Silicon Valley Classic 2022: Women's draw, schedule, players, prize money breakdown & more
The 50th edition of the Silicon Valley Classic will be held from August 1-7, 2022, with qualifying rounds already underway. World No. 3 Maria Sakkari headlines the a rather competitive field.
Fellow top-10 players Paula Badosa, Ons Jabeur and Aryna Sabalenka round out the top four seeds. Another top-10 player, Garbine Muguruza, is also participating at the Silicon Valley Classic. Teenage sensation Coco Gauff is also in the mix, along with former World No. 1 Karolina Pliskova.
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Grand Slam champions Naomi Osaka, Bianca Andreescu and Elena Rybakina are also in the running while defending champion Danielle Collins was ruled out of the tournament due to a neck injury. With plenty of star players in contention, here's all the information you need to know about the 2022 Silicon Valley Classic.
What is the Silicon Valley Classic?
With the inaugural edition taking place in 1971, the Silicon Valley Classic is one of the oldest tournaments on the WTA circuit. The event has undergone quite a few transitions since it started.
Over the first 20 years, the tournament name changed from time to time. Initially, it was known as the British Motor Cars Inviation, which was then changed to Virginia Slims of San Francisco. It was later known as the Avon Championships of California, before reverting to the Virginia Slims label once again.
From 1992 to 2017, it was known as the Bank of the West Classic and found a permanent venue on the Stanford University campus. Since 2018, the tournament has been held on the San Jose University campus and has been rebranded as the Silicon Valley Classic. Mubadala Investment Company is currently the primary sponsor of the event.
Martina Navratilova holds the record for most titles here with five. Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Venus and Serena Williams are some of the other notable names to have won the tournament.
Players
World No. 3 Maria Sakkari and 2022 Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur headline the top half of the draw. The two have received a bye into the second round. Grand Slam champions Bianca Andreescu and Garbine Muguruza are also in this half of the draw.
The former is up against Shelby Rogers in the first round, while the latter will take on Camila Giorgi. Also in this part of the draw are former World No. 1 Karolina Pliskova and home favorite Amanda Anisimova.
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Paula Badosa and Aryna Sabalenka, seeded second and fourth respectively, lead the bottom half of the draw. The two have also received first-round byes. Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff are on a collision course in the second round, but will have to get past Qinwen Zheng and Anhelina Kalinina respectively in the opening round.
Newly crowned Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina was handed a tough draw. She'll have to get past Daria Kasatkina and Veronika Kudermetova in the first couple of rounds.
Click here to check out the detailed draw analysis.
Schedule
The qualifying rounds will take place on July 30-31, with the with the main draw play commencing on Monday, August 1. The first and second round matches will be played from Monday to Thursday. The quarterfinals are to be held on Friday, followed by the semifinals and the final on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
To view the detailed tournament schedule, click here.
Prize Money
The total prize money for the 2022 Silicon Valley Classic is $757,900. The women's singles winner will take home a cheque worth $116,340 and 470 ranking points. Here's a detailed breakdown of the prize money and ranking points:
Where to watch
USA: Viewers in the United States can catch all the action on the Tennis Channel.
UK: Fans in the UK can watch the proceedings live on Amazon Prime Video.