Sunday, January 8, 2012

Ex-Cal star, partner blow it (twice) in Brisbane final

   Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears apparently didn't learn their lesson.
   The unseeded California pair not only blew a 5-2 lead in the first set of the doubles final in the Brisbane (Australia) International, they did it again in the second set.
   The lapses proved fatal as Kops-Jones, a former Cal All-American from Fresno, and Spears, from San Diego, lost to fourth-seeded Nuria Llagostera Vives and Arantxa Parra Santonja of Spain 7-6 (2), 7-6 (2) today in the $655,000 tournament.
   Kops-Jones, 29, had sought her fifth career WTA doubles crown and third with Spears, 30. They won Estoril in 2009 and Quebec City last September.
   Llagostera Vives has 15 WTA doubles titles and Parra Santonja five.
   ATP World Tour -- Top-seeded Andy Murray, the 2006 and 2007 SAP Open champion in San Jose, routed third-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-1, 6-3 to win the men's singles title in Brisbane.
   Murray, a 24-year-old Scotsman, captured his 22nd career singles crown on the ATP Tour and first in front of his new coach, former world No. 1 Ivan Lendl.
   Top-seeded Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Daniel Nestor of Canada took the doubles title with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over second-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria and Philipp Petzschner of Germany.
   Mirnyi once worked with Sacramento State men's coach Slava Konikov, and Nestor was named World TeamTennis' Male Rookie of the Year in 2003 as a member of the Sacramento Capitals. Melzer and Petzschner won last year's U.S. Open.
   In Chennai, India, fourth-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada will meet top-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia in the singles final.
   Raonic, the reigning SAP Open champion and 2011 ATP Newcomer of the Year, beat second-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain 6-4, 6-4, and Tipsarevic ousted Japanese qualifier Go Soeda, the 2009 Tiburon Challenger champion, 6-1, 6-4.
   Second-seeded Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram, last year's SAP Open doubles champions, lost to third-seeded Leander Paes of India and Tipsarevic in the doubles semifinals 6-2, 6-7 (1), 10-7 tiebreak.

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