Williams Sisters Hold Court During Tuesday’s Main Draw Singles Action
STANFORD, Calif. (www.BankOfTheWestClassic.com) – Venus Williams and Serena Williams played their first singles matches of the 2009 Bank of the West Classic on Tuesday evening, both taking different paths on the way to straight-set victories.
Top-seeded Serena Williams held off a late charge from China’s Na Li for a 6-3, 7-6 (6) win during the night session and will now play Hungary’s Melinda Czink in the next round.
Meanwhile, second-seeded Venus Williams experienced little trouble against Canada’s Stephanie Dubois with a 6-2, 6-3 triumph in her first career appearance at the Bank of the West Classic since a runner-up finish to Kim Clijsters in 2005. Her next opponent is Russian qualifier Alla Kudryavtseva, who defeated Julie Coin of France 6-1, 7-6 (5) during Tuesday’s day session.
Other seeded players to emerge victorious on Tuesday included No. 4 seed Jelena Jankovic, a 6-3, 6-1 winner over American qualifier Angela Haynes and No. 8 seed Marion Bartoli, a 7-6 (6), 6-3 victory over Japan’s Ayumi Morita.
Sixth-seeded Dominika Cibulkova was not as lucky, falling victim to a 6-4, 6-3 upset by Australia’s Samantha Stosur.
There will be a new tournament champion as well this year, following Daniela Hantuchova’s 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 marathon win over defending champion Aleksandra Wozniak.
Meanwhile in doubles, the fourth-seeded team of Sorana Cirstea and Maria Kirilenko notched a 5-7, 6-3, 10-5 victory over the American duo of Laura Granville and Carly Gullickson.
With a stacked tournament field (players in the draw have combined to win 21 Grand Slam singles titles), the attendance numbers have not disappointed as expected. Tuesday’s night session attracted 3,302 fans while the day session drew 2,158.
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.
