Copyright © 2016. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.

ESPN3 will present the 2016 BNP Paribas Showdown live from Madison Square Garden in New York on Tuesday, March 8, at 7 p.m. ET with two captivating matchups, featuring world No. 1 Serena Williams:

• In the opening match, current world No. 4 Stan Wawrinka will take on French star, No.17 Gael Monfils, both playing their debut match at The Garden.
• Current world No. 1 and one of the greatest players of all time, Serena Williams, returns to Madison Square Garden for a third time to renew a rivalry with her good friend and former world No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki

In addition, the Williams-Wozniacki match will be seen on ESPN2 at 11 p.m. ESPN’s Patrick McEnroe, Brad Gilbert, Mary Joe Fernandez and Tom Rinaldi will call the matches.

Wawrinka has two Grand Slam singles titles, the 2014 Australian Open and the 2015 French Open, and finished 2015 at No. 4 for the second straight season and in Top 10 for third straight season. Monfils is coming off a quarterfinal appearance at Australian Open and finished 2015 in Top 50 for 10th time in last 11 seasons (all but 2012) and reached at least one ATP World Tour singles final for 11th straight year.

Williams finished 2015 with her fifth No.1 season and came within two matches of completing a calendar-year Grand Slam. She has won 21 Grand Slam singles titles – including three in 2015 – and is currently ranked No. 1, recently becoming the fourth player in WTA history to hit 250 weeks in the World No. 1 spot. Wozniacki is a two-time major finalist and former No. 1, coming off of her eighth straight Top 20 season in 2015.

The BNP Paribas Showdown from MSG will air live in Spanish on ESPN Deportes+ and internationally on ESPN’s networks in 57 countries throughout Latin America including in Portuguese in Brazil and in English in the Caribbean, plus Canada and the Pacific Rim.  In addition, ESPN’s broadband players in Latin America & the Caribbean (ESPN Play), in Brazil through WatchESPN and Australia & New Zealand (WatchESPN) will also stream live simulcast coverage of this event.

In addition, ESPN Classic will present past BNP Paribas Showdown events leading into the live coverage, beginning at 5 a.m. on March 8. Full Schedule:

Tue, Mar 8 Time (ET) Match Platform(s)

5 – 7 a.m. 2010 BNP Paribas Showdown Kim Clijsters vs. Venus Williams ESPN Classic
7 – 8:30 a.m. 2011 BNP Paribas Showdown Pete Sampras vs. Andre Agassi ESPN Classic
8:30 – 11 a.m. 2012 BNP Paribas Showdown Roger Federer vs. Andy Roddick ESPN Classic
11 a.m. – 1 p.m. 2013 BNP Paribas Showdown Rafael Nadal vs. Juan Martin del Potro  ESPN Classic
1 – 3 p.m. 2013 BNP Paribas Showdown Serena Williams vs. Victoria Azarenka ESPN Classic
3 – 5 p.m. 2014 BNP Paribas Showdown Novak Djokovic vs. Andy Murray ESPN Classic
5 – 7 p.m. 2015 BNP Paribas Showdown Roger Federer vs. Grigor Dimitrov ESPN Classic
7 p.m. 2016 BNP Paribas Showdown Stan Wawrinka vs. Gael Monfils / Serena Williams vs. Caroline Wozniacki ESPN3, WatchESPN, ESPN Deportes+
11 p.m. 2016 BNP Paribas Showdown Serena Williams vs. Caroline Wozniacki ESPN2, WatchESPN

Copyright © 2016. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.