2008 Bangalore Open

TennisEventInfo|2008|Bangalore Open
date=March 3 – March 9
edition=5th
champs=flagicon|USA Serena Williams
champd=flagicon|CHN Peng Shuai / flagicon|CHN Sun Tiantian

The 2008 Bangalore Open, a tournament on the 2008 WTA Tour, took place from March 3 to March 9 in the KSTLA Signature Kingfisher Tennis stadium in the Indian city of Bangalore. 2008 was the fifth edition of the event, and the third held in Bangalore. The tournament had been upgraded to Tier II from Tier III event and would offer a total prize money pot of US$600,000 up from $175,000 last year.

The main draw in the singles included 32 players, with the top 4 seeds getting a bye in the first round. It composed of 21 direct entries, 3 wild cards and 4 qualifiers. [cite web|url=http://www.wtabangalore.in/About.asp?id=25|title=About Us - 2008 Bangalore Open|accessdate=2008-03-01]

The field was led by Serbian Jelena Janković and former world #1, Serena Williams. Patty Schnyder, Ágnes Szávay, Sybille Bammer and Vera Zvonareva were also present. [cite web|url=http://www.wtabangalore.in/players.asp|title=Players - 2008 Bangalore Open|accessdate=2008-03-01]

Sania Mirza, the top Indian woman tennis player decided to skip her home event, citing the number of controversies that ensue every time she plays at home. According to Mirza: "Every time I play in India, there has been a problem. So [me and my manager] just thought it was better not to play this time". [cite web|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/storypage/storypage.aspx?id=492959d4-02e4-4a3c-adfb-3d7a1973e846&ParentID=de3d144b-743e-4aeb-9511-0ea7e4e1fef7&MatchID1=4666&TeamID1=10&TeamID2=3&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1174&PrimaryID=4666&Headline=Sania+Mirza+boycotts+Bangalore|title=Sania Mirza boycotts Bangalore|publisher=Hindustan Times, K Kumaraswamy|date=2008-02-04|accessdate=2008-03-01] Tournament director Sunder Raju expressed disappointment over her decision, saying that she would be letting down her fans. Mirza has caused controversy in her home country in the past by wearing supposedly "indecent" clothing and allegedly disrespecting the national flag by resting her feet near to it. [cite news | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/7227094.stm | title = Mirza boycotts Indian tournaments | publisher = BBC SPORT | date = 2008-01-11 | accessdate = 2008-03-02]

Champions

ingles

flagicon|USA Serena Williams def. flagicon|SUI Patty Schnyder, 7-5, 6-3
* It was Williams' first title of the year and 29th of her career.

Doubles

flagicon|CHN Peng Shuai / flagicon|CHN Sun Tiantian def. flagicon|TPE Chan Yung-jan / flagicon|TPE Chuang Chia-jung, 6-4, 5-7, 10-8

References

External links

* [http://www.wtabangalore.in/ Official website]