Ahn loses battle against top seed in $100K Midland

Kristie Ahn, a 26-year-old Stanford graduate, saved three match points be-
fore falling to top-seeded Rebecca Peterson of Sweden 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 today
in the quarterfinals of the $100,000 Dow Tennis Classic in Midland, Mich.
2018 photo by Paul Bauman

   Kristie Ahn fought hard but came up short against the top seed in a $100,000 tournament in Midland, Mich.
   The 26-year-old Stanford graduate and New Jersey resident saved three match points before falling to Rebecca Peterson, a 23-year-old Swede, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in 2 hours, 31 minutes today in the quarterfinals of the Dow Tennis Classic.
   Peterson, ranked No. 57, broke serve to lead 3-2 in the third set and held for 4-2. Ahn, ranked No. 220, escaped a break point to hold for 3-4. After Peterson held for 5-3, Ahn survived two match points and pulled within 4-5.
   Peterson, who reached the third round of last year's U.S. Open and the second round of last month's Australian Open, trailed 0-30 in the next game but won three consecutive points to earn her third match point. Ahn again stayed alive and then earned a break point, but Peterson won the following three points to improve to 3-0 lifetime against Ahn.
   It was Peterson's second victory over Ahn in two weeks. Peterson triumphed 6-4, 6-4 in the second round of the $162,480 Newport Beach Challenger.
   Peterson will face Caty McNally, a 17-year-old wild card from Cincinnati, on Saturday. McNally ousted third seed and defending champion Madison Brengle of Dover, Del., 6-3, 6-4. Brengle won the $60,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger last October.
   In Saturday's other semifinal, fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula will meet qualifier and fellow American Robin Anderson.
   Pegula, the 24-year-old daughter of Buffalo Bills and Sabres owners Terrence and Kim Pegula, topped American Christina McHale, a former top-25 player, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.
   Pegula advanced to the final of the $50,000 Sacramento Challenger in 2012, losing to Modesto (Calif.) product Maria Sanchez, and the semifinals of last year's Stockton Challenger.
   The 5-foot-3 (1.61-meter) Anderson, who won the $25,000 Redding (Calif.) Challenger in 2017, beat sixth-seeded Yanina Wickmayer, a 29-year-old Belgian who reached the semifinals of the 2009 U.S. Open, 6-3, 6-4.
   In Saturday's doubles final, U.S. wild cards Cori (Coco) Gauff, 14, and Ann Li, 18, will meet unseeded Olga Govortsova, 30, of Belarus and Valeria Savinykh, 27, of Russia.
   Li reached the singles quarterfinals of last year's Stockton Challenger, and Govortsova advanced to the singles quarters of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in 2007 and 2013.
   The Bank of the West Classic ended in 2017 after 21 years at Stanford and was replaced by the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in nearby San Jose.

WTA tour knows the way to San Jose

Madison Keys sits on CoCo Vandeweghe's
lap after winning the Bank of the West
Classic at Stanford last August. Photo
by Mal Taam

   The San Francisco Bay Area received more good news today.
   Five days after it was announced that Roger Federer will make his first Northern California appearance in an exhibition on March 5 at the SAP Center in San Jose, IMG revealed that the longest-running tournament on the WTA tour has a new site and sponsor.
   The Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic is scheduled for July 30-Aug. 5 at the new Spartan Tennis Complex at San Jose State University, 20 miles (32 kilometers) southeast of its former home at Stanford University.
    The Spartan Tennis Complex has six lighted outside courts, and there are plans to build six more indoors. San Jose State will build a stadium court adjacent to the complex with temporary seating for 4,000 fans.
   Mubadala, Abu Dhabi's leading strategic investment company, also sponsors an invitational tournament in its home city in late December and the Rio Open on the ATP World Tour in Rio de Janeiro in February.
   Ironically, the Rio Open replaced the San Jose stop on the men's tour in 2014 after the tournament had been held in Northern California for 125 years.
   The WTA tour's Bay Area stop, founded in 1971, had been sponsored by Bank of the West since 1992 and held at Stanford since 1997. Past champions include Serena Williams, Billie Jean King,  Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Monica Seles, Andrea Jaeger, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters.
   Madison Keys defeated fellow American Coco Vandeweghe in last year's final. Afterward, with Vandweghe sitting in her chair awaiting the awards ceremony, Keys hopped on her close friend's lap and hugged her.

Federer gains Aussie Open final as Chung retires

   As if facing Roger Federer for the first time wasn't tough enough, Hyeon Chung also struggled with blisters on his left foot.
   The unseeded Chung, the first Korean to reach a Grand Slam semifinal, retired with the second-seeded Federer leading 6-1, 5-2, 30-30 today in the Australian Open in Melbourne. The match lasted only 62 minutes.
   Federer, who will play an exhibition against Jack Sock at the SAP Center in San Jose on March 5, will face sixth-seeded Marin Cilic for the title on Sunday at 12:30 a.m. PST (ESPN) in a rematch of last year's Wimbledon final. Federer coasted 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 as Cilic also struggled with foot blisters.
   Federer is 8-1 against the 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Cilic, losing 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals of the 2014 U.S. Open. Cilic, from Croatia, went on to win his only Grand Slam title.
   Federer is 5-1 in Australian Open finals, falling to Rafael Nadal in 2009. Federer, 36, can tie the record of six Melbourne titles held by Novak Djokovic and Roy Emerson and win his record 20th Grand Slam singles crown. Nadal is second with 16.
   Saturday's women's final, also at 12:30 a.m. PST on ESPN, will produce a first-time Grand Slam champion as Serena Williams sat out the tournament after delivering her first child in September.
   Top-ranked Simona Halep will meet second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki in the first Grand Slam final in the Open era (since 1968) in which both players have saved match points in the tournament. Halep survived three in her 4-6, 6-4, 15-13 victory over American Lauren Davis in the third round and two against Angelique Kerber in the semifinals. Wozniacki escaped two in her 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory over Jana Fett of Croatia in the second round. Fett, 21, squandered a 5-1 lead in the third set with a barrage of errors.
   It's also the first time in the Open era that a player has reached a major final after saving a match point in multiple matches. Kerber, who won the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, fended off one match point against Misaki Doi of Japan in the first round of the 2016 Australian Open en route to the first of her two Grand Slam titles.
   Wozniacki, 27, can regain the top ranking for the first time since 2010 with a victory over Halep, 26. Wozniacki, who announced her engagement to former NBA player David Lee last fall, leads the head-to-head series 4-2 with wins in the last three meetings. Halep, though, leads 2-1 on outdoor hard courts.
   Both finalists are 0-2 in Grand Slam finals. Wozniacki lost in the 2009 and 2014 U.S. Open. Halep fell in the 2014 and 2017 French Open.
   Also, both players are 0-1 in the Bank of the West Classic. Wozniacki lost as the top seed to Varvara Lepchenko, a U.S. citizen from Uzbekistan, in 2015 after receiving a first-round bye. Halep fell to Sabine Lisicki of Germany in the first round in 2011.
   Bank of the West and Stanford recently ended their association with the tournament after 26 and 21 years, respectively. The event reportedly will move to a new complex at nearby San Jose State or perhaps out of the region. 

Bank of the West Classic to leave Stanford

As it turned out, the Bank of the West Classic ended a 21-year run at Stanford
with an indelible image as Madison Keys sat on CoCo Vandeweghe's lap after
beating her close friend for the title in August. Photo by Mal Taam 

   The San Francisco Bay Area stop on the WTA tour has no site and no sponsor.

   Other than that, the tournament is in great shape.
   All that's known at this point is that Stanford University no longer will host a WTA tournament.
   IMG, which runs the event, tweeted Friday: "After 21 years of partnering with Stanford University, IMG has been notified by the University that its policy of hosting corporate sponsored events on campus has changed and Stanford no longer will be able to host a WTA event at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium. IMG's highest priority is to keep the event in the Bay Area and we are working on a plan to do so."
   Stanford's decision is odd for several reasons:
   --No commercialism is very admirable, but what's that swoosh on the uniforms of Stanford athletes, including tennis players? Will the athletic department terminate its lucrative endorsement deal with Nike, too? Stop laughing hysterically.
   --The campus is very quiet during the summer tournament. What, the junior lacrosse camp backs up traffic to Millbrae?
   --Not that Stanford, which is wealthier than Bahrain, needs the money, but it received rent for hosting the tournament.
   --Nor, apparently, is the university interested in free national television exposure. Who knows, even Heisman Trophy voters in the East might notice eventually.
   --With Venus and Serena Williams approaching retirement, Stanford is throwing away a heaven-sent gate attraction for the next 15 years. Eighteen-year-old phenom CiCi Bellis grew up five minutes from Stanford in affluent Atherton, and her parents still have a house there. Of course, Bellis would have to win a Grand Slam singles title or three to draw casual fans.
   So what now? Playing the tournament indoors in its slot during the outdoor hard-court season leading up to the U.S. Open reportedly is not an option. That rules out San Jose's SAP Arena, the site of the now-defunct SAP Open on the men's tour, and Oakland's Oracle Arena, the home of the Golden State Warriors and site of the WTA tournament from 1979 through 1996.
   Inside Tennis reported that IMG has had talks with San Jose State and Silicon Valley and East Bay clubs as well as sites in the eastern United States, including North Carolina.
   Maybe Larry Ellison, the multi-billionaire who lives near Stanford in Woodside and owns the wildly popular BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, will save the WTA tournament.
   Tradition, though, doesn't seem to count for much these days. Founded in 1971, the WTA tournament in the Bay Area is the oldest women's tennis event in the world. It was sponsored by Bank of the West from 1992 through this year and held at Stanford since 1997. Past champions include Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Margaret Smith Court, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Kim Clijsters, Serena Williams and Venus Williams.
   The SAP Open moved to Rio de Janeiro in 2014 after 125 years in Northern California. After 28 seasons in Sacramento, the Capitals of World TeamTennis announced in early 2014 that they were moving to Las Vegas. The franchise folded one month later when owner Deepal Wannakuwatte was charged with orchestrating a massive Ponzi scheme involving his medical supply business. He is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
   As Inside Tennis reported, only eight years ago, California had six ATP and WTA tournaments: Indian Wells, Los Angeles, San Jose, Stanford, Carlsbad and Carson. Now the state that has produced Don Budge, Jack Kramer, Pancho Gonzalez, Pete Sampras, King, Davenport, Helen Wills Moody, Tracy Austin and many other legends might be down to one.
   You don't have to be Nick Bolliettieri to figure out what's going on here. The United States hasn't had a men's Grand Slam singles champion since Andy Roddick in 2003. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka never played in the SAP Open. Andy Murray never returned to San Jose after winning his second straight title there at age 19. Venus Williams won the last of her seven major singles crowns in 2008, announcing in 2011 that she had been diagnosed with a debilitating autoimmune disease. Serena Williams played in the Bank of the West once since 2012, and that was three years ago. Maria Sharapova returned to the tournament this year for the first time since 2011.
   Barring injury, Bellis would have played every year. Guaranteed.   

Friendly foes: Keys tops CoCo for Stanford title

Madison Keys sits on CoCo Vandeweghe's
lap after winning the Bank of the West
Classic at Stanford. Photo by Mal Taam

   STANFORD, Calif. -- A touching, likely unprecedented, scene occurred today in the cutthroat world of professional tennis.
   After defeating fellow American CoCo Vandeweghe 7-6 (4), 6-4 for the title in the Bank of the West Classic, Madison Keys walked to Vandeweghe's chair, hopped on her good friend's lap and hugged her.
   The horde of photographers, who had been aiming their cameras toward one end of the court for the impending trophy presentation, suddenly pivoted 90 degrees to capture the tender moment.
   Vandeweghe then walked to Keys' side of the court and sat next to her for the awards ceremony.
   Keys said the title "means a lot. It's my first title in the States and against a friend. Truly, I think the moments afterwards are part of what makes it so special and what I will always remember about this week."
   Keys and Vandeweghe became friends when they helped the United States rout host Australia 4-0 in the World Group playoffs of the Fed Cup in April 2016.
   "The whole team really bonded -- myself, Bethanie (Mattek-Sands), Maddie and Christina (McHale)," said Vandeweghe, also the runner-up to Serena Williams five years ago at Stanford as a lucky loser. "It was the first time really that we were all together for that long of a time because the tie (series) was in Australia. We had pretty much like two weeks together. It was a lot of fun, a lot of instances where the Australian media really did a good job in making it fun for us out there. And we won the tie, so that's a bonus of making everyone really like each other."
   Entering today, Keys and Vandeweghe each had won two WTA titles, both on grass in Europe. Aside from Keys' 6-3, 6-2 dismantling of top seed and reigning Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza in Saturday's semfinals, there was little indication that Keys would add to her total.

   Keys, a right-hander with a two-handed backhand, underwent surgery on her left wrist last November, returned to the tour in March and had arthroscopic surgery on the wrist in early June after losing in the second round of the French Open.
   Keys missed the Wimbledon grass-court tune-up tournaments, withdawing from Birmingham after winning the 2016 title there, and lost in the second round at the All England Club.

Madison Keys, 22, won her third career WTA title
but first in the United States. Photo by Mal Taam

   Keys arrived at Stanford, her first tournament since Wimbledon, with modest expectations.
   "I came into this tournament with the goal of having good, solid matches and trying to get consistent and feel good on the tennis court, and I think I did that," said Keys, who had lost in the second round in both of her previous Stanford appearances (2013 and 2015). "That's going to be my goal not only for the next tournament, but the tournament after that and for the rest of the season."

   Keys, who received a first-round bye as the No. 3 seed, trailed by a set and a break against U.S. qualifier Caroline Dolehide in the second round before prevailing 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
   "I think that first match really tested me in the sense of staying composed and figuring things out and just playing smarter," Keys said. "I think that match really, really helped me for the rest of the week."
   Both the 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) Keys and the 6-foot-1 (1.85-meter) Vandeweghe have powerful serves and groundstrokes. But Keys is more athletic, which is saying something considering Vandeweghe's background. Her uncle Kiki and grandfather Ernie played in the NBA. Her mother, Tauna, competed in the Olympics in swimming in 1976 and volleyball in 1984.
   Keys' parents are lawyers, but she chose a different kind of court.
   There were no service breaks in the first set of the initial meeting between Keys, 22, and Vandeweghe, 25, on a beautiful 75-degree (23.9 Celsius) day in front of an announced crowd of 2,391. Keys saved three break points, and Vandeweghe escaped a set point serving at 4-5.
   Keys pulled out the first set with the help of a net cord. With the sixth-seeded Vandeweghe serving at 4-5 in the tiebreaker, Keys slugged a forehand passing shot down the line set up by her ball that clipped the tape and went over the net.
   "I felt, in the first set especially, I was putting the most pressure on her service games," said Vandeweghe, who began working with 1987 Wimbledon champion Pat Cash at the start of the grass-court season. "I had three or four break points, and I want to say at least three of them were second serves. She came up with really good shots off those second serves, but if you look back and (say) coulda, woulda, shoulda, you're going to drive yourself crazy. Tennis is a game of millimeters, centimeters, whatever you want to call it. I looked at the end, and I think it was 72 points to 68 (correct), so there you go. That's how close it was.
   The only service break of the match came with Vandeweghe serving at 4-4 in the second set.  Vandeweghe fought back from 15-40 to deuce but lost the next two points. Keys laced a backhand winner down the line with Vandeweghe at the net, and Vandeweghe wasted an open court by sailing a runaround forehand long.
   Still, Keys was wary.
   "I definitely didn't know it was over," she said, "I just knew that if I kept hanging in on my service games (during the match) that hopefully I would have a chance to break. I knew there probably weren't going to be very many opportunities, so I knew when I had a break point in that game that I really needed to step up."
   Keys' worries were misplaced. She held serve at love, converting her first match point with a runaround forehand passing shot down the line.

Madison Keys, who had two operations on her left wrist, questioned whether
she could regain the form that took her to No. 7 in the world. Photo by Mal Taam 

   Keys earned $132,380 for the title. Vandeweghe collected $70,550 as the singles runner-up and added $20,825 for winning the doubles title with American Abigail Spears.
   Both singles finalists rose four places in the world rankings, Keys to No. 17 and Vandeweghe to No. 20, one spot off her career high in May.
   During Keys' layoffs, she had doubts that she could return to the form that carried her to a career-high No. 7 in the world last October.
   "There was lots of times when I thought maybe it just wasn't ever going to happen again," Keys confessed. "There's lots of low moments, but as great as this week is, I don't expect my wrist to be perfect forever and never have an issue with it again. It's going to be something I have to keep up and have a really good mentality about."
   Keys, though, wasn't surprised to win the title.
   "It definitely felt like my wrist has been the final missing piece in my game," said Keys, who's coached by former world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport and Dieter Kindlmann. I've actually felt pretty good about my game for a while. It was just really good to finally feel healthy for lots of matches."
   Notes -- The tournament's future is uncertain following the expiration of the Bank of the West's five-year contract. The Bank of the West Classic, in its 47th year, is the longest-running women's professional tournament in the world. It has been sponsored by Bank of the West since 1992 and held at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Stadium since 1997.
   Former Bank of the West champions include Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Andrea Jaeger, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Davenport, Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters.
   --Vandeweghe and Spears, seeded third, outclassed unseeded Alize Cornet of France and Alicja Rosolska of Poland 6-2, 6-3 in the final. It was the 36-year-old Spears' second consecutive Bank of the West doubles crown and third overall. The first two came with Raquel Atawo (formerly Kops-Jones) of nearby San Jose.
   --Here are the complete Bank of the West singles and doubles draws.
   --Here are the men's $100,000 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger qualifying draw, singles and doubles main draws, and Monday's schedule. Aptos, situated on the Pacific Ocean, is a one-hour drive south of Stanford.

Americans Vandeweghe, Keys gain Stanford final

CoCo Vandeweghe routed local favorite CiCi Bellis 6-3, 6-1 today in the semifinals
of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford. Photo by Mal Taam

   The local favorite won't play for the Bank of the West Classic title.
   But two Americans will.
   No. 6 seed CoCo Vandeweghe overwhelmed No. 8 CiCi Bellis 6-3, 6-1 in 65 minutes this afternoon at Stanford.
   It was the first semifinal in a WTA Premier Level tournament for Bellis, who grew up a five-minute drive from Stanford in Atherton. At 18, she became the youngest semifinalist in the Bank of the West Classic since 17-year-old Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic in 2006.
   In the evening semifinal, third-seeded Madison Keys ousted top seed and reigning Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza 6-3, 6-2 in 57 minutes to end the Spaniard's winning streak at nine matches. Keys improved to 3-0 against Muguruza, who also won tlast year's French Open.
   Vandeweghe will play in her second Bank of the West final. As a lucky loser in 2012, she held a set point in the first set of a 7-5, 6-3 loss to Serena Williams.
   "I'm five years older, and hopefully I'm more mature," Vandeweghe said today in her on-court interview. "I think (I'm) a little bit of a different tennis player. You grow and evolve as a tennis player and as a person, and I think especially in the last two years, it's been kind of clicking in that regard."

Madison Keys ousted top seed and reigning Wim-
bledon champion Garbine Muguruza 6-3, 6-2 in
less than an hour. Photo by Mal Taam

   Keys had lost in the second round in her two previous appearances at Stanford, in 2013 and 2015.
   Surprisingly, Vandeweghe and Keys will meet for the first time (2 p.m. PDT on ESPN2). But the similarities between them are uncanny. Besides being American (Vandeweghe is from Rancho Santa Fe in the San Diego area, and Keys resides in Boca Raton, Fla.), both:
   --Are young. Vandeweghe is 25 and Keys 22.
   --Are tall. Vandeweghe is 6-foot-1 (1.85 meters) and Keys 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters).
   --Are ranked in the 20s, Keys at No. 21 and Vandeweghe at No. 24.
   --Seek their third WTA title.
   --Have won two titles on grass in Europe.
   --Have reached one Grand Slam semifinal in the Australian Open, Keys in 2015 and Vandeweghe this year.
   Vandeweghe played for now-defunct Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis at 17 in 2009, one year after winning the U.S. Open girls singles title, and 2012.
   Vandeweghe comes from a renowned athletic family. Her uncle Kiki averaged 19.7 points during his 13-year NBA career (1980-93), and her grandfather Ernie played for the New York Knicks in the 1950s. CoCo's mother, Tauna, competed in the Olympics in swimming in 1976 and volleyball in 1984.
   Keys, a right-hander with a two-handed backhand, had left wrist surgery last November and returned to the tour in March.
   Vandeweghe also will play for the doubles title with Abigail Spears of Colorado Springs, Colo. Seeded third, they will face unseeded Alize Cornet of France and Alicja Rosolska of Poland after the singles final.
   ATP Tour -- Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native like Bellis, completed a Sombrero Double by winning the title in Los Cabos, Mexico.
   Seeded second, Querrey defeated wild card Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. The victory will put Querrey in the top 20 for the first time since 2013.
   Querrey also defeated Rafael Nadal for the Acapulco title in March.
   Men's Challenger -- Here are the singles main draw, qualifying draw and Sunday's schedule for the men's $100,000 Nordic Naturals Challenger at the Seascape Sports Club in Aptos, a one-hour drive south of Stanford.

Bellis, 18, crushes Kvitova in Stanford quarters

CiCi Bellis exults after demolishing two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova
6-2, 6-0 tonight in the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
Photo by Mal Taam

   It was one thing for CiCi Bellis to beat Petra Kvitova tonight in the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
   But 6-2, 6-0 in 62 minutes?
   We're talking about a two-time Wimbledon champion, not some obscure qualifier.
   Yes, Kvitova returned to the tour in May after suffering career-threatening cuts to her left (playing) hand in a knife attack at her home in the Czech Republic in December.
   But it's not as if the 27-year-old left-hander has been playing badly (a second-round loss to No. 95 Madison Brengle at Wimbledon notwithstanding).
   Kvitova won Birmingham on grass in the second tournament of her comeback and dispatched Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-2, 6-2 in the second round at Stanford on Thursday.
   Tonight, the second-seeded Kvitova had only one ace, double-faulted six times and committed 26 unforced errors to Bellis' nine.
   "I think this is definitely one of the biggest wins of my career,” the 18-year-old Bellis, who grew up a five-minute drive from Stanford in Atherton, told reporters. “I’m just really happy with how I played, and really excited I was able to get through it.
   “I don’t think Kvitova played her best tennis, but on my side I feel like just played a real unbelieveable match.”
    Kvitova is ranked No. 14 after reaching a career-high No. 2 in 2011. At 6 feet (1.83 meters), she towers over the 5-foot-7 (1.70-meter) Bellis.
   Bellis, the youngest player in the top 50 at No. 44, beat a top-20 player for the fourth time. She stunned No. 13 Dominika Cibulkova in the first round of the 2014 U.S. Open at age 15, knocked off No. 6 Agnieszka Radwanska in the third round at Dubai in February and upended No. 18 Kiki Bertens in the second round of the French Open in May.
   Cibulkova and Radwanska have reached one Grand Slam final each, but this was Bellis' first victory over a major champion. That does not include her win over Jelena Ostapenko in the first round of last year's Bank of the West Classic. Ostapenko won the French Open two days after her 20th birthday in June.
   Bellis also advanced to the semifinals of a WTA Premier Level tournament for the first time. Seeded eighth, she will face No. 6 seed and 24th-ranked CoCo Vandeweghe, 6-foot-1 (1.85 meters) from Rancho Santa Fe in the San Diego area, for the first time on Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPN2).
   Vandeweghe, the runner-up to Serena Williams as a lucky loser five years ago at Stanford, downed No. 4 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 6-2, 6-3.
   Hey, if CiCi can beat Kiki, she might beat CoCo, the oldest Stanford semifinalist at 25.
   In the other semifinal, top seed and reigning Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza of Spain will play third-seeded Madison Keys of Boca Raton, Fla., at 7 p.m. (ESPN2). Keys, 22, is 2-0 against Muguruza, 23.
   Muguruza, ranked fourth, outclassed No. 5 seed Ana Konjuh, a 19-year-old Croatian ranked 20th, 6-1, 6-3. Muguruza has lost only six games in her two Stanford matches. The top four seeds received first-round byes.
   Keys, a right-hander who had left wrist surgery last November and returned to the tour in March, eliminated seventh-seeded Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-4, 6-3.
   Here are the Bank of the West singles and doubles draws and Saturday's schedule.
   Here are the qualifying draw in the men's $100,000 Nordic Naturals Challenger in Aptos, Calif., and Saturday's schedule. Aptos, situated on the Pacific Ocean, is a one-hour drive south of Stanford.

Bellis, 18, to face Kvitova in Stanford quarterfinals

   For the second consecutive year, CiCi Bellis will face a former Wimbledon champion in the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
   The eighth-seeded Bellis will take on second-seeded Petra Kvitova for the first time tonight at 7 (ESPN3) after losing to Venus Williams 6-4, 6-1 last year.
   Williams owns five Wimbledon crowns (2000, 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2008) and Kvitova two (2011 and 2014).
   Both Williams and Kvitova are 6-foot (1.82 meters) or taller, and both have had physical issues off the court.
   Williams was diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome, an energy-sapping autoimmune disease, in 2011. Kvitova suffered career-threatening cuts on her left (playing) hand while fending off a knife attack at her home in the Czech Republic in December. She returned to the circuit in May.
   Williams, a 37-year-old right-hander, lost to Johanna Konta in last year's final. Neither player returned this year.
   Kvitova, 27, debuted in the Bank of the West Classic with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine in the second round on Thursday. The top four seeds received first-round byes.
   The 18-year-old Bellis, who grew up a five-minute drive from Stanford in Atherton, defeated qualifier Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay 7-6 (3), 6-2.
   Bellis, the youngest player in the top 50 at No. 44, evened her record against the 5-foot-4 (1.63-meter) Cepede Royg at 1-1. Cepede Royg won 6-4, 6-0 in the first round of qualifying for the 2015 French Open.
   All eight singles seeds reached the Bank of the West quarterfinals, the first time that has happened in a WTA tournament since Philadelphia in 2004.
   In the other quarterfinal in the bottom half of the draw, fourth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia will meet sixth-seeded CoCo Vandeweghe of Rancho Santa Fe in the San Diego area at about 2 p.m.
   Vandeweghe, the runner-up to Serena Williams at Stanford five years ago as a lucky loser, overpowered former Stanford star Nicole Gibbs of Santa Monica in the Los Angeles region 6-0, 6-2.
   Pavlyuchenkova also debuted in the Bank of the West Classic. She downed American Alison Riske, a semifinalist last year and quarterfinalist two years ago at Stanford, 6-4, 6-0.
   In the top half of the draw, top seed and reigning Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza will play fifth-seeded Ana Konjuh, a 19-year-old Croatian ranked 20th, at noon.
   Third-seeded Madison Keys of Boca Raton, Fla, will face seventh-seeded Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine at about 4 p.m.
   Here are the Bank of the West singles and doubles draws and today's schedule.

Sharapova, like Azarenka, withdraws from Stanford

Maria Sharapova, shown on Monday night, withdrew from her second-round
match in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford today with soreness in her
left arm. Photo by Mal Taam

   STANFORD, Calif. -- First Victoria Azarenka, now Maria Sharapova.
   Midway through the second round of the Bank of the West Classic, withdrawals have cost the tournament two of its four marquee players.
   Sharapova pulled out with soreness in her left arm, officials announced shortly before noon PDT today. She was to have played seventh-seeded Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine not before 2:30 p.m.
   "Unfortunately, I have to withdraw from today's match," Sharapova, a 30-year-old right-hander with a two-handed backhand, said in a statement. "Toward the end of Monday night's match, I felt pain in my left forearm. After yesterday's scan, the doctor has recommended I don't risk further injury. Monday night's crowd was so special, and I wish I could continue playing, but I have to make a preventative decision."
    Sharapova, a wild card ranked No. 171, returned from a 15-month doping suspension in April. In the third tournament of her comeback, she retired from her second-round match in the Italian Open in May with a thigh injury. Stanford was Sharapova's first tournament since then.    
   Tsurenko, playing in the Bank of the West for the first time this year, will meet third-seeded Madison Keys of Boca Raton, Fla., in Friday's quarterfinals.
   Keys, who underwent left wrist surgery last fall and returned to the circuit in March, defeated qualifier Caroline Dolehide 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. Dolehide, who's scheduled to play in a doubles quarterfinal with fellow U.S. teenager Kayla Day on Friday, is competing in her first WTA tournament.
   Azarenka, who won the 2010 Bank of the West Classic (beating Sharapova in the final), withdrew from this year's tournament on Friday with a viral illness. She gave birth to her first child in December and came back to the tour in June.
   Both Sharapova and Azarenka have reached No. 1 in the world. Sharapova has won Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open once each and the French Open twice. Azarenka owns two Australian Open titles.

Top-seeded Garbine Muguruza, playing her first match since winning Wim-
bledon last month, crushed 17-year-old Kayla Day 6-2, 6-0 in the second
round of the Bank of the West Classic. Photo by Mal Taam

   In tonight's featured match, top-seeded Garbine Muguruza of Spain crushed Day, a 17-year-old left-hander from Santa Barbara, Calif., 6-2, 6-0 in 58 minutes. Muguruza hammered her serve, pounded her groundstrokes into the corners and kept Day on her heels with deep returns of serve.
   It was Muguruza's first match since she won Wimbledon last month for her second Grand Slam singles title. The top four seeds received first-round byes.
   "I'm happy because it's never easy -- I remember that from last year -- to go back to a tournament pretty soon (after winning a Slam)," said Muguruza, who won the 2016 French Open. "To forget about what just happened, just concentrate on a new tournament, that match, and start fresh, so I'm happy it went my way because it's easy to make a mess of it."
   Muguruza, who won the doubles title at Stanford in 2014 with compatriot Carla Suarez Navarro, beat Day 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 in the third round at Indian Wells in March in their only previous meeting.
   "In that match, I started a little bit bad," Muguruza recalled. "My game was not there, and I missed a lot of shots. I really wanted to start well here, especially trying to return her serve. She has a big serve, and she's lefty, and I was working on that. That made a huge difference to start well in the match and not almost losing in the second set and trying to survive."
   Muguruza will play fifth-seeded Ana Konjuh of Croatia for the first time in the quarterfinals. Konjuh, ranked 20th at 19 years old, topped Natalia Vikhlyantseva of Russia 7-5, 6-4.
   Second-seeded Petra Kvitova, who accepted a late wild card, is scheduled to make her Bank of the West debut against Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine in the second round on Thursday not before 1 p.m.
   Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon singles champion, suffered career-threatening injuries to her left (playing) hand when she was attacked with a knife during a home invasion in Prostejov, Czech Republic, in December. She returned to the tour in May.
   In a doubles quarterfinal today, third-seeded Abigail Spears of Colorado Springs, Colo., and CoCo Vandeweghe of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., in the San Diego area edged former Stanford teammates Kristie Ahn of Orlando, Fla., and Nicole Gibbs of Santa Monica in the Los Angeles area 6-7 (7), 6-4 (10-6].
   Vandeweghe, the singles runner-up to Serena Williams as a lucky loser at Stanford in 2012, was treated for a nosebleed after the second set.
   Here are the Bank of the West singles and doubles draws and Thursday's schedule.

Bellis, making the grade as pro, breezes at Stanford

   STANFORD, Calif. -- At this time last year, CiCi Bellis was entering her senior year of high school and planning to attend Stanford University.
   One year later, the product of neighboring Atherton returned to the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford as a professional and the youngest player in the world's top 50 at No. 44.
   "It's crazy," the eighth-seeded Bellis marveled after using her impeccable groundstrokes to dismiss French veteran Alize Cornet 6-3, 6-2 in 1 hour, 17 minutes on Tuesday night in the first round. "The two choices I had last year, being on this path or going to Stanford, are great ones. If I had chosen Stanford, I would probably be going there in a few weeks. It's crazy how different life could be if I had chosen that."
   Bellis, 18, turned pro last September after reaching the third round of the U.S. Open as a qualifier. Seeded in a WTA tournament for the first time at Stanford, she raised her arms after converting her first match point as if she had won the title.
   "This being my home tournament, I just get so much more excited for every winning points and matches," gushed Bellis, who estimated that she had "40, maybe more" family members and friends in the announced crowd of 1,179.
   Cornet, 27, is ranked one spot lower than Bellis. In 2014, Cornet became the first player to defeat Serena Williams three consecutive times since Justine Henin in 2007. One of Cornet's victories over Williams came in the third round at Wimbledon; another came via retirement.
   Cornet has the most Grand Slam appearances (46) without reaching a quarterfinal of all active players.
   Bellis, now based in Orlando, Fla., will face Veronica Cepede Royg, a 25-year-old qualifier from  Paraguay, on Thursday in a bid to reach the quarterfinals at Stanford for the second consecutive year.
   Cepede Royg, only 5-foot-4 (1.63 meters), downed Kristie Ahn, a 25-year-old former Stanford star also based in Orlando, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1.
   Cepede Royg defeated Bellis 6-4, 6-0 in the first round of qualifying in the 2015 French Open in their only previous meeting.
   Bellis could play second-seeded Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion, in the quarterfinals on Friday. Kvitova returned to the tour in May after her left (playing) hand was severely injured in a knife attack at her home in the Czech Republic in December.
   During Tuesday's day session, sixth-seeded CoCo Vandeweghe of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., in the San Diego area beat Alja Tomljanovic (pronounced Eye-la Tom-lee-on-o-vich) of Croatia 6-2, retired (right shoulder).
   Tomljanovic, 24, withdrew from Sunday's final against 15-year-old U.S. sensation Amanda Anisimova in the $60,000 Sacramento Challenger with soreness in her surgically repaired shoulder.
   By playing one set in the Bank of the West Classic, Tomljanovic pocketed $7,225 (minus 30 percent tax), far exceeding the $4,863 (minus tax) she earned in Sacramento.
   Vandeweghe reached the final of the 2012 Bank of the West Classic as a lucky loser, falling to Serena Williams. Vandeweghe, then 20, held a set point in the first set of her 7-5, 6-3 loss.
   American Alison Riske, a semifinalist last year at Stanford and quarterfinalist in 2015, defeated Magda Linette of Poland 6-2, 6-4.
   Also, qualifier Caroline Dolehide, from Hinsdale, Ill., outplayed Naomi Osaka of Japan 6-4, 6-2 in a matchup of teenagers. It was the 18-year-old Dolehide's first main-draw match in a WTA tournament.
   Among the four doubles seeds, only the No. 3 team of Abigail Spears of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Vandeweghe remains alive after the first round.
   Americans Jennifer Brady and Madison Keys ousted top seeds Raquel Atawo (formerly Kops-Jones) of nearby San Jose and Hao-Ching Chan of Taiwan 4-6, 7-5 [10-6]. Atawo and Spears won the title last year and in 2013.
   Highlighting today's day session, former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova will meet seventh-seeded Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine not before 2:30 p.m. in the second round.
   In the featured night match, top seed and reigning Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza will face 17-year-old Kayla Day of Santa Barbara, Calif., at 7. The top four singles seeds received first-round byes.
   Here are the Bank of the West singles and doubles draws and today's schedule.

Sharapova triumphs in U.S. return at Stanford

Maria Sharapova won in her first tournament match in North America in more
than two years on Monday night at Stanford. Photo by Mal Taam

   Former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova defeated Jennifer Brady 6-1, 4-6, 6-0 Monday night in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
   It was Sharapova's first tournament match in North America in more than two years and her first anywhere since the Italian Open in May.
   Sharapova, 30, returned from a 15-month doping suspension in April. In the third tournament of her comeback, she retired from her second-round match against Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in Rome with a thigh injury.
   "I feel like I face a lot of things: not competing for a long time, an opponent who's able to play some great tennis -- what a year she's had already!" Sharapova, a wild card ranked No. 171, told reporters. "I feel like I'm playing catch-up against everyone who's had a head start.
   "All that matters is that I keep playing. As long as I'm the one winning the last point, I get to play another match, and another. The more I play, the better I'll do. That's the goal."
   Brady, 22, of Orlando, Fla., reached the fourth round of the Australian Open as a qualifier in January and the quarterfinals of last week's $60,000 Gold River Women's Challenger in the Sacramento area.
   Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam singles champion, will play seventh-seeded Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine on Wednesday or Thursday. Tsurenko, who reached the third round at Wimbledon and the French Open and won Acapulco this year, dismissed Lara Arruabarrena of Spain 6-3, 6-3.
   After Sharapova's victory, former Stanford star Nicole Gibbs edged 17-year-old wild card Claire Liu 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5) in a battle of Southern Californians. Liu, the Wimbledon girls champion, is ranked No. 1 in the juniors.
   Gibbs, 24, will face the winner of today's scheduled match between sixth-seeded and 24th-ranked CoCo Vandeweghe of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., in the San Diego area and Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia.
   Tomljanovic withdrew from Sunday's final in the Gold River Challenger with soreness in her surgically repaired right shoulder.
   Vandeweghe reached the final at Stanford five years ago as a lucky loser, falling to Serena Williams.
   In tonight's featured match at 7, local favorite CiCi Bellis will take on Alize Cornet of France. Bellis, 18, is the youngest player in the top 50 at No. 44. Cornet, 27, is one spot lower.
   Bellis was born in San Francisco and grew up in Atherton, a five-minute drive from Stanford. She now lives in Orlando, Fla.
   Here are the Bank of the West singles and doubles draws and today's schedule.

Sharapova to play on Monday night at Stanford

  Maria Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam champion formerly ranked No. 1, will face American Jennifer Brady on Monday at 7 p.m. in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
   Sharapova, a wild card who returned from a 15-month doping suspension in April, will play in a WTA tournament in the United States for the first time since March 2015.
   Brady, 22, lost to defending champion Sophia Kenin, 18, on Friday night in the quarterfinals of the $60,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger in the Sacramento suburb of Gold River. Brady was seeded first at No. 77 in the world.
   In Monday night's second match, former Stanford star Nicole Gibbs will meet 17-year-old Claire Liu, the reigning Wimbledon girls champion and world's top junior. Both players live in the Los Angeles area.
   Eighth-seeded CiCi Bellis, who was born in San Francisco and grew up a five-minute drive from Stanford in Atherton, will play Alize Cornet of France on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Bellis, 18, is the youngest player in the top 50 at No. 43.
   Following that match, 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, a 37-year-old Italian, will take on Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine.
   Here are the Bank of the West qualifying draw and singles main draw and Sunday's schedule.

Azarenka withdraws from Bank of the West

   Former world No. 1 and 2010 champion Victoria Azarenka withdrew from next week's Bank of the West Classic at Stanford with a viral illness, tournament officials announced today.
   Azarenka, a Belarus native who will turn 28 on Monday, gave birth to her first child in December and return to the circuit in June.  
   The Bank of the West still has another former world No. 1, Maria Sharapova, as well as two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, reigning Wimbledon titlist Garbine Muguruza and 2010 French Open winner Francesca Schiavone, 37.
   Americans entered in the tournament, Monday through Aug. 6 at the Taube Family Tennis Center, include No. 16 Madison Keys, No. 23 CoCo Vandeweghe, local favorite CiCi Bellis and reigning Wimbledon junior champion Claire Liu.
   Bellis, 18, is the youngest player in the top 50 at No. 43.
   Here are the Bank West singles and qualifying draws and Saturday's schedule.

Kvitova receives wild card for Stanford

   Call it the Comeback Open.
   Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova has received a wild card for the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, tournament officials announced Thursday.
   Kvitova, a 27-year-old left-hander from the Czech Republic, will join five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova and two-time major winner Victoria Azarenka in the tournament, Monday through Aug. 6 at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
   Sharapova (doping suspension) returned to the tour in April, Kvitova (knife attack) in May and Azarenka (childbirth) in June.
   Azarenka defeated Sharapova 6-4, 6-1 to win the 2010 Bank of the West Classic. Kvitova will play in the tournament for the first time.
   Sharapova and Azarenka are former world No. 1s. Kvitova has been as high as No. 2.
   On Wednesday, Bank of the West officials announced that Claire Liu, 17, of Thousand Oaks in the Los Angeles area received a wild card. Liu, the No. 1 junior in the world, won the Wimbledon girls title two weeks ago.

Sharapova receives wild card for Bank of the West

Maria Sharapova, shown in 2014, returned from a 15-month
doping suspension in April. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Five-time Grand Slam singles champion and former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova has received a wild card into the main draw of the Bank of the West Classic, tournament officials announced today.
   The Bank of the West, which begins the U.S. Open Series, is scheduled for July 31-Aug. 6 at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Center.
   The 30-year-old Sharapova has played in three tournaments, all on clay, since returning from a 15-month doping suspension in late April. She reached the semifinals in Stuttgart, then lost in the second round at Madrid and Rome.
   Sharapova was denied a wild card into the French Open, which ended last weekend, and was not ranked high enough to enter qualifying. Now ranked 175th, she withdrew from Wimbledon, July 3-16, with a thigh injury sustained in Rome.
   The Bank of the West will be Sharapova's first U.S. tournament since March 2015, when she lost to Daria Gavrilova of Australia in the second round in Miami.
   Sharapova, one of only six women to complete a career Grand Slam in singles, will play at Stanford for the fourth time. She reached the quarterfinals in 2009 and 2011 and the final in 2010, losing to Victoria Azarenka.
   Azarenka, who gave birth to her first child on Dec. 20, plans to return to the WTA tour next week in Mallorca and play at Stanford.
   Also entered in the Bank of the West are American Madison Keys, ranked 14th, and CiCi Bellis, ranked 40th at 18 years old. Bellis was born in San Francisco and grew up in Atherton, a five-minute drive from Stanford.
   The full acceptance list for the Bank of the West Classic will be released the week of June 19. To purchase tickets, visit www.bankofthewestclassic.com or call (866) 982-8497.

Azarenka to return in Bank of the West Classic

Victoria Azarenka begins a practice at Indian Wells
last year by tossing a football. Azarenka went on to
win the title and the following Miami Open for a rare
Sunshine Double. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka announced today that she will return to the WTA tour in the Bank of the West Classic, July 31-Aug. 6 at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
   Azarenka gave birth to her first child, a son named Leo, on Dec. 20. The 27-year-old Belarus native will make her fifth appearance at Stanford, where she won the singles title in 2010 and the doubles crown with Maria Kirilenko of Russia in 2011.
   "I am very excited to be returning to the WTA at the Bank of the West Classic," said Azarenka, a two-time Grand Slam singles champion (2012 and 2013 Australian Open). "Becoming a mother has been the most rewarding thing that has ever happened to me and really puts things in perspective. I am looking forward to beginning this new stage of my career."
   Azarenka, who will turn 28 on the first day of the Bank of the West Classic, has another Northern California connection besides her Stanford titles. Slava Konikov, in his 12th season as the Sacramento State men's coach, worked extensively with her when she was a junior in Belarus.
   In Azarenka's last match on the tour, she retired in the first round of the 2016 French Open against Karin Knapp of Italy with a knee injury that also caused her to withdraw from Wimbledon.
   Earlier last year, Azarenka became only the third woman besides Steffi Graf and Kim Clijsters to pull off a Sunshine Double, winning back-to-back titles in Indian Wells and Miami.
   The Bank of the West Classic also received a commitment from 10th-ranked Madison Keys, who recently launched a comeback of her own. The 22-year-old American returned to the circuit in March at Indian Wells, where she reached the fourth round, after undergoing left wrist surgery last fall.
   Keys, who climbed to a career-high No. 7 last October, has lost in the second round in both of her Stanford appearances (2013 and 2015).
   Bank of the West tickets are available online or by phone at (866) WTA-TIXS (982-8497).

Konta tops Venus for Bank of the West title

Third-seeded Johanna Konta, shown on Wednesday, beat
top-seeded Venus Williams 7-5, 5-7, 6-2 today for her first
WTA tour title. Photo by Paul Bauman

   The final of the Bank of the West Classic produced a milestone, but not for Venus Williams.
   Johanna Konta, seeded third, won her first WTA tour title with a 7-5, 5-7, 6-2 victory over the top-seeded Williams today at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
   Williams, 36, was seeking her 50th tour-level title in the tournament where she began her career 22 years ago. She ranks 11th in the Open Era, which began in 1968, behind 10th-place Monica Seles with 53 titles.
   Konta, 25, of Great Britain recovered after squandering a 4-1 lead (two service breaks) in the second set. She converted her third championship point on a service winner down the middle.
   The Sydney, Australia, native will improve from No. 18 in the world to a career-high No. 14 when the new rankings are released on Monday.
   Konta played in the Bank of the West Classic for the first time this year. She reached her first Grand Slam semifinal in the Australian Open in January, stunning Williams in the first round.
   Williams won the last of her seven Grand Slam singles titles at Wimbledon in 2008. She was diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome, a chronic energy-sapping disease, in 2011.
   In today's doubles final, No. 2 seeds Raquel Atawo (formerly Kops-Jones) of nearby San Jose and Abigail Spears of Colorado Springs, Colo., beat No. 3 Darija Jurak of Croatia and Anastasia Rodionova of Australia 6-3, 6-4.
   Atawo and Spears also won the title in 2013.
   Here are the complete singles and doubles draws.

Venus, Konta to meet in Bank of the West final

   Venus Williams will seek her 50th career tour-level title today in the tournament where she began her career 22 years ago.
   Johanna Konta, meanwhile, will play in her first such final.
   But the final of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford is no mismatch. Konta stunned the eighth-seeded Williams 6-4, 6-2 in their last meeting in the first round of the Australian Open in January en route to her first Grand Slam semifinal.
   Williams, seeded No. 1 in the Bank of the West Classic, held off unseeded Alison Riske 6-1, 7-6 (2) in an all-American semifinal on Saturday night.
   Earlier, No. 3 Konta of Great Britain defeated No. 2 Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-2. Cibulkova, the 2013 champion, played in her first tournament since getting married on July 9 in Bratislava.
   Williams, 36, is 1-1 against Konta, 25. They will meet at 2 p.m. PDT in a match televised by ESPN2.
   Afterward, No. 2 seeds Raquel Atawo (formerly Kops-Jones) of San Jose and Abigail Spears of Colorado Springs, Colo., will try to win their second Bank of the West title. The 2013 champions will face No. 3 seeds Darija Jurak of Croatia and Anastasia Rodionova of Australia.
   Jurak and Rodionova topped unseeded Konta and Maria Sanchez, who was born and raised in Modesto, 6-4, 6-2.
   Here are links to the singles and doubles draws and today's schedule.

Bellis, 17, eclipsed by Venus in Bank of the West

CiCi Bellis, shown Tuesday after upsetting No. 6 seed
Jelena Ostapenko, said she "can take so many positives
away from this week." Photo by Paul Bauman

   CiCi Bellis fared better against a Williams sister this time.

   Not well enough to win, but, hey, one step at a time.

   Bellis, a 17-year-old wild card playing five minutes from home, battled Venus Williams in the first set before falling 6-4, 6-1 in one hour in the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.

   "I learned a lot; it was a lot better than when I played Serena," Bellis, referring to her 6-1, 6-1 loss in 41 minutes in the third round at Miami last year, told reporters. "I just have to focus on the key points; there were a couple in the first set that, had I played more aggressively, I might have won them. But she's the No. 1 seed here and No. 7 in the world, so it's unbelievable getting to play someone like her.

   "Playing a tournament like this is such a great opportunity for me ... I can take so many positives away from this week. I won two matches and reached my first quarterfinal of a Premier. I'm really happy about that."

   Bellis, a home-schooled high school senior from Atherton, said she verbally committed to Stanford on Thursday. She can sign a letter-of-intent in November, but that only means she couldn't play for another school. 

   Bellis still could turn pro, which she has said she will if she cracks the top 100 in the world by the fall of 2017. By reaching the Bank of the West quarters, she will jump from No. 203 to about No. 156. Bellis also could attend Stanford for one year and then turn pro.

   "I think she has a good head on her shoulders for her age," said Venus Williams, 36. "She has a weapon, tries to control the point with her forehand. She only has room to grow; you can imagine that she's going to get a lot better."

   Williams will play American Alison Riske in today's second semifinal at 7 p.m. (ESPN2). Riske, ranked 79th, led No. 4 seed CoCo Vandeweghe 6-3, 0-1 when Vandeweghe, the 2012 Bank of the West runner-up to Serena Williams, retired with an ankle injury and left the court in a wheelchair.

   Williams defeated Riske 6-4, 6-2 on clay in the second round at Charleston in April in their only previous meeting.   

   In today's first semifinal at 2 p.m. (ESPN2), No. 2 seed and 2013 champion Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia will face No. 3 Johanna Konta of Great Britain.

   Cibulkova defeated No. 5 Misaki Doi of Japan 7-5, 6-0, winning the last 11 games after trailing 5-2 in the first set. Cibulkova, who got married on July 9 in Bratislava, will return to the top 10 for the first time in more than 18 months on Monday.

   Konta, playing in the Bank of the West Classic for the first time this year, beat Zheng Saisai of China 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

   Cibulkova is 1-0 against Konta, winning 7-6 (6), 7-5 in the first round at Hobart in January.  

   In the women's doubles quarterfinals, No. 2 seeds and 2013 champions Raquel Atawo (formerly Kops-Jones) of San Jose, Calif., and Abigail Spears of Colorado Springs, Colo., edged Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and Arina Rodionova of Australia 2-6, 7-5 [10-7]. 

Bellis, 17, to face Venus in Bank of the West

   CiCi Bellis, a 17-year-old wild card playing five minutes from home, defeated Sachia Vickery today for the second consecutive week to reach her first WTA tour quarterfinal.
    Bellis, who lives in Atherton, beat Vickery, a 21-year-old qualifier, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the Bank of the West Classic at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium at Stanford University.
   Bellis will meet top seed and two-time champion Venus Williams in tonight's featured match at 7 (ESPN3).
   "It's not going to be easy, but I don't think anything is impossible," Bellis told reporters. "Obviously, it'll be such an honor playing one of the best players of all time, and she's done so much in her career and still doing amazing things. It's going to be fun, and I'm very excited."
   Bellis has never played Venus Williams but lost to Serena Williams 6-1, 6-1 in the third round at Miami last year in their only meeting.
   All quarterfinalists in the top half of the Bank of the West draw are American, and all remaining players in the bottom half are from other countries.
   In the other all-American quarterfinal, fourth-seeded CoCo Vandeweghe will face Alison Risk. Vandeweghe, the 2012 runner-up to Serena Williams, defeated ex-Stanford star Nicole Gibbs 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the featured night match.
   Also, No. 2 Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia will play No. 5 Misaki Doi of Japan, and No. 3 Johanna Konta of Great Britain will face unseeded Zheng Saisai of China.
   Cibulkova, the 2013 Bank of the West champion, got married on July 9 in Bratislava.
   In the doubles quarterfinals, Konta and Modesto product Maria Sanchez knocked off top seeds and defending champions Xu Yifan of China and Zheng 6-4, 6-4.
   No. 2 seeds and 2013 champions Raquel Atawo (formerly Kops-Jones) of San Jose and Abigail Spears of Colorado Springs, Colo., beat Julia Glushko of Israel and Magda Linette of Poland 6-3, 6-4 in the first round.
   Here are links to the singles and doubles draws and today's schedule.