The tournament was founded in 1962 as the
Philadelphia Invitational Indoor Tennis Championships. This tournament until 1970 was part of the
ILTF World Circuit. In 1969 the name was changed to the Philadelphia International Indoor Open Championships. and branded as the
International Tennis Players Association Open Indoor or
ITPA Open Indoor. In 1971 the tournament was re-branded as the
Philadelphia International Indoor Open Championships also called the
Philadelphia International Indoor In 1972 the
United States Professional Indoor tennis championships were created in
Philadelphia, United States, as part of the
WCT circuit, rival of the National Tennis League (NTL). As the first event of the season, the Philadelphia
U.S. Professional Indoor attracted all WCT stars at the Philadelphia
Spectrum at each of its yearly editions, with
Rod Laver,
John Newcombe or
Marty Riessen winning the event in the early 1970s. After the WCT absorbed the NTL in 1970, the tournament continued to exist within the WCT tour until 1978, when the event officially became part of the
Grand Prix Tour, precursor of the current
ATP Tour. As part of the Grand Prix's top tier tournaments until 1986, the Philadelphia event known as the
U.S. Pro Indoor since 1973, saw American players dominating the fields in the 1970s and 1980s, with
Tim Mayotte reaching four finals,
World No. 1s
Jimmy Connors and
John McEnroe six finals each, and Czechoslovak
Ivan Lendl three. In 1985, Swiss watch company Ebel S.A. started its six-year sponsorship of the event, the tournament becoming until 1990 the
Ebel U.S. Pro Indoor. The event entered the new ATP circuit in 1990 as part of the
Championship Series, to see eighteen-year-old, and future
US Open champion
Pete Sampras win his first career title against
Andrés Gómez. In 1991, the event lost Ebel's sponsorship, and went back to being the
U.S. Pro Indoor for two editions, before
Comcast became the sponsor of the event in 1992, effectively saving it from being discontinued. In the following years, the
Comcast U.S. Indoor's prize money was reduced to less than a million dollars, preventing the creation of attractive line ups, and gaining the nickname "Comatose U.S. Indoor". In 1997,
Advanta, already the sponsor of the 1971-created women's tournament of Philadelphia, the
Advanta Championships, since 1995, took upon the sponsorship of the men's event, which also became the
Advanta Championships.
Pete Sampras won his third and fourth Philadelphia titles in the last two editions of the event, taking place on indoor
hard courts at the
CoreStates Center, before it was definitely discontinued in 1998. ==Finals==