Tuesday, May 15, 2012

SAP quarterfinalist banned for two years

   For the third time in two years, a male professional who has had success in Northern California was suspended for a doping violation.
   Dimitar Kutrovsky, a 24-year-old Bulgarian, was banned for two years after testing positive during the SAP Open in San Jose in February for the stimulant methylhexaneamine, the International Tennis Federation announced Tuesday. The ban is retroactive to his testing date of Feb. 14.
   The 5-foot-9, 152-pound Kutrovsky said the drug, for which he did not hold a therapeutic use exemption, came from ingesting the supplement Jack3d, but he denied trying to enhance his performance.
   Kutrovsky forfeits his ranking points and prize money from reaching the quarterfinals of the SAP Open ($15,580) as a qualifier and the second round of the Futures tournament in Brownsville, Texas, ($300). He has not played since Brownsville.
   Wayne Odesnik -- a 5-foot-11, 170-pound left-hander who won the 2009 Sacramento Challenger -- served a 14-month suspension in 2010 and early 2011 after pleading guilty to importing human growth hormone into Australia.
   Robert Kendrick, a 6-foot-3 Fresno native, served an eight-month ban last year after testing positive for the same drug as Kutrovsky. Kendrick reached the semifinals in San Jose in 2004 and the final of the Sacramento Challenger in 2008 and 2010. He won the Sacramento doubles title in 2007 with Brian Wilson.
   Both Odesnik, 26, and Kendrick, 32, are former top-100 singles players.
   Kutrovsky, No. 347 in the world, is the second-ranked Bulgarian behind 20-year-old Grigor Dimitrov (No. 94) and uses two hands on both sides. The winningest player in University of Texas history and a former All-American there, he was the runner-up to Michael Venus of New Zealand in the 2010 Futures event in the Sacramento suburb of Loomis.
   ATP World Tour in Rome -- Qualifier Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native living in Las Vegas, outlasted veteran Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-4 in the first round of the Italian Open. Querrey will face 12th-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain in the second round.
   John Isner and Querrey, the defending champions in doubles, fell to two-time Grand Slam doubles titlists Jurgen Melzer of Austria and Philipp Petzschner of Germany in the opening round 3-6, 7-6 (7), 10-5 tiebreak. Melzer and Petzschner won Wimbledon in 2010 and the U.S. Open last year.
   Men's Challenger in Fergana, Uzbekistan -- Sixth-seeded Jimmy Wang, a Taiwan native who trains in the Sacramento suburb of Granite Bay, lost to Jan Minar of the Czech Republic 64, 7-6 (4) in the first round of the $35,000 Fergana Challenger.
   However, Wang and Yasutaka Uchiyama of Japan beat Uzbek wild cards Bobur Kamiljanov and Nigmat Shofayziev 6-2, 6-2 in the opening round of doubles. Wang and Uchiyama could meet top-seeded Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana, 30-year-old twins from Thailand, in the quarterfinals.
   Men's Futures in Tampa, Fla. -- Pedro Zerbini, a former Cal star from Brazil, defeated American Chris Kwon 6-4, 6-2 in the opening round of the $10,000 Tampa USTA Men's Pro Circuit Futures.
   Zerbini will face fourth-seeded Fritz Wolmarans of South Africa in the second round. Wolmarans, the 2010 Davis Futures champion, demolished wild card Peter Kevin Colliard of Mexico 6-0, 6-0.
   ITF Women's Circuit in Landisville, Pa. -- Romana Tedjakusuma, a 35-year-old Indonesian who lives in Tracy, fell to Kyle McPhillips, an 18-year-old resident of Willoughby, Ohio, headed to UCLA, 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 in the first round of the $10,000 Koser Jewelers Tennis Challenge.
   Tedjakusuma, who reached a career-high No. 82 in the world at 17 years old, has won the USTA National 30 Indoor Championships in the Sacramento suburb of Gold River for the past two years.
   USTA Senior Nationals in La Jolla -- Third-seeded Tracy Houk of Half Moon Bay outclassed Colleen Clery Ferrell of San Diego 6-3, 6-0 in the second round of 50 singles at the USTA National Senior Women’s Hard Court Championships.
   Results of other second-round matches involving Northern Californians:
   50 singles -- Myke Loomis-Landauer (5), Naples, Fla., def. Anne Lowry, Oakland, 6-3, 6-4.
   60 singles -- Martha Downing (3), Shingle Springs, def. Cynthia Babb, Mount Pleasant, S.C., 6-1, 6-0.
   70 singles -- Suella Steel (3), La Jolla, def. Nancy Garcia, Menlo Park, 6-2, 6-1.

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