The Sofia Open is an ATP World Tour 250 series tournament played on indoor hard courts at Arena Sofia in Bulgaria. It was in 2016 and has had 8 editions since. In 2023, it temporarily replaced the canceled Tel Aviv Open due to regional conflicts.
About
The Sofia Open was founded in 2016 as an ATP Tour 250 series tournament, replacing the PBZ Zagreb Indoors after Croatian organizers faced financial difficulties.It is noted for being the first ATP Tour event to be held in Sofia. It is usually held in the last week of September towards the start of October.
History
The Soia Open was established in 2016 and has since had 6 editions.The 2016 edition was the first time that the city of Sofia hosted an ATP Tournament event. It was organized with the help of Bulgarian tennis player Grigor Dimitrov.
Dimitrov did not play in the tournament until the second edition in 2017.
He took home the men’s singles title. Unlike most ATP events, the Sofia Open was allowed to continue in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic. This is mostly due to its schedule late in the year.
Notable Players
In its inaugural year, Spanish player Roberto Bautista Agut won the men’s singles title.In 2017, Dimitrov had that honor. Other champions include Mirza Basic, Daniil Medvedev, and Jannik Sinner. Sinner is also noted for having won the Sofia Open two consecutive times – in 2020 and 2021.
Doubles champions include Wesley Koolhof and [[Matwe Middelkoop] – both from the Netherlands. They won the doubles title in the first edition. Middelkoop would come back in 2018 to win the doubles title again.