by Zagreb Indoors

Doubles

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Location Year Champion Runners-up Score
Milan 1978   José Higueras
  Víctor Pecci
  Wojtek Fibak
  Raúl Ramírez
5–7, 7–6, 7–6
1979   Peter Fleming
  John McEnroe
  José Luis Clerc
  Tomáš Šmíd
6–1, 6–3
1980   Peter Fleming
  John McEnroe
  Andrew Pattison
  Butch Walts
6–4, 6–3
1981   Brian Gottfried
  Raúl Ramírez
  John McEnroe
  Peter Rennert
7–6, 6–3
1982   Heinz Günthardt
  Peter McNamara
  Mark Edmondson
  Sherwood Stewart
7–6, 7–6
1983   Tomáš Šmíd
  Pavel Složil
  Fritz Buehning
  Peter Fleming
6–2, 5–7, 6–4
1984   Tomáš Šmíd
  Pavel Složil
  Kevin Curren
  Steve Denton
6–4, 6–3
1985   Heinz Günthardt
  Anders Järryd
  Broderick Dyke
  Wally Masur
6–2, 6–1
1986   Colin Dowdeswell
  Christo Steyn
  Brian Levine
  Laurie Warder
6–3, 4–6, 6–1
1987   Boris Becker
  Slobodan Živojinović
  Sergio Casal
  Emilio Sánchez
3–6, 6–3, 6–4
1988   Boris Becker
  Eric Jelen
  Miloslav Mečíř
  Tomáš Šmíd
6–3, 6–3
1989   Jakob Hlasek
  John McEnroe
  Balázs Taróczy
  Heinz Günthardt
6–3, 6–4
1990   Omar Camporese
  Diego Nargiso
  Tom Nijssen
  Udo Riglewski
6–4, 6–4
1991   Omar Camporese
  Goran Ivanišević
  Tom Nijssen
  Cyril Suk
6–4, 7–6
1992   Neil Broad
  David Macpherson
  Sergio Casal
  Emilio Sánchez
5–7, 7–5, 6–4
1993   Mark Kratzmann
  Wally Masur
  Tom Nijssen
  Cyril Suk
4–6, 6–3, 6–4
1994   Tom Nijssen
  Cyril Suk
  Hendrik Jan Davids
  Piet Norval
4–6, 7–6, 7–6
1995   Boris Becker
  Guy Forget
  Petr Korda
  Karel Nováček
6–2, 6–4
1996   Andrea Gaudenzi
  Goran Ivanišević
  Guy Forget
  Jakob Hlasek
6–4, 7–5
1997   Pablo Albano
  Peter Nyborg
  David Adams
  Andrei Olhovskiy
6–4, 7–6
London 1998   Martin Damm
  Jim Grabb
  Yevgeny Kafelnikov
  Daniel Vacek
6–4, 7–5
1999   Tim Henman
  Greg Rusedski
  Byron Black
  Wayne Ferreira
6–3, 7–6(8–6)
2000   David Adams
  John-Laffnie de Jager
  Jan-Michael Gambill
  Scott Humphries
6–3, 6–7(7–9), 7–6(13–11)
Milan 2001   Paul Haarhuis
  Sjeng Schalken
  Johan Landsberg
  Tom Vanhoudt
7–6(7–5), 7–6(7–4)
2002   Karsten Braasch
  Andrei Olhovskiy
  Julien Boutter
  Max Mirnyi
3–6, 7–6(7–5), [12–10]
2003   Petr Luxa
  Radek Štěpánek
  Tomáš Cibulec
  Pavel Vízner
6–4, 7–6(7–4)
2004   Jared Palmer
  Pavel Vízner
  Daniele Bracciali
  Giorgio Galimberti
6–4, 6–4
2005   Daniele Bracciali
  Giorgio Galimberti
  Arnaud Clément
  Jean-François Bachelot
6–7(8–10), 7–6(8–6), 6–4

Women

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Singles

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Location Year Champion Runner-up Score
Milan 1991   Monica Seles   Martina Navratilova 6–3, 3–6, 6–4

Doubles

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Location Year Champion Runners-up Score
Milan 1991   Sandy Collins
  Lori McNeil
  Sabine Appelmans
  Raffaella Reggi
7–6(7–0), 6–3

Event names

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Official
  • ATP Milano Indoors (1973)
  • Milan Indoor (1978-1984)
  • Italian Indoor (1985)
  • Milan Indoor (1986-1989)
  • Italian Indoor (1990)
  • Milan Indoor (1991-1995)
  • Italian Indoors (1996-1997)
  • London Indoor (1998-2000)
  • Milan Indoor (2001-2002)
  • Milano Indoor (2003)
  • ATP Milan Indoor (2004)
  • International of Lombardy (2005)
Sponsored
  • Ramazzotti Cup (1979-1980)
  • Cuore Cup (1981)
  • Fila Trophy Italian Indoor (1985)
  • Fila Trophy Milan (1987)
  • Stella Artois Milan Indoor (1988)
  • Stella Artois Italian Indoor (1990)
  • Muratti Time Indoor (1991-1995)
  • Guardian Direct Cup (1998-1999)
  • AXA Cup (2000)
  • Breil Milano Indoor (2003)
  • Indesit ATP Milan Indoor (2004)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Remo Borgatti (18 February 2016). "Tornei scomparsi. Stelle senza polvere all'indoor di Milano". Ubitennis (in Italian).
  2. ^ Christian Turba (16 February 2012). "Milano, quanto ci manchi!". Ubitennis (in Italian).
  3. ^ John Roberts (17 October 2000). "London loses ATP Tour event to Milan". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-14.
  4. ^ "Battersea power showtime". Independent. 22 February 1998. Archived from the original on 2022-05-14.