Maria Sharapova Survives Three-Set Thriller As Main Draw Singles Play Gets Underway
STANFORD, Calif. (www.BankOfTheWestClassic.com) – Maria Sharapova outlasted Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-1 in a three-set thriller on Monday night, highlighting the opening round of main draw singles action at the 2009 Bank of the West Classic.
Sugiyama gave Sharapova all she could handle, bouncing back to win a hard-fought second-set tiebreaker and force a third set. However in the end, it was the three-time Grand Slam singles champion Sharapova elevating her game with a convincing 6-1 victory in the final set.
All three seeded players in competition on Monday collected victories. Russia’s Elena Dementieva, the tournament’s No. 3 seed, and Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska, seeded No. 7 in the draw, cruised to easy wins. Dementieva handled Germany’s Anne Keothavong 6-1, 6-4 while Radwanska routed Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 6-0, 6-1.
The day’s other seeded competitor, No. 5 Nadia Petrova, survived a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 scare from American Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Hungary’s Melinda Czink also posted straight-set wins.
On the doubles side, the No. 2 seeded team of Serena Williams and Venus Williams notched a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Yi Chen and Mashona Washington.
Later in the evening session, the team of Liga Dekmeijere and Julie Ditty escaped with a 6-4, 7-6 (5) win over the all-Stanford duo of Hilary Barte and Lindsay Burdette.
With a stacked tournament field (players in the draw have combined to win 21 Grand Slam singles titles), the attendance numbers did not disappoint as expected. Monday’s night session attracted 2,337 fans, more than doubling last year’s evening mark of 1,042. This year’s day session drew a crowd of 1,702.
Earlier in the morning, four qualifiers advanced to the main draw: Americans Angela Haynes, Lilia Osterloh and Melanie Oudin, along with Russia’s Alla Kudryavtserva.
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.
Full-week packages, which include tickets to all 13 sessions, start at only $530. Those who purchase a box of four full week packages will also receive four passes to the exclusive VIP Plaza Club, four invitations to the Meet the Players Party, two VIP parking passes and an autographed poster.
The Bank of the West Classic is also offering several weekend packages starting at $230.
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.
