Kenin, 20, clinches U.S. win in Fed Cup playoffs

Sofia Kenin, shown en route to the title in Berkeley (Calif.) last July,
earned her first Fed Cup victory today. She was a late replacement for
Madison Keys, who was upset on Saturday. Photo by Paul Bauman

   In less than one year, Sofia Kenin has gone from champion of the $60,000 Berkeley (Calif.) Challenger to Fed Cup heroine.
   Kenin, a late replacement for veteran Madison Keys, defeated Timea Bacsinszky, a former top-10 player, 6-3, 7-6 (4) today to give the United States an insurmountable 3-1 lead over Switzerland on an indoor hard court in San Antonio in the Fed Cup World Group playoffs.
   "I'm speechless," the 36th-ranked Kenin, who trailed by a service break twice in the second set, said in an on-court interview. "It's my first win in Fed Cup, and I'm honestly so happy. You guys (the fans) are incredible -- I love the support. You guys really saved me, so thank you."
   Kenin, a 20-year-old Moscow native who moved to the United States as a young child, had been 0-3 in the Fed Cup, all in singles.
   Bacsinszky, 29, reached a career-high No. 9 in May 2016 but underwent surgery on her right (playing) hand in September 2017. Since dropping out of the rankings last September, she has climbed back to No. 111.
   Earlier today, Fresno product Sloane Stephens beat Victorija Golubic 6-3, 6-2 to give the U.S. a 2-1 lead. In the last match, Switzerland's Ylena In-Albon and Conny Perrin beat Jennifer Brady and Jessica Pegula 7-5, 6-2.
   Absent this weekend were top-20 singles players Serena Williams of the United States and Belinda Bencic of Switzerland. They have climbed as high as No. 1 and No. 7, respectively.
   The United States will remain in the elite World Group next year and try to win its 19th Fed Cup title. The Czech Republic ranks second with 10. Switzerland, meanwhile, will stay in World Group II.
   In a gutsy move, U.S. captain Kathy Rinaldi chose Kenin over Keys to play the critical fourth match. Kenin, who also won Northern California Challenger singles titles in 2016 and 2017, is far less experienced and accomplished than the 24-year-old Keys, who won the last Bank of the West Classic at Stanford and reached the U.S. Open final in 2017 (losing to Stephens), but mentally tougher.
   Keys, ranked No. 14, lost to No. 80 Golubic 6-2, 6-3 in the opener on Saturday to fall to 4-5 in Fed Cup singles. Stephens, ranked No. 8, then evened the series with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Bacsinszky.
   Both Brady and Pegula made their Fed Cup debuts.
   Brady swept the singles and doubles titles in the $25,000 Redding (Calif.) Challenger in 2014.
   Pegula reached the singles final of the $50,000 Sacramento Challenger in 2012, losing to Modesto product Maria Sanchez, and advanced to the semifinals of the $60,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger last October.
   Pegula's parents, Terrence and Kim Pegula, own the NFL's Buffalo Bills and NHL's Buffalo Sabres.

Stephens lifts U.S. into tie; Stanford women rout Cal

   Sloane Stephens came through under pressure today in the Fed Cup World Group playoffs after a disappointing performance by Madison Keys.
   Stephens, a Fresno product ranked eighth, defeated Switzerland's Timea Bacsinszky, a former top-10 player ranked 111th, 6-4, 6-3 on an indoor hard court in San Antonio to give the United States a 1-1 tie in the best-of-five-match series.
   Bacsinszky reached a career-high No. 9 in May 2016 but underwent surgery on her right (playing) hand in September 2017. She lost the first nine matches of her comeback last year and dropped out of the rankings.
   In today's opener, the 14th-ranked Keys lost to 80th-ranked Victorija Golubic 6-2, 6-3. Keys won the last edition of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in 2017.
   Absent this weekend are 11th-ranked Serena Williams of the United States and 20th-ranked Belinda Bencic of Switzerland. Like Bacsinszky, Bencic cracked the top 10 in 2016 and had surgery (wrist) in 2017.
   The winner of the series will compete for the Fed Cup championship in the World Group next year. The loser will drop to World Group II and be unable to play for the title.
   In Sunday's first match, Stephens is scheduled to play Golubic at noon PDT (Tennis Channel), followed by Keys against Bacsinszky and the U.S. doubles team of Sofia Kenin and Jessica Pegula versus Ylena In-Albon and Conny Perrin.
   Kenin is ranked 104th in doubles (14th in the United States), and Pegula is 151st (22nd in the U.S.). Barring a lineup change, Pegula will make her Fed Cup debut.
   Kenin, 20, won Northern California Challenger singles titles in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Pegula, 25, lost to Modesto product Maria Sanchez in the final of the 2012 Sacramento Challenger and reached the singles semifinals in the Stockton (Calif.) Challenger last October.
   Pegula's parents, Terrence and Kim Pegula, own the NFL's Buffalo Bills and NHL's Buffalo Sabres.
   College women -- No. 4 Stanford, the defending NCAA champion, dominated No. 14 Cal 6-1 in the Big Slam in Berkeley for its 14th consecutive victory and 37th straight in conference regular-season matches.
   On Court 1, No. 28 Michaela Gordon, a sophomore from Saratoga in the San Francisco Bay Area, beat No. 44 Julia Rosenqvist 5-7, 6-4, 6-0.
   The Cardinal (19-1 overall and 10-0 in the Pac-12) will be seeded first in the Pac-12 Championships, Thursday through Saturday in Ojai, Calif. The Bears fell to 12-7 and 6-4.

Morocco marathon: Bellis, 18, ousts Bacsinszky

CiCi Bellis poses with her coach, Anibal Aranda, at the Broadway Tennis
Center in Burlingame, near San Francisco International Airport, on Dec. 28.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   CiCi Bellis took another step in her blossoming career today, upsetting No. 2 seed and defending champion Timea Bacsinszky 6-7 (3), 7-5, 7-5 in 3 hours, 8 minutes to reach the quarterfinals on clay in Rabat, Morocco.
   Bellis, an 18-year-old product of Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area, saved one match point.
   "I feel amazing; it's definitely one of the longest matches I've played on the pro tour, so I'm happy to come through," Bellis said in an on-court interview.
   Bellis won 7-5 in the third set for the second consecutive day. She topped Japan's Nao Hibino, the champion of the inaugural Stockton Challenger in 2015, 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 in 2 hours, 2 minutes in the first round.
   Bacsinszky, ranked No. 27 to match her age, is the fifth top-30 player Bellis has beaten but the first on clay.
   Bacsinszky also is the fifth player to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal or better whom Bellis has defeated. Bacsinszky advanced to the French Open semifinals in 2015 and the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 2015 and Roland Garros last year.
   Bellis, by far the youngest player in the top 100 at No. 59, will play American Varvara Lepchenko, a 30-year-old left-hander originally from Uzbekistan, for the first time on Thursday.
   Lepchenko, ranked No. 73, surprised fifth-seeded Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 in 2 hours, 15 minutes.
   Bellis can crack the top 50 for the first time by reaching the final of the $226,750 tournament. The champion will collect $43,000.

French Open Day 12 highlights: Serena survives scare

Serena Williams beat unseeded Yulia Putintseva
5-7, 6-4, 6-1 in the French Open quarterfinals.
2016 photo by Paul Bauman 

   Five highlights from Day 12 of the French Open in Paris:
   1. Nerves could be starting to affect Serena Williams again. The top-ranked Williams avoided her third straight Grand Slam upset with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 victory over unseeded Yulia Putintseva, a 21-year-old Moscow native who plays for Kazakhstan, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.
   The 60th-ranked Putintseva, only 5-foot-4 (1.63 meters), had two break points at 4-4 in the second set of her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
   Williams, 34, is attempting to tie Steffi Graf with 22 career Grand Slam singles titles, second behind Margaret Court's 24.
   While trying to earn the first calendar-year Grand Slam in singles since Graf in 1988, Williams lost to 43rd-ranked Roberta Vinci in the U.S. Open semifinals last September. Williams then fell to sixth-ranked Angelique Kerber in the Australian Open final in January.
   2. Williams is scheduled to play another unseeded player, red-hot Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands, in the semifinals on Friday at 4 a.m. PDT.
   Bertens, 24, ousted eighth-seeded Timea Bacsinszky, seeking her second straight French Open semifinal, 7-5, 6-2 for her 12th straight victory.
   The 6-foot (1.82-meter) Bertens swept the Nuremberg singles and doubles titles (qualifying in singles) the week before the French Open.
   Bertens has knocked off four seeds -- No. 3 Kerber, No. 29 Daria Kasatkina, No. 15 Madison Keys and Bacsinszky -- to become the first Dutch woman to reach a Grand Slam semifinal since Betty Stove in 1977.
   Williams could be extremely tight as the heavy favorite in the semifinals while pursuing a place in history. Bertens, meanwhile, figures to be very loose with nothing to lose.  
   Williams defeated Bertens 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the second round of the U.S. Open last year in their only career meeting.
   Fourth-seeded Garbine Muguruza, 22, of Spain will meet 21st-seeded Samantha Stosur, 32, of Australia in the other semifinal on Friday at 4 a.m.
   Stosur beat Muguruza 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 in the second round on clay at Madrid in 2014 in their only career encounter.
   3. Top-ranked Novak Djokovic continued his mastery over seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych with a 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 quarterfinal victory.
   Djokovic, trying to become the eighth man to achieve a career Grand Slam in singles, is 24-2 with an 11-match winning streak against Berdych.
   4. Djokovic is set to face 13th-seeded Dominic Thiem on Friday not before 6 a.m.
   Thiem, a 22-year-old Austrian, topped 12th-seeded David Goffin of Belgium 4-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4, 6-1 in the first Grand Slam quarterfinal for both players.
   Djokovic is 2-0 lifetime against Thiem, winning both matches 6-3, 6-4 on hardcourts.
   In Friday's other semifinal not before 6 a.m., second-seeded Andy Murray will take on third-seeded Stan Wawrinka, the defending champion.
   Murray leads the head-to-head series 8-7, but Wawrinka has won the last three matches and is 2-0 against Murray on clay.
   5. Second-seeded Amanda Anisimova, 14, of Hallandale Beach, Fla., beat unseeded Michaela Gordon of Saratoga, Calif., in the San Francisco Bay Area 6-0, 1-6, 6-4 in the third round of the junior girls event.
   Earlier today, Gordon advanced with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over unseeded Melany Krywoj of Argentina.

French Open Day 12: Serena, Safarova gain final

Serena Williams, practicing during the Bank of the
West Classic at Stanford last summer, overcame the
flu and a big deficit to reach the French Open final.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Women's semifinals -- Battling the flu, top-seeded Serena Williams pulled off another comeback to defeat No. 23 Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 in the semifinals.
   Williams dropped the first set for the fourth time in her last five matches and trailed 3-2 in the second set on Bacsinszky's serve. Williams then reeled off the last 10 games, advancing to the final against 13th-seeded Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic (Saturday at 6 a.m. PDT on NBC).
   Safarova, 28, beat Serbia's Ana Ivanovic, the seventh seed and 2008 champion, 7-5, 7-5 to reach her first Grand Slam singles final. Safarova won her first major title in this year's Australian Open, teaming with American Bethanie Mattek-Sands in women's doubles. 
   Stars and stripes -- The 33-year-old Williams, who grew up in Compton in the Los Angeles area, is trying to join Margaret Court (24) and Steffi Graf (22) as the only players to win at least 20 Grand Slam singles titles.
   Southern California natives Bob and Mike Bryan, seeded first, dismissed Italians Simone Bolleli and Fabio Fognini, the sixth seeds and reigning Australian Open champions, 6-3, 6-3 to reach the final.
   The 37-year-old Bryan twins will play third-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Marcelo Melo of Brazil. They outclassed fifth-seeded Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands and Horia Tecau of Romania 6-3, 7-5.
   Mattek-Sands and Mike Bryan, seeded second in mixed doubles, captured the title with a 7-6 (3),  6-1 triumph over unseeded Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic and Marcin Matkowski of Poland.
   Three Americans and one Frenchman advanced to the semifinals in junior boys singles. Second-seeded Taylor Fritz will meet No. 4 Corentin Denolly of France, and No. 6 Michael Mmoh will face No. 13 Tommy Paul.
   In the junior girls quarterfinals, fourth-seeded CiCi Bellis of the United States routed unseeded Jill Teichmann of Switzerland 6-2, 6-1, but American Katerina Stewart, seeded third, lost to No. 12 Paula Badosa Gibert of Spain 6-2, 6-2.
   The United States has one team in both the boys and girls doubles semis: No. 4 William Blumberg and Paul, and No. 6 Caroline Dolehide and Stewart. 
   Northern California connection -- Williams won her third Bank of the West title at Stanford last year. The Bryans played at Stanford in 1997 and 1998, helping the Cardinal win the NCAA team title each year. Bellis, 16, lives in Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area.
   Fast facts --Williams is 11-0 in three-set matches this year and 31-1 overall (not counting two walkover losses). The defeat came against Petra Kvitova in the Madrid semifinals on clay last month.
   Safarova has not lost a set in her six French Open matches, including a fourth-round victory over defending champion Maria Sharapova.
   Quote -- Williams: "I don't think I've ever been this sick. I didn't expect to win that. I really didn't. I can't believe I won."
   Friday's men's semifinals -- Stan Wawrinka (8) vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (14), 4 a.m. PDT, followed by Novak Djokovic (1) vs. Andy Murray (3), Tennis Channel (delayed on NBC, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.).
   Djokovic is 18-8 against Murray with a seven-match winning streak (all on hardcourts). Djokovic leads 2-0 on clay, winning 7-6 in the third set in the 2011 Italian Open semifinals in their last meeting on the surface.
  The Wawrinka-Tsonga series is tied 3-3. Wawrinka has won the last two matches, both on clay.

French Open Day 9: Defending champ Sharapova out

No. 2 seed and defending champion Maria Sharapova,
suffering from a cold, lost to No. 13 Lucie Safarova
in the fourth round. 2014 photo by Paul Bauman 

   Upset of the day -- Maria Sharapova's streak of three French Open finals ended as the No. 2 seed and defending champion fell to No. 13 Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 7-6 (3), 6-4 in the fourth round.
   Sharapova, who also won the title in 2012, coughed because of a cold throughout the tournament. Safarova, a 28-year-old left-hander, reached the Wimbledon semifinals last year. 
   Match of the day -- For the third match in a row, top-seeded Serena Williams won after dropping the first set. The 33-year-old star came within one game of losing in her 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over fellow American Sloane Stephens. After trailing 6-1, 5-4, Williams won nine of the last 12 games.
   Notable -- No. 23 seed Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland ousted No. 4 Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion from the Czech Republic, 2-6, 6-0, 6-3.
   Besides two-time French Open champ Williams, the only top-10 seed left in the women's draw is No. 7 Ana Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open winner and a former world No. 1. Williams and Ivanovic could meet in the final.
   No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic will face No. 6 Rafael Nadal on Wednesday in the quarterfinals. It will be a rematch of last year's final, won by Nadal in four sets. 
    Fourth-round men's results -- Djokovic def. No. 20 Richard Gasquet 6-1, 6-2, 6-3; No. 2 Roger Federer def. No. 13 Gael Monfils 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1; No. 3 Andy Murray def. Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2; Nadal def. Jack Sock 6-3, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2; No. 7 David Ferrer def. No. 9 Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-2, 6-4.
   Other fourth-round women's results -- No. 17 Sara Errani def. Julia Goerges 6-2, 6-2; No. 21 Garbine Muguruza def. No. 28 Flavia Pennetta 6-3, 6-4; Alison Van Uytvanck def. Andreea Mitu 6-1, 6-3.   
   Men's quarterfinal matchups -- No. 1 Djokovic vs. No. 6 Nadal, No. 3 Murray vs. No. 7 Ferrer, No. 5 Kei Nishikori vs. No. 14 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 2 Federer vs. No. 8 Stan Wawrinka.
   Women's quarterfinal matchups -- No. 1 Williams vs. No. 17 Errani, No. 23 Bacsinszky vs. Van Uytvanck, No. 7 Ivanovic vs. No. 19 Elina Svitolina, No. 13 Safarova vs. No. 21 Muguruza.
   Stars and stripes -- Williams is the only American left in singles, men's or women's.
   In the first round of junior girls singles, No. 4 CiCi Bellis triumphed, but No. 11 Sofia Kenin lost. On the boys side, No. 6 Michael Mmoh and No. 13 Tommy Paul advanced, but No. 9 William Blumberg fell.
   Northern California connection -- Bellis, 16, lives in Atherton.
   The fourth-seeded team of Michaela Gordon, 15, of Saratoga and Charlotte Robillard-Millette of Canada won in the opening round of junior girls doubles.
   Fast fact -- Williams is 10-0 in three-set matches this year.
   Quote -- Sharapova on her illness: "I don't like to talk about it, and I don't think it really makes a difference."
   Today on Court Philippe Chatrier (starting at 5 a.m. PDT, Tennis Channel 5-10 a.m., ESPN2 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.) -- No. 7 Ivanovic vs. No. 19 Svitolina, No. 5 Nishikori vs. No. 14 Tsonga.
   Today on Court Suzanne Lenglen (starting at 5 a.m. PDT, Tennis Channel 5-10 a.m., ESPN2 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.) -- No. 13 Safarova vs. No. 21 Muguruza, No. 2 Federer vs. No. 8 Wawrinka.