Saturday, August 10, 2013

Top seed falls in Aptos; Brooksby gains national final

   The curse continues.
   Unseeded Daniel Evans of Great Britain beat No. 1 seed Guido Pella of Argentina 7-5, 6-1 Friday in the quarterfinals of the $100,000 Comerica Bank Challenger at the Seascape Sports Club iin Aptos, Calif.
   No top seed has won the title in the 26-year history of the tournament, the second-longest-running event on the USTA Pro Circuit after Little Rock, Ark. (32 years).
   Pella is ranked 95th in the world, down from No. 76 last week, when the seedings were determined. 
   Evans, only 5-foot-9 (1.75 meters), will try to reach his second final in two weeks when he faces qualifier Farrukh Dustov of Uzbekistan for the first time today. The 23-year-old Evans, the runner-up in last week's Vancouver Challenger to Vasek Pospisil of Canada, is ranked No. 194.
   Dustov, 6-foot-4 (1.93 meters), held off American wild card Tennys Sandgren 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-0. Dustov, 27, is ranked No. 213. 
   In today's other semifinal, second-seeded Evgeny Donskoy will meet unseeded Bradley Klahn for the first time. Klahn, who starred at nearby Stanford from 2009 to 2012, will be Donskoy's fourth left-handed opponent in four matches in the Comerica Bank Challenger.
   Donskoy, a 23-year-old Russian ranked 82nd, dispatched fellow Moscow native Mischa Zverev, the seventh seed who plays for Germany, 7-5, 6-2. Klahn, 22, of Poway in the San Diego area, upset U.S. left-hander Wayne Odesnik, seeded fifth, 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 to clinch a wild card in the upcoming U.S. Open by earning the most points on the USTA Pro Circuit this summer.
   Klahn, the 2010 NCAA champion, has soared to a career-high No. 147 is just over one year as a professional. He qualified for last year's U.S. Open and beat former top-10 player Jurgen Melzer in the first round before losing to then-No. 14 Richard Gasquet in straight sets.
   USTA junior nationals -- Top-seeded Jenson Brooksby of Sacramento defeated sixth-seeded Nathan Han of Tulsa, Okla., 7-5, 6-1 to reach the final of the USTA Boys 12 Nationals in Little Rock.
   In the other semifinal, fourth-seeded Thomas Yu of Bellevue, Wash., routed second-seeded Garrett Johns of Atlanta 6-0, 6-3.
   The sixth-seeded team of Brooksby and Scott Sculley of Churchville, Md., lost to seventh-seeded William Grant of Santa Barbara and Johns 7-5, 6-2 in the doubles final.
   In the boys 18 singles quarterfinals in Kalamazoo, Mich., Collin Altamirano of Yuba City downed unseeded Trevor Johnson of Las Vegas 7-5, 6-0. Altamirano will face top-seeded Gage Brymer of Irvine.
   Unseeded Logan Staggs of Tracy lost to second-seeded Noah Rubin of Rockville Centre, N.Y., 6-2, 6-0.
   The unseeded pair of William Griffith of Fresno and J.T. Nishimura of San Jose knocked off top-seeded Martin Redlicki of Boca Raton, Fla., and Rubin 6-2, 6-2 in the doubles quarterfinals. 
   Fourth-seeded Taylor Townsend, a Boca Raton resident who played for the Sacramento Capitals in World TeamTennis last month, coasted past 17th-seeded Brooke Broda of West Chester, Ohio, 6-3, 6-1 in the girls 18 quarterfinals in San Diego.    
   The top-seeded team of Gabrielle Andrews of Pomona and Townsend demolished Kourtney Keegan of Roswell, Ga., and Rachel Pierson of Princeton, N.J., 6-0, 6-1 in the doubles semifinals.
   Andrews and Townsend will meet second-seeded Alexandra Kiick of Plantation, Fla., and Sachia Vickery of Miramar, Fla. for the title. Kiick is the daughter of former Miami Dolphins running back Jim Kiick.
   In the boys 14 singles semifinals in San Antonio, third-seeded Conrad Russell of Palo Alto fell to second-seeded Maxwell Mendelsohn of Little Rock 6-4, 6-7, 6-3.
$100,000 COMERICA BANK CHALLENGER
At Seascape Sports Club in Aptos, Calif.
Singles quarterfinals
   Farrukh Dustov, Uzbekistan, def. Tennys Sandgren, United States, 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-0.
   Bradley Klahn, United States, def. Wayne Odesnik, United States, 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.
   Evgeny Donskoy (2), Russia, def. Mischa Zverev (7), Germany, 7-5, 6-2.
   Daniel Evans, Great Britain, def. Guido Pella (1), Argentina, 7-5, 6-1.
Today's schedule
Center Court
(Starting at 11 a.m.)
   Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram (3), Israel, vs. Tatsuma Ito and Hiroki Moriya, Japan.
   Bradley Klahn, United States, vs. Evgeny Dustov (2), Russia.
   Daniel Evans, Great Britain, vs. Farrukh Dustov, Uzbekistan.
   Ruben Bemelmans, Belgium, and Frederik Nielsen, Denmark, vs. Chris Guccione and Matt Reid (4), Australia.

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