July 11, 2008

STANFORD, Calif.- The Stanford women's tennis program will be well-represented this weekend when the 2008 Bank of the West Classic gets underway at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium. The qualifying round begins on Saturday and main draw competition starts July 14.

Amber Liu will be competing in the main draw while Anne Yelsey partners with former UCLA standout Riza Zalameda in the main doubles draw.

Liu, a two-time NCAA singles champion and playing in her third Bank of the West Classic, will face fifth-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland in the opening round.

The opposing squad for Yelsey and Zalameda has yet to be determined. A three-time All-American and two-time All-Pac-10 selection during her career, Yelsey joined former Cardinal standout Alice Barnes as the 2006 ITA National Doubles Team of the Year.

Yelsey and former Cardinal Theresa Logar will also compete in the qualifying singles draw. A three-time All-American, Logar closed out her career with a singles record at 140-28. Her 88 career dual match wins are tied for eighth in school history.

Also in the mix is Hilary Barte, who recently put the finishing touches on an impressive freshman season in 2008. The 2008 ITA National Rookie of the Year, Barte posted a team-best 30-8 overall mark while finishing 22-4 in duals. She became the first freshman in school history to win at least 30 overall matches and 20 duals since 2004 when Theresa Logar posted a 38-4 overall mark and was 27-0 in dual match action. Barte earned a final No. 4 national ranking and was the third seed at the NCAA Singles Championship.

Yelsey faces Russia's Olga Puchkova, Logar battles Japan's Ayumi Morita and Barte squares off against Russia's Natalie Grandin. Those matches all take place Saturday and admission is free.

About the Bank of the West Classic:
The Bank of the West Classic, in its 38th year, is the longest-running women-only professional tennis tournament in the world and is the first stop of the US Open Series. A Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Tier II event, the Bank of the West Classic is a well-established Bay Area event and features a 28-player singles draw and a 16-team doubles draw with total prize money of $700,000. 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 and Venus Williams. Serving up the best in women's tennis, exceptional television coverage and with 33,000 expected to be in attendance throughout the week, the Bank of the West Classic is sure to provide world class entertainment for all ages.

About Bank of the West:
Founded in 1874 and headquartered in San Francisco, $62 billion-asset Bank of the West is the second-largest commercial bank based in California. Bank of the West offers a full range of business, trust, international and personal banking services. The bank currently operates more than 700 commercial and retail banking locations in 19 Western and Midwestern states. In 2008, Bank of the West ranked "Highest in Customer Satisfaction among Retail Banks in the West" by J.D. Power and Associates. Bank of the West's holding company, BancWest Corporation, is owned by BNP Paribas, a leading global financial services institution ranked by Standard & Poor's as one of the world's four strongest banks. More information is available at www.bankofthewest.com.