Friday, May 4, 2012

Sanchez, 17-year-old Hardebeck gain quarters

   Maria Sanchez, a wild card from Modesto, and Krista Hardebeck, a 17-year-old qualifier headed to Stanford in the fall, reached the quarterfinals of the upset-filled $50,000 Audi Melbourne Pro Tennis Classic in Indian Harbour Beach, Fla.
   Sanchez ousted seventh-seeded CoCo Vandeweghe, a member of the Sacramento Capitals in World TeamTennis, 6-3, 6-2 Thursday to improve to 20-7 in singles this year.
   Last year's Pacific-10 Conference Women's Player of the Year as a senior at USC, Sanchez has more than halved her world ranking from No. 687 to No. 341 in 2012. Vandeweghe, 20, is ranked No. 154.
   Hardebeck, an Australian Open junior girls semifinalist in January, outplayed qualifier Alyona Sotnikova of Ukraine 7-5, 6-2.
   Six seeds lost in the first round, and the other two fell in the second round. Next for Sanchez is Canada's Heidi El Tabakh, ranked No. 210. Hardebeck, from Santa Ana in the Los Angeles area, will take on 19-year-old American Chi Chi Scholl, ranked No. 184.
   In the doubles quarterfinals, Akiko Omae of Japan and Roxane Vaisemberg of Brazil knocked off top-seeded Sanchez and Yasmin Schnack 6-1, 0-6, 10-7 tiebreak, and fourth-seeded Maria-Fernanda Alves of Brazil and Jessica Moore of Australia defeated Irina Falconi of Atlanta and Vandeweghe by walkover.
   Schnack, who turns 24 today, will return for her second season with her hometown Capitals in July.
   WTA, ATP World Tour in Estoril, Portugal -- Raquel Kops-Jones, a former NCAA doubles champion from Cal, and Abigail Spears of San Diego lost to Alexandra Panova of Russia and Heather Watson of Great Britain 6-4, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.
   In the first round of men's doubles, John Paul Fruttero, a former Cal All-American, and Raven Klaasen of South Africa fell to Johan Brunstrom of Sweden and Philipp Marx of Germany 7-6 (6), 6-3.
   Fruttero and Klaasen won a Challenger doubles title in Taiwan last week. 
   Men's Futures in Vero Beach, Fla. -- Qualifier Pedro Zerbini, who starred at Cal from 2007 to 2011, advanced to the quarterfinals of the $10,000 Sorensenrealestate.com Tennis Classic with a 6-2, 7-6 (2) victory over Kriegler Brink of South Africa.
TV SCHEDULE
(All times PDT)
   Today -- Munich (men), quarterfinals, Tennis Channel, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. (delay).
   Saturday -- 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
   Saturday-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.

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