Monday, July 24, 2017

No. 77 Brady to face junior star in 60K Sacramento

   Top-seeded Jennifer Brady, who reached the fourth round of the Australian Open in January as a qualifier, will face reigning Wimbledon junior champion Claire Liu in an all-American matchup on Wednesday in the first round of the $60,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger.
   Brady, 22, of Boca Raton, Fla., and Liu, 17, of Thousand Oaks in the Los Angeles area will meet at a time to be announced at the Gold River Racquet Club in the Sacramento area.
   Brady, ranked No. 77, is the only top-100 player in the draw. Next is No. 116 Kristie Ahn, a former Stanford star based in Orlando, Fla.
   Ahn will play Francesca Di Lorenzo, a 19-year-old left-hander from New Albany, Ohio, on Tuesday after the 10 a.m. match between Victoria Duval and Michaela Gordon in the final round of qualifying.
   Di Lorenzo, the top-ranked college player all spring as an Ohio State sophomore, reached the quarterfinals of last week's $60,000 Stockton Challenger.
   Duval was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma at age 18 in 2014, shortly before cracking the top 100 in the world. Gordon, from Saratoga in the San Francisco Bay Area, will turn 18 on Wednesday and enroll at Stanford in September.
   Two top U.S. prospects will square off on Tuesday in the opening round. Third-seeded Kayla Day, a 17-year-old left-hander from Santa Barbara, Calif., will take on Amanda Anisimova, 15, of Hallandale Beach, Fla., at about 2 p.m.
   In May, Anisimova became the youngest player to compete in the women's main draw of the French Open since Alize Cornet at 15 in 2005. Anisimova joined Di Lorenzo in the Stockton quarterfinals.
   Day advanced to the third round of the prestigious BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells in March, losing to Garbine Muguruza 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. Muguruza won Wimbledon eight days ago for her second Grand Slam singles title. Day did not play in Stockton.
   Eighth seed and Gold River defending champion Sofia Kenin, 18, of Pembroke Pines, Fla., will try to sweep the Stockton and Sacramento titles. She will open against Jillian Taggart, a 16-year-old wild card from Fair Oaks in the Sacramento area, on Wednesday at a time to be announced.
   Also in action Wednesday will be Marina Erakovic, a former top-40 player from New Zealand rebounding from knee problems, and 46-year-old Japanese marvel Kimiko Date, who ascended to No. 4 in the world in 1995.
   Erakovic will play Jennifer Elie, a 30-year-old American, and Date will meet U.S. wild card Emina Bektas, 24.
   Here are the Sacramento qualifying, singles and doubles draws and Tuesday's schedule.

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