By Town Crier Staff Report
The Bank of the West Classic, the world’s longest-running women-only professional tennis tournament, is in full swing this week at Stanford University.
The WTA Tour Tier II event began Monday and runs through Sunday at Stanford’s Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
Six players ranked among the top 10 in the world have entered the tournement, now in its 32nd year.
Venus Williams, ranked No. 2, heads the list of competitors. Williams, owner of 25 WTA Tour singles titles, won the Bank of the West two years ago.
Kim Clijsters, last year’s Bank of the West singles champ, is back to defend her crown. Belgian Clijsters, ranked No. 5, has seven WTA singles titles to her credit.
Also on the bill are Lindsay Davenport (No. 
and Monica Seles (No. 4), who have each twice claimed singles titles at the Bank of the West. This will be Davenport’s first action of the season; she’s been sidelined since late 2001 with a knee injury.
Sixth-ranked Justine Henin, the 2002 German Open champ, and No. 7 Jelena Dokic, who won the Birmingham and Sarasota Opens this year, have entered the event as well.
Other top-25 players who have entered include Meghann Shaughnessy (No. 16), Anna Smashnova (No. 17), Daja Bedanova (No. 21 ), Tatiana Panova (No. 23 ) and Tamarine Tanasugarn (No. 24).
The field also includes Anna Kournikova and American Lisa Raymond.
The Bank of the West features a 28-player singles draw and a 16-team doubles draw, with prize money totaling $585,000.
Two sessions of matches are scheduled for each day, except for Sunday’s finals. Day sessions begin at noon, today through Friday, and 1:30 p.m., Saturday. Evening sessions start at 7:30 p.m., today through Saturday. The singles final is slated for 1:30 p.m., Sunday, with the doubles championship to follow.
Individual tickets are available through City Box Office at (415) 392-4400, or through Tickets.com at 478-2277. Box seat and weekend packages are available by calling (415) 227-8099.
For more information, logon to www.bankofthewestclassic.com.
