Serena Williams Highlights Strong Bank of the West Classic Player Field
STANFORD, Calif. (www.mubadalasvc.com) – The official player field for the Bank of the West Classic was announced this week, and with three top-10 players and eight of the Top 20 entered, the 2015 acceptance list for Stanford will feature one of the top player fields of the summer hardcourt season.
Tickets for this year’s event, which will be held August 3-9 at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium on the campus of Stanford University, can be purchased online at www.mubadalasvc.com or by phone at 866-WTA-TIXS (866-982-8497).
Highlighting this year's player field will be World No. 1, three-time Bank of the West Classic champion and 20-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams. The future Hall of Famer has seemingly gotten better with age winning seven of her 20 Grand Slam singles titles since turning 30 in September 2011, including the last three majors heading into Wimbledon. She has been ranked No. 1 in the World for 128 consecutive weeks.
The Bank of the West Classic will also be welcoming World No. 9 Carla Suarez Navarro and World No. 10 Angelique Kerber.
Suarez Navarro, one half of the defending Bank of the West Classic doubles champions along with Garbine Muguruza, has been one of the most consistent players on tour this year reaching the quarterfinals or better in 10 of the first 11 event this season. She reached the finals at Antwerp and Miami. Following her finals run at the Miami Open, which featured wins over Agnieszka Radwanska, Venus Williams and Andrea Petkovic, she became the first Spaniard in the WTA Top-10 since Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in June 2001.
Kerber, a finalist at last year’s Bank of the West Classic, has already captured three singles titles this season tying her with Serena Williams and Simona Halep for the most in 2015. All three of her titles – Charleston, Stuttgart and Birmingham – were at Premier level events. So far this season she is undefeated against top-10 opponents and has only two losses overall to players ranked among the top-20 in the world.
Other top-20 players entered include No. 11 Karolina Pliskova, No. 14 Andrea Petkovic, No. 17 Elina Svitolina and No. 18 Sabine Lisicki.
Lisicki, the hard serving German, set a world record at last year’s Bank of the West Classic, with a first serve clocked at 131 mph. Earlier this month she broke the record for most service aces in a single match recording 27 in her second round victory at the Aegon Classic.
Fans attending this year’s tournament will also get to see two of America’s top young players. World No. 21 and Australian Open semifinalist Madison Keys will be making her second appearance at Stanford, while San Francisco’s own CiCi Bellis has accepted a wildcard into this year’s main draw.
The now 16 year old Bellis won the 2014 USTA Girl’s 18’s National title at just 15 becoming the youngest winner of the event since Lindsay Davenport in 1991. She has won three career ITF singles titles and already ranks 168th in World while playing a limited schedule due to age requirements.
At last year’s US Open she defeated 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 World Champion.
Inpidual session tickets for the opening round are on sale now and start as low as $33. If you plan on staying for an entire day of matches, Daily Double packages start at just $53.
The Bank of the West Classic also provides fans with multiple money-saving ticket packages that start as low as $205 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 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! Qualifying will be held August 1-2 and is free to the public.
Log on to www.mubadalasvc.com for more information.
2015 Bank of the West Classic Acceptance List (as of July 27)
1 Serena Williams USA
5 Caroline Wozniacki (WC) DEN
7 Agnieszka Radwanska (WC) POL
10 Carla Suarez Navarro ESP
12 Karolina Pliskova CZE
13 Angelique Kerber ; GER
16 Andrea Petkovic GER
17 Elina Svitolina UKR
18 Madison Keys   USA
22 Sabine Lisicki   GER
35 Caroline Garcia   FRA
40 Daria Gavrilova   RUS
45 Varvara Lepchenko USA
48 Mirjana Lucic-Baroni CRO
51 Carina Witthoeft   GER
54 Alison Riske   USA
61 Mona Barthel   GER
66 Saisai Zheng   CHN
68 Katerina Siniakova CZE
74 Vitalia Diatchenko RUS
87 Ana Konjuh   CRO
64 Tatjana Maria   GER
167 CICI Bellis (WC)   USA