STANFORD, Calif. (www.mubadalasvc.com) – Bay Area favorites will highlight evening session play on Monday and Tuesday night.
Monday’s 7 pm match will feature two former Stanford Cardinal standouts when Nicole Gibbs takes on Carol Zhao in their opening round match at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium, a court that they both know well.
Zhao, who recently announced she would forego her senior season to turn professional, helped lead the Cardinal to their 19th NCAA team title. She was a 2015-16 All-Pac-12 First Team selection and ended the season ranked No. 25 in the nation.
Gibbs, who played at Stanford from 2010-13, won two NCAA singles titles in 2012 and 2013 and led the Cardinal to the NCAA team title in 2013. She turned professional in June 2013 and has steadily moved up the WTA ranking where she currently sits at No. 72 in the world.
Tuesday evening will feature top ranked junior CiCi Bellis as she takes on Jelena Ostepenko, the Bank of the West Classic’s No. 6 seed.
The 17-year-old Bellis, who resides in Atherton, CA, won the 2014 USTA Girl’s 18’s National title at age 15 becoming the youngest winner of the event since Lindsay Davenport in 1991. She has won four career ITF singles titles and currently ranks 220th in World while playing a limited schedule due to WTA age requirements.
At the 2014 US Open she defeated then World No. 13 Dominika Cibulkova in the first round becoming the youngest player to win a US Open match since Mary Joe Fernandez in 1986. At the end of 2014 she was honored as the ITF Junior World Champion.
Tickets for the Bank of the West Classic are on sale now with individual session tickets for the opening round start at just $34.
The Bank of the West Classic also provides fans with multiple money-saving ticket packages that start as low as $192 for Night Session Packages, $265 for Weekend Packages and $620 for Full Week Packages. Groups of 15 or more can also receive discounts of up to 20%.
The qualifying tournament is free and open to the public.
Go to www.mubadalasvc.com or call (866) 982-8497 to secure your tickets today
Headlined by seven-time Grand Slam Champion and four-time Olympic Gold Medalist Venus Williams this year’s player field boast 12 players ranked among the top-2 in their respective countries and may end up competing at this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio.
The player field also includes 2013 Bank of the West Classic champion and current World No. 12 Dominika Cibulkova, World No. 18 and 2016 Australian Open semifinalist Johanna Konta, 2012 Bank of the West Classic finalist Coco Vandeweghe and Japanese No. 1 Misaki Doi.
The Bank of the West Classic, a Premier WTA event, 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 Emirates Airline US Open Series.
The list of past champions of the event reads like a Who's Who of women's tennis including Serena Williams, Lindsay Davenport, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Andrea Jaeger, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters.
The Bank of the West Classic offers several different seat options with prices to fit everyone's budget so reserve your seats today.
Log on to www.mubadalasvc.com for more information.
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 Emirates Airline US Open Series. Owned and operated by IMG, the WTA Premier event features a 28-player singles draw and a 16-team doubles draw with total prize money of $753,000. Held on Stanford University’s campus at Taube Family Tennis Stadium since 1997, former champions include: Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Andrea Jaeger, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters.
ABOUT BANK OF THE WEST: Bank of the West is a regional financial services company chartered in California and headquartered in San Francisco with $77.2 billion in assets as of March 31, 2016. Founded in 1874, Bank of the West provides a wide range of personal, commercial, wealth management and international banking services through more than 600 offices in 23 states and digital channels. Bank of the West is a subsidiary of BNP Paribas, which has a presence in 75 countries with 185,000 employees.