The Taube Family Tennis Stadium will host the best in women’s tennis as five of the top-10 and 21 of the top-50 ranked players in the world will play the 2008 Bank of the West Classic, July 14-20, on the campus of Stanford University.
For the first time since 2002 the Bank of the West Classic field boasts five players ranked in the top-10 including eight time Grand Slam Champion Serena Williams (No. 5), defending Bank of the West Classic Champion Anna Chakvetadze (No. 6), Russian standout Elena Dementieva (No. 8), 2007 Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli (No. 9) and Slovakian star Daniela Hantuchova (No. 10).
The Bank of the West Classic’s impressive field also features former World No. 1 and three-time Grand Slam Champion Lindsay Davenport, 2007 Bank of the West Classic finalist Sania Mirza, former World No. 3 and seven-time Tour winner Nadia Petrova, 10-time Tour winner Patty Schnyder, three-time Tour winner and two-time defending Bank of the West Classic doubles champion Shahar Peer, six-time Tour winner Ai Sugiyama and Chinese star Li Na.
Overall, there are 15 countries represented by the 21 players currently entered to play the tournament.
Heading into this summer’s Olympics in Beijing, the 2008 Bank of the West Classic will feature the No. 1 ranked player from 14 different counties including the United States (Williams), France (Bartoli), Slovakia (Hantuchova), Swtizerland (Schnyder), Belarus (Victoria Azarenka), Israel (Peer), Italy (Francesca Schiavone), Ukraine (Alona Bondarenko), India (Mirza), Japan (Sugiyama), China (Li), Argentina (Gisela Dulko), Bulgaria (Tsvetana Pironkova) and Uzbekistan (Akgul Amanmuradova).
2008 BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC PLAYER FIELD
WILLIAMS, Serena – USA
CHAKVETADZE, Anna – RUS
DEMENTIEVA, Elena – RUS
BARTOLI, Marion – FRA
HANTUCHOVA, Daniela – SVK
SCHNYDER, Patty – SUI
AZARENKA, Victoria – BLR
PEER, Shahar – ISR
SCHIAVONE, Francesca – ITA
PETROVA, Nadia – RUS
DAVENPORT, Lindsay – USA
BONDARENKO, Alona – UKR
CIBULKOVA, Dominika – SVK
MIRZA, Sania – IND
SUGIYAMA, Ai – JPN
GOVORTSOVA, Olga – BLR
LI, Na – CHN
DULKO, Gisela – ARG
PIRONKOVA, Tsvetana – BUL
VESNINA, Elena – RUS
AMANMURADOVA, Akgul- UZB
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 event is owned and operated by IMG and serves as the opening women’s event of the Olympus US Open Series.
The list of past champions of the event reads like a Who’s Who of women’s tennis including Lindsay Davenport, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Andrea Jaeger, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters and Anna Chakvetadze.
For more information, please visit www.bankofthewestclassic.com.
