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The Natal Sugar Open Championships was a men's and women's international tennis tournament founded in 1962 in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa as the Natal Sugar Championships. Its sponsorship name was the Hulett Natal Sugar Open Championships the tournament ended in 1981.

History

The Natal Championships were founded in 1884 and first staged Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. In 1962 the Natal Sugar Championships were founded as part of the Sugar Circuit (f. 1962) of tennis tournaments from the 1960s to 1980s. In 1962 and 1972 only men's tournament was also valid as the Natal Championships.

In 1980 the tournament was ended due to the withdraw of sponsorship by South African Sugar Association. The event was staged at Umhlali during the final four years of the women's event. In later years the tournament had switched to hard courts. The event was usually run between the middle two weeks of July each year.

Finals

Men's singles

(Incomplete roll)

Natal Sugar Championships
1962	Mike Sangster	Gaetan Koenig	6-4, 6-3, 6-1
1963	Wilhelm Bungert	Abe Segal	Title shared due to rain.
Open era
Natal Sugar Open Championships
1970	Keith Diepraam	Graham Stilwell	6-4, 6-4, 6-4
1971	Manuel Santana	Jan Leschly	6-4, 6-3, 6-1
1972	Jürgen Fassbender	Juan Gisbert	6-3, 6-4, 6-2
1974	Raz Reid	Deon Joubert	6-2, 6-1

Women's singles

(Incomplete roll)

Natal Sugar Championships
1962	Ann Haydon	Annette Van Zyl	6-2, 6-0
1963	Margaret Hunt	Renée Schuurman	7-5, 4-6, 6-3
1964	Darlene Hard	Annette Van Zyl	6-1, 6-2
1965	Ingrid Frohling	Heather Segal	1-6, 6-0, 6-4
1966	Annette Van Zyl	Ann Haydon Jones	4-6, 6-3, 6-4
1967	Pat Walkden	Virginia Wade	6-2, 9-7
1968	Annette Van Zyl	Carole Caldwell Graebner	6-1, 6-1
Open era
Natal Sugar Open Championships
1969	Billie Jean Moffitt King	Annette Du Plooy	6-4, 6-1
1970	Billie Jean Moffitt King (2)	Margaret Smith Court	6-4, 2-6, 6-2
1971	Margaret Smith Court	Patti Hogan	6-2, 6-1
1972	Brenda Kirk	Pat Walkden Pretorius	6-3, 6-3
1973	Sharon Walsh	Pat Walkden Pretorius	0-6, 6-3, 6-4
1974	Sharon Walsh (2)	Brenda Kirk	6-2, 6-1
1975	Linky Boshoff	Greer Stevens	0-6, 6-0, 6-4
1976	Brenda Kirk Dimitriou (2)	Alison McMillan	6-1, 6-2
1977	Elizabeth Vlotman	Alison McMillan McDade	6-3, 6-2
1978	Alison McMillan McDade	Elizabeth Vlotman	7-5, 6-2
1979	Elizabeth Vlotman (2)	Alison McMillan McDade	7-5, 6-2
1980	Elvyn Barrable	Ms Muller	3-6, 6-4, 6-4
1981	Rene Uys	Beverly Mould	3-6, 6-1, 6-2

References

1. "The South African Sugar Year Book". South Sugar Journal. 53. Mount Edgecombe, South Africa: South African sugar journal.: 26 1982.
2. "TENNIS". Belfast Telegraph. Antrim, Northern Ireland: British Newspaper Archive. 17 January 1962. p. 13. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
3. "The History of KZN Tennis". KZN Tennis Association. p. 1. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
4. Robertson (1974)
5. Belfast Telegraph (1962)
6. Dewey, Glen (1980). THE LAST SUGAR TENNIS CIRCUIT END OF AN ERA By Glen Dewey (South African Sugar Association). The South African Sugar Journal. Vol 64. Mount Edgecombe, South Africa. p.10.
7. South African Sugar Journal (1980)
8. "South African Sugar Industry". SASA. The South African Sugar Association. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
9. "TENNIS: Stilwell loses in final of Natal Sugar open tennis tournament at Durban yesterday". Birmingham Daily Post. Warwickshire, England: British Newspaper Archive. 8 April 1970. p. 26. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
10. "Weekend Sports In Brief". Oxnard Press Courier. Oxnard, California, United States: Newspaper Archive. 17 January 1972. p. 16. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
11. "Sport: Cricket and Tennis". Sports Argus. Warwickshire, England: British Newspaper Archive. 3 April 1971. p. 2. Retrieved 13 April 2023.

• Hard court tennis tournaments
• Defunct tennis tournaments in South Africa