STANFORD, Calif. (www.BankOfTheWestClassic.com) – The world’s top-ranked duo of Cara Black and Liezel Huber posted a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Elena Vesnina and Vera Zvonareva to capture the doubles crown at the 2008 Bank of the West Classic on Sunday afternoon at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
Black and Huber picked up their sixth championship this year and 18th overall.
Black and Huber coasted past their first two opponents by allowing only 14 games overall. Yesterday, they outlasted Tatiana Poutchek and Anastasia Rodionova 4-6, 6-3, (10-7). On Sunday in the final, they grabbed early leads in both sets en route to the straight-set victory.
In the first set, Black and Huber jumped out to a 3-0 lead, maintained a 5-2 edge and broke serve for a 6-4 victory. In the second set, Black and Huber went ahead 4-0 before eventually winning the match on the strength of Black’s serve.
“We are very excited,” said Black. “We came here with a goal this week of winning the tournament. It’s awesome when you meet your goal so we are very pleased with the outcome…I think we were definitely more rested and we were just the better team on the day. We did all the right things and knew what we had to do and went out there and executed.”
ABOUT THE BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC: The Bank of the West Classic is the longest-running women-only professional tennis tournament in the world and is the first stop of the US Open Series. A Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Tier II event, the Bank of the West Classic features a 28-player singles draw and a 16-team doubles draw with total prize money of $600,000. Held on Stanford University’s campus at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium since 1997, former champions include: Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Andrea Jaeger, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport and Venus Williams. The Bank of the West Classic is owned and operated by IMG.
ABOUT BANK OF THE WEST: Founded in 1874 and headquartered in San Francisco, $62 billion-asset Bank of the West is the second-largest commercial bank based in California. Bank of the West offers a full range of business, trust, international and personal banking services. The bank currently operates more than 700 commercial and retail banking locations in 19 Western and Midwestern states. In 2008, Bank of the West ranked “Highest in Customer Satisfaction among Retail Banks in the West” by J.D. Power and Associates. Bank of the West's holding company, BancWest Corporation, is owned by BNP Paribas, a leading global financial services institution ranked by Standard & Poor's as one of the world's four strongest banks. More information is available at www.bankofthewest.com.