WTA July 26-Aug 1: Stanford & Istanbul Bank of the West Classic Stanford, CA PREMIER $700,000 32m/32q/16d outdoor: hard Live Scores draws: WTA     tourn. draws: S - Q - D - schedule pics: Y!: sports - news | WTA Stanford: radar - forecast sports: Chronicle - Stan Daily # , # # , # Istanbul Cup Istanbul, TUR INTL $220,000 32m/32q/16d outdoor: hard Live Scores draws: WTA     tourn.draws: S - Q - D - OOP pics: Y!: sports - news | AF - WTA Istanbul: weather forecast # , # # , #

Tourney pages: Stanford & Istanbul: 2009   Istanbul: 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 Stanford: 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 previous other tourney pages next Istanbul 2009: #49 Vera Dushevina 5' 10¾" 161lb RH 2H-BH Stanford 2009: #15 Marion Bartoli 5' 6¾" 128lb RH 2H-FH&BH

    The Stanford & Istanbul draws are not yet available as of this writing (qualifying draws are usually up on the Friday before the tourney begins, main draws on Saturday, sometimes later). The links are above for your convenience when the draws become available.

---

  Stanford, 2009:

On Sunday at Stanford University, in the final of the Bank of the West Classic, 24-year-old 8th-seeded #15 Marion Bartoli of France (residence: Geneva, Switzerland) won one of the biggest victories of her career, defeating 28-year-old 2nd-seeded #3 Venus Williams from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 (Marion is shown with her new fine glassware after the match). Marion's prize is $107,000; Venus's prize is $57,000.     The match lasted 2 hours and 43 minutes. Venus was plagued by her most common problem, forehand errors, and also had troubles with her 2nd serve. Although she struck 8 aces, she committed 12 double faults, and won only 35% of her 2nd serve points (Marion: 1 ace, 5 DFs, won 53% of 2nd serve points).     Marion broke Venus's serve at the start of the match, and wound up converting 6 of 14 break points. Venus converted 4 of 12 break points against Marion.     Marion said: "When I served for the match, [Venus] sensed I was tight, and she started coming up with big winners. I just tried to stay positive and focused in the third set. We had some great rallies in the third set. It was so hard to win the last game." WTA story - AP story

    Venus said: "Marion played really well today... It was a tough day. I had to fight through it and in the end I ran out of time. My last few matches were so good, but today I just couldn't execute the way I wanted."

    Venus and Marion had met only once before, in the final of The Championships at Wimbledon in 2007, when Venus defeated Marion 6-4, 6-1.

    Marion, who also reached the Stanford final last year (and lost to Aleksandra Wozniak, 7-5, 6-3) is now 5-5 in WTA singles finals; she also won the Monterrey title earlier this year. Marion has a 35-14 match record in 2009.
    7-time Grand Slam tourney champion Venus is now 41-24 in WTA singles finals; she won the Dubai and Acapulco titles earlier this year. Venus has a 31-8 match record for the season.

  Istanbul, 2009:

    On Sunday in Turkey, in the final of the Istanbul Cup, 22-year-old 5th-seeded #49 Vera Dushevina from Khimki, Russia (suburb north of Moscow), won her first WTA singles title by obliterating 24-year-old 8th-seeded #69 Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic, 6-0, 6-1 (Vera is shown holding the hardware after the match). Vera's prize is $37,000; Lucie's is $19,000.

    Vera and Lucie had never before met on the field of combat. Lucie did not reach break point against Vera during the match, which lasted only 41 minutes and 54 seconds. Only 67 points were played (52 is the fewest points possible in 13 games): Vera won 51 and Lucie 16.

    Vera said: "I was serving very well today. I tried to be aggressive and push forward so [Lucie] didn't have any chance to attack. If she played better it would have been a much tougher match, but it wasn't easy for me - it was a final." WTA story

    Lucie said: "Vera played very well today... She didn't make any mistakes... Before the tournament, if somebody came and told me I'd play the final of singles and win the doubles, I'd have said they were joking."

    Vera is now 1-3 in WTA singles finals; she reached the Stockholm final in 2007 and 2008, and the Eastbourne final in 2005. She also won the 2007 Warsaw doubles title, partnered with Tatiana Perebiynis. Vera has a 28-13 match record in 2009.
    Lucie is now 0-3 in WTA singles finals; she reached the Strasbourg final earlier this year, and the Bad Gastein final last year. Lucie has won 6 WTA doubles titles (including the Istanbul title on Saturday partnered with Renata Voracova), plus 14 ITF singles and 24 ITF doubles titles. Lucie's 2009 match record is 28-17.

Istanbul player's blog by Aravane Rezai

---

WTA SCOREBOARD: Stanford & Istanbul s=seed, #=rank, *=upset, LL=lucky loser ranks are for the previous week How do players get into the "draw"? The Bank of the West Classic  Stanford University, Palo Alto, California   NWS weather radar tourney time:        = GMT -7 hours        = US EDT -3 hours        = US PDT San Francisco Area news - California news Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar   click for broader view   Stanford University tennis courts Lat.: 37.430637 Lon.: -122.16188 goto link for World Wind     Stanford: The main draw for Stanford has 8 seeds, with no 1st-round byes. There are 4 qualifiers and 3 wild cards in the main draw. Qualifying finals are on Monday. Bank of the West Classic venue address: Taube Family Tennis Stadium, Stanford, CA 94305     2009 is the 39th year of the tourney that has become the Bank of the West Classic, the longest-running women-only pro tennis tournament. The Bank of the West Classic has been held at Stanford University's Taube Tennis Stadium since 1997. 37,226 people attended the 13 sessions in 2005. The tourney is owned and operated by IMG (International Management Group); Bank of the West has been the tourney's title sponsor since 1992. 2009: On Monday, July 27, top seed Serena Williams, 2nd seed Venus Williams, and 4th seed Jelena Jankovic played Meet the Press at Stanford... 3rd seed Elena Dementieva took a field trip for photos at the, uh, Foggy Gate Bridge...

Stanford, 1st Rd, Mon-Tue 11am losers' prize: $4,580 US; points: 1

Stanford, 2nd Rd, Wed-Thu 11am losers' prize: $8,590 US; points: 60

Stanford, QFs, Fri noon losers' prize: $15,925 US; points: 120

Stanford, SFs, Sat 1pm losers' prize: $30,000 US; points: 200

Stanford, Final, Sun noon loser's prize: $56,000 US; points: 320 winner's prize: $107,000 US; points: 470

Stanford, Doubles Final, Sun after singles & rest losers' prize: $17,800 US winners' prize: $34,000 US Stanford, Qual Finals, Mon Jul 26 11am losers' prizes: q1 $700 1pt; q2 $1,320 8pts; q3 $2,460 12pts; qualifier 20 points Stanford, Withdrawals

Istanbul Cup,  Istanbul, Turkey   tourney time:        = GMT +3 hours        = US EDT +7 hours        = US PDT +10 hours Turkey News Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar     Istanbul: 32-player The main draw for Istanbul has 8 seeds, with no 1st-round byes. There are 4 qualifiers and 3 wild cards in the main draw. Qualifying finals are on Monday.   click for broader view   ENKA Sadi Gülçelik Sports Center Latitude: 41.113245 Longitude: 29.036736 goto link for World Wind Istanbul Cup venue address: ENKA Arena, ENKA Sadi Gülçelik Spor Tesisleri, Istinye Bayırı Cad., Istinye/Sarıyer/ISTANBUL     The 2011-2013 WTA Championships, which will also be held in İstanbul, are to take place at the Ataköy Sinan Erdem Sports Center, which is still under construction for the 2010 World Basketball Championships. 2009: On Sunday, July 27, top seeds Anabel Medina Garrigues, Vera Dushevina, Aravane Rezai, Patty Schnyder, and Vera Zvonareva, along with Turkish players Ipek Senoglu and Cagla Buyukakcay, were looking good outside the Istanbul Archaeological Museum...

Istanbul, 1st Rnd, Mon-Tue 10am loser's prize: $1,725 US; points: 1

Istanbul, 2nd Round, Wed-Thu noon loser's prize: $2,950 US; points: 30

Istanbul, QFs, Fri loser's prize: $5,340 US; points: 70

Istanbul, SFs, Sat 2pm loser's prize: $10,200 US; points: 130

Istanbul, Final, Sun 6pm loser's prize: $19,000 US; points: 200 winner's prize: $37,000 US; points: 280

Istanbul, Doubles Final, Sat 8pm+ loser's prize: $5,750 US winner's prize: $11,000 US Istanbul, Qual Finals, Monday Jul 26 10am losers' prizes: q1 $265 1pt; q2 $460 6pts; q3 $860 10pts; qualifier 16 points Istanbul, Withdrawals

See also: QuickShop: Sporting Goods - Martina Hingis - Anna Kournikova

Current WTA Results & Tennis News (tennis home page) - 2010 WTA Schedule with links & photos

Link to many postmatch interview & match highlight videos of WTA players at the 2009 WTA Player Videos page.

WTA PhotoRankings: the current top 20 Women's Tennis rankings with player photos, links, and bio info.