The Bordighera Lawn Tennis Club was formally established in 1878 with the help of the Bishop of London John Jackson who chaired a committee of British expatriates,[3] who were resident in Bordighera at that time to provide funds for the construction of the tennis behind the English Church.
[5] In 1939 at the outset of World War II the British community living in Bordighera left, and international players abandoned the tournament.
[3] Following the war the tournament continued as a local event for Italian players, and the championship was last staged in 1952, the men's singles was won by Orlando Sirola.
[6] Notable winners of this tournament included in the men's singles; Anthony Wilding (1914), Jack Hillyard (1922–1924), Erik Worm (1927–1928), Giorgio de Stefani (1928), George Lyttleton Rogers (1931),[7] Giovanni Palmieri (1932, 1934, 1936–1937), Jean Le Sueur (1935, 1938) and Henner Henkel (1939).
[6] Former notable winners of women's singles title included; Phyllis Carr Satterthwaite (1922–1923, 1926, 1929), Elizabeth Ryan (1927–1928), Dorothy Holman (1925), Joan Ridley (1928–30), Ilse Friedleben (1931) and Simonne Mathieu (1935) and Gracyn Wheeler Kelleher (1939).