Bank of the West Classic 2015: Monday Tennis Scores, Results and Draw Schedule
Some of the best women's tennis players in the world have descended upon Stanford, California, for the 2015 Bank of the West Classic. This tournament is a great opportunity for players to build much-needed momentum on the road to the 2015 U.S. Open, which begins Aug. 31.
The first round of the Bank of the West Classic officially began Monday with six matches starting in the morning and running well into the night, with Madison Keys and Andrea Petkovic among the more notable participants.
Here's a look at how the action unfolded and what's in store for Tuesday.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Monday Results
| Misaki Doi | Catherine Bellis | 6-3, 7-6(3) |
| Nicole Gibbs | Caroline Garcia | 6-4, 7-5 |
| Andrea Petkovic (6) | Carina Witthoeft | 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 |
| Madison Keys (7) | Aleksandra Krunic | 6-3, 6-0 |
| Alison Riske | Tatjana Maria | 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 |
| Mona Barthel | Carol Zhao | 6-3, 6-0 |
Tuesday Schedule
| Stadium Court | |
| Mirjana Lucic-Baroni vs. Varvara Lepchenko | 11 a.m. PT |
| Elina Svitolina (8) vs. Kateryna Bondarenko | Not Before 1 p.m. PT |
| Vitalia Diatchenko vs. Ajla Tomljanovic | --- |
| Angelique Kerber (5) vs. Daria Gavrilova | Not Before 7 p.m. PT |
| Kimiko Date-Krumm vs. Sabine Lisicki | --- |
| Court 6 | |
| Saisai Zheng vs. Ana Konjuh | 11 a.m. PT |
Monday Recap
The last time tennis fans saw Keys, she fell to Agnieszka Radwanska in the Wimbledon quarterfinals; that was roughly a month ago.
The 20-year-old showed little rust in her return, beating Aleksandra Krunic in straight sets, 6-3, 6-0. This WTA Insider tweet highlights just how dominant Keys was in the second set:
A big reason the seventh-seeded Keys had so much success was her decided advantage on serve. She completed a somewhat unspectacular 26 of her 48 first-service attempts. But in those 26 times in which her first serve landed in, Keys won 24 of the points.
In total, Krunic won a paltry 12 of her 48 return points.
It's going to be tough to win a match when you're accomplishing so little with your returns. Making matters worse for Krunic, she was just 7-of-19 on second serve.
In the end, it was an easy victory for Keys.
Another American, CiCi Bellis, wasn't quite so lucky. The 16-year-old Bellis pushed Misaki Doi to a tiebreaker in the second set, but she couldn't extend the match and fell 3-6, 6-7(3).
"She’s obviously a really good player, and I thought I gave her a good fight in the second," said Bellis of her opponent, per Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle. "I just look at this as another great experience, to play higher-ranked players and realize how tough it is.
Bellis simply couldn't consistently figure out Doi's serve, converting one of her six break-point opportunities throughout the match. Doi had five aces on the day and won 77 percent of her first-serve points. Fittingly, she secured the win with an ace down the middle of the box (via the WTA):
The 24-year-old Doi won't have long to savor the triumph. She plays Radwanska in the second round, whom she lost to 1-6, 1-6 in their only meeting.
Petkovic—the other seeded player in action Monday—received all she could handle from Carina Witthoeft. Eventually, the No. 17 player in the world prevailed in three sets, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3.
Witthoeft ran out to a 5-1 lead in the first set before Petkovic could seemingly get her bearings. Although Petkovic eventually dropped that set, the fact she pushed it to 12 games was a win in and of itself. Witthoeft didn't look the same player from that point forward, the confidence she had in the first six games fading with each game.
Petkovic will play Mona Barthel in the second round, which shouldn't present a serious challenge. The German national could run into major trouble in the quarterfinals, however, where a potential head-to-head matchup with top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki looms.
Note: Match stats are courtesy of WTATennis.com.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
