STANFORD, Calif. (www.mubadalasvc.com) – For the twelfth time in her 20-year career, seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams has entered to play in the Bank of the West Classic. The 34-year-old American boasts 45 career WTA titles under her belt, most recently winning at Dubai in February earlier this year. Venus joins her sister, World No. 1 and 17-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams, World No. 4 and 2012 Wimbledon finalist Agnieska Radwanska , World No. 6 and 2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, World No. 7 Angelique Kerber along with defending Bank of the West Classic champion, Australian Open finalist and World No. 10 Dominika Cibulkova in a Grand Slam-quality player field.

Tickets for this year’s event, which will be held July 28 – August 3 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).

Williams will be returning to Stanford looking to claim her third Bank of the West Classic singles trophy. Incredibly, Venus has reached the final of this tournament seven times, including her last four attempts. She defeated top-seeded Lindsay Davenport in 2000 and Kim Clijsters in 2002 to claim her two Bank of the West Classic titles.

On top of featuring five of the Top 10, the premier WTA event will display 11 of the Top 20, including No. 11 Ana Ivanovic, No. 14 Sara Errani, No. 15 Carla Suarez-Navarro, No. 17 Samantha Stosur, No. 19 Sabine Lisicki and No. 20 Andrea Petkovic, one of this year’s French Open semifinalists. Ivanovic has won 14 WTA titles in her 11-year career, including a French Open championship in 2008, while Errani has seven titles to her name as she looks to finish 2014 in the Top 10 for the third straight season. Carla Suarez-Navarro, who captured her first WTA title this year at Oeiras, finished her first Top-20 season last year and Sam Stosur, the 2011 US Open champion, returns to Stanford for the eighth time in her career as she looks to claim her 6th WTA title and first-ever Bank of the West Classic trophy. Lisicki revisits Stanford for the third time in her career after falling to Serena Williams in the 2011 semifinals and Petkovic makes her first Bank of the West Classic appearance following a stellar performance at Roland Garros where she fell to Simona Halep in the semifinals.

Individual session tickets for the opening round are on sale now and start as low as $30. If you plan on staying for an entire day of matches, Daily Double packages start at just $48.

The Bank of the West Classic also provides fans with multiple money-saving ticket packages that start as low as $190 for Night Session Packages, $255 for Weekend Packages and $595 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 July 26-27 and is free to the public.
 
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 $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.

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