Svitolina, Sabalenka top San Jose acceptance list

Elina Svitolina, shown en route to the semifinals in the 2015 Bank of the
West Classic at Stanford, has reached four Grand Slam quarterfinals,
including the past two Australian Opens. Photo by Mal Taam 

   The field for the second Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose features two top-10 players, two former world No. 1s, three Grand Slam singles champions and both of last year's finalists.
   No. 7 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine and No. 10 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus top the acceptance list, announced Wednesday, for the July 29-Aug. 4 tournament at San Jose State.
   Svitolina has reached four Grand Slam quarterfinals, including the past two Australian Opens. Sabalenka, coached by former longtime Northern California resident Dmitry Tursunov, advanced to the fourth round of last year's U.S. Open.
   Also entered in San Jose are former world No. 1s and two-time Grand Slam singles champions Garbine Muguruza and Victoria Azarenka. Both won titles in the Bank of the West Classic, which ended a 21-year run at Stanford in 2017. Muguruza took the doubles crown with fellow Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro in 2014, and Azarenka captured the singles title in 2010.
   In addition, Jelena Ostapenko plans to play in San Jose. The Latvian won the 2017 French Open two days after turning 20.
   In the final of last year's Silicon Valley Classic, depleted by injuries and upsets, Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania crushed Maria Sakkari of Greece 6-1, 6-0.
   Amanda Anisimova, a 17-year-old sensation, heads the U.S. contingent in San Jose. Anisimova, who won her first professional title at 15 in the 2017 Sacramento Challenger, toppled defending champion Simona Halep two weeks ago to become the youngest American in the French Open semifinals since 14-year-old Jennifer Capriati in 1990.
   Neither Serena nor Venus Williams, who combined to win five Bank of the West singles titles, is entered in San Jose, but four wild cards will be announced in the next few weeks. The four players who emerge from the July 27-28 qualifying event will round out the 28-player singles draw.
   International Tennis Hall of Famers Andy Roddick and Michael Chang and former top-10 players James Blake and Mark Philippoussis will play a one-night tournament as part of the Invesco Series on Saturday, Aug. 3.

Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic Acceptance List

(With world ranking)

Elina Svitolina, Ukraine, 7
Aryna Sabalenka, Belarus, 10
Qiang Wang, China, 15
Elise Mertens, Belgium, 21
Donna Vekic, Croatia, 22
Petra Martic, Croatia, 25
Garbine Muguruza, Spain, 26
Amanda Anisimova, United States, 27
Carla Suarez Navarro, Spain, 31,
Maria Sakkari, Greece, 33
Danielle Collins, United States, 34
Jelena Ostapenko, Latvia, 37
Victoria Azarenka, Belarus, 41
Mihaela Buzarnescu, Romania, 42
Saisai Zheng, China, 44
Ajla Tomljanovic, Australia, 47
Ekaterina Alexandrova, Russia, 50
Shuai Zhang, China, 52
Andrea Petkovic, Germany, 71
Magda Linette, Poland, 75