Sharapova's Straight-Set Win Highlights Tuesday's Bank of the West Classic Action
Evening headliner Maria Sharapova was one of five seeded players to win their opening round match and advance to the second round, highlighting Tuesday’s action at the 2010 Bank of the West Classic.
Tuesday’s night session of 3,580 fans represented a Bank of the West Classic attendance record, surpassing last year’s session record of 3,382.
Sharapova, a three-time Grand Slam champion and the tournament’s No. 5 seed, hung on for a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Zheng Jie in the night’s featured match. Trailing 4-3, Sharapova rattled off three straight games to take the first set 6-4. Jie led 4-3 once again in the second set before Sharapova won four of the next five games to secure the win. Sharapova will now face Olga Govortsova on Thursday during the day session.
Three other seeded players posted convincing straight-set victories. No. 4 seed Marion Bartoli cruised past Ashley Harkleroad 6-1, 6-4, No. 8 seed Victoria Azarenka routed Ayumi Morita 6-0, 6-2 and No. 7 seed Yanina Wickmayer dispatched Yung-Jan Chan 6-3, 6-1. Azarenka polished off Morita in 53 minutes while Wickmayer won eight of the last nine games overall in her victory.
The fifth seeded player in action on Monday, No. 6 Shahar Peer, survived a scare and prevailed in a three-set win over Daniela Hantuchova. After getting blanked 6-0 in the first set, Peer rallied to take the next two sets 6-4, 6-3.
Maria Kirilenko posted a 6-1, 6-4 triumph over Mirjana Lucic on court six, while qualifiers Christina McHale and Olga Savchuk added victories despite playing their fourth match in five days.
Doubles play also continued on Tuesday afternoon, with a surprising result in the first match of the day. The duo of Sarah Borwell and Raquel Kops-Jones upset the tourney’s top-seeded team of Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs 6-0, 4-6, 12-10.
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 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.
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.
