# 1996 Advanta Championships of Philadelphia – Singles

Jana Novotná won the singles tennis title at the 1996 Advanta Championships of Philadelphia after the defending champion Steffi Graf retired in the final, with the scoreline at 6–4.

## Seeds

A champion seed is indicated in bold text while text in italics indicates the round in which that seed was eliminated. The top four seeds received a bye to the second round.
* Steffi Graf (final)
* Conchita Martínez (second round)
* Jana Novotná (champion)
* Anke Huber (second round)
* Lindsay Davenport (first round)
* Iva Majoli (second round)
* Mary Joe Fernández (first round)
* Barbara Paulus (quarterfinals)

## Draw
### Key

* Q = Qualifier
* WC = Wild card
* LL = Lucky loser
* Alt = Alternate
* SE = Special exempt
* PR = Protected ranking
* ITF = ITF entry
* JE = Junior exempt
* w/o = Walkover
* r = Retired
* d = Defaulted
* SR = Special ranking

### Final

| Final | Final | Final | Final | Final |
| 1 | Steffi Graf | 4 | 0$^r$ | |
| 3 | Jana Novotná | 6 | 0 | |

### Section 1

| First round | First round | First round | First round | First round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals |
| | | | | | 1 | S Graf | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | |
| | K Habšudová | 6 | 4 | | | A Frazier | 2 | 1 | | | | | | | | | |
| | A Frazier | 7 | 6 | | | | | | | 1 | S Graf | 6 | 6 | | | | |
| | V Ruano-Pascual | 6 | 1 | 5 | | | | | | | C Rubin | 0 | 3 | | | | |
| | C Rubin | 4 | 6 | 7 | | C Rubin | 5 | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | |
| | J Wiesner | 2 | 2 | | 6 | I Majoli | 7 | 2 | 1 | | | | | | | | |
| 6 | I Majoli | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | S Graf | 6 | 7 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Q | M Werdel-Witmeyer | 2 | 5 |
| | | | | | 4 | A Huber | 6 | 6 | 1 | | | | | | | | |
| Q | R Zrubáková | 0 | 4 | | Q | M Werdel-Witmeyer | 2 | 7 | 6 | | | | | | | | |
| Q | M Werdel-Witmeyer | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | Q | M Werdel-Witmeyer | 6 | 6 | | | | |
| | N Tauziat | 6 | 3 | 4 | | | | | | 8 | B Paulus | 2 | 3 | | | | |
| Q | Z Garrison-Jackson | 2 | 6 | 6 | Q | Z Garrison-Jackson | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | A Coetzer | 1 | 2 | | 8 | B Paulus | w/o | | | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | B Paulus | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

### Section 2

| First round | First round | First round | First round | First round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals |
| 5 | L Davenport | 4 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | A Miller | 6 | 7 | | | A Miller | 4 | 6 | 7 | | | | | | | | | |
| WC | M Shaughnessy | 3 | 6 | 6 | WC | M Shaughnessy | 6 | 2 | 5 | | | | | | | | | |
| Q | L Poruri | 6 | 2 | 2 | | | | | | | A Miller | 3 | 0 | | | | | |
| | A Sugiyama | 6 | 5 | | | | | | | 3 | J Novotná | 6 | 6 | | | | | |
| | L McNeil | 7 | 7 | | | L McNeil | 4 | 5 | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | 3 | J Novotná | 6 | 7 | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 3 | J Novotná | 6 | 6 |
| 7 | M J Fernández | 2$^r$ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Y Basuki | 3 | 1 |
| | K Po | 5 | | | | K Po | 4 | 4 | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Y Basuki | 6 | 7 | | | Y Basuki | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | |
| WC | A Kournikova | 4 | 6 | | | | | | | | Y Basuki | 5 | 6 | 6 | | | | |
| | G Fernández | 1 | 6 | 3 | | | | | | | L Raymond | 7 | 3 | 3 | | | | |
| | L Raymond | 6 | 3 | 6 | | L Raymond | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | 2 | C Martínez | 2 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | |