Serena Leads Stanford, Men and Women in Washington; ATP/WTA Previews

BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC
Stanford, Calif.; Surface: hard

Seeds: Serena Williams, Agnieszka Radwanska, Angelique Kerber, Victoria Azarenka, Ana Ivanovic, Dominika Cibulkova, Carla Suarez Navarro, Andrea Petkovic
ADHEREL
Floaters: (WC) Venus Williams, Sabine Lisicki, Sam Stosur, Coco Vandeweghe, Monica Puig, Caroline Garcia

Notes: Solid field with four Top 10ers and two unseeded Slam champs…The Top 4 seeds receive opening round byes, with tough starts for (5) Ivanovic vs. Lisicki, (4) Azarenka after a bye likely vs. (WC) Venus, (3) Kerber likely vs. Vandeweghe, (7) Suarez Navarro vs. Puig, and (2) Radwanska likely vs. Garcia…Wildcards went to Americans Kristie Ahn and Venus, and Azarenka…Pulling from the tournament were Sara Errani and Petra Kvitova…Cibulkova beat Radwanska in last year’s final…Venus is 2-4 in Stanford finals…Martina Navratilova (5-4) has reached the most Stanford finals in the tournament’s history…Returning champs in the field are Cibulkova (2013), Serena Williams (2012-11), Azarenka (2010), and Venus Williams (2002,’00).

CITI OPEN
Washington, D.C.; Surface: hard

Men’s Seeds: Tomas Berdych, Milos Raonic, Grigor Dimitrov, Kei Nishikori, John Isner, Richard Gasquet, Kevin Anderson, Feliciano Lopez, Ivo Karlovic, Santiago Giraldo, Radek Stepanek, Jeremy Chardy, Vasek Pospisil, Lleyton Hewitt, Denis Istomin, Yen-Hsun Lu

Men’s Floaters: Sam Querrey, Sergiy Stakhovsky, Bernard Tomic, Jack Sock

Men’s Notes: Four Top 10 players and the top American John Isner in the field…All 16 seeded players receive opening-round byes, but tough potential seeded opening-round meetings include (4) Nishikori vs. Querrey, (11) Stepanek vs. Stakhovsky, (15) Istomin vs. Tomic, and (2) Raonic vs. Sock…Wildcards went to Berdych, Aussie James Duckworth, Canuck Filip Peliwo, and American Francis Tiafoe…Pulling from the event were Ivan Dodig, Matthew Ebden, Bradley Klahn, Gael Monfils and Dmitry Tursunov…The Bryan brothers (3-2 in Washington finals) are the top seeds in doubles…U.S. juniors Jared Donaldson/Stefan Kozlov received a doubles wildcard…Returning former singles champs in the field are Stepanek (2011) and Hewitt (2004).

Women’s Seeds: Lucie Safarova, Ekaterina Makarova, Alize Cornet, Sloane Stephens, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Madison Keys, Sorana Cirstea

Women’s Floaters: Julia “Gorgeous” Goerges, Christine McHale, Maggie Rybarikova

Women’s Notes: No Top 15 players in the draw…Wildcards went to Canadian Francoise Abanda and American Shelby Rogers…Interesting openers for (4) Stephens vs. countrywoman McHale, and (2) Makarova vs. the two-time defending champion Rybarikova…Withdrawals from the event were Eugenie Bouchard, Jana Cepelova, and Monica Niculescu…Rybarikova beat Andrea Petkovic in last year’s final…Absent are last year’s doubles runners-up Bouchard and Taylor Townsend…Rybarikova (2013-12) is the lone former champ in the field.

BET AT HOME CUP
Kitzbuhel, Austria; Surface: clay

Seeds: Philipp Kohlschreiber, Marcel Granollers, Lukas Rosol, Andreas Seppi, Dominic Thiem, Robin Haase, Jarkko Nieminen, Pablo Carreno Busta

Floaters: Juan Monaco

Notes: No Top 20 players or depth of unseeded threats…Granollers beat Monaco in last year’s final after getting bageled in the first set…Wildcards went to Belgian David Goffin, Austria’s Gerald Melzer and Germany’s Alexander Zverev…Withdrawing from the event were Nicolas Almagro, Carlos Berlocq, Martin Klizan, Leonardo Mayer and Joao Sousa…Past champs in the field are Granollers (2013), Haase (2012-11), and Monaco (2007).

 

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