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.


 * 1) 🇺🇸 Monica Seles (champion)
 * 2) 🇪🇸 Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (final)
 * 3) 🇯🇵 Kimiko Date (semifinals)
 * 4) 🇫🇷 Mary Pierce (quarterfinals)
 * 5)  Amanda Coetzer (quarterfinals)
 * 6) 🇯🇵 Ai Sugiyama (second round)
 * 7) 🇯🇵 Naoko Sawamatsu (quarterfinals)
 * 8)  Shi-Ting Wang (quarterfinals)