Tuesday, June 25, 2013

NorCal players already out of Wimbledon singles

   Well, that was fast.
   Within about two hours, all three Northern California singles players at Wimbledon lost today in the first round.
   No. 21 seed Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native and part-time member of the Sacramento Capitals in World TeamTennis, fell to Bernard Tomic of Australia 7-6 (6), 7-6 (3), 3-6, 2-6, 6-3.
   Dmitry Tursunov, a Moscow native based in the Sacramento suburb of Granite Bay, succumbed to No. 13 seed Tommy Haas of Germany 6-3, 7-5, 7-5. And Mallory Burdette, a former Stanford All-American, was ousted by Urszula Radwanska of Poland 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-2.
   At least Scott Lipsky, another ex-Stanford star, won in the opening round of doubles. Several other Northern California players also remain alive or have yet to play in doubles.
   None of the singles losses was surprising, even though Querrey is ranked No. 19 in the world (first among Americans) to Tomic's No. 59, Haas is 35 years old, and Urszula is the "other" Radwanska.
   Tomic, 6-foot-5 (1.96 meters), reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals as a qualifier two years ago at 18 and had beaten Querrey in their only previous meeting. Tomic was treated for dizziness in the fourth set today because, he later told reporters, he hadn't eaten enough breakfast.
   Meanwhile, the 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Querrey has never advanced past the fourth round in 26 Grand Slam tournaments.
   Tursunov, ranked No. 65 after reaching a career-high No. 20 in 2006, fell to 1-5 lifetime against Haas. It was Tursunov's first match since he aggravated a strained hamstring muscle three weeks ago in the French Open.
   Haas climbed to No. 2 in 2002 and reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 2009 before losing to eventual champion Roger Federer. Earlier this month, Haas became the oldest quarterfinalist in the French Open since 1971.
   Haas and Tursunov have several similarities. Both are in their 30s (Tursunov turned 30 last December). Both moved to the United States at a young age -- Tursunov at 12 and Haas at 14 -- to train. And both have been plagued by injuries throughout their careers.   
   Burdette, ranked 69th, made her Wimbledon debut after turning pro last September and forgoing her senior year at Stanford. She and Radwanska, ranked 38th, met for the first time.
   Radwanska beat former No. 1 players Ana Ivanovic and Venus Williams in back-to-back clay-court tournaments, the Italian Open and French Open, in May. Radwanska also reached the fourth round at Indian Wells in March, upsetting 15th-seeded Sloane Stephens in the second round.
   Burdette lost to Radwanska's older sister, fourth-ranked Agnieszka, in the second round of the French Open last month.Agnieszka reached last year's Wimbledon final, losing to Serena Williams.
   The 10th-seeded team of Lipsky, from Irvine in the Los Angeles area, and Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico defeated Paolo Lorenzi of Italy and Benoit Paire of France 6-4, 7-6 (3), 6-4.
   Gonzales and Lipsky will face either Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic and Rajeev Ram of Carmel, Ind., or Canadian qualifiers Jesse Levine and Vasek Pospisil.

No comments:

Post a Comment