Saturday, May 5, 2012

NorCal players vie for pro titles

   Players with Northern California ties remain in contention for titles this week at every professional level: the elite ATP World Tour, the women's Challenger circuit and the men's Futures.
   On the ATP World Tour, top-seeded Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan and Jean-Julien Rojer, a member of the Sacramento Capitals in World TeamTennis from Netherlands Antilles, won two doubles matches to reach the final of the Estoril (Portugal) Open.
   Qureshi and Rojer fended off Treat Conrad Huey, a Washington, D.C., native who plays for the Philippines, and Dominic Inglot of Great Britain 4-6, 6-4, 10-5 tiebreak in the quarterfinals and handled unseeded Frenchmen Richard Gasquet and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals.
   Qureshi and Rojer will face either fourth-seeded Julian Knowle of Austria and David Marrero of Spain or Mikhail Elgin of Russia and Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in Sunday's final.
   In Belgrade, Serbia, second-seeded Scott Lipsky, a former Stanford All-American living in Huntington Beach, and Rajeev Ram of Carmel, Ind., downed Jordan Kerr of Australia and Dudi Sela of Israel 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the Serbia Open.
   Meanwhile, Stanford-bound Krista Hardebeck, 17, and Maria Sanchez of Modesto advanced to the singles semifinals of the $50,000 Audi Melbourne Pro Tennis Classic in Indian Harbour Beach, Fla.
   Hardebeck, a qualifer from Santa Ana in the Los Angeles area, dismissed 19-year-old American Chi Chi Scholl 6-3, 6-2, and Sanchez outlasted Heidi El Tabakh of Canada 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
   Hardebeck will meet unseeded American Grace Min, the reigning U.S. Open junior girls champion from Lawrenceville, Ga., in one semifinal, and the 5-foot-10 Sanchez will play 5-foot-2 Lauren Davis, last year's USTA girls 18 champion from Boca Raton, Fla., in the other.
   In the $10,000 Sorensenrealestate.com Tennis Classic at Vero Beach, Fla., qualifier Pedro Zerbini, who starred at Cal from 2007 to 2011, held off unseeded Edward Corrie of Great Britain 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 to gain the semifinals.
   Zerbini will take on eighth-seeded Bassam Beidas, a former Pepperdine All-American from Lebanon who toppled No. 1 seed Gerald Melzer of Austria 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.
   College honors -- Santa Clara sophomore Katie Le, who finished the regular season 18-5 at No. 1 singles, was named the Women's Player of the Year in the West Coast Conference.
   Joining Le on the All-WCC first team in singles were Catherine Isip and Jenny Jullien of Saint Mary's. Jessica Agra and Le were chosen to the All-WCC first team in doubles.
   WCC men's awards went to Santa Clara's Ilya Osintsev (Freshman of the Year), Kyle Dandan (singles first team) and Derek Mills (Co-Coach of the Year).
   Selected to the All-Big West Conference first team in singles were Toki Sherbakov of UC Davis and Ivan Castro of Pacific on the men's side and Megan Heneghan of UC Davis and Iveta Masarova of Pacific on the women's. Masavora, from Slovakia, also was named the Women's Freshman of the Year.
TV SCHEDULE
(All times PDT)
   Today -- Belgrade (men), semifinals, Tennis Channel, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. (delay); Munich (men), semifinals, Tennis Channel, 2-6 p.m. (delay); Estoril (men), semifinals, Tennis Channel, 6-10 p.m. (delay).
   Sunday -- Budapest (women), final, Tennis Channel, 10 a.m.-noon (delay); Belgrade (men), final, Tennis Channel, noon-2 p.m. (delay); Munich (men), final, Tennis Channel, 2-4 p.m. (delay); Estoril (men), final, Tennis Channel, 6-8 p.m. (delay).  
CALENDAR
   Today-Sunday -- Rio del Oro Junior Championships, Rio del Oro Racquet Club, 119 Scripps Drive, Sacramento.
   May 11 -- NCAA Division I Women's Team Championships, first round: Saint Mary's vs. Yale at Stanford, 11 a.m.; Stony Brook at Stanford, 2 p.m.; Purdue vs. Pepperdine at Cal, 10 a.m.; Sacramento State at Cal, 1 p.m.
   May 12 -- NCAA Division I Women's Team Championships, second round: Saint Mary's/Yale vs. Stony Brook/Stanford at Stanford, 3 p.m; Purdue/Pepperdine vs. Sacramento State/Cal at Cal, 3 p.m.
   NCAA Division I Men's Team Championships, first round: Santa Clara vs. Texas at Stanford, 9 a.m.; Sac State at Stanford, noon; Texas Tech vs. Cal Poly at Cal, 9 a.m.; Texas-San Antonio at Cal, noon.
   May 13 -- NCAA Division I Men's Team Championships, second round: Santa Clara/Texas vs. Sac State/Stanford, noon; Texas Tech/Cal Poly vs. Cal/Texas-San Antonio at Cal, 1 p.m.
   May 17-22 -- NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Team Championships, Round of 16 through finals, Athens, Ga.
   May 23-28 -- NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Individual Championships, Athens, Ga.
   May 27-June 3 -- $50,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger, Gold River Racquet Club, 2201 Gold Rush Drive, Gold River.
   MAY 27-JUNE 10 -- FRENCH OPEN.

No comments:

Post a Comment