# 1996 Nichirei International Championships – Singles

Mary Pierce was the defending champion but lost in the quarterfinals to Kimberly Po.
Monica Seles won in the final 6–1, 6–4 against Arantxa Sánchez Vicario.

## 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.
* Monica Seles (champion)
* Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (final)
* Kimiko Date (semifinals)
* Mary Pierce (quarterfinals)
* Amanda Coetzer (quarterfinals)
* Ai Sugiyama (second round)
* Naoko Sawamatsu (quarterfinals)
* Shi-Ting Wang (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 | Monica Seles | 6 | 6 | |
| 2 | Arantxa Sánchez Vicario | 1 | 4 | |

### 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 | Semifinals |
| | | | | | 1 | M Seles | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | |
| | M Endo | 6 | 6 | | | M Endo | 4 | 4 | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Y Kamio | 1 | 4 | | | | | | | 1 | M Seles | 6 | 6 | | | | | |
| WC | Y Yoshida | 2 | 6 | 6 | | | | | | 7 | N Sawamatsu | 1 | 4 | | | | | |
| Q | L Varmužová | 6 | 3 | 4 | WC | Y Yoshida | 2 | 1 | | | | | | | | | | |
| | A Grossman | 1 | 3 | | 7 | N Sawamatsu | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | N Sawamatsu | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | M Seles | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 3 | K Date | 4 | 6 | 6 |
| | | | | | 3 | K Date | 4 | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | |
| | N Miyagi | 7 | 7 | | | N Miyagi | 6 | 4 | 3 | | | | | | | | | |
| Q | H Inoue | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | 3 | K Date | 6 | 6 | | | | | |
| | J Watanabe | 1 | 2 | | | | | | | 5 | A Coetzer | 3 | 0 | | | | | |
| | N Kijimuta | 6 | 6 | | | N Kijimuta | 6 | 2 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Q | K-A Guse | 1 | 2 | | 5 | A Coetzer | 7 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | |
| 5 | A Coetzer | 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 |
| 6 | A Sugiyama | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | A Gerši | 1 | 4 | | 6 | A Sugiyama | 2 | 7 | 4 | | | | | | | | | |
| WC | M Saeki | 2 | 1 | | | K Po | 6 | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | |
| | K Po | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | K Po | 7 | 6 | | | | | |
| | S-H Park | 7 | 6 | | | | | | | 4 | M Pierce | 5 | 4 | | | | | |
| Q | T Tanasugarn | 6 | 2 | | | S-H Park | 5 | 2 | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | 4 | M Pierce | 7 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | K Po | 4 | 3 |
| 8 | S-T Wang | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | 2 | A Sánchez Vicario | 6 | 6 |
| | R Hiraki | 1 | 3 | | 8 | S-T Wang | 6 | 7 | | | | | | | | | | |
| | A Glass | 6 | 6 | | | A Glass | 1 | 5 | | | | | | | | | | |
| | A Ellwood | 4 | 4 | | | | | | | 8 | S-T Wang | 6 | 1 | 1 | | | | |
| | K Nagatsuka | 4 | 6 | 2 | | | | | | 2 | A Sánchez Vicario | 4 | 6 | 6 | | | | |
| | R Grande | 6 | 2 | 6 | | R Grande | 2 | 1 | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | 2 | A Sánchez Vicario | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | |