Serena Williams, Jankovic Star at WTA LA

Posted on July 21, 2008

LOS ANGELES, CA, USA -- The summer hardcourt season kicked off in Stanford last week and both Top 10 players in action -- Serena Williams and Anna Chakvetadze 00 came away without the title; at Los Angeles this week they will be joined by another two Top 10 players -- Jelena Jankovic and Dinara Safina -- in the hunt for the second summer hardcourt event, the $600,000 East West Bank Classic presented by Herbalife.

Jankovic has worked her way up to No.2 in the world thanks to an incredibly consistent season, reaching the quarterfinals or better at 11 of 12 events; but she has only gone all the way to the title one time -- at Rome -- and is hoping to kick off her summer hardcourt season the same way here. And she has done well here in the past, reaching the final in 2006 and the semis last year. The top seed this week, she received a first round bye and will begin in the second round against Vania King or qualifier Angela Haynes.

Williams has had a strong season, taking home titles at Bangalore, Miami and Charleston and two weeks ago reaching her 11th career Grand Slam final at Wimbledon. Last week in Stanford she was forced to retire from her semifinal match against eventual champion Aleksandra Wozniak due to a left knee injury, and hopes to rebound as the No.2 seed this week. She also got a first round bye and opens against either Petra Kvitova or Alisa Kleybanova.

Williams is a two-time champion here, in 1999 and 2000, and reached the final in 2004 as well (falling to Lindsay Davenport).

Two Russian Top 10 players -- Chakvetadze and Safina -- round out the Top 4 seeds. Like Williams, world No.8 Chakvetadze hopes to rebound from an early exit at Stanford, having fallen to Marion Bartoli in the quarterfinals; it will be the first summer hardcourt appearance for world No.9 Safina, who reached her first Grand Slam final at the French Open in June and hopes to keep building on that.

Rounding out the Top 8 seeds are former Top 10 players Vera Zvonareva, Daniela Hantuchova and Patty Schnyder, as well as potential future Top 10 star Victoria Azarenka. Lurking among the lower seeds is Nadia Petrova, who had a strong grass court season -- reaching the Eastbourne final and the Wimbledon quarterfinals -- and who was the runner-up here last year, to Ana Ivanovic.

This is the 39th staging of the East West Bank Classic presented by Herbalife and past champions include Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Davenport and Williams.
-- Courtesy Sony Ericsson WTA Tour