Former World No. 1 Safina Accepts Wildcard to Bank of the West Classic
STANFORD, CA (www.BankOfTheWestClassic.com) – The Bank of the West Classic player field got even more impressive on Wednesday as three-time Grand Slam finalist and former World No. 1 Dinara Safina and current world No. 18 Victoria Azarenka have both accepted wildcards into the 2010 tournament.
With the addition of Safina, the Bank of the West Classic will now feature four former World No. 1’s including Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic and Lindsay Davenport.
Overall the tournament will host 13 of the top-30 ranked players in the world.
Safina, a singles finalist at the 2008 French Open, 2009 Australian Open, and 2009 French Open, has won 12-career Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles titles and spent 26 weeks at No. 1 during the 2009 season. This will be Safina’s first visit to the Bank of the West Classic.
Azarenka will be making her second appearance at the Bank of the West Classic. The 20-year-old Belarusian has won three-career Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles titles including the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. She has reached the quarterfinals at three Grand Slam events including the French Open and Wimbledon in 2009 and the Australian Open earlier this year.
Tickets for the 2010 Bank of the West Classic can be purchased by calling the box office at 866-WTA-TIXS (866-982-8497) or by logging on to www.BankoftheWestClassic.com. Single-session tickets for the tournament's opening round start at just $26.
The 2010 Bank of the West Classic will feature a 30-player singles draw and 16-team doubles draw. The official tournament draw, and first round match-ups, will be announced on Saturday, July 24.
In addition to individual session tickets, full-week packages start at just $575 and include tickets to all 13 sessions, a pass to the exclusive Grand Marnier Plaza Club and an invitation to the Meet the Players Party. Those who purchase a pair of seats will also receive a weeklong VIP parking pass and a Bank of the West Classic Tournament program.
The Bank of the West Classic is also offering several weekend packages starting at $240.
Entering its 40th year the Bank of the West Classic is the longest running women-only professional tennis tournament in the world. The list of past champions of the event reads like a “Who's Who” of women's tennis including Lindsay Davenport, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Andrea Jaeger, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters.
The event is owned and operated by IMG and serves as the opening women's event of the Olympus US Open Series. Qualifying will be held July 24-25 and is free to the public.
Log on to www.BankoftheWestClassic.com for more information.
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 Olympus US Open Series. A Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Premier event, the Bank of the West Classic features a 30-player singles draw and a 16-team doubles draw with total prize money of $700,000. 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: Based in San Francisco, $61 billion-asset Bank of the West (www.bankofthewest.com) offers a full range of business, corporate, personal, trust and international banking services. For the third year in a row, Bank of the West has been ranked "highest in customer satisfaction in retail banking" in California by J.D. Power and Associates. The Bank operates more than 700 branch locations and commercial banking offices in 19 Western and Midwestern states. Bank of the West's holding company, BancWest Corporation, is a subsidiary of BNP Paribas, among the six strongest banks in the world, according to Standard & Poor's.
