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STANFORD, Calif. (www.mubadalasvc.com) – Wildcard Carol Zhao’s impressive qualifying run at the 2014 Bank of the West Classic continued on Sunday afternoon, punching her ticket into the main draw along with three other qualifiers.
Zhao won her second consecutive three-set match, defeating Marina Shamayko 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 less than 24 hours after she rallied for a 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (3) triumph over Katerina Siniakova, the qualifying draw’s No. 2 seed.
Up next for Zhao, a 19-year-old rising sophomore and All-American from Stanford, is a first-round contest against Yanina Wickmayer.
Aleksandra Wozniak, the qualifying draw’s No. 1 seed and 2008 Bank of the West Classic champion, was upset 6-4, 6-1 by Sachia Vickery, who will next face Shuai Zhang in the first round.
Joining Wozniak as an upset victim was No. 7 Petra Martic, who was edged by Naomi Osaka 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-1. Osaka’s first round opponent will be Samantha Stosur.
The final qualifying match resulted in fifth-seeded Paula Kania cruising past Raquel Kops-Jones 6-4, 6-1. Kania’s prize is an opening-round contest against Venus Williams.
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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 $710,000. 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 THE BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC: Founded in 1874, $68 billion-asset Bank of the West (www.bankofthewest.com), Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender, offers a wide range of personal, commercial, wealth management and international banking services. The bank operates more than 600 retail and commercial banking locations in 19 Western and Midwestern states. Bank of the West is a subsidiary of BNP Paribas, which has a presence in 80 countries with 190,000 employees.
About the Emirates Airline US Open Series: Now in its 11th season, the Emirates Airline US Open Series continues to serve as a true regular season of hard court tennis, linking eight summer tournaments to the US Open. Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams won the 2013 US Open and Emirates Airline US Open Series men’s and women’s titles, each earning a record tennis paycheck of $3.6 million. Roger Federer (2007) and Kim Clijsters (2005) also accomplished the feat of winning the Emirates Airline US Open Series and US Open singles title within the same year.