Thursday, January 18, 2018

Ex-Cal star McLachlan, German pull off big upset

   Former Cal standout Ben McLachlan and Jan-Lennard Struff, playing in their first tournament together, stunned ninth-seeded Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez of Spain 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 today in the second round of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
   The Lopezes, who are not related, won the 2016 French Open and reached the final of last year's U.S. Open.
   McLachlan, a 25-year-old New Zealand native who plays for his mother's native Japan, and Struff, a 27-year-old German, will play the winner of the match between Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain and ex-Stanford star Scott Lipsky of Irvine in the Los Angeles region and David Marrero of Spain for a quarterfinal berth.
   Lipsky, 36, and Marrero, 37, ousted eighth-seeded Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Michael Venus of New Zealand in the opening round.
   Two other former Stanford stars, sixth-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan, beat 40-year-old Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Philipp Oswald of Austria 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4.
   The 39-year-old Bryan twins seek their first Grand Slam title since the 2014 U.S. Open. They have won a record 16 major men's doubles crowns, including six in the Australian Open.
   Spaniards Pablo Andujar and Albert Ramos-Vinolas defeated Los Angeles-area residents Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey, a 30-year-old San Francisco native, 6-4, 6-4. Johnson and Querrey reached the semifinals of the 2015 U.S. Open.
   In the second round of women's doubles, 12th-seeded Raquel Atawo of San Jose and Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany overwhelmed Japan's Eri Hozumi and Miyu Kato 6-1,
6-1.
   The 35-year-old Atawo has advanced to three Grand Slam semifinals in women's doubles (all with countrywoman Abigail Spears), including the 2014 Australian Open. She won the 2003 NCAA doubles title with Cal teammate and Sacramento native Christina Fusano, who retired from professional tennis in 2011.

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