Technically speaking, open does not require a filehandle and a filename. From the page you referred to:

Opens the file whose filename is given by EXPR, and associates it with FILEHANDLE. If FILEHANDLE is an expression, its value is used as the name of the real filehandle wanted. If EXPR is omitted, the scalar variable of the same name as the FILEHANDLE contains the filename. (Note that lexical variables--those declared with my()--will not work for this purpose; so if you're using my(), specify EXPR in your call to open.)

That said, it's rare/dangerous/not-a-good-idea to use this fuctionality. I'd recommend using the two-parameter form you describe.

Cheers,
Shendal