The tournament was first created in 1996 in Shanghai, China, on indoor carpet courts and as part of the ATP World Series.

The second new tournament started by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in Asia in three years, after the Beijing Open, created in 1993, the Shanghai event ran as a men's only tournament during four years, seeing the likes of Michael Chang, Goran Ivanišević, Marcelo Ríos and Magnus Norman reaching the finals.

[citation needed] In 2004, as the ATP was increasing its presence in Asia,[1] having brought the Tennis Masters Cup to Shanghai in 2002, working on moving several events to different new locations, the ATP and WTA Shanghai tournaments were both relocated, with the women's, now a Tier II tournament, returning to Beijing, and the men's moving to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

[4] The first event to be held in the new location, though, was cancelled due to security fears, and the first Bangalore Open consequently postponed to the next season.

[5] In 2009 a new tournament in Asia was created to replace it, the Malaysian Open, located on Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.