Djokovic tops Zverev, eyes history vs. Medvedev in final

Novak Djokovic needs one more victory to earn the first calendar-
year Grand Slam in 52 years and a record 21st major singles title.
2015 photo by Paul Bauman

  Only Daniil Medvedev stands in the way of history for Novak Djokovic.

  In a match filled with breathtaking rallies, the top-ranked Djokovic defeated No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 tonight in the U.S. Open to move within one victory of becoming the first man to earn a calendar-year Grand Slam since Rod Laver in 1969.

   Djokovic, who lost the first set for the fourth consecutive match, also can break the record of 20 Grand Slam men's singles titles he shares with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, both of whom missed the U.S. Open with injuries. 

   Djokovic ended the 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Zverev's winning streak at 16 matches, including the gold medal in men's singles in the Tokyo Olympics. Zverev, who has denied domestic abuse allegations, ended Djokovic's bid for a Golden Slam in the Olympic semifinals.

   Zverev advanced to last year's U.S. Open final, losing to Dominic Thiem after leading two sets to none.

   In tonight's fifth set, Zverev blew an overhead to trail by two service breaks at 0-4, and Djokovic held for 5-0. Zverev then held serve and converted his fifth break point on Djokovic's double fault for 2-5, but Djokovic broke back for the match.

   On Djokovic's first set point in the third set, Zverev ended a 53-ball rally with an inside-out forehand passing shot. Djokovic put away an overhead on the next point to take the set. 

   Djokovic won the fourth set when he finished a 30-ball rally with a forehand cross-court passing shot.

   Djokovic is scheduled to play the second-seeded Medvedev of Russia on Sunday at 1 p.m. (ESPN).

   The 6-foot-6 Medvedev, 25, eliminated No. 12 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, the first Canadian man to reach the U.S. Open semis, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 to advance to his third Grand Slam singles final. Medvedev rallied from 2-5 in the second set and saved two set points at 4-5.

   Medvedev lost to Nadal in five sets in the 2019 U.S. Open final and to Djokovic in straight sets in this year's Australian Open title match.

  Djokovic is 5-3 against Medvedev, who has won three of the last five meetings.

   Men's doubles — No. 4 seeds Rajeev Ram, a 37-year-old volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley from Carmel, Ind., and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain beat No. 7 seeds Jamie Murray of Great Britain and Bruno Soares of Brazil 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 for their second Grand Slam men's doubles crown.

   Ram and Salisbury, who also won the 2020 Australian Open, saved four match points against unseeded Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell of Australia in the quarterfinals.

   Ram also owns two Australian Open mixed doubles titles (with Barbora Krejcikova in 2019 and 2021) and an Olympic silver medal in mixed doubles (with Venus Williams in 2016.)

   Salisbury, 29, also advanced to the U.S. Open mixed doubles final with Desirae Krawczyk of Palm Desert, Calif. Seeded second, they are set to play unseeded Giuliana Olmos, an Austria native who grew up in Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area and represents Mexico, and Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador on Saturday. 

   Salisbury is trying to become the first player to win the men's doubles and mixed doubles titles in the same year at the U.S. Open since Bob Bryan (Stanford, 1997-98) in 2010.

   Krawczyk, a 27-year-old left-hander, seeks her third consecutive Grand Slam mixed doubles crown. She won the French Open with Salisbury and Wimbledon with Neal Skupski of Great Britain this year.

   Krawczyk and Olmos claimed the doubles title in the last (2017) Sacramento (Calif.) Challenger.

   Soares, 39, was playing in his first tournament since Wimbledon. He had an appendectomy upon arriving in Tokyo for the Olympics.

   Murray, Andy's older brother, and Soares won the Australian Open and U.S. Open in 2016. Soares also prevailed at Flushing Meadows last year with Mate Pavic of Croatia.

   Boys doubles — Wild cards Nicholas Godsick of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and Ethan Quinn of Fresno, Calif., surprised No. 3 seeds Sean Cuenin and Sascha Gueymard Wayenburg of France 6-2, 7-5 in the quarterfinals.

   Godsick's parents are Mary Joe Fernandez, a former top-five player in singles and doubles who now works as an ESPN commentator, and Tony Godsick, Federer's agent.

Brooksby upsets No. 15 Auger-Aliassime; Mertens wins

Jenson Brooksby is approaching the top 100 just over
seven months after turning pro. 2021 photo courtesy
of USTA

   Jenson Brooksby continued his meteoric rise today, ousting Felix Auger-Aliassime, seeded second and ranked 15th, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals of the Citi Open in Washington, D.C.

   Brooksby, a wild card from Carmichael, Calif., in the Sacramento area playing in his first ATP 500 tournament, dominated Auger-Aliassime on the baseline and confounded the Canadian with deft drop shots in a matchup of 20-year-olds.

   Auger-Aliassime defeated Roger Federer en route to the semifinals on grass in Halle, Germany, in June and reached his first Grand Slam quarterfinal at Wimbledon last month.

   Brooksby turned pro in late December and advanced to the final of the Hall of Fame Open in Newport, R.I., last month in the first grass-court tournament of his life. He will rise at least 15 places to a career-high No. 115 after this week.

   Brooksby is scheduled to play No. 11 seed John Millman of Australia on Friday at 11 a.m. PDT (Tennis Channel). Millman, ranked No. 43, beat 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) Reilly Opelka of Delray Beach, Fla., 6-3, 7-6 (4).

   Millman stunned Federer to reach the quarterfinals of the 2018 U.S. Open and won Northern California Challengers in 2010 and 2015.

   Also today, No. 14 seed Lloyd Harris of South Africa stunned top-seeded Rafael Nadal 6-4, 1-6, 6-4. Harris won the 2018 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger.

   Mackenzie McDonald, a 26-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, defeated Ilya Ivashka of Belarus 6-4, 6-4 in their third meeting since late April.

   McDonald beat reigning champion Nick Kyrgios and No. 13 seed Benoit Paire of France in the first two  rounds. Ivashka knocked off No. 4 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in the second round.

   Ivashka, 27, defeated McDonald in two European clay-court tournaments in the spring. 

   WTA Tour in San Jose, Calif. — Top-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium outlasted Kristina Mladenovic of France 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in the second round of the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic at San Jose State University.

   In her first quarterfinal in her last seven tournaments, Mertens will play eighth-seeded Yulia Putintseva, a Moscow native who represents Kazakhstan.

   Putintseva, a three-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist, eliminated Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. Tomljanovic reached her first major quarterfinal at Wimbledon last month and the final of the last (2017) Sacramento Challenger.

   Second-seeded Elena Rybakina, another Moscow native who plays for Kazakhstan, topped Claire Liu, a 21-year-old wild card from Thousand Oaks in the Los Angeles region, 2-6, 6-0, 6-2. Rybakina advanced to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal in this year's French Open.

No. 7 seed Danielle Collins, above, beat Sloane Stephens, below, in three sets
to reach the quarterfinals in San Jose, Calif. Photos by Mal Taam

   In tonight's featured match (Tennis Channel), seventh-seeded Danielle Collins of St. Petersburg, Fla., defeated Sloane Stephens, a 28-year-old product of Fresno, Calif., 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

   Collins has won her last seven matches, including her first career WTA title two weeks ago on clay in Palermo. Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion and 2018 French Open runner-up, played in her first tournament in Northern California in nine years.

   Mertens and Collins reached the semifinals of the inaugural (2018) Silicon Valley Classic but did not play each other.

   Here is Friday's schedule.

   WTA Tour in Cluj-Napoca, Romania — Mayar Sherif (Fresno State, 2015-16) became the first Eygptian to reach a WTA quarterfinal, dismissing wild card Alexandra Eala, a 16-year-old left-hander from the Philippines, 6-2, 6-2 on clay.

   Sherif also advanced to the doubles semifinals, teaming with Katarzyna Piter of Poland to beat Katarzyna Kawa of Poland and Renata Voracova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-4.

Sabalenka, Tomljanovic reach first major quarterfinals

No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka, the runner-up in San Jose, Calif., in 2019, defeated
No. 18 seed and recent French Open quarterfinalist Elena Rybakina 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
today at Wimbledon. 2019 photo by Mal Taam

   Two men and three women reached their first Grand Slam quarterfinals today at Wimbledon. Two of the women, Aryna Sabalenka and Ajla Tomljanovic, have starred in Northern California.

   No. 16 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, a 20-year-old Canadian, and unseeded Marton Fucsovics of Hungary ousted high seeds with five-set victories. 

   Auger-Aliassime outlasted No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany 6-4, 7-6 (6), 3-6, 3-6, 6-4 in 4 hours, 2 minutes. Fucsovics downed No. 5 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3. Rublev, 23, was seeking his fourth quarterfinal in his last five Grand Slam tournaments.

   Breaking through on the women's side were No. 2 seed Sabalenka of Belarus and unseeded Tomljanovic (pronounced Tom-yon-o-vich) of Australia and Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland.

   Sabalenka, the runner-up in the 2019 Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif., eliminated No. 18 seed and recent French Open quarterfinalist Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

   Tomljanovic, a finalist in the 2017 Sacramento (Calif.) Challenger, defeated 18-year-old wild card Emma Raducanu of Great Britain 6-4, 3-0, retired (difficulty breathing). Golubic beat No. 23 seed Madison Keys, who won the last Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in 2017, 7-6 (3), 6-3.

   The last two French Open women's champions, Iga Swiatek (2020) and Barbora Krejcikova, lost.

   No. 21 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia overcame No. 7 seed Swiatek 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 to become the first Arab woman to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals. It was Jabeur's third consecutive victory over a Grand Slam champion (also Venus Williams and Garbiñe Muguruza).

   Top seed Ashleigh Barty, the 2019 French Open champion, defeated Krejcikova, who also won the doubles crown at Roland Garros last month, 7-5, 6-3. 

   No. 25 seed Angelique Kerber, the 2015 Bank of the West champion, beat No. 20 seed Coco Gauff, 17, of Delray Beach, Fla., 6-4, 6-4 to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal since winning Wimbledon in 2018. Kerber, who captured the inaugural Bad Homburg Open on home soil in Germany two weeks ago, extended her winning streak to nine matches.

   On the men's side, top seed Novak Djokovic and No. 6 seed Roger Federer, who will turn 40 next month, advanced in straight sets. No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia leads No. 14 seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-3, 3-4. 

   No American men or women reached the singles quarterfinals.

  Advancing to the doubles quarterfinals were No. 5 seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara (San Francisco Bay Area native) of Japan in the women's draw and No. 6 seeds Rajeev Ram (volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley) of Carmel, Ind., and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain, No. 14 seeds Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Ben McLachlan (Cal, 2011-14) of Japan and unseeded Andre Goransson (Cal, 2014-17) of Sweden and Casper Ruud of Norway in the men's draw.

   Klaasen and McLachlan, who was born and raised in New Zealand but represents his mother's native country, edged Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin of France 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 7-5 in 4 hours, 12 minutes. Goransson is playing in his first Grand Slam tournament.

   In the second round of mixed doubles, Arthur Fery, who recently completed his freshman year at Stanford, and Tara Moore of Great Britain lead No. 12 seeds Martin and Alexa Guarachi of Chile 6-3, 5-3.

   In the first round of girls singles, No. 7 seed Alexandra Yepifanova, an incoming Stanford freshman from Lake Worth, Fla., beat Alina Shcherbinina of Russia 7-6 (3), 6-2.

   On the boys side, Matthew William Donald of the Czech Republic topped Aidan Mayo of Roseville in the Sacramento area 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 6-4, and Adolfo Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay leads Ethan Quinn of Fresno, Calif., 2-1. 

How Swede it is: Ymer ousts top seed in Stockton

Elias Ymer serves during his 7-5, 6-3 victory over top-
seeded Ruben Bemelmans in the first round of the
$100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger. Ymer needed
seven match points. Photo by Paul Bauman

   STOCKTON, Calif. -- You think the United States has fallen on hard times in men's pro tennis?
   That's nothing compared to Sweden.
   The nation that cranked out International Tennis Hall of Famers Bjorn Borg, Mats Wilander and Stefan Edberg and a slew of other top players in the 1970s and '80s has no men in the top 200 in the world.
   All countries go through cycles. Also, Sweden has a population of only 9.9 million, about the same as the Chicago area, and a climate more suited to ice hockey and skiing.
   There is hope for Sweden, however, in the form of brothers Elias and Mikael Ymer. Elias, 21, is ranked No. 1 in Sweden at No. 208, down from his career high of No. 118 in May last year. Mikael, 19, is fourth at No. 385.
   Elias Ymer (pronounced EE-mer) needed seven match points today to oust top-seeded Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium 7-5, 6-3 in the first round of the $100,000 Stockton Challenger at the University of the Pacific's Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center.
   "I needed this one a lot," Ymer conceded. "I'm very happy to be through. I lost in the first round in Tiburon last week (to eighth seed and eventual champion Cameron Norrie 7-5, 3-6, 7-5) and was practicing very well. To get matches is always good (for) confidence." 
   All of the match points came with Ymer serving in the last game.
   "Ruben is a top-100 player, and it's always going to be difficult to beat those guys because they're very experienced," said Ymer, who struggled on his first serve while trying to close out the match. "That's why he's No. 90 in the world, because he fights all the time."
    Actually, Bemelmans, a 29-year-old left-hander. dropped from No. 92 to No. 101 on Monday after also losing in the first round at Tiburon as the top seed. Since reaching the third round at Wimbledon as a qualifier and the final of a $75,000 clay-court Challenger in the Netherlands in July, Bemelmans has won only one match in seven tournaments.
   Still, Bemelmans fearlessly went for his shots on the match points against Ymer.
   "That's how I should play the whole match," moaned Bemelmans, who sailed a forehand return of a second serve long on the last match point. "That's my strength, but today I wasn't solid enough to take my opportunities that I created. I must say he served well on the big points, but I should have played a bit more aggressive on (earlier) points that mattered."

   Bemelmans, who has helped Belgium reach the Davis Cup final for the second time in three years, admitted he has lost confidence.

Ruben Bemelmans lost as the top seed
in a Northern California Challenger for
the second consecutive week.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   "I haven't won too many matches, but I feel like I'm getting back slowly," he said. "My level is rising. It's just a matter of time, I think. I have to keep on working, be confident and, like I said, play my game even on the big points."
   Bemelmans became the second consecutive No. 1 seed to lose in the opening round in Stockton. Bjorn Fratangelo of Orlando, Fla., bowed out against Joris De Loore of Belgium in the inaugural tournament last year.
   Two other seeds lost today. No. 5 Ramkumar Ramanathan of India fell to Christian Harrison of Bradenton, Fla., 6-1, 6-2, and No. 7 Felix Auger-Aliassime, 17, of Canada succumbed to Dmitry Tursunov, a 34-year-old qualifier from Russia, 6-2, 6-2.
   Auger-Aliassime became the youngest player to win a match on the ATP Challenger Tour at 14 in 2015. Now 6-foot-3 (1.91 meters), he's ranked No. 161.
   "He doesn't really let you make any decisions (on the court)," said Tursunov, who trained in Northern California from age 12 into his 30s. "He either hits a winner or makes an error. There were quite a lot of mistakes coming from his end.
   "The older he gets, I think the more he's going to be able to judge when to go for his shots and when to pull off. Right now, he just has that one speed, and once he's in that drive mode, it doesn't matter if there's a turn coming up. He doesn't really have a brake pedal."
   Both Tiburon finalists, meanwhile, advanced in straight sets. No. 2 seed Tennys Sandgren of Gallatin, Tenn., topped Christopher O'Connell of Australia 7-5, 7-5, and No. 8 Norrie coasted past wild card Deiton Baughman of Carson in the Los Angeles area 6-3,
6-1.
   Two Stockton semifinalists last year, Americans Michael Mmoh and Mackenzie McDonald, also moved into the second round.
   Mmoh, the 19-year-old son of former Nigerian player Tony Mmoh, met former top-70 player Tobias Kamke for the second consecutive week. After saving two match points in a 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7) victory in the second round at Tiburon, Mmoh breezed past the error-prone Kamke, a 31-year-old German, 6-2, 6-1 in one hour.
   "I don't think he played too hot today, to be honest," observed Mmoh, who was named after Michael Jordan. "I don't think his game was on. Tough conditions: very fast courts and a little windy. I just took advantage. I saw he was a little uncomfortable, so I made it as tough as possible. I was serving well, hitting my shots with good margins and making sure I made him play the extra ball. Considering how poorly he was playing, I thought that was the right strategy, and I executed it pretty well."
   McDonald, a 22-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, overcame the serve-and-volleying of wild card Andre Goransson, a former Cal star from Sweden, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. Goransson, 23, won the Tiburon doubles title with ex-Bears teammate Florian Lakat of France.
   Anyone expecting the Ymers to have blond hair and blue eyes is in for a surprise. They are the black, Swedish-born sons of Ethiopian emigrants.
   "I love Sweden," Elias Ymer crowed. "I've lived there my whole life. ... People respect me. Sweden is a multi-cultural country now."
   In Tiburon, Ymer led by a break in the third set against Norrie but cramped in his hand and legs. A notoriously hard worker, he practiced for five hours straight the next day, according to a tournament sponsor.
   "He went through three guys," Leif Haase marveled.
   Ymer was cautious when asked about possibly helping Sweden return to prominence.
   "We'll see. I have to start by winning Challengers," said Ymer, who has won three of them, all on clay. "One step at a time."
   Here are the Stockton singles and doubles draws and Wednesday's schedule. The tournament is being streamed live.

Results of all 2016 French Open finals

Novak Djokovic
2015 photo by Paul Bauman

Garbine Muguruza
2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   Men's singles -- Novak Djokovic (1), Serbia, def.
Andy Murray (2), Great Britain, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.
   Women's singles -- Garbine Muguruza (4), Spain, def. Serena Williams (1), United States, 7-5, 6-4.
   Men's doubles -- Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez (15), Spain, def. Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan (5), United States, 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3.
   Women's doubles -- Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic (5), France, def. Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina (7), Russia, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
   Mixed doubles -- Martina Hingis, Switzerland, and Leander Paes, India, def. Sania Mirza, India, and Ivan Dodig (2), Croatia, 4-6, 6-4 [10-8].
   Boys singles -- Geoffrey Blancaneaux, France, def. Felix Auger Aliassime (11), Canada, 1-6, 6-3, 8-6.
   Girls singles -- Rebeka Masarova (12), Switzerland, def. Amanda Anisimova (2), United States, 7-5, 7-5.
   Boys doubles -- Yshai Oliel, Israel, and Patrik Rikl, Czech Republic, def. Yunseong Chung, South Korea, and Orlando Luz, Brazil, 6-3, 6-4.
   Girls doubles -- Paula Arias Manjon, Spain, and Olga Danilovic, Serbia, def. Olesya Pervushina and Anastasia Potapova (1), Russia, 3-6, 6-3 [10-8].

Canadian, American earn unlikely titles in Herr 18s

   Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada and Kylie McKenzie of Anthem, Ariz., completed stunning title marches on Sunday in the Eddie Herr International Championship in Bradenton, Fla.
   Saving three match points, the sixth-seeded Auger-Aliassime edged No. 4 Alex De Minaur of Australia 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (3) in the boys 18s.
   De Minaur, 16, served for the match at 5-4, 40-0 in the third set. Auger-Aliassime, 15, also survived three match points in his 2-6, 7-6 (8), 7-6 (2) victory over Alexandar Lazarov of Bulgaria in the third round.
   The unseeded McKenzie outlasted No. 5 seed Tamara Zidansek, 17, of Slovenia 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the girls 18s.
   McKenzie, 16, saved a match point in the third round and ousted No. 1 seed Dalma Galfi, the reigning U.S. Open girls champion from Hungary, in the semifinals.
   In March at 14, Auger-Aliassime became the youngest player to qualify for a main draw in ATP Challenger history. He won the U.S. Open boys doubles title with countryman Denis Shapovalov in September and led Canada to its first Junior Davis Cup title the following month in Spain.
   The Eddie Herr Championship is one of the most prestigious junior tournaments in the world. Past competitors include Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, David Nalbandian, Maria Sharapova, Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic.
   Herr, the father of international junior tennis, died in 2000 at 93.
   Many of the players in this year's Eddie Herr Championship will compete in this week's Orange Bowl, the most prestigious junior tournament in the world outside of the four Grand Slams, in Plantation, Fla.
   Heavy rain postponed the start of main-draw singles in every age group.