Silicon Valley Classic Explained

Silicon Valley Classic
Type:	defunct
Tour:	ILTF World Circuit (1971–72) Virginia Slims Circuit (1973–87) WTA Tour (1988–2022)
Logo Size:	200px
Editions:	50 (2022)
City:	San Jose, California
Country:	United States
Venue:	San Jose State University
Tier:	WTA Tier II (1990 - 2008) WTA Premier tournaments (2009 - 2019) WTA 500 (2021 - 2022)
Surface:	Hardcourt / outdoor
Draw:	28S / 16SQ / 16D)2022)
Prize Money:	US$ 757,900 (2022)
Website:	mubadalasvc.com

The Silicon Valley Classic was a tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held on the campus of San Jose State University in San Jose, California. Started in 1971, the tournament was the oldest women's-only tournament in the world and was played on outdoor hardcourts.^[1] It was the first women's tournament in the annual US Open Series.

The tournament started out as the British Motor Cars Invitation in 1971 on the Virginia Slims circuit. Prior to 1978, the tournament was known as the Virginia Slims of San Francisco. The tournament was sponsored by Bank of the West from 1992 to 2017 (branding it as the Bank of the West Classic), and held on the campus of Stanford University from 1997 to 2017, and run by Dick Gould.^[2] The event moved to San Jose State University in 2018 and received a new sponsor, Mubadala Investment Company, branding the tournament as the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic.^[3]

Martina Navratilova won the tournament a record five times (1979–1980, 1988, 1991, and 1993).^[4]

On June 1, 2023, it was announced that the tournament would merge with the pre-existing Washington Open and move permanently to Washington, D.C. The Washington tournament thereby went from being a WTA 250 event to being a WTA 500 event. The Silicon Valley Classic thus held its final tournament in 2022.^[5]

Past finals

Singles

Year	Champion	Score
1971		6–3, 6–4
1972	Billie Jean King (2)	7–6^(5–0), 7–6^(5–2)
1973		6–3, 6–3
1974	Billie Jean King (3)	7–6^(5–2), 6–2
1975		6–1, 6–1
1976	Chris Evert (2)	7–5, 7–6^(5–2)
1977		6–3, 6–4
1978	Not held
		7–5, 7–5
	Martina Navratilova (2)	6–1, 7–6^(7–4)
1981		6–3, 6–1
1982	Andrea Jaeger (2)	7–6^(7–5), 6–4
1983		6–3, 6–3
1984		7–6^(8–6), 3–6, 6–4
1985	Hana Mandlíková (2)	6–2, 6–4
1986	Chris Evert (3)	6–2, 6–4
1987		7–5, 4–6, 6–3
	Martina Navratilova (3)	6–1, 6–2
	Zina Garrison (2)	6–1, 6–1
↓ Tier II tournament ↓
		6–3, 7–6^(7–5)
	Martina Navratilova (4)	6–3, 3–6, 6–3
	Monica Seles (2)	6–3, 6–4
	Martina Navratilova (5)	6–2, 7–6^(7–1)
		1–6, 7–6^(7–5), 7–6^(7–5)
		6–3, 6–4
		6–2, 6–0
	Martina Hingis (2)	6–0, 6–2
		6–4, 5–7, 6–4
	Lindsay Davenport (2)	7–6^(7–1), 6–2
		6–1, 6–4
		6–4, 6–7^(5–7), 6–1
	Venus Williams (2)	6–3, 6–3
	Kim Clijsters (2)	4–6, 6–4, 6–2
	Lindsay Davenport (3)	7–6^(7–4), 5–7, 7–6^(7–4)
	Kim Clijsters (3)	7–5, 6–2
	Kim Clijsters (4)	6–4, 6–2
		6–3, 6–2
		7–5, 6–3
↓ Premier tournament ↓
		6–2, 5–7, 6–4
		6–4, 6–1
		7–5, 6–1
	Serena Williams (2)	7–5, 6–3
		3–6, 6–4, 6–4
	Serena Williams (3)	7–6^(7–1), 6–3
		6–3, 5–7, 6–4
		7–5, 5–7, 6–2
		7–6^(7–4), 6–4
		6–1, 6–0
		6–3, 7–6^(7–3)
2020	Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic
↓ WTA 500 tournament ↓
		6–3, 6–7^(10–12), 6–1
		6–7^(2–7), 6–1, 6–2

Doubles

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Score
1971	Rosemary Casals Billie Jean King		6–4, 6–7, 6–1
1972	Rosemary Casals (2) Virginia Wade		6–3, 5–7, 6–2
1973	Margaret Court Lesley Hunt		6–1, 7–5
1974	Chris Evert Billie Jean King (2)		6–4, 6–2
1975	Chris Evert (2) Billie Jean King (3)		6–2, 7–5
1976	Billie Jean King (4) Betty Stöve		6–4, 6–1
1977	Kerry Reid Greer Stevens		6–3, 6–1
1978	Not held
1979	Rosemary Casals (3) Chris Evert (3)		3–6, 6–4, 6–3
1980	Sue Barker Ann Kiyomura		6–0, 6–4
1981	Rosemary Casals (4) Wendy Turnbull		6–1, 6–4
1982	Barbara Potter Sharon Walsh		6–1, 3–6, 7–6^(7–5)
1983	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch Eva Pfaff		6–4, 4–6, 6–4
1984	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver		6–2, 6–3
1985	Hana Mandlíková Wendy Turnbull		4–6, 7–5, 6–1
1986	Hana Mandlíková (2) Wendy Turnbull (3)		7–6^(7–5), 6–1
1987	Hana Mandlíková (3) Wendy Turnbull (4)		6–4, 7–6^(7–4)
1988	Rosemary Casals (5) Martina Navratilova (2)		6–4, 6–4
1989	Patty Fendick Jill Hetherington		7–5, 3–6, 6–2
1990	Meredith McGrath Anne Smith		2–6, 6–0, 6–4
1991	Patty Fendick (2) Gigi Fernández		6–4, 7–5
1992	Gigi Fernández (2) Natalia Zvereva		3–6, 6–2, 6–4
1993	Patty Fendick (3) Meredith McGrath (2)		6–2, 6–0
1994	Lindsay Davenport Arantxa Sánchez		7–5, 6–4
1995	Lori McNeil Helena Suková		3–6, 6–4, 6–3
1996	Lindsay Davenport (2) Mary Joe Fernández	Irina Spîrlea Nathalie Tauziat	6–1, 6–3
1997	Lindsay Davenport (3) Martina Hingis		6–1, 6–3
1998	Lindsay Davenport (4) Natasha Zvereva (2)		6–4, 6–4
1999	Lindsay Davenport (5) Corina Morariu		6–4, 6–4
2000	Chanda Rubin Sandrine Testud		6–4, 6–4
2001	Janet Lee Wynne Prakusya		3–6, 6–3, 6–3
2002	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs		6–1, 6–1
2003	Cara Black Lisa Raymond (2)		7–6^(7–5), 6–1
2004	Eleni Daniilidou Nicole Pratt		6–2, 6–4
2005	Cara Black (2) Rennae Stubbs (2)		6–3, 7–5
2006	Anna-Lena Grönefeld Shahar Pe'er		6–1, 6–4
2007	Sania Mirza Shahar Pe'er (2)		6–4, 7–6^(7–5)
2008	Cara Black (3) Liezel Huber	Elena Vesnina Vera Zvonareva	6–4, 6–3
↓ Premier tournament ↓
2009	Serena Williams Venus Williams	Chan Yung-jan Monica Niculescu	6–4, 6–1
2010	Lindsay Davenport (6) Liezel Huber (2)	Chan Yung-jan Zheng Jie	7–5, 6–7^(8–10), 10–8
2011	Victoria Azarenka Maria Kirilenko	Liezel Huber Lisa Raymond	6–1, 6–3
2012	Marina Erakovic Heather Watson	Jarmila Gajdošová Vania King	7–5, 7–6^(9–7)
2013	Raquel Kops-Jones Abigail Spears	Julia Görges Darija Jurak	6–2, 7–6^(7–4)
2014	Garbiñe Muguruza Carla Suárez Navarro	Paula Kania Kateřina Siniaková	6–2, 4–6, [10–5]
2015	Xu Yifan Zheng Saisai	Anabel Medina Garrigues Arantxa Parra Santonja	6–1, 6–3
2016	Raquel Atawo (2) Abigail Spears (2)	Darija Jurak Anastasia Rodionova	6–3, 6–4
2017	Abigail Spears (3) Coco Vandeweghe	Alizé Cornet Alicja Rosolska	6–2, 6–3
2018	Latisha Chan Květa Peschke	Lyudmyla Kichenok Nadiia Kichenok	6–4, 6–1
2019	Nicole Melichar Květa Peschke (2)	Shuko Aoyama Ena Shibahara	6–4, 6–4
2020	not held due to the coronavirus pandemic
↓ WTA 500 tournament ↓
2021	Darija Jurak Andreja Klepač		6–1, 7–5
2022	Xu Yifan (2) Yang Zhaoxuan	Shuko Aoyama Chan Hao-ching	7–5, 6–0

Date, name and venue history

**Dates, Names and Venues**^[6]
Year	Dates	Name	Venue
1971	6–9 Jan	British Motor Cars Invitation	San Francisco Civic Auditorium
1972	12–15 Jan
1973	week of 15 Jan
1974	week of 14 Jan	Virginia Slims of San Francisco<		--dummy cell, Civic 4-->
1975	week of 6 Jan
1976	week of 1 Mar
1977	week of 28 Feb
1978	Not held
1979	8–14 Jan	Avon Championships of California	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena
1980	week of 11 Feb
1981	9–15 Feb
1982	22–28 Feb
1983	21–27 Feb	Virginia Slims of California<		--dummy cell, Oakland 5-->
1984	9–15 Jan
1985	18–25 Feb
1986	week of 24 Feb
1987	week of 9 Feb
1988	15–21 Feb
1989	20–26 Feb
1990	29 Oct–4 Nov
1991	4–10 Nov
1992	2–8 Nov	Bank of the West Classic<		--dummy cell, Oakland 14-->
1993	1–7 Nov
1994	week of 31 Oct
1995	30 Oct–5 Nov
1996	week of 4 Nov		Henry J Kaiser Arena
1997	21–27 Jul		Taube Tennis Center (Stanford)
1998	27 Jul–2 Aug
1999	26 Jul–1 Aug
2000	24–30 Jul
2001	23–29 Jul
2002	22–28 Jul
2003	21–27 Jul
2004	week of 12 Jul
2005	week of 25 Jul
2006	24–30 Jul
2007	week of 23 Jul
2008	12–20 Jul
2009	25 Jul–2 Aug
2010	24 Jul–1 Aug
2011	23–31 Jul
2012	9–15 Jul
2013	21–28 Jul
2014	26 Jul–3 Aug
2015	1–9 Aug
2016	18-24 Jul
2017	31 Jul–6 Aug
2018	30 Jul–5 Aug	Silicon Valley Classic	San Jose State University

Notes and References

http://www.bankofthewestclassic.com/eventinfo/History.htm Bank of the West Classic history
Web site: WTA | Off-Court News | Off-Court News | on This Day: First Virginia Slims Series Begins . 2011-08-07 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120305192102/http://www.wtatennis.com/page/OffCourtNews/Read/0,,12781~2258488,00.html . 2012-03-05 .
Web site: Stanford moves to San Jose for 2018 . 14 March 2018.
Web site: July 27, 2010 . Bank of West Classic reaches 40 years . CNN.
News: Wallace . Ava . 2023-06-01 . D.C.'s Citi Open merges with Silicon Valley Classic to boost women's event . en-US . Washington Post . 2023-08-01 . 0190-8286.
Web site: Bank of the West Classic: Previous Winners . . 2015 . WTA Tour . 24 March 2015 .