Bay Area native to make WTA Finals debut in doubles

Katie Volynets, 19, of Walnut Creek in the San Fran-
cisco Bay Area, snapped a six-match skid today
in Columbus, Ohio. 2019 photo by Paul Bauman

   Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan have qualified for the WTA Finals for the first time, the WTA announced today.

   Aoyama, 33, and Shibahara, a 23-year-old native of Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area, have won a tour-leading five titles this year, including the biggest one of their careers in the Miami Open. They also reached the Wimbledon semifinals and Australian Open quarterfinals.

   Aoyama, only 5-foot-1 (1.54 meters), and Shibahara became the first Japanese players to qualify for the WTA Finals in doubles since Ai Sugiyama advanced to the 2008 semifinals with Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia.

   The WTA Finals, the week of Nov. 8 in Guadalajara, features the top eight singles players and doubles teams of the year.

    WTA Tour — In a battle of California teenagers, Katie "Serve And" Volynets edged wild card Katrina Scott 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (5) in 2 hours, 55 minutes in the first round of a $125,000 tournament in Columbus, Ohio. Volynets, 19, of Walnut Creek in the Bay Area, snapped a six-match losing streak and improved to 2-0 against Scott, 17, of Woodland Hills in the Los Angeles region.

   Volynets qualified for Wimbledon this year and lost to Romanian veteran Irina-Camelia "Ain't Too Proud To" Begu in the first round. Scott reached the second round of last year's U.S. Open as a wild card in her senior Grand Slam debut.

   Volynets, ranked No. 185, is set to play Lauren Davis, seeded fifth and ranked No. 98, of Boca Raton, Fla., for the first time. The 27-year-old Davis, only 5-foot-2 (1.57 meters), beat Usue Arconada of Naples, Fla., 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday. 

Bay Area native wins fifth WTA doubles title of year

   Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara will go into the U.S. Open with confidence.

   The top-seeded pair, from Japan, beat unseeded Sania Mirza of India and Shelby Rogers of Charleston, S.C., 7-5, 6-3 today in the final of the inaugural Tennis in The Land, a WTA 250 tournament in Cleveland.

   The 5-foot-1 (1.54-meter) Aoyama, 33, and the 5-foot-7 (1.70-meter) Shibahara, a 23-year-old native of Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area, survived match tiebreakers of 10-8 in the quarterfinals and 10-7 in the semifinals en route to their fifth title of the year. They will remain tied at a career-high No. 9 in the world in doubles.

   The 34-year-old Mirza, formerly ranked No. 1 in doubles, took 2018 and 2019 off to have her first child.

   The first round of singles in the U.S. Open is scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. Doubles matches are set to begin Wednesday.

   Aoyama and Shibahara reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in February and the semifinals at Wimbledon in July, but neither has had much success in the U.S. Open. Playing together at Flushing Meadows for the first time last year, they lost in the second round.

   Aoyama has never advanced past the third round of the U.S. Open in nine appearances with nine different partners. Shibahara has never gone past the second round at Flushing Meadows in three appearances with three different teammates.

Bay Area native Shibahara wins her biggest doubles title

   Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan earned their tour-leading third title of the year and the biggest of their careers today.

   The fifth-seeded Aoyama, 33, and Shibahara, a 23-year-old native of Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area, beat eighth-seeded Hayley Carter, a native of Chattanooga, Tenn., and Luisa "Gwen" Stefani of Brazil 6-2, 7-5 in the Miami Open, a WTA 1000 tournament.

   Aoyama, only 5-foot-1 (1.54 meters), and Shibahara were winless in their three previous tournaments after beginning the year with 13 consecutive victories and two titles.

   The Japanese pair improved to 6-1 in WTA finals with a six-match winning streak. The loss came against Nicole Melichar and Kveta Peschke, then 44, in San Jose in 2019.

   Aoyama and Shibahara have not lost a set against Carter and Stefani — former All-Americans at North Carolina and Pepperdine, respectively — in three matches this year, including the Abu Dhabi final in January.

   Juniors — Top-seeded Juncheng Shang of China downed unseeded Ethan "Allen" Quinn of Fresno, Calif., 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-2 to win the Easter Bowl in San Diego.

   Quinn's winning streak ended at 11 matches. He won last week's International Open of Southern California in San Diego.

   In the boys 16 doubles final, Ethan Schiffman of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., in the San Diego area and Emon van Loben Sels of Sacramento, Calif., defeated David "You Don't" Saye of Charlotte, N.C., and Eli "Manning" Stephenson of Louisville, Ky., 6-7 (tiebreaker score not available), 6-1, 6-1.

   Colleges — The Stanford women, who have won the last two NCAA titles and three of the last four, lost to Oregon for the first time in school history and suffered their second consecutive loss for the first time since 2016.

   Uxia Martinez Moral outlasted Sara Choy, a junior from Palo Alto, Calif., 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 on Court 4 to give the No. 46 Ducks (12-5, 5-3 Pacific-12 Conference) a 4-3 victory over the No. 25 Cardinal (10-2, 6-1) in Eugene, Ore.

   Meanwhile, No. 7 Pepperdine handed California its first home loss of the season, 4-3. Shiori Fukuda gave the Waves (13-2) a 4-0 lead with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over Valentina Ivanov on Court 3. The Bears fell to 13-4.

   In a men's match, host Stanford routed No. 17 Arizona 5-1 to improve to 6-3 overall and 3-0 in the Pac-12. The Cardinal's Axel "Uri" Geller defeated No. 63 Jonas "Brothers" Ziverts 7-6 (5), 6-2 on Court 1.

Bay Area native suffers first doubles loss of year

   The doubles winning streak of Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara ended with a thud tonight.

   Second-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus routed seventh-seeded Aoyama and Shibahara of Japan 6-2, 6-0 in 53 minutes in the Australian Open quarterfinals in Melbourne.

   The 5-foot-1 (1.54-meter) Aoyama, 33, and Shibahara, a 22-year-old native of Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area, fell to 12-1 this year. They won titles in Abu Dhabi last month and Melbourne two weeks ago. 

   Aoyama and Shibahara were playing in their second Grand Slam quarterfinal. Aoyama also reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 2013 with Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa.

   Also tonight, third-seeded Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic beat unseeded Sharon Fichman of Canada and Giuliana Olmos, a product of Fremont in the Bay Area who plays for Mexico, 7-5, 5-7, 6-2.

   Fichman, 30, and Olmos, 27, had never advanced past the second round in a major, separately or together, before this year's Australian Open.

   In the women's singles quarterfinals, third-seeded Naomi Osaka dismissed unseeded Hsieh Su-Wei of Chinese Taipei 6-2, 6-2 in 56 minutes.

   Osaka, the 2019 champion, will face 10th seed and seven-time champion Serena Williams, who dominated second-seeded Simona Halep 6-3, 6-3. Osaka is 2-1 against Williams, including a victory in the turbulent 2018 U.S. Open final. 

   Williams, 39, is making her 11th attempt to tie Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles. Osaka made her WTA main-draw debut at age 16 at Stanford in 2014, when Williams won the last of her three titles there.

   In the men's singles quarterfinals, qualifier Aslan Karatsev of Russia beat 18th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2. Dimitrov, a three-time Grand Slam semifinalist, began suffering back spasms late in the second set and played half-heartedly the rest of the way.

   Karatsev, 27, became the first man in the Open Era to reach the semifinals in his Grand Slam main-draw debut. At No. 114, he is the lowest-ranked man to reach a major semifinal since Goran Ivanisevic at Wimbledon in 2001.

   Karatsev will face top-ranked Novak Djokovic, who outlasted sixth-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (6), for the first time.

   Djokovic, seeking his third consecutive Australian Open title and ninth overall, suffered an abdominal muscle injury in his five-set victory over Taylor Fritz in the third round.

Bay Area native reaches doubles quarters, stays perfect

     Seventh-seeded Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan outclassed 12th-seeded Hayley Carter, a native of Chattanooga, Tenn., and Luisa Stefani of Brazil 6-2, 6-4 today to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in Melbourne.

   The 5-foot-1 (1.54-meter) Aoyama, 33, Shibahara, a 22-year-old native of Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area, improved to 12-0 this year and advanced to their second Grand Slam quarterfinal. Aoyama also reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 2013 with Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa.

   Aoyama and Shibahara will face either second-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus or 16th-seeded Laura Siegemund of Germany and Vera Zvonareva of Russia.

   In the first round of mixed doubles, sixth-seeded Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Rajeev Ram, a volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley, beat Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan and Henri Kontinen of Finland 7-6 (6), 7-5.

   Krejcikova and Ram will meet Shibahara and Ben McLachlan (Cal, 2011-14), a New Zealand native who plays for his mother's native Japan. 

   Top-ranked Novak Djokovic, playing with an injured abdominal muscle, beat 14th-seeded Milos Raonic 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 to improve to 12-0 against the hard-serving Canadian. Djokovic seeks his third consecutive Australian Open singles title and ninth overall.

Bay Area native survives scare to stay perfect in doubles

   Seventh-seeded Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan beat Australian wild cards Lizette Cabrera and Maddison Inglis 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-0 today in the second round of the Australian Open in Melbourne. 

   The 5-foot-1 (1.54-meter) Aoyama, 33, and Shibahara, a 22-year-old native of Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area, improved to 11-0 this year. They won titles in Abu Dhabi last month and Melbourne last week.

   Aoyama and Shibahara are scheduled to meet 12th-seeded Hayley Carter, a native of Chattanooga, Tenn., and Luisa Stefani of Brazil on Saturday (PST) in a rematch of the Abu Dhabi final. Aoyama and Shibahara won that encounter 7-6 (5), 6-4. 

   Last year, Carter and Stefani defeated Aoyama and Shibahara 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 in the second round of the U.S. Open, and the Japanese pair gained revenge, 6-4, 7-5, in the third round of the French Open.

   Fans will be barred from the Australian Open for the next five days because of a COVID-19 outbreak in the Melbourne suburbs.

   Also today, Sharon Fichman of Canada and Giuliana Olmos, a native of Fremont in the Bay Area who plays for Mexico, beat Lucie Hradecka and Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-3 to reach the third round of doubles, together or separately, in a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

   Pliskova's twin sister, Karolina Pliskova, is ranked sixth in singles after ascending to No. 1 in 2017.

   Fichman and Olmos will meet Leylah Fernandez, an 18-year-old left-hander from Canada, and Heather Watson of Great Britain. Fernandez and Watson defeated Australian wild cards Olivia Gadecki and Belinda Woolcock 7-5, 6-2.

   In the second round of men's doubles, second-seeded Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic of Croatia dispatched Mackenzie McDonald, a 25-year-old native of Piedmont in the Bay Area, and Tommy Paul of Boca Raton, Fla., 6-1, 6-4.

   Shibahara also advanced in mixed doubles, teaming with Ben McLachlan (University of California, Berkeley, 2011-14), a New Zealand native who plays for his mother's native Japan, in a 7-6 (3), 6-4 victory over Germany's Laura Siegemund and Kevin Krawietz in the opening round.

   ATP Challenger Tour — Top-seeded Andre Goransson (Cal, 2011-14) of Sweden and David Pel of the Netherlands edged Sander Arends of the Netherlands and Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic to reach the semifinals of the €88,520 ($107,357) Cherbourg (France) Challenger. 

Bay Area native wins Melbourne doubles, moves to 9-0

   Third-seeded Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan dismissed unseeded Anna Kalinskaya of Russia  and Viktoria Kuzmova of the Slovak Republic 6-3, 6-4 in 65 minutes today to win the Yarra River Classic in Melbourne.

   The 5-foot-1 Aoyama, 33, and Shibahara, a 22-year-old native of Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area, improved to 9-0 this year. They won the Abu Dhabi title last month.

   Top-seeded Ashleigh Barty of Australia beat sixth-seeded Garbine Muguruza of Spain 7-6 (3), 6-4 for the singles title.

   Muguruza has won two Grand Slam singles titles and Barty one. Neither has won the Australian Open; noth lost to Sofia Kenin in last year's tournament, Barty in the semifinals and Muguruza in the final. 

   The Australian Open, the year's first major tournament, is scheduled to begin Sunday at 4 p.m. (ESPN in the United States). 

   Aoyama and Shibahara lost to American teenagers Coco Gauff and Caty McNally in the third round of last year's Australian Open. It was Aoyama's eighth appearance in the tournament and Shibahara's first.

   ATP Tour — Maximo Gonzalez and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina dominated 42-year-old Toshihide Matsui and Ben McLachlan (University of California, Berkeley, 2011-14) of Japan 6-2, 6-2 in the ATP Cup in Melbourne. Argentina blanked Japan 3-0 in the Group D match.

   McLachlan, a New Zealand native with a Japanese mother, and Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany reached the doubles semifinals in the 2018 Australian Open in McLachlan's tournament debut. A doubles specialist, McLachlan is 0-2 in the Australian Open since then.

Bay Area native helps oust top seeds in Abu Dhabi

   Fifth-seeded Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan ousted top-seeded Hsieh Su-Wei of Chinese Taipei and Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-1 today in the quarterfinals of the Abu Dhabi WTA Women's Tennis Open in the United Arab Emirates.

   Hsieh and Krejcikova are ranked No. 1 and No. 7, respectively, in women's doubles.

   The 5-foot-1 (1.54-meter) Aoyama, 33, and Shibahara, a 22-year-old native of Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area, are scheduled to play unseeded Sofia Kenin of Pembroke Pines, Fla., and Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia on Tuesday. 

   Kenin and Tomljanovic — who were born in Russia and Croatia, respectively — beat unseeded Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands and Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia 6-4, 6-4.

   In singles, ninth-seeded Maria Sakkari of Greece knocked out the top-seeded Kenin 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 in the quarterfinals. Sakkari is slated to face fourth-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus. In the other semifinal, 18-year-old Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine is set to play Veronika Kudermetova of Russia in a clash of unseeded players.  

   Australian Open qualifying — No. 16 seed Mayar Sherif (Fresno State, 2015-16) of Egypt overwhelmed Akiko Omae of Japan 6-0, 6-1 in 50 minutes in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

   Sherif is scheduled to play Grace Min of Lake Nona, Fla., on Tuesday. Min topped Harriet Dart of Great Britain 7-5, 6-2.

   The Australian Open is scheduled for Feb. 8-21, three weeks later than usual, at its traditional home in Melbourne. 

   UTR Pro Tennis Series — Katie Volynets, a 19-year-old pro from Walnut Creek in the Bay Area, defeated Brandy Walker of Brea, Calif., in the Los Angeles area 6-0, 7-5 to improve to 2-0 in Group A in a $25,000 tournament in Newport Beach, Calif. 

   Volynets is slated to meet Tomi Main, a high school junior from Seaside, Calif., headed to Texas Tech in 2022, on Tuesday. Main lost to Leyden Games, a USC signee for the fall from Irvine, Calif., 6-4, 6-3 to fall to 1-1.

   In round-robin openers:

   —Vivian Ovrootsky, a high school junior from San Jose, Calif., headed to the University of Texas in 2022, dominated Katie Codd, a high school junior from Carlsbad, Calif., in the San Diego region, 6-3, 6-1 in Group E.

   —Skyler Grishuk, 18, of Newport Beach outlasted Priya Nelson, 15, of Sacramento 7-6 (6), 0-6, 7-5 in Group F.

   —Filippa Bruu-Syversen, a UC Santa Barbara commit for the fall from Chatham, N.J., routed Madison Weekley, a Saint Mary's commit for 2022 from Alamo in the Bay Area, 6-1, 6-1 in Group H.

Zheng wins San Jose with a lot of help from her friend

Champion Zheng Saisai, middle, and members of the San Jose State football
team pose in front of Spartan statues. The university's football stadium is next
to the site of the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic. Photo by Mal Taam

   SAN JOSE, Calif. – After a strong start to the clay-court season in the spring, Zheng Saisai thought she was on her way.
   Instead, the 25-year-old Chinese player lost six of her next seven matches on clay and grass. She arrived in San Jose with first-round losses in her last four tournaments. Granted, three of the four came against top-16 players, and the other was against 35-year-old Samantha Stosur, who has won seven Grand Slam titles (one in singles, three in women's doubles and three in mixed doubles).
   But after a conversation with her best friend, the unseeded Zheng (pronounced Jung) knocked off four consecutive seeds in the second annual Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic, which launches the hardcourt U.S. Open series, en route to her first WTA singles title. In Sunday's final, Zheng toppled second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 6-3, 7-6 (3).
   Zheng also:
   –Demolished eighth-seeded Danielle Collins, an American who reached last year's semifinals in San Jose, 6-2, 6-0 in the second round.
   –Outlasted 17-year-old American Amanda Anisimova, the fourth seed who reached the French Open semifinals in June, 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 in the quarterfinals in the longest match of the tournament (2 hours, 52 minutes).
   –Frustrated seventh-seeded Maria Sakkari, last year's runner-up from Greece, 7-6 (5), 6-2 in the semifinals.
   "Before, I wasn't (playing) this well," Zheng, who pocketed $151,070 in her second career WTA final to surpass $3 million in career earnings, said after the final. "After Wimbledon, I (was) back in China. My best friend (Ng Kwan-yau, a 22-year-old player from Hong Kong) tell me, 'You know, Saisai, when you are calm and not so emotional, you can use your brain. You will play your best tennis. But she doesn't see that last few months. Then I realized, OK, I probably (feel) too much pressure, too much expectation. This week, I start to enjoy and don't think (about) the result and play each point.
   "I really want to thank her. I was losing a lot, and I realized (feeling pressure) is a problem. I fixed it this week, and it turns out good."

Zheng Saisai used her outstanding movement to upset top-10 player Aryna Saba-
lenka in Sunday's final. Photo by Mal Taam

   Zheng recorded her fifth victory over a top-10 player and became the first Chinese singles champion in the 49-year history of the San Francisco Bay Area stop on the WTA tour, the longest-running women's professional tournament in the world. She won the doubles title in the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford with compatriot Xu Yifan and earned the first of her first 302 main-draw singles victories on the WTA tour at Stanford in 2012.
   Both Zheng and Sabalenka, 21, equaled their career highs in today's new weekly world rankings. Zheng jumped 17 places to No. 38, and Sabalenka improved one spot to No. 9.
   Sunday's final matched the 5-foot-7 (1.70-meter) Zheng's outstanding movement and consistency against the 5-foot-11 (1.82-meter) Sabalenka's tremendous power. Zheng prevailed by mixing up her shots and keeping the ball in play until Sabalenka made an error.
   "Obviously, you don't want to play fast, fast, fast with her," said Zheng, who improved to 2-0 against Sabalenka. "She the best (at) this. The tactic is (to) put the ball deep, and whenever I see space, let her run and change (the pace) if I can (with) slice or high ball. If I give her same ball, she will hit winner from any corner, so I was just trying to mix it up.
   "I was focused. I wasn't overthinking anything. I (told myself) this is not a final; this is a normal match. Just enjoy."

Aryna Sabalenka said she was "freaking out" against Zheng Saisai. Photo by
Mal Taam

   Sabalenka sounded much like the 5-foot-8 (1.72) Sakkari, another hard hitter, after losing to Zheng.
   When asked what went wrong, Sabalenka said "everything – my game, my reaction, my backhand, forehand, serve, tactic (in) the match. Emotional side was really ... I was freaking out. I couldn't do anything today with myself. I couldn't control my emotions. I was screaming some s---. I was throwing the racket, always speaking with my team trying to get something from them, but actually it was in my head. They couldn't do anything, but I was looking to them like, Tell me something that's going to help me come back in this match because she's like crazy player. She's going for crazy (moonballs), then slice, then flat backhand, and you always have to adjust for the ball.
   "Yesterday's match (against Donna Vekic) was kind of like flat (shots), but here it was completely different game. I just wasn't ready for this match. This is my mistake. I knew her game – we watched her a little bit – but still it wasn't enough to actually play."
   Zheng's high balls were particularly effective.
   "Her game destroy me because I couldn't use my power," said Sabalenka, who lost in the first round of qualifying in San Jose last year to Maria Sanchez, a Modesto, Calif., product ranked No. 258, after leading 6-2, 5-3. "I wasn't ready for that. In practice, I work a lot on these shots, and I know how to play, but I never actually played against those kind of players. Probably I have to work a little bit more on this game."
   Sabalenka committed eight double faults, including one on Zheng's first championship point, and struggled to return Zheng's modest serve, repeatedly slugging not only first but second serves out.
   Sabalenka was playing in her first final since winning her third career WTA singles title in Shenzhen, China, in the first week of the year. She had the same problem with pressure on Sunday that Zheng solved.
   "Of course, I wanted to do well," said Sabalenka, who collected $80,500 to top $3.5 million for her career. "That's why I (had) a lot of emotions on the court. Next time, if I will be a little bit relaxed on the court, just enjoy, probably things can happen different direction. The main thing is I just need to be calm on the court and play my tennis and don't care about anything else."

Forty-four-year-old Kveta Peschke, left, won her second consecutive San Jose
doubles title, this time with Nicole Melichar. Photo by Mal Taam

   Sabalenka's coach, former top-20 player Dmitry Tursunov, praised Zheng and said his protege needs to be more patient.
   "(Sabalenka) didn't play well, for sure, but the main thing is her opponent managed to make her not play well," said Tursunov, who moved alone from his native Moscow to Los Altos in the San Francisco Bay Area at 12 to train and owns a townhouse in the Sacramento suburb of Folsom that he rents out. "Watching that match, I kept thinking of a (Fabrice) Santoro-(Marat) Safin matchup where Safin was losing his mind. It's a tough matchup. For Aryna, these types of opponents will always create problems. You have to really know how to play them and develop your game in such a way where you can stay in points long enough to earn an opportunity to attack.
   "Right now, definitely, there (are) too many premature attacks, and (there's) chaotic behavior on the court. It's part of the growing process. It's kind of a David and Goliath matchup where you have to really develop your game to be able to maybe not use so much power, maybe use a little more finesse and develop the point versus trying to just win it outright."
   Santoro, a 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) Frenchman, reached career highs of No. 17 in singles in 2001 and No. 6 in doubles in 1999. He was 7-2 against the 6-foot-4 (1.93-meter) Safin, Tursunov's teammate on Russia's 2006 Davis Cup championship team who was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2016.
   After Sabalenka held serve for 3-4 in the first set Sunday, Zheng reeled off four straight games to lead 2-0 in the second set. Sabalenka then won three games in a row, breaking Zheng twice, to get back in the match. But Sabalenka double-faulted twice in the next game, including on break point, for 3-3.
   Both players then held serve to send the set into a tiebreaker. Zheng raced to a 4-1 lead (one mini-break) with the help of two Sabalenka errors. With Zheng leading 5-3, Sabalenka sailed a forehand return of an 80-mph (128.8-kilometer) first serve long to give Zheng her first championship point. After Sabalenka missed her first serve, Zheng stood several feet inside the baseline to receive the second delivery, which Sabalenka netted. Sabalenka then slammed her racket on the court, picked it up and flung it at her chair.
   Ng, of course, isn't the only one who has helped Zheng.
   "I want to thank Alan (Ma, the head coach of the Star River Professional Tennis Club in Guangzhou, China)," Zheng said."He always support me. He the one believe in me from the beginning. He's saying I'm going to be good. Even I don't know if I'm going to be good or if I'm going to go pro, but he tell me, 'You're going to be good. You just keep going.' I really want to thank him."
   Zheng wasn't finished.
   "One more. I want to thank my mom," Zheng added, eliciting a  big laugh from the media. "She's the one bring me to play tennis, always support me, believe in me. Whenever tough moments, she will say, 'If you don't want to play, OK, let's go back.' You always know someone is there. It's a lot of love."
   No pun intended.
   Earlier Sunday, 44-year-old Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic won her second consecutive San Jose doubles title, this time with 26-year-old Nicole Melichar, a Czech-born American. The top-seeded pair beat unseeded Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan 6-4, 6-4. Peschke won last year's title with Latisha Chan of Taiwan.
   Here are the complete San Jose singles and doubles draws.
   Here are the singles qualifying draw, singles main draw, doubles main draw and Tuesday's schedule in the $81,240 Nordic Naturals Challenger at the Seascape Sports Club in Aptos, Calif., a one-hour drive south of San Jose on the Pacific Ocean. In its 32nd year, the tournament is the longest-running men's Challenger in the United States. It's being streamed live.