Tournament officials at the Bank of the West Classic announced Thursday that last year’s champion Anna Chakvetadze plans to return to Stanford this summer.
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 Olympus US Open Series.
Chakvetadze is currently ranked No. 8 in the world and has seven Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles titles to her credit.
Last year was a breakout season for the young Russian star as she captured four singles titles, including the Bank of the West Classic, reached the semifinals of the US Open and quarterfinals of both the Australian Open and French Open.
Chakvetadze joins three-time Grand Slam Champion Lindsay Davenport and 2007 Bank of the West Classic finalist Sania Mirza as tournament commitments.
The Bank of the West Classic, a Sony Ericsson WTA Tour event, features a 28-player singles draw as well as a 16-team doubles draw.
The list of past champions of the event reads like a Who’s Who of women’s tennis including Davenport, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Andrea Jaeger, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters.
The 2008 Bank of the West Classic will be held July 14-20 at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium on the campus of Stanford University.
