Maria Sharapova Punches Ticket To Singles Quarterfinals At Bank Of The West Classic
STANFORD, Calif. (www.BankOfTheWestClassic.com) – Two days after outlasting Ai Sugiyama in a three-set thriller that ended in just under two and a half hours, Maria Sharapova wasted little time in advancing to the quarterfinals of the 2009 Bank of the West Classic.
Sharapova cruised past Nadia Petrova 6-1, 6-2 on Wednesday afternoon at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium, easily defeating the fellow Russian in a match that took just 1:01 to complete.
Next up for Sharapova is a Friday contest against the winner of Thursday’s match between Venus Williams and qualifier Alla Kudryavtseva.
Only one of the two seeded players appearing in this evenings matches advanced to the Quarterfinals. No. 3 seed Elena Dementieva, registered a straight-set win during the night session. Dementieva defeated fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko 6-1, 6-2 while Hantuchova notched a win over Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska, the No. 7 seed. Dementieva and Hantuchova will square off against each other in Friday’s quarterfinals.
After upsetting No. 8 seed Dominika Cibulkova in the opening round, Samantha Stosur picked up another win to earn herself a spot in Friday’s quarterfinals. Stosur downed Monica Niculescu 6-1, 7-5 and now plays the winner of tomorrow’s contest between Serena Williams and Melinda Czink.
Four doubles matches took place on Wednesday, including a quarterfinal victory from Serena Williams and Venus Williams. Seeded No. 2 in the draw, the Williams sisters wasted little time in dominating the duo of Liga Dekmeijere and Julie Ditty by a 6-1, 6-0 count.
Meanwhile, the No. 1 team of Cara Black and Liezel Huber looked very sharp in a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Angela Haynes and Olga Savchuk.
Tickets for the 2009 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 $23.
The Bank of the West Classic, a premier Sony Ericsson WTA Tour event, is now in its 39th year and features a 32-player singles draw as well as a 16-team doubles draw. The event is owned and operated by IMG and serves as the opening women's event of the Olympus US Open Series.
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.
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 32-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: With more than $66 billion in assets, San Francisco-based Bank of the West is one of the nation’s 25 largest banks. Founded in 1874, Bank of the West is a full-service financial institution with nearly 4 million accounts in more than 700 branch and commercial offices across 19 Western and Midwestern states.
