1976 WTA Tour

1976 WTA Tour
	Chris Evert finished the year as world No. 1 for the second time in her career. She won twelve singles tournaments during the season, including two majors at the Wimbledon Championships and the US Open.
Details
Duration	26 December 1975–2 December 1976
Edition	4th
Tournaments	38
Categories	Grand Slam (4); Virginia Slims championships; Virginia Slims Circuit (10); Women's International Grand Prix (10); Non-tour events (12)
Achievements (singles)
Most titles	Chris Evert (12)
Most finals	Chris Evert (16)
Prize money ; leader	Chris Evert ($343,165)
Points leader	Chris Evert (16.990)
	← 1975 1977 →

Last updated March 03, 2025

The 1976 WTA Tour consisted of a number of tennis tournaments for female tennis players. It was composed of the newly streamlined version of the Virginia Slims Circuit, was now an 11-week tour of the United States, and the Woman's International Grand Prix. The 1976 tour was the first full season using the official ranking system and these rankings were used to determine acceptance into the tournaments.^[1]^[2]

Schedule

This is a calendar of all events which were part of either the Virginia Slims circuit or the Women's International Grand Prix in the year 1976, with player progression documented from the quarterfinals stage. Also included are the Grand Slam tournaments, the 1976 Virginia Slims Championships, the 1976 Federation Cup and a number of events not affiliated with either tour.^[1]

Key

Grand Slam tournaments
Virginia Slims Championships
Virginia Slims Circuit
Women's International Grand Prix
Non-tour events
Team events

January

Week	Tournament	Champions	Runners-up	Semifinalists	Quarterfinalists
26 Dec	Australian Open Melbourne, Australia Grand Slam Grass – 56S/24D Singles – Doubles	Evonne Goolagong Cawley 6–3, 6–2	Renáta Tomanová	Helen Gourlay Cawley Elisabeth Ekblom	Lesley Bowrey Heidi Eisterlehner Helga Masthoff Christine Matison
26 Dec		Evonne Goolagong Cawley Helen Gourlay Cawley 8–1	Lesley Turner Bowrey Renáta Tomanová	Helen Gourlay Cawley Elisabeth Ekblom
12 Jan	Virginia Slims of Houston Houston, United States Virginia Slims Carpet (i) – $75,000 – 32S/12D	Martina Navratilova 6–3, 6–4	Chris Evert	Rosie Casals Nancy Gunter	Sue Barker Olga Morozova Marcie Louie Renáta Tomanová
12 Jan		Françoise Dürr Rosie Casals 6–0, 7–5	Martina Navratilova Chris Evert	Rosie Casals Nancy Gunter	Sue Barker Olga Morozova Marcie Louie Renáta Tomanová
19 Jan	Virginia Slims of Washington Washington, United States Virginia Slims Carpet (i) – $75,000 – 32S/8D	Chris Evert 6–2, 6–1	Virginia Wade	Sue Barker Terry Holladay	Mima Jaušovec Olga Morozova Lesley Hunt Natasha Chmyreva
19 Jan		Olga Morozova Virginia Wade 7–6, 6–2	Wendy Overton Mona Guerrant	Sue Barker Terry Holladay	Mima Jaušovec Olga Morozova Lesley Hunt Natasha Chmyreva
26 Jan	Virginia Slims of Chicago Chicago, United States Virginia Slims Carpet (i) – $75,000 – 32S/10D	Evonne Goolagong Cawley 3–6, 6–4, 6–2	Virginia Wade	Martina Navratilova Nancy Gunter	Cynthia Doerner Olga Morozova Natasha Chmyreva Wendy Overton
26 Jan		Olga Morozova Virginia Wade 6–7^(4–5), 6–4, 6–4	Evonne Goolagong Cawley Martina Navratilova	Martina Navratilova Nancy Gunter

February

Week	Tournament	Champions	Runners-up	Semifinalists	Quarterfinalists
3 Feb	Virginia Slims of Akron Akron, United States Virginia Slims Carpet (i) – $75,000 – 32S	Evonne Goolagong Cawley 6–2, 3–6, 6–2	Virginia Wade	Rosie Casals Olga Morozova	Iris Riedel Nancy Gunter Mima Jaušovec Sue Barker
3 Feb		Brigitte Cuypers Mona Guerrant 6–4, 7–6^(5–4)	Glynis Coles Florența Mihai	Rosie Casals Olga Morozova	Iris Riedel Nancy Gunter Mima Jaušovec Sue Barker
17 Feb	Virginia Slims of Detroit Detroit, United States Virginia Slims Carpet (i) – $75,000 – 32S	Chris Evert 6–4, 6–2	Rosie Casals	Terry Holladay Marita Redondo	Elly Appel-Vessies Marcie Louie Betty Stöve Ann Kiyomura
17 Feb		Mona Guerrant Ann Kiyomura 6–3, 6–4	Chris Evert Betty Stöve	Terry Holladay Marita Redondo	Elly Appel-Vessies Marcie Louie Betty Stöve Ann Kiyomura
24 Feb	Virginia Slims of Sarasota Sarasota, United States Virginia Slims Carpet (i) – $75,000 – 32S	Chris Evert 6–3, 6–0	Evonne Goolagong Cawley	Martina Navratilova Rosie Casals	Carrie Meyer Mona Guerrant Mima Jaušovec Lesley Hunt
24 Feb		Martina Navratilova Betty Stöve 6–1, 6–0	Mona Guerrant Ann Kiyomura	Martina Navratilova Rosie Casals	Carrie Meyer Mona Guerrant Mima Jaušovec Lesley Hunt

March

Week	Tournament	Champions	Runners-up	Semifinalists	Quarterfinalists
1 Mar	Virginia Slims of San Francisco San Francisco, United States Virginia Slims Carpet (i) – $75,000 – 32S/8D	Chris Evert 7–5, 7–6^(5–2)	Evonne Goolagong Cawley	Terry Holladay Marita Redondo	Rosie Casals Martina Navratilova Virginia Wade Nancy Gunter
1 Mar		Billie Jean King Betty Stöve 6–4, 6–1	Rosie Casals Françoise Dürr	Terry Holladay Marita Redondo	Rosie Casals Martina Navratilova Virginia Wade Nancy Gunter
15 Mar	Virginia Slims of Dallas Dallas, United States Virginia Slims Carpet (i) – $75,000 – 32S/10D	Evonne Goolagong Cawley 6–1, 6–1	Martina Navratilova	Kerry Reid Marita Redondo	Greer Stevens Betty Stöve Carrie Meyer Natasha Chmyreva
15 Mar		Mona Guerrant Ann Kiyomura 6–3, 4–6, 6–4	Greer Stevens Marita Redondo	Kerry Reid Marita Redondo	Greer Stevens Betty Stöve Carrie Meyer Natasha Chmyreva
22 Mar	Virginia Slims of Boston Boston, United States Virginia Slims Carpet (i) – $75,000 – 32S/12D	Evonne Goolagong Cawley 6–2, 6–0	Virginia Wade	Rosie Casals Dianne Fromholtz	Kerry Reid Lesley Hunt Natasha Chmyreva Mima Jaušovec
22 Mar		Mona Guerrant Ann Kiyomura 3–6, 6–1, 7–5	Rosie Casals Françoise Dürr	Rosie Casals Dianne Fromholtz	Kerry Reid Lesley Hunt Natasha Chmyreva Mima Jaušovec
29 Mar	Virginia Slims of Philadelphia Philadelphia, United States Virginia Slims Carpet (i) – $75,000 – 32S/11D	Evonne Goolagong Cawley 6–3, 7–6^(5–3)	Chris Evert	Virginia Wade Sue Barker	Dianne Fromholtz Olga Morozova Kerry Reid Rosie Casals
29 Mar		Billie Jean King Betty Stöve 7–6^(5–4), 6–4	Rosie Casals Françoise Dürr	Virginia Wade Sue Barker	Dianne Fromholtz Olga Morozova Kerry Reid Rosie Casals

April

Week	Tournament	Champions	Runners-up	Semifinalists	Quarterfinalists
12 April	Virginia Slims Championships Los Angeles, United States Year-end championships Carpet (i) – $150,000 – 16S (8RR)	Evonne Goolagong Cawley 6–3, 5–7, 6–3	Chris Evert	Rosie Casals (3rd) Martina Navratilova (4th)	Sue Barker (5th) Marita Redondo (6th) Virginia Wade (7th) Françoise Dürr (8th)
	Monte Carlo Open Monte Carlo, Monaco Non-tour event Clay	Helga Masthoff 6–4, 6–2	Fiorella Bonicelli
	Monte Carlo Open Monte Carlo, Monaco Non-tour event Clay	Katja Ebbinghaus Helga Masthoff 6–3, 7–5	Rosie Darmon Gail Sherriff Chanfreau
19 April	Bridgestone Doubles Championships Osaka & Tokyo, Japan Women's International Grand Prix $100,000 – Carpet (i) – 7D	Billie Jean King Betty Stöve 6–3, 6–2	Mona Guerrant Ann Kiyomura	Evert / Navrátilová Morozova / Wade	/ Coles / Mihai Sieler / Hunt Casals / Dürr
26 April	Family Circle Cup Amelia Island, United States Women's International Grand Prix Clay – $110,000 – 32S/16D	Chris Evert 6–2, 6–2	Kerry Reid	Mary Struthers Sue Barker	Betty Stöve Lesley Hunt Ilana Kloss Nancy Gunter
26 April		Linky Boshoff Ilana Kloss 6–3, 6–2	Kathy Kuykendall Valerie Ziegenfuss	Mary Struthers Sue Barker	Betty Stöve Lesley Hunt Ilana Kloss Nancy Gunter

May

Week	Tournament	Champions	Runners-up	Semifinalists	Quarterfinalists
10 May	Coca-Cola British Hard Court Championships Bournemouth, Great Britain Non-tour event Clay	Helga Niessen Masthoff 5–7, 6–3, 6–3	Sue Barker	Gail Lovera Linky Boshoff	Linda Mottram Belinda Thompson Glynis Coles Wendy Turnbull
10 May		Linky Boshoff Ilana Kloss 6–3, 6–2	Lesley Charles Sue Mappin	Gail Lovera Linky Boshoff	Linda Mottram Belinda Thompson Glynis Coles Wendy Turnbull
17 May	German Open Hamburg, West Germany Women's International Grand Prix Clay – $30,000	Sue Barker 6–3, 6–1	Renáta Tomanová	Virginia Ruzici Mima Jaušovec	Iris Riedel Helga Niessen Masthoff Glynis Coles Regina Maršíková
17 May		Linky Boshoff Ilana Kloss 4–6, 7–5, 6–1	Laura duPont Wendy Turnbull	Virginia Ruzici Mima Jaušovec
24 May	Italian Open Rome, Italy Women's International Grand Prix Clay – $30,000	Mima Jaušovec 6–1, 6–3	Lesley Hunt	Regina Maršíková Florența Mihai	Sue Barker Linky Boshoff Gail Lovera Beth Norton
24 May		Linky Boshoff Ilana Kloss 6–1, 6–2	Virginia Ruzici Mariana Simionescu	Regina Maršíková Florența Mihai	Sue Barker Linky Boshoff Gail Lovera Beth Norton
31 May 7 June	French Open Paris, France Grand Slam Clay (red) – 64S/22D/24X Singles – Doubles – Mixed doubles	Sue Barker 6–2, 0–6, 6–2	Renáta Tomanová	Florența Mihai Virginia Ruzici	Helga Niessen Masthoff Kathy Kuykendall Miloslava Holubová Regina Maršíková
		Fiorella Bonicelli Gail Lovera 6–3, 6–2	Kathleen Harter Helga Niessen Masthoff
		Ilana Kloss Kim Warwick 5–7, 7–6, 6–2	Linky Boshoff Colin Dowdeswell

June

Week	Tournament	Champions	Runners-up	Semifinalists	Quarterfinalists
14 Jun	Colgate International Eastbourne, Great Britain Women's International Grand Prix Grass – $25,000	Chris Evert 8–6, 6–3	Virginia Wade	Olga Morozova Martina Navratilova	Betty Stöve Rosie Casals Betsy Nagelsen Mona Guerrant
14 Jun		Chris Evert / Martina Navratilova vs Olga Morozova / Virginia Wade 6–1, 1–1 not finished due to rain		Olga Morozova Martina Navratilova	Betty Stöve Rosie Casals Betsy Nagelsen Mona Guerrant
21 Jun 28 Jun	Wimbledon Championships London, Great Britain Grand Slam Grass – 96S/48D/64X Singles – Doubles – Mixed doubles	Chris Evert 6–3, 4–6, 8–6	Evonne Goolagong Cawley	Martina Navratilova Virginia Wade	Olga Morozova Sue Barker Kerry Reid Rosie Casals
		Chris Evert Martina Navratilova 6–1, 3–6, 7–5	Billie Jean King Betty Stöve
		Françoise Dürr Tony Roche 6–3, 2–6, 7–5	Rosie Casals Dick Stockton

July

Week	Tournament	Champions	Runners-up
5 Jul	Swiss Open Gstaad, Switzerland Non-tour event Clay	Michele Gurdal 4-6, 6–2, 6–3	Gail Chanfreau
	Swiss Open Gstaad, Switzerland Non-tour event Clay	Betsy Nagelsen Wendy Turnbull 6–4, 6–4	Brigitte Cuypers Annette DuPlooy
	Swedish Open Båstad, Sweden Non-tour event Clay	Renáta Tomanová 6–3, 6–2	Helena Anliot
	Swedish Open Båstad, Sweden Non-tour event Clay	Isabel Fernández de Soto Mimmi Wikstedt 6–1, 7–6	Lesley Hunt Renáta Tomanová
12 Jul	Head Open Kitzbühel, Austria Non-tour event Clay	Wendy Turnbull 6–4, 5–7, 6–2	Virginia Ruzici
12 Jul	Head Open Kitzbühel, Austria Non-tour event Clay	Helena Anliot Mimmi Wikstedt 6–4, 2–6, 7–5	Katja Ebbinghaus Heidi Eisterlehner

August

Week	Tournament	Champions	Runners-up	Semifinalists	Quarterfinalists
9 Aug	US Clay Court Championships Indianapolis, United States Women's International Grand Prix Clay – $35,000	Kathy May 6–4, 4–6, 6–2	Brigitte Cuypers	Fiorella Bonicelli Helga Niessen Masthoff	Lesley Hunt Laura duPont Mary Struthers Linky Boshoff
9 Aug		Fiorella Bonicelli Isabel Fernández de Soto 3–6, 7–5, 6–3	Gail Chanfreau Julie Heldman	Fiorella Bonicelli Helga Niessen Masthoff	Lesley Hunt Laura duPont Mary Struthers Linky Boshoff
16 Aug	Rothmans Canadian Open Toronto, Canada Women's International Grand Prix Clay – $35,000	Mima Jaušovec 6–2, 6–0	Lesley Hunt	Virginia Ruzici Cynthia Doerner	Sue Barker Kathy May Regina Maršíková Laura duPont
		Cynthia Doerner Janet Newberry 6–7, 6–3, 6–1	Sue Barker Pam Teeguarden	Virginia Ruzici Cynthia Doerner	Sue Barker Kathy May Regina Maršíková Laura duPont
	WTA Westchester Invitational Harrison, United States Non-tour event Clay	Beth Norton 1–6, 7–5, 6–3	Ruta Gerulaitis	Janet Newberry Mary Carillo	Laura duPont Janice Metcalf Cecilia Martinez Wendy Overton
23 Aug	Federation Cup Philadelphia, United States Federation Cup Carpet (i) – 31 teams knockout	United States 2–1	Australia	Netherlands Great Britain	Switzerland Denmark South Africa West Germany
23 Aug	Tennis Week Open Orange, United States Non-tour event Clay	Marise Kruger 6–3, 6–2	Lea Antonoplis	Florence Guédy Renée Richards	Linda Thomas Susan Mehmedbasich Carrie Meyer Kathy Harter
30 Aug 6 Sep	US Open New York City, United States Grand Slam Clay – 64S/32D/32X Singles – Doubles – Mixed doubles	Chris Evert 6–3, 6–0	Evonne Goolagong Cawley	Mima Jaušovec Dianne Fromholtz	Natasha Chmyreva Virginia Ruzici Zenda Liess Rosie Casals
		Linky Boshoff Ilana Kloss 6–1, 6–4	Olga Morozova Virginia Wade
		Billie Jean King Phil Dent 3–6, 6–2, 7–5	Betty Stöve Frew McMillan

September

Week	Tournament	Champions	Runners-up	Semifinalists	Quarterfinalists
13 Sep	US Indoor Championships Atlanta, United States Women's International Grand Prix Carpet (i) – $75,000	Virginia Wade 5–7, 7–5, 7–5	Betty Stöve	Dianne Fromholtz Wendy Turnbull	Winnie Shaw Marise Kruger Brigitte Cuypers JoAnne Russell
13 Sep		Rosie Casals Françoise Dürr 6–0, 6–4	Betty Stöve Virginia Wade	Dianne Fromholtz Wendy Turnbull	Winnie Shaw Marise Kruger Brigitte Cuypers JoAnne Russell
27 Sep	Toray Sillook Open Tokyo, Japan Non-tour event Carpet (i) – $50,000	Betty Stöve 1–6, 6–4, 6–3	Margaret Court	Valerie Ziegenfuss (3rd) Lesley Hunt (4th)	Betsy Nagelsen Rayni Fox Virginia Wade Marita Redondo

October

Week	Tournament	Champions	Runners-up	Semifinalists	Quarterfinalists
4 Oct	Thunderbird Classic Phoenix, United States Women's International Grand Prix Hard – $60,000	Chris Evert 6–1, 7–5	Dianne Fromholtz	Betty Stöve Martina Navratilova	Terry Holladay JoAnne Russell Billie Jean King Mona Guerrant
4 Oct		Billie Jean King Betty Stöve 6–2, 6–1	Linky Boshoff Ilana Kloss	Betty Stöve Martina Navratilova
11 Oct	World Invitational Tennis Classic Hilton Head Island, United States Non-tour event Clay	Evonne Goolagong Cawley 6–3, 6–4	Virginia Wade
11 Oct		Sue Barker Evonne Goolagong Cawley 6–4, 4–6, 6–3	Martina Navratilova Virginia Wade

November

Week	Tournament	Champions	Runners-up	Semifinalists	Quarterfinalists
1 Nov	Japan Open Tokyo, Japan Non-tour event Clay	Wendy Turnbull 6–1, 6–1	Michele Gurdal
1 Nov	Wightman Cup Crystal Palace, London, Great Britain Hard (i) Team event	United States 5–2	Great Britain
25 Nov	Gunze World Tennis Tokyo & Kobe, Japan Non-tour event Hard (i) – $100,000	Chris Evert 6–2, 7–6^(7–4)	Sue Barker	Rosie Casals Martina Navratilova	Renáta Tomanová Françoise Dürr Ann Kiyomura Jeanne Evert
25 Nov		Sue Barker Ann Kiyomura 4–6, 6–3, 6–1	Rosie Casals Françoise Dürr	Rosie Casals Martina Navratilova	Renáta Tomanová Françoise Dürr Ann Kiyomura Jeanne Evert

Rankings

Below are the 1976 WTA year-end rankings (December 31, 1976) Singles competition:

Singles Year-end Ranking^[3]
No	Player Name	Points	1975	Change
1	Chris Evert (USA)	16.990	1	=
2	Evonne Goolagong Cawley (AUS)	16.326	5	+3
3	Virginia Wade (GBR)	10.933	2	-1
4	Martina Navratilova (USA)	10.272	3	-1
5	Dianne Fromholtz (AUS)	8.012	20	+15
6	Rosie Casals (USA)	7.644	12	+6
7	Betty Stöve (NED)	7.158	22	+15
8	Kerry Melville (AUS)	7.064	10	+2
9	Olga Morozova (USSR)	6.523	7	-2
10	Sue Barker (GBR)	6.480	19	+9
11	Mima Jaušovec (YUG)	5.702	40	+29
12	Nancy Gunter (USA)	5.525	8	-4
13	Terry Holladay (USA)	4.132	26	+13
14	Natasha Chmyreva (USSR)	5.066	21	+7
15	Françoise Dürr (FRA)	4.639	9	-6
16	Marita Redondo (USA)	4.603	60	+44
17	Greer Stevens (RSA)	4.522	48	+31
18	JoAnne Russell (USA)	4.493	35	+17
19	Kathy May (USA)	4.277	57	+38
20	Mona Guerrant (USA)	4.236	NR	NR

References

1 2 "WTA Tour Finals" (PDF). www.wtatennis.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-02-01. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
↑ "About the WTA". www.wtatennis.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-20. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
↑ "Women's International Computerized Rankings" (PDF). Women's Tennis Association (WTA). 5 December 1976.

External links

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[WTACalendar1976-1] 1 2 "WTA Tour Finals" (PDF). www.wtatennis.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-02-01. Retrieved 2012-07-14.

[2] "About the WTA". www.wtatennis.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-20. Retrieved 2012-07-14.

[3] "Women's International Computerized Rankings" (PDF). Women's Tennis Association (WTA). 5 December 1976.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e 1976 WTA Tour « 1975 1977 »
Grand Slam events	Australian Open (S, D) French Open (S, D, X) Wimbledon (S, D, X) US Open (S, D, X)
Virginia Slims Circuit	Houston (S, D) Washington (S, D) Chicago (S, D) Akron (S, D) Detroit (S, D) Sarasota (S, D) San Francisco (S, D) Dallas (S, D) Boston (S, D) Philadelphia (S, D)
Women's International Grand Prix	Sydney 1 (S, D) Melbourne (S, D) Sydney 2 (S, D) Amelia Island (S, D) Bournemouth (S, D) Hamburg (S, D) Rome (S, D) Eastbourne (S, D) Båstad (S, D) Indianapolis (S, D) Toronto (S, D) Charlotte (S, D) Tokyo 1 (S, D) Palm Harbor (S, D) Atlanta (S, D) Phoenix (S, D)
Colgate International Series	London (S, D) Palm Springs (S, D) Johannesburg (S, D)
Team events	Fed Cup Wightman Cup
Virginia Slims Championships (S, D) Bridgestone Doubles Championships (D) WTA Championships (S, D)

v t e Women's tennis seasons
Seasons (1881-1912) ILTF (1913-72)	1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972
ILTF Independent Circuit	1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
ILTF Grand Prix Circuit	1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976
Virginia Slims Circuit	1971 1972 1973 1974 1975
Virginia Slims/Colgate Series	1976 1977 1978
Avon/Colgate Series	1979 1980
Avon/Toyota Series	1981 1982
Virginia Slims World Championship Series	1983 1984 1985 1986 1987
WTA Tour	1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025