| Virginia Slims of Houston | |
|---|---|
| Defunct tennis tournament | |
| Event name | Virginia Slims of Houston (1970–78, 1983–94) Avon Championships of Houston (1979–82) Gallery Furniture Championships (1995) |
| Tour | WTA Tour (1970–95) |
| Founded | 1970 |
| Abolished | 1995 |
| Surface | Carpet (1970–84) Clay (1985–95) |
The Virginia Slims of Houston is a defunct WTA Tour affiliated tennis tournament played from 1970 to 1995. It was held in Houston, Texas in the United States and played on indoor carpet courts from 1970 to 1984 and on outdoor clay courts from 1985 to 1995.
The event has the distinction of being the first-ever tournament on the professional women's circuit, which would eventually become the WTA Tour. In 1971, the event served as the series Championships of the inaugural Virginia Slims Tour.
Martina Navratilova was the most successful player at the tournament, winning the singles and doubles competitions six times each, partnering Dutchwomen Betty Stöve and Manon Bollegraf and Americans Janet Newberry, Pam Shriver, Elise Burgin and Kathy Jordan once each for her doubles successes.
The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women's professional tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women and was founded to create a better future for women's tennis. The WTA's corporate headquarters is in St. Petersburg, Florida, with its European headquarters in London and its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Beijing.
The WTA Finals is the season-ending championship of the WTA Tour. It is the most significant tennis event in the women's annual calendar after the four majors, as it features the top eight singles players and top eight doubles teams based on their results throughout the season.
Kerry Melville Reid is a former professional tennis player from Australia. During her 17-year career, Reid won one Grand Slam singles title and 26 other singles titles and was the runner-up in 40 singles tournaments. Reid was included in the year-end world top-ten rankings for 12 consecutive years (1968–1979). She won at least one tournament annually from 1966 through 1979, except for 1975. Her career-high ranking was world No. 5 in 1971, behind Margaret Court, Billie Jean King, Evonne Goolagong, and Rosie Casals.
Françoise Dürr is a retired French tennis player. She won 50 singles titles and over 60 doubles titles.
The Ameritech Cup is a defunct WTA Tour affiliated tennis tournament held every year from 1971 until 1997 in Chicago, Illinois in the United States. Its sponsors were Virginia Slims from 1971 to 1978 and again from 1983 to 1994, Avon from 1979 to 1982 and Ameritech from 1995 to 1997. The tournament was classified as Tier III in 1988-1989, Tier I in 1990 and Tier II until 1997, and was played on indoor carpet courts.
The 1988 WTA Tour was the 16th elite tour for professional women's tennis of the Women's International Tennis Association (WITA) for the 1988 season. The 1988 WTA Tour included the four Grand Slam tournaments, the WITA Tour Championships and the WTA Category 1-5 events. ITF tournaments were not part of the WTA Tour, although they award points for the WTA World Ranking.
The Virginia Slims Circuit was a tennis tour consisting of a group of originally nine female professional players. Formed in 1970, the Virginia Slims Circuit eventually became the basis for the later WTA Tour. The players, dubbed the Original 9, rebelled against the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) because of the wide inequality between the amount of prize money paid to male tennis players and to female tennis players.
The 1985 Virginia Slims World Championship Series was the 13th season since the foundation of the Women's Tennis Association. It commenced in March 1985, and concluded in March 1986 after 52 events.
The Virginia Slims of Dallas inaugurated as the Maureen Connolly Memorial was a defunct WTA Tour affiliated women's tennis tournament From 1979 through 1982 the event was known as the Avon Championships of Dallas. It was played from 1970 to 1989 and was held in Dallas, Texas in the United States and played on indoor carpet courts.
The 1983 Virginia Slims World Championship Series was the 11th season since the foundation of the Women's Tennis Association. It commenced on January 3, 1983, and concluded on March 4, 1984, after 64 events.
The Taipei Women's Championships is a defunct WTA Tour-affiliated women's tennis tournament played from 1986 to 1989 and from 1992 to 1994. It was held in Taipei, Taiwan and played on indoor carpet courts from 1986 to 1988, and on outdoor hard courts in 1989 and from 1992 to 1994. The 1980s tours were sponsored partly by Virginia Slims, and the 1990s events were sponsored by Kraft Foods and Procter & Gamble, the latter of which were named P&G Taiwan Women's Open or Taiwan Open in short. Anne Minter and Shi-Ting Wang were the most successful players at the tournament, each winning the singles competition twice.
The Virginia Slims of Detroit is a defunct WTA Tour affiliated tennis tournament played from 1971 to 1983. It was held in Birmingham, Michigan in the United States in 1972 and in Detroit, Michigan in the United States from 1973 to 1983. The tournament was played on indoor carpet courts.
The 1986 Virginia Slims World Championship Series was the 14th season since the foundation of the Women's Tennis Association. It commenced on March 24, 1986, and concluded in December, 1986 after 41 events. The season was abbreviated in order to return the tour to a calendar year basis.
The 1987 Virginia Slims World Championship Series was the 15th season of the tennis circuit since the foundation of the Women's Tennis Association. It commenced in January 1987, and concluded in December 1987 after events.
The 1970 Houston Women's Invitation was a women's only tennis tournament. The tournament was the first women only tournament and was created by Gladys Heldman and held at the Houston Racquet Club.
The 1971 ILTF Women's Tennis Circuit was the 58th season since the formation of the International Lawn Tennis Federation in 1913, it consisted of a number of tennis tournaments for female tennis players.
The 1973 WTA Tour was also the first season of the WTA Tour was officially formed by Billie Jean King following a meeting held in the Gloucester Hotel in London during the week before Wimbledon. It was composed of the third annual Virginia Slims Circuit a tour of tennis tournaments for female tennis players, sponsored by Virginia Slims cigarettes. and the ILTF Commercial Union Assurance Grand Prix, a circuit of tournaments sponsored by Commercial Union Assurance Company.
The 1974 WTA Tour was composed of the fourth annual Virginia Slims Circuit and Women's International Grand Prix, a tour of tennis tournaments for female tennis players, sponsored by Virginia Slims cigarettes. The WTA signed their first television broadcast contract in 1974, with the broadcasting network CBS with Brent Musburger announcing.
The 1975 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 and the Woman's International Grand Prix. The year 1975 also saw the creation of the first official ranking system and these rankings were used to determine acceptance into the tournaments.
The 1990 Virginia Slims of Houston was a women's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts at the Westside Tennis Club in Houston, Texas in the United States that was part of the Tier III category of the 1990 WTA Tour. It was the 20th edition of the tournament and was held from March 27 through April 1, 1990. Fourth-seeded Katerina Maleeva won the singles title and earned won $45,000 first-prize money.
