1996 Lipton Championships – Women's singles

Two-time defending champion Steffi Graf defeated Chanda Rubin in the final, 6–1, 6–3 to win the women's singles tennis title at the 1996 Miami Open.

Seeds
A champion seed is indicated in bold text while text in italics indicates the round in which that seed was eliminated. All thirty-two seeds received a bye to the second round.


 * 1) 🇩🇪 Steffi Graf (champion)
 * 2) 🇪🇸 Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (second round)
 * 3) 🇩🇪 Anke Huber (quarterfinals)
 * 4) 🇦🇷 Gabriela Sabatini (quarterfinals)
 * 5) 🇯🇵 Kimiko Date (quarterfinals)
 * 6) 🇺🇸 Chanda Rubin (final)
 * 7) 🇨🇿 Jana Novotná (third round)
 * 8) 🇺🇸 Lindsay Davenport (semifinals)
 * 9) 🇺🇸 Mary Joe Fernández (fourth round)
 * 10) Amanda Coetzer (third round)
 * 11) Martina Hingis (second round)
 * 12) 🇫🇷 Julie Halard-Decugis (fourth round)
 * 13) 🇺🇸 Zina Garrison-Jackson (second round)
 * 14) 🇫🇷 Nathalie Tauziat (fourth round)
 * 15) 🇨🇿 Helena Suková (third round)
 * 16) Irina Spîrlea (quarterfinals)
 * 17) 🇦🇹 Barbara Paulus (third round)
 * 18) 🇦🇹 Judith Wiesner (fourth round)
 * 19) 🇺🇸 Lisa Raymond (third round)
 * 20) 🇯🇵 Naoko Sawamatsu (second round)
 * 21) 🇺🇸 Marianne Werdel-Witmeyer (third round)
 * 22) 🇸🇪 Åsa Carlsson (second round)
 * 23) 🇯🇵 Ai Sugiyama (fourth round)
 * 24) Kristie Boogert (third round)
 * 25) 🇩🇪 Petra Begerow (second round)
 * 26) 🇦🇷 Florencia Labat (third round)
 * 27) 🇯🇵 Yone Kamio (second round)
 * 28) 🇮🇹 Silvia Farina (fourth round)
 * 29) 🇷🇺 Elena Likhovtseva (second round)
 * 30) Miriam Oremans (third round)
 * 31) 🇫🇷 Sandrine Testud (third round)
 * 32) Shi-Ting Wang (third round)