Williams Avoids Upset In Tournament Opener
STANFORD, Calif. (www.BankOfTheWestClassic.com) – In a tournament that has already seen four qualifiers win at least one match in the main draw and three of the top eight seeds fall victim to an upset, Wednesday’s action at the 2008 Bank of the West Classic was perhaps the most dramatic yet.
Serena Williams, the tournament’s top seed and the No. 5 ranked player in the world, shook off a sluggish first set and stormed back to defeat pesky qualifier Michelle Larcher de Brito 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 before a crowd of 2628 on the third night of competition at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
Playing in her first match since falling to sister Venus just weeks ago at Wimbledon, Williams drew an unknown qualifier in Larcher de Brito for her first round match following a bye. However, the 15-year-old from Portugal pleased the crowd with the same non-stop hustle and powerful groundstrokes that helped her win three qualifying matches before defeating Gisela Dulko in the main draw on Tuesday afternoon.
Williams looked out of sync early, with Larcher de Brito taking the first set 6-4. Trailing 2-0 in the second set, Williams took control and eventually won 12 of the next 15 games to avoid what would have been an unthinkable result.
Williams ripped off 14 trademark aces (10 of those coming in the final two sets) while Larcher de Brito- who was playing for the fifth straight day- tallied six double-faults.
“It was definitely encouraging to know I can bounce back,” said Williams. “I haven’t been down a set in awhile. That’s the type of practice I need and the type of things I need to work on going forward.”
“I started really well and I played pretty good throughout the whole match, but I kind of slowed down a little bit because I came through the qualifiers a little tired,” explained Larcher de Brito. “She played such a great game, she is Serena Williams. I gave it all because I had nothing to lose.”
Fourth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova was not as fortunate, dropping a 6-3, 6-1 decision to Bank of the West Classic veteran Ai Sugiyama. Playing in her first match of the tournament and eighth Bank of the West Classic of her career, Hantuchova became the third seeded player to be eliminated before the tournament’s midway point. Sugiyama trailed 3-0 in the first set before winning six in a row to take the first set and cruise 6-1 in the second set.
Meanwhile, second-seeded Anna Chakvetadze looked sharp in her tournament opener by registering a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Shahar Peer. Dominika Cibulkova opened the day’s schedule with a quick 6-2, 6-3 win over Kateryna Bondarenko that took just 1:08 to complete.
Four doubles matches were decided as well. In the nightcap, the fourth-seeded duo of Tatiana Poutchek and Anastasia Rodionova topped wild card entrants Anne Yelsey and Riza Zalameda 6-3, 6-1. Yelsey and Zalameda, college rivals during their respective careers at Stanford and UCLA, won their opening round contest on Monday.
The three other winning doubles teams were all unranked. The team of Elena Vesnina and Vera Zvonareva defeated Liga Dekmeijere and Abigail Spears 6-4, 6-3, the tandem of Eva Hrdinova and Vladimira Uhlirova posted a 6-3, 6-4 win over Anna Chakvetadze and Sania Mirza while the duo of Akgul Amanmuradova and Kateryna Bondarenko cruised past Ashley Harkleroad and Alina Jidkova 6-1, 6-2.
Tickets for the tournament’s opening rounds start at just $23. For more information, or to purchase tickets, call the box office at 866-WTA-TIXS (866-982-8497) or log on to www.BankoftheWestClassic.com.
The Bank of the West Classic, a Sony Ericsson WTA Tour event, will be played July 14-20 at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium at Stanford University and features a 28-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.
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 US Open Series. A Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Tier II event, the Bank of the West Classic features a 28-player singles draw and a 16-team doubles draw with total prize money of $600,000. 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: Founded in 1874 and headquartered in San Francisco, $62 billion-asset Bank of the West is the second-largest commercial bank based in California. Bank of the West offers a full range of business, trust, international and personal banking services. The bank currently operates more than 700 commercial and retail banking locations in 19 Western and Midwestern states. In 2008, Bank of the West ranked “Highest in Customer Satisfaction among Retail Banks in the West” by J.D. Power and Associates. Bank of the West's holding company, BancWest Corporation, is owned by BNP Paribas, a leading global financial services institution ranked by Standard & Poor's as one of the world's four strongest banks. More information is available at www.bankofthewest.com.
Quotes (7/16/08)
Michelle Larcher de Brito
On the best part of the night…
“Definitely the fact that this is the best player I have ever played; just to win rallies and all the thought that I put into it.”
On the progession of the match…
“I started really well and I played pretty good throughout the whole match, but I kind of slowed down a little bit because I came through the qualifiers a little tired. She played such a great game, she is Serena Williams. I gave it all because I had nothing to lose.”
On being intimidated by Serena….
“I just went in there and tried. I went all out and being intimidated is not a very good thing, it is kind of negative so I tried to be positive as much as possible.”
On Serena’s impression of her…
“I think she didn’t expect for me to play that well. A lot of my balls were landing right on the line but it was a great game.”
On Serena’s game…
“She has all the power and all of the experience. She has been there for many years, I am just coming now and hopefully I’ll keep doing well. And of course she is a lot stronger, a lot more fit and plays a lot better than me.”
On being up after the first set…
“I don’t think about it that much. I just play the game. I kind of hung in there, I didn’t think about being up, I was just being there and enjoying it. I had a lot of fun, obviously I wanted to win and I did everything I could to win, but I was having fun. I try to enjoy it as much as possible because competing is definitely what I love.”
Serena Williams
On being a top-ranked player facing a qualifier …
“I thought ‘wow’ and how I felt when playing a top seed for the first time and that I had nothing to lose. I probably played better than I normally would play and that’s exactly what I thought about.”
On how the match changed …
“She played tough the whole time but I started playing better and had more of a plan that allowed me to figure out her game better. I knew what to do.”
On handling Larcher de Brito’s serve …
“I just was making a lot of errors. I knew where she was going to serve, I just couldn’t get my feet to register with my brain. So I knew she was hitting body pretty much every time but I’ll be amazing at that serve in a week’s time.”
On if she was surprised at the play of Larcher de Brito …
“In a way, yeah. I never underestimate anyone, especially when they play me they always want to bring out their best game. In a way it was surprising but you just have to deal with it.”
On rallying for the victory …
“It was definitely encouraging to know I can bounce back. I haven’t been down a set in awhile. That’s the type of practice I need and the type of things I need to work on going further.”
Anna Chakvetadze
On her outlook for the tournament …
“I’m here to defend my title and the draw is much tougher because there are more top-10 players than last year. But I will try to do so. My goal is to become a better player and play my best tennis like I did last year.”