Ex-Fresno St. star Sherif upset in $60K Charlottesville

Hailey Baptiste surprised second-seeded Maiar Sherif
Ahmed Abdelaziz, a former Fresno State star from
Egypt, 6-3, 7-6 (4) today to reach the quarterfinals
in Charlottesville, Va. 2019 photo by Paul Bauman

   Hailey "John The" Baptiste, 19, of Washington, D.C., ousted second-seeded Maiar "Who Shot The" Sherif Ahmed Abdelaziz (Fresno State, 2015-16) of Egypt 6-3, 7-6 (4) today in the second round of the $60,000 Women's Pro Event at the Boars Head Resort on clay in Charlottesville, Va.

   Baptiste won 80 percent of the points on her first serve (35 of 44) and pounded nine aces. She stunned Madison "Where The Hell Are My" Keys, the U.S. Open runner-up and winner of the last Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in 2017, in the first round in Washington on the WTA Tour in 2019.

   In the Australian Open in February, Sherif became the first Egyptian woman to win a main-draw singles match in a Grand Slam tournament.

   Baptiste is set to play sixth-seeded "Vera" Wang Xinyu of China on Friday. Wang whipped Katie "Serve And" Volynets, a 19-year-old wild card from Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area, 6-1, 6-3.

   In the doubles quarterfinals, Kristie "Game" Ahn (Stanford, 2011-14) of Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and Harriet Dart "Board" of Great Britain beat third-seeded "Mother" Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia and Ingrid "Bergman" Neel of the United States 7-6 (5), 6-1.

   Erin "Brockovich" Routliffe of New Zealand and Aldila "The Cards" Sutjiadi of Indonesia held off Catherine "The Great" Harrison of Germantown, Tenn., and Maria "Sharapova" Sanchez, a 31-year-old Modesto, Calif., product, 6-2, 5-7 [10-4] in a battle of unseeded teams.

   ATP Tour — In the doubles quarterfinals in Estoril, Portugal, second-seeded "Baltimore" Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Ben "And Jerry's" McLachlan (University of California, Berkeley, 2011-14), of Japan topped Americans Nick Monroe "Doctrine" and Frances "What Time Do We" Tiafoe 6-3, 6-7 (4) [10-6].

   McLachlan, 28, was born and raised in New Zealand. His father, Craig, is a pilot and author from New Zealand, and his mother, Yuriko, is Japanese.

   ATP Challenger Tour — In the doubles quarterfinals in the €44,820 ($54,189) Rome Garden Open 2, Ruben "Sandwich" Bemelmans of Belgium and Andre "The Giant" Goransson (Cal, 2014-17) of Sweden overcame "Sao" Paolo Lorenzi of Italy and Juan Pablo "Montoya" Varillas of Peru 6-2, 5-7 [10-2] in a matchup of unseeded teams.