The Singapore Open is one of the most prestigious professional badminton tournaments. It started in 1929 and has witnessed 73 editions as of 2024. The tournament is one of the six Super 750 events as categorised by the Badminton World Federation.
The Singapore Open was largely a regional tournament between 1929 to 1956. It started inviting Asian players from 1957 to 1973. The tournament was not held between 1974 to 1986. It was in 1990, when it was first recognised as an event that can feature international players as well.
The tournament features competitions in five disciplines: men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles. Each event has a knockout draw of 32 singles players or pairs. It features matches played in the best of three sets format where a player or pair who is first to 21 points with a difference of two wins a set.
The winner of an event gets 11,000 ranking points whereas the runner-up gets 9350 points. The semifinalists and quarterfinalists get 7700 and 6050 points respectively. As of 2023, the tournament has a purse of $850,000. The winners of the singles events get $59,500, whereas the doubles pairs get $62,900.
The most successful men’s singles player at the Singapore Open is Wong Peng Soon who won seven titles between 1938 to 1951. Ong Poh Lim’s tally of nine men’s doubles titles and nine mixed doubles titles between 1950 to 1962 is the highest in this category. Helen Heng’s record seven singles and eight doubles titles in the women’s category stands as of 2024. She won these titles between 1949 to 1955.
However, in the modern era, especially after opening the event for international players, the Singapore Open’s most successful player is Indonesia’s Liliyana Natsir, who has won six mixed doubles titles at the tournament. Historically, Singapore and it’s predecessor (Straits Settlements) have won a record 122 medals. The next best nations are Indonesia and China with 62 and 55 medals respectively.
