Thursday, January 31, 2019

Gauff, 14, upsets promising Kratzer in $100K Midland

Ashley Kratzer, a semifinalist in Berkeley last July,
lost to 14-year-old Cori (Coco) Gauff on Tuesday in
the first round of the $100,000 Dow Tennis Classic
in Midland, Mich. Photo by Paul Bauman
   Cori (Coco) Gauff, a 14-year-old phenom, upset fellow American wild card Ashley Kratzer 7-6 (6), 6-7 (6), 6-4 on Tuesday in the first round of the $100,000 Dow Tennis Classic in Midland, Mich.
   Gauff, at 13 in 2017, became the youngest player to reach the U.S. Open girls final and, at 14 last year, the youngest to capture the French Open girls title since Martina Hingis won her second crown there in 1994 and the fifth-youngest all time.
   Kratzer, a 19-year-old left-hander, won the USTA girls 18 national title in 2017. She is ranked 244th to Gauff's 684th.
   After beating Kratzer in the semifinals of the inaugural $60,000 Berkeley Tennis Club Challenge last July, Nicole Gibbs (Stanford, 2011-13) predicted that her opponent would crack the "top 50 for sure, if not top 20, soon."
   Gauff, playing in a tournament above $25,000 for the first time, is scheduled to face top-seeded Rebecca Peterson of Sweden today. Peterson, 23, is ranked 57th.
   Also today, Kristie Ahn, a 26-year-old Stanford graduate who recently moved back to her home state of New Jersey from Boca Raton, Fla., will meet fifth-seeded Marie Bouzkova, 20, of the Czech Republic.
   Third-seeded Madison Brengle, the champion of the $60,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger last October, will play fellow American Jamie Loeb in a rematch of last year's final, won by Brengle 6-1, 6-2.
   The seventh-seeded Gibbs, Ahn's teammate on Stanford's 2013 NCAA championship team, lost to 17-year-old fellow Cincinnati native Caty McNally 6-0, 7-5.
   Jovana Jaksic, a 25-year-old Serb living in Sacramento, succumbed to fellow qualifier Ann Li, 18, of Devon, Pa., 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Li reached the Stockton quarterfinals last fall.
   Jaksic and Lu Jia-Jing of China advanced to the doubles quarterfinals, eliminating fourth-seeded Quinn Gleason of Mendon, N.Y., and Luisa Stefani of Brazil 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5). Gleason and Stefani gained the Stockton final.
   Fed Cup -- Madison Keys, Danielle Collins, Sofia Kenin and Nicole Melichar were named to the U.S. team that will play Australia in Asheville, N.C., on Feb. 9-10 in the first round of the Fed Cup.
   Keys won the last Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in 2017. Collins reached the inaugural Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic, which replaced the Bank of the West Classic, in San Jose last year. Kenin won a Northern California Challenger for the third consecutive year in Berkeley in 2018.
   College rankings -- Defending champion Stanford remained No. 1 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association women's rankings, and the Cardinal men rose one spot to No. 9.

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