Top seed Becker, 35, retires from Tiburon match

Benjamin Becker, shown on Tuesday, retired with
Darian King leading 6-7 (3), 6-2, 4-2 on Thursday
in the second round of the $100,000 Tiburon Chal-
lenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   When Benjamin Becker expressed concern about his age on Tuesday, he was prophetic.
   The top-seeded Becker, a 35-year-old German, retired from his second-round match against Darian King on Thursday in the $100,000 Wells Fargo Bank Tiburon Challenger. King, 24, of Barbados led 6-7 (3), 6-2, 4-2 at the Tiburon Peninsula Club when Becker quit because of a strained chest muscle.
   Becker, who's not related to German legend Boris Becker, reached the final of last week's $50,000 Columbus (Ohio) Challenger. He lost to Danish wild card Mikael Torpegaard, an Ohio State junior playing on his home court, in three sets.
   After beating 19-year-old American Tommy Paul in the first round in Tiburon, Becker said he didn't want to continue engaging in long rallies because of his age. He'll decide in December whether to retire or play one more year.
   King, the only non-American in the quarterfinals, will take on fifth-seeded Dennis Novikov of Milpitas, located on the other side of San Francisco Bay, today at noon (live stream).
   Novikov, a 22-year-old former UCLA standout, eliminated 31-year-old wild card Brian Baker of Nashville, Tenn., 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. Baker overcame 11 operations during his career to play in the Olympics last month in Rio de Janeiro, falling in the first round to Yuichi Sugita of Japan.
   Another Bay Area product, 21-year-old wild card Mackenzie McDonald from Piedmont, advanced with a 7-6 (3), 6-2 victory over qualifier Salvatore Caruso of Italy.
   McDonald, a Tiburon semifinalist in singles and doubles (with Deiton Baughman) last year, will meet fourth-seeded Frances Tiafoe, an 18-year-old phenom originally from the Washington, D.C., area. Tiafoe dismissed Australian left-hander John-Patrick Smith 6-3, 6-3 in 64 minutes.
   The quarterfinals in the bottom half of the draw were determined Wednesday. No. 2 seed Bjorn Fratangelo will play 18-year-old qualifier Michael Mmoh, and No. 3 seed and defending champion Tim Smyczek will face Mitchell Krueger.
   Novikov is 1-0 against King, Mmoh is 1-0 against Fratangelo, and Smyczek is 3-0 against Krueger. McDonald and Tiafoe will meet for the first time.
   Here are the singles and doubles draws and today's schedule.

Becker recalls ending Agassi's career 10 years ago

Clouds obscure the Golden Gate Bridge near Tiburon. Photo by Paul Bauman

   TIBURON, Calif. -- Before Benjamin Becker arrived at the U.S. Open last month, it never occurred to him that the tournament marked the 10th anniversary of his third-round victory that sent Andre Agassi into retirement.
   Becker promptly found out, however.    
   "You get reminded all over the place," the top-seeded Becker, 35, recalled after beating 19-year-old American Tommy Paul, last year's French Open boys champion, 7-6 (1), 6-2 on Tuesday in the first round of the $100,000 Wells Fargo Bank Tiburon Challenger at the Tiburon Peninsula Club. "When I walked in to get my credential on Thursday before the U.S. Open, they showed the match on TV, so everybody was talking about it. Everybody reminded me about it."
   Becker also stumbled upon an article about the anniversary on ESPN's website.
   "I was looking for NBA news," admitted Becker, the 2004 NCAA champion from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and a big fan of Dallas Mavericks star and fellow German Dirk Nowitzki, "and I saw an article about the 10-year anniversary, so I was reading about it. That's the first time, actually, I realized it was the 10-year anniversary.
   "It's not something I thought about or planned or felt like it was something special for me. It was just another U.S. Open. I wanted to do well. I didn't."
   Becker, who's not related to German legend Boris Becker, shouldn't be too hard on himself. He drew sixth seed and 2014 runner-up Kei Nishikori in the opening round at Flushing Meadows and lost in four sets. Nishikori, 26, went on to reach the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Stan Wawrinka.

Top-seeded Benjamin Becker is shown during his victory
over 19-year-old Tommy Paul in the first round of the
$100,000 Tiburon Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Becker may have forgotten about the anniversary, but journalists at the U.S. Open didn't. Not that he was inundated by interview requests.
   "I did one with a German journalist," Becker said. "Actually, after my match, an American journalist came and just asked me about the Agassi match, not even about the match I just played. I did a few, but nothing compared to what I did 10 years ago."

   Whereas Paul had lost seven of his previous eight matches, Becker reached the final of last week's $50,000 Columbus (Ohio) Challenger. Becker lost to Danish wild card Mikael Torpegaard, an Ohio State junior playing on his home court.
   Despite being almost twice Paul's age, Becker outrallied him on a beautiful day.
   "That's not really the way I want to play, but coming from indoors, trying to get used to the conditions is very tough," said Becker, who won the first four games of the match but lost the next five against the 235th-ranked Paul. "I just arrived yesterday. I didn't want to try to overpower him and go for too many shots. I knew he hasn't won many matches -- I did my research. I just wanted to make him play and get my rhythm. I didn't want to give him free points.
   "I did pretty well at the beginning, then he kind of found his rhythm and came back in the first set. The tiebreak was obviously important. I kept up my game, and he started missing more. The game plan today was to play more consistent, but I don't want to do it over a longer term because I know I can't do it at my age."     
   With the first round of the Tiburon Challenger complete, seven of the eight singles seeds have advanced. Salvatore Caruso, a 23-year-old qualifier from Italy, upset No. 7 Ernesto Escobedo, a 20-year-old resident of West Covina in the Los Angeles area, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 on Tuesday.
   Another qualifier, 18-year-old Michael Mmoh of Bradenton, Fla., survived three match points in a victory over Tennys Sandgren of Gallatin, Tenn. Mmoh led 4-6, 7-6 (5), 2-0 when the 25-year-old Sandgren, a semifinalist in Columbus, retired with a lower back injury.

   The athletic Mmoh, who won the USTA boys 18 singles title last month to earn an automatic wild card in the U.S. Open, and Sandgren, who has a punishing whipping forehand similar to Jack Sock's, engaged in numerous breathtaking baseline rallies. Mmoh will face another 18-year-old American, No. 6 seed Stefan Kozlov, today for a quarterfinal berth.   

   No. 3 seed and defending champion Tim Smyczek of Tampa, Fla., defeated qualifier Brydan Klein of Great Britain 6-4, 2-1, retired (back).
   Klein ousted No. 2 seed and countryman Kyle Edmund in the first round last year before falling to 18-year-old Frenchman Quentin Halys in the second round. Halys went on to reach the semifinals.
   Also advancing Tuesday were Bay Area products Dennis Novikov, 22, and Mackenzie McDonald, 21.
   The fifth-seeded Novikov, who grew up in San Jose and lives in Milpitas, dismissed wild card Robbie Bellamy, a USC senior from Pacific Palisades in the Los Angeles area, 6-3, 6-2.
   McDonald, a wild card who grew up in Piedmont, beat Canada's Peter Polansky, the 2013 champion, 6-3, 6-4. McDonald, only 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters) and 145 pounds (66 kilograms), reached the semifinals in singles and doubles (with Deiton Baughman) last year.

   Agassi, wracked by back pain, lost to Becker 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-5 on the afternoon of Sept. 3, 2006, in front of almost 24,000 fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium and a national television audience. Afterward, Agassi gave an emotional farewell speech on the court. Becker lost in the next round to Andy Roddick; the fourth-round appearance remains Becker's best showing in a Grand Slam tournament.

Paul, last year's French Open boys champion, lost for the eighth
time in his last nine matches. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Now Becker, the only top-100 player in the Tiburon Challenger at No. 91, is approaching retirement. Only 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters) and 158 pounds (72 kilograms), he has amassed more than $4.3 million in prize money, attained a career high of No. 35 in singles and won one ATP World Tour title (on grass at Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, in 2014). But he'll always be known as the guy who ended the charismatic Agassi's legendary career.        
   "I'm used to it now," Becker said. "Obviously, it felt uncomfortable at first because I was a newcomer on tour. It was my first U.S. Open and second Grand Slam. But I feel like I'm still going at it 10 years later. I still played the U.S. Open main draw. ...
   "(Ending Agassi's career) was a great experience, but it's not like I look back now and be like, 'Oh my god, it was great, the best thing of my life.' I might do it after my career, but now I'm so focused on what's coming up that I don't really look back too much."

   Asked how often he has been reminded of the Agassi match in the past 10 years, Becker said: "A lot, obviously. I don't blame people for asking me about it because it obviously was (on) a very big stage.
   "There are always two questions when I come to the tennis courts: 'Are you related to Boris Becker?' and 'How did it feel to retire Agassi?' I'm used to it. I'm fine with it. I would do the same if somebody else did it."
   Agassi was Benjamin Becker's second-biggest idol behind Boris Becker. In fact, watching Boris win Grand Slam titles on television inspired Benjamin to take up tennis.
   "Nobody in my family plays tennis," Becker noted. "I started playing soccer like every German boy. Then I started playing tennis and got into it. I went to, like, scouting for little kids and then the regional federation took me under its wing. That's how it started."
   Boris has become a mentor to Benjamin. But the first time they met, during Benjamin's Davis Cup debut in 2007, he was overcome by nerves.
   "I didn't breathe for a minute, I think," Benjamin Becker cracked. "I was already nervous playing Davis Cup. He didn't come to watch my match just to kind of protect me, which I think was very respectful. He came to the doubles match, which I didn't play.
   "But everybody, when he enters the room, it's like the king enters. Me growing up, I woke up at night to watch him (play overseas on television)."
   Now Benjamin Becker has two young sons. He said he will decide in December if he'll play next year.
   "As of now, I think I have one more year in me. Then I'll call it quits," Becker suggested.
   Becker plans to obtain his bachelor's degree in finance from Baylor. He has one semester left.
   "Then I have no idea," Becker conceded. "I'm not sure if I'll stay in tennis. It's an option, but I would like to try other things. We'll see what door will open for me. Hopefully I'll find something that I'm as passionate about as tennis."
   Here are the Tiburon singles and doubles draws and today's schedule.

Fritz, 18, survives scare to gain Memphis semis

Taylor Fritz, serving en route to the title in the Fairfield,
Calif., Challenger last October, edged Benjamin Becker
6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (5) in the quarterfinals of the Memphis Open.
 Photo by Paul Bauman

   Once again, Taylor Fritz wriggled his way out of trouble.
   The 18-year-old wild card from Rancho Santa Fe in the San Diego area edged Benjamin Becker of Germany 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (5) in 2 hours, 20 minutes on Friday in the quarterfinals of the Memphis (Tenn.) Open.
   Becker, the oldest player in the singles draw at 34, served for the match at 6-5 in the third set, but Fritz broke him at 15.
   "It's incredible," Fritz told reporters. "I can't believe it. To come back in that way, with him serving for the match, I'll never forget that.
   "I told myself that the balls were worn out and that I just had to make him play. I tried to make him beat me under pressure.
   The match statistics were fairly even, except in one familiar area for the mentally tough Fritz. He saved 54 percent of the break points against him (6 of 11) to only 28 percent (2 of 7) for Becker, the 2004 NCAA singles champion from Baylor who ended Andre Agassi's career in the third round of the 2006 U.S. Open.
   The 6-foot-4 (1.93-meter) Fritz, who won the Sacramento and Fairfield, Calif., Challengers back-to-back at 17 last October, became the youngest American to reach the semifinals on the ATP World Tour since 17-year-old Michael Chang won at Wembley in 1989.

   Fritz grew up in a prominent tennis family. His mother (Kathy May), father (Guy Fritz) and uncle (Harry Fritz) all played professionally. May climbed to No. 10 in the world and reached three Grand Slam quarterfinals. Guy is one of Taylor's coaches.

   Taylor, who also advanced to the doubles semis in Memphis with Ryan Harrison, will face unseeded Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania in singles. The 5-foot-9 (1.75-meter) Berankis, ranked No. 102, upset third-seeded Donald Young of Atlanta 7-6 (3), 6-1.

Becker, playing in the 2012 Sacramento Challenger,
served for the match against Fritz in Memphis.
 Photo by Paul Bauman

   Fritz has skyrocketed from No. 694 entering Sacramento to No. 145. He will rise to about No. 114 with a loss to Berankis, around No. 103 with a runner-up finish or approximately No. 82 by winning the title.
   Two tough matches in a row for Fritz, plus his doubles success, could take a toll on him against Berankis, 25. Fritz ousted second-seeded Steve Johnson 7-6 (5), 7-6 (7) in 1 hour, 56 minutes on Thursday.
   Berankis, who is not playing doubles, seeks his second career ATP singles final. He lost to 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Sam Querrey 6-0, 6-2 in Los Angeles in 2012.
   The fourth-seeded Querrey, in fact, will play top seed and three-time defending champion Kei Nishikori of Japan in the other Memphis semifinal (5:30 p.m. PST, Tennis Channel). Querrery, a 28-year-old San Francisco native, defeated John Isner for the 2010 Memphis title.
   Nishikori, 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters), is 4-3 with a three-match winning streak against Querrey. During the streak, Nishikori prevailed 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) in last year's Memphis semifinals.

French Open Day 4 recap: Lucic-Baroni upsets Halep

No. 3 seed and 2014 French Open runner-up
Simona Halep, shown en route to the title
at Indian Wells in March, lost to Mirjana
Lucic-Baroni today in the second round
Roland Garros. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Upset of the day -- Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, a 33-year-old former prodigy from Croatia, continued her resurgence with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over No. 3 seed and 2014 runner-up Simona Halep of Romania in the second round.
   Lucic-Baroni, who sat out from 2003 through 2009 amid personal problems, also ousted Halep to reach the round of 16 in last year's U.S. Open as a qualifier.
   Lucic-Baroni has accused her father, Marinko, of physical abuse and tampering with her prize money. "There have been more beatings than anyone can imagine," she once said.
   Countered Marinko Lucic: “I never used excessive force, and if I did give her the occasional slap, it was because of her behavior. I did what I believed what was best for the child.” 
   Match of the day -- Germany's Benjamin Becker, who will turn 34 on June 16, outlasted 32nd-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain 6-4, 0-6, 1-6, 7-5, 10-8.
   Notable -- Samantha Stosur, the 26th seed and 2010 runner-up, extended her winning streak to seven matches with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over French wild card Amandine Hesse. Stosur has lost only five games in two matches.
   Nicolas Mahut, a 33-year-old Frenchman, eliminated No. 24 seed and 2014 semifinalist Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
   Men's seeded winners -- No. 2 Roger Federer, No. 4 Tomas Berdych, No. 5 Kei Nishikori, No. 8 Stan Wawrinka, No. 12 Gilles Simon, No. 13 Gael Monfils, No. 14 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 21 Pablo Cuevas, No. 22 Philipp Kohlschreiber.
   Men's seeded losers -- No. 19 Roberto Bautista Agut, No. 24 Gulbis, No. 28 Fabio Fognini, No. 32 Fernando Verdasco.
   Women's seeded winners -- No. 2 Maria Sharapova, No. 7 Ana Ivanovic, No. 8 Carla Suarez Navarro, No. 9 Ekaterina Makarova, No. 11 Angelique Kerber, No. 13 Lucie Safarova, No. 19 Elina Svitolina, No. 20 Sabine Lisicki, No. 21 Garbine Muguruza, No. 26 Stosur, No. 28 Flavia Pennetta, No. 29 Alize Cornet.
   Women's seeded loser -- No. 3 Halep.
   Stars and stripes -- Steve Johnson beat Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6) to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the second straight time.
   Advancing to the second round in doubles were top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan, second-seeded Jack Sock and Canadian Vasek Pospisil, Austin Krajicek and Donald Young, and Varvara Lepchenko and China's Saisai Zheng.
   Fast facts -- Kimiko Date-Krumm and Francesca Schiavone, who won their first-round doubles match, are a combined 78 years old. Date-Krumm, 44, reached the singles semifinals at Roland Garros 20 years ago, and Schiavone won the singles title five years ago.
   Northern California connection -- Four members of the California Dream, the new Sacramento-based franchise in World TeamTennis, played first-round doubles matches.
   California's Bob and Mike Bryan, seeded first in men's doubles, ended a rare two-match losing streak with a 7-6 (8), 6-2 decision over Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan.
   Hao-Ching Chan of Taiwan and the Dream's Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain outclassed Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia and Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-3, 6-1.
   And Gilles Muller of Luxembourg and California's Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan lost to Florian Mayer and Frank Moser of Germany 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (1).
   In the first round of mixed doubles, Raquel Kops-Jones, a San Jose resident and former Cal star, and Robert Farah of Colombia defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia and Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 7-6 (4), 6-3.
   Quote -- Lucic-Baroni: "I feel like I missed my best years, for sure. There is nothing I can do (about it) right now. There is no point of thinking about it too much. Just enjoying right now where I am."

Pro players no longer the retiring type

Master of ceremonies Brad Gilbert poses with James Blake at the
$100,000 RelyAid Natomas Challenger in Sacramento last October.
Blake won the singles title at 32 years old. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Until recently in professional tennis, hitting age 30 was a death knell.
   That is, unless your name was Connors, Sampras, Agassi or Navratilova.
   You lost half a step, which was fatal against an army of young, fast, hungry players.
   Today, though, many players remain active and even excel in their 30s. Retirement age has been pushed back three to five years.
   Tommy Haas, 34, of Germany became the oldest player in 30 years to beat the world No. 1 when he stunned Novak Djokovic 6-2, 6-4 tonight in the fourth round of the Sony Open in Miami.
   That's only the latest example.
   Three of the eight men's and women's semifinalists in this year's Australian Open were in their 30s: Roger Federer (31), David Ferrer (30) and Li Na (30). Serena Williams (31) would have made it four if she hadn't been upset by 19-year-old fellow American Sloane Stephens 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the quarterfinals. No matter. Williams, who hurt her back in the eighth game of the second set, last month became the oldest woman to reach No. 1 in the world.
   In a first-round men's match in Melbourne, 31-year-old Jarkko Nieminen of Finland upset Haas, seeded 19th, 8-6 in the fifth set before losing in the second round.
   Then there was Kimiko Date-Krumm. The 42-year-old Japanese became the oldest player to win a match at the Australian Open when she crushed 12th-seeded Nadia Petrova 6-2, 6-0 in the first round. Date-Krumm went on to reach the third round in singles and doubles.
   Only five years ago in Melbourne, no men or women in their 30s reached the fourth round. Only four -- Vince Spadea (33) of the United States, Stefan Koubek (31) of Austria, Virginia Ruano Pascual (34) of Spain and Ai Sugiyama (32) of Japan -- gained the third round.
   The SAP Open in San Jose on the ATP World Tour has featured more than an eight-fold increase in the number of players 30 or over in the main draw of singles in the past five years. One-quarter of last month's field, seven of 28 players, were in their 30s. The oldest one, Haas, reached the final. In 2008, Max Mirnyi of Belarus was the only "senior citizen" in the 32-man singles draw, and he had turned 30 only six months beforehand.

Benjamin Becker of Germany was seeded first
in the Sacramento Challenger at 31 years old.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Four players in the 32-man singles draw of the $100,000 RelyAid Natomas Challenger in Sacramento last October were in their 30s. Benjamin Becker (31) of Germany and James Blake (32) of the United States were seeded first and second, respectively. Blake won the title, and countryman Bobby Reynolds (30) reached the semifinals. Rik de Voest (32) of South Africa lost to Blake in the second round. In the inaugural (2005) Sacramento Challenger (won by de Voest), only Eric Taino had reached his 30th birthday, which came only seven months earlier.
   What's going on?
   "Good question," de Voest said. "I'm not quite sure."
   Blake, a Harvard alumnus who reached a career-high No. 4 in the world in 2006, also is mystified. He hazarded a few guesses before concluding: "I don't know. Guys just really want to keep playing."
   Reasons often cited are better nutrition, fitness and post-match treatment. As renowned coach and commentator Brad Gilbert said, "Guys are taking better care of themselves."
   Why?
   "I think now that tennis has become an all-year sport, people are doing a much better job of staying in shape and doing much more nutrition, fitness and supplement(s)," Gilbert said.
   Said Becker: "Oh, I don't know. Maybe they know it's a great job to have and they want to stay in tennis as long as they can.
   "For me, an example is Tommy Haas. He works very, very hard -- harder than some young guys coming up. He's maybe somebody to look up to because at 34 years old, he's still doing his off-court stuff that nobody else sees except the players and his coach. It's pretty impressive, and that's the reason he can play so long."
   Becker, returning from a torn groin muscle, lost in the first round of the Natomas Challenger to then-20-year-old American Daniel Kosakowski. Becker traveled with a physiotherapist/fitness coach for the first time that week.
   "I had some injuries (in 2012), more than I had before," explained Becker, who ended Andre Agassi's career in the third round of the 2006 U.S. Open. "I was actually out almost all (of 2011 because of two operations on his left -- non-playing -- elbow), so now I'm getting to the point where it's very important to have somebody who actually knows my body."
   Players unanimously say the game has become more physical, and therein lies the key.
   "The courts are getting slower, and the balls are getting heavier, so there are more rallies," said Becker, who turned pro in 2006. "It's not like it used to be with serving and faster hardcourts. It's getting more physical than even when I started. You have to be in better shape, and you have to be faster and do that for a longer period of time."  
   It seems paradoxical. Wouldn't a more physical game favor younger players?
   "No," said Becker, the 2004 NCAA singles champion from Baylor in Waco, Texas, "because it takes time to (prepare) your body to be ready for that challenge. There are no more teenagers that come up and be a sensation like Boris Becker (who won Wimbledon in 1985 at 17). It's really tough for guys to come up at 18, 19 years old and have a body to endure the hours on court, to go through the practice sessions and the matches, and do it many times during the week, not just one match. ... "
   Instead of careers lasting from age 16 to 30, they often extend from 21 to 35. 
   "I also call it the 'Andre effect,' " said Gilbert, who coached Agassi to six Grand Slam titles, an Olympic gold medal and the No. 1 ranking, all in singles. "People saw that Andre was still doing great in 2005 at 35, and I think he opened a lot of guys' eyes that you can play (well) in your mid-30s."

Rik de Voest, 32, of South Africa
said advances in string technology
have helped make the game more
physical. Photo by Paul Bauman

   It all started with Sampras' 6-7 (2), 7-6 (9), 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 victory over Goran Ivanisevic in the 1998 Wimbledon final. Ferocious serves on the slick grass dominated the match; rallies were almost nonexistent. Meanwhile, many in the crowd and worldwide television audience fell asleep.
   Petrified by the prospect of lower TV ratings -- i.e. advertising revenue -- tournament officials made the surface slower. That allowed baseliners such as Lleyton Hewitt and David Nalbandian to meet in the 2002 Wimbledon final, won by Hewitt. The rest of the world followed Wimbledon's lead.

   Advances in string technology also have made the game more physical.
   "You can hit a ball harder and create more rotation with the strings on the ball so that it doesn't go out," said the slightly built de Voest, who outlasted strapping U.S. prospect Rhyne Williams, 21 at the time, 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-4 in the first round of the Sacramento Challenger.
    Longer points put a premium not only on conditioning and mobility but on experience and strategy. On any given point, players must make split-second decisions on whether to keep the ball in play or go for a winner. Older ones have a better sense of when to play it safe and when to pull the trigger.
   "As you get older, you get a little wiser," said the undersized Reynolds, who eliminated another powerful American prospect, 20-year-old Jack Sock, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4) in the opening round of the Sacramento Challenger. "You kind of realize how to play the game of tennis rather than just going out there and hitting balls. It's a lot more about placing your serve in order to get the next shot. It's more like a chess game, and I think it takes time to realize that."

Bobby Reynolds, 30, was worn out after a
7-6 (6), 6-4 (4) victory over fellow American
Jack Sock, 20, in the first round of the Sacramento
Challenger last October. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Excellent conditioning helps, but a more physical game inevitably means more injuries. That means more forced vacations, allowing players to recover physically and mentally from what amounts to a 12-month grind every year and extend their careers.
   In addition to Benjamin Becker's elbow operations, Haas has had numerous major operations. Blake missed much of 2004 with a broken neck, suffered when he hit his head on a net post in practice, and a virus. Rafael Nadal recently returned from a seven-month layoff following a knee injury and virus. Date-Krumm retired for 12 years (1997-2008).

   Legal supplements also could play a role, but presumably they help younger players, too.
   Most pros agree that playing tennis beats getting a job in the real world -- if there are any.
   "You have guys now that are 30 and still in unbelievable condition and still have a lot of love for the game," said Reynolds, who attended prestigious Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., for three years before turning pro 10 years ago. "It's tough to give it up. What else do I want to be doing other than going out here and leaving it all out on the court?"

COLLEGE SCORES

Men

   No. 22 Baylor def. No. 15 Cal 6-1 in Waco, Texas. No. 1 singles: No. 71 Julian Lenz (B) def. No. 44 Ben McLachlan 6-3, 6-4. Records: Baylor 13-4, Cal 8-7.
   No. 67  Santa Clara def. No. 55 Tulane 4-3 in Santa Clara. No. 1 singles: Dominik Koepfer (T) def. No. 63 John Lamble 6-7, 6-1, 6-1. Records: Santa Clara 12-6, Tulane 11-5. Note: Sacramento's Matt Kecki, a senior transfer from four-time NCAA defending champion USC, lost at No. 4 singles and No. 1 doubles for Santa Clara.

Top Sacramento seeds recall epics vs. Agassi

James Blake, the reigning Sacramento Challenger champion,
lost to Andre Agassi in one of the greatest matches in U.S.
Open history. Photo by Paul Bauman

   For James Blake, it was one of the two most memorable matches of his career. For Benjamin Becker, it was perhaps the most-hyped match he has ever played.
   The top two seeds in October's $100,000 RelyAid Natomas Challenger in Sacramento are in the twilight of their careers, but they will always be linked to Andre Agassi.
   Both Blake and Becker were 25 when they faced Agassi in career-defining encounters at Arthur Ashe Stadium in the U.S. Open. Agassi was 35 and 36, respectively. Each match was played in front of almost 24,000 fans and a national television audience.
   Blake, a wild card, lost in a weeknight epic. Becker, a qualifier, won in a Labor Day matinee. Both players had mixed feelings afterward.
   In one of the greatest matches in U.S. Open history, Blake lost to the seventh-seeded Agassi 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (6) in an All-American quarterfinal in 2005. One year later, Germany's Becker ended the unseeded Agassi's legendary career with a 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-5 triumph in the third round.

   San Francisco Chronicle columnist Bruce Jenkins covered the Agassi-Blake battle and wrote: "The people wanted neon, fireworks and memories, all of which they got, three times over. Many points were immediately preceded by thunderous standing ovations. There were so many astonishing shots, from both men, they could not possibly be recounted here."

Benjamin Becker, the top seed in this year's Sacramento Challenger, ended
Agassi's career in the 2006 U.S. Open. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Blake was coming back from a nightmarish 2004. He broke his neck when he slipped on a wet clay court chasing a drop shot during practice in Rome and hit his head on the net post. His father died two months later. Then he developed zoster, a viral disease often caused by stress that temporarily paralyzed the left side of his face and affected his balance. Blake rebounded to earn the ATP World Tour Comeback Player of the Year award in 2005.
   Blake served for the match against Agassi at 5-4 in the fifth set, but Agassi broke back with the help of two crushing returns. Agassi, playing in his 20th straight U.S. Open, was extended to a fifth-set tiebreaker in the tournament for the first time. After 2 hours, 51 minutes, he converted his second match point at 1:09 a.m.      

   "It couldn't have been more fun to lose," Blake told Agassi as they embraced at the net amid a long standing ovation in the still-packed stadium.
   "For 20,000 people to still be here, I wasn't the winner; tennis was," Agassi, the 1994 and 1999 U.S. Open champion and oldest man to reach the semifinals there since Jimmy Connors in 1991, told the crowd. "I don't know if I've ever felt this good here before."
   Blake, who will turn 33 on Dec. 28, won the Sacramento Challenger as the second seed. During the tournament, he was asked if the Agassi showdown was the most memorable match of his career.
   "Probably," Blake replied. "Either that one or the Davis Cup match were we won (the title) in Portland (Ore.). I beat (Russia's Mikhail) Youzhny in three tiebreakers. They're both pretty memorable."
   Blake outlasted Youzhny 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3) to give the United States a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five Davis Cup final in 2007. The U.S. went on to defeat Russia 4-1 and end a 12-year Davis Cup title drought, the Americans' longest since the prestigious competition began in 1900. The U.S., which has won a record 32 Davis Cup championships, has not won the Cup since 2007.
   Blake most remembers the match point he saved against Agassi.
   "I hit a forehand inside in that he actually wrote about in his book ('Open,' published in 2009)," Blake said. "He said it was (10) feet from anywhere he thought I had a chance of going with that ball. ... I'm going to take my rips. I've practiced it a million times, so I might as well go for it now."
   But Agassi promptly closed out the match. He dispatched another American, Robby Ginepri, in the semifinals before losing to Roger Federer in four sets in the last Grand Slam final of Agassi's career. Blake, who climbed to a career-high No. 4 in the world in 2006, also reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open that year and the Australian Open in 2008. But Blake, now ranked No. 127, has never gone further in a Grand Slam tournament.
   Naturally, Agassi also wrote in his book about facing Becker, the 2004 NCAA singles champion from Baylor in Waco, Texas. Agassi, who was born with one vertebra out of alignment, was wracked by back pain at the time.
   "Thirty minutes before the match," Agassi wrote, "I get an anti-inflammatory injection, but it's different from the cortisone. Less effective. Against my third-round opponent, Benjamin Becker, I'm barely able to remain standing.
   "I look at the scoreboard. I shake my head. I ask myself over and over, How is it possible that my final opponent is a guy named B. Becker? I told (my coach, Darren Cahill) earlier this year that I wanted to go out against somebody I like and respect, or else against somebody I don't know.                        
   "And so I get the latter."
   Becker, who's not related to countryman and Hall of Famer Boris Becker, lost to Daniel Kosakowski, a 20-year-old wild card from the Los Angeles area, in the first round of the Sacramento Challenger. Becker was still recovering from a torn groin muscle. He said later in the week that the Agassi encounter was not the most memorable match of his career. But it's up there.
   "The most memorable was when I won my only title (on grass in s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, in 2009) because I felt it was a bigger achievement than beating Agassi, who obviously was not at his best.
   "It was my first time (in the) U.S. Open and first time on center court, Arthur Ashe (Stadium), in front of so many people. It was maybe the most hyped match I've ever played," said Becker, 31.
   The matchup featured two players under 6 feet, a rarity in men's professional tennis. Agassi was listed at 5-11 (180 centimeters) and 177 pounds (80 kilograms) and Becker at 5-10 (178 cm) and 158 pounds (72 kg).
   Despite the hype, Becker said the match wasn't difficult to play.
   "I had nothing to lose," he explained. "I knew I had a chance. I knew I was playing well because I went through qualifying, I won two (main-draw) matches, I felt good about myself, I was confident, I was still young, I just came from college.
   "I enjoyed it. I really just focused on the match. I had no distractions from the crowd or who I was playing. Obviously, I was nervous at the beginning. It wasn't as tough as maybe afterward, trying to play the tournament after you beat Agassi (with) the big hype and media attention I had."
   Andy Roddick, the ninth seed and 2003 U.S. Open champion, dismissed Becker 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in 95 minutes the next day.
   "I was so tired," Becker recalled. "I had maybe 2 1/2 hours of media (after beating Agassi), and obviously we played maybe three hours (actually 3 hours, 1 minute), and I had maybe less than 24 hours to prepare for the Roddick match. Obviously, he was way too good, so I had no chance."
   Becker admitted harboring mixed feelings about beating Agassi. As a junior, Becker idolized Boris Becker and Agassi.
   "It was tough to accept that I deserved to be the one that finishes his big career because I was just a kid coming from college ranked a hundred something (actually No. 112)," Becker said. "So I felt a little bit bad, obviously. As a fan, I would be pissed at myself to think that I was the guy. It would be maybe more appropriate for Roddick to do it, but that's how it was. I just wanted to win the tennis match. That's how I looked at it. I didn't want to beat Agassi -- I just wanted to win the tennis match."
   Becker went on to reach a career-high No. 38 in 2007, but the right-hander has dropped to No. 65 after undergoing two operations on his left elbow last year. He is 1-5 at the U.S. Open since 2006.    

CALENDAR

   Jan. 14-27, 2013 -- AUSTRALIAN OPEN, www.australianopen.org. 2012 champions: Novak Djokovic, Victoria Azarenka, Leander Paes-Radek Stepanek, Svetlana Kuznetsova-Vera Zvonareva.
   Jan. 15 -- Sacramento State men at Stanford in spring season opener for both teams, 1:30 p.m, www.hornetsports.com, www.gostanford.com.
   Jan. 18 -- Stanford women open spring season at Freeman Invitational in Las Vegas and at NCTC Classic in Indian Wells, Calif., times TBA, www.gostanford.com. UC Davis women open spring season vs. Northern Arizona in Tempe, Ariz., 1 p.m., www.ucdavisaggies.com.
   Jan. 19 -- UC Davis men at Santa Clara in spring season opener for both teams, 10 a.m., www.ucdavisaggies.com, www.santaclarabroncos.com.
   Feb. 1 -- Sacramento State women open spring season at Arizona, 12:30 p.m., www.hornetsports.com.
   Feb. 1-3, 2013 -- Davis Cup, first round, United States vs. Brazil in Jacksonville, Fla., www.daviscup.com.
   Feb. 9-10, 2013 -- Fed Cup, first round, United States at Italy, www.fedcup.com.
   Feb. 11-17, 2013 -- SAP Open, HP Pavilion in San Jose, www.sapopentennis.com. 2012 champions: Milos Raonic, Mark Knowles-Xavier Malisse.
   March 4-17, 2013 -- BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells, Calif., www.bnpparibasopen.com. 2012 champions: Roger Federer, Victoria Azarenka, Marc Lopez-Rafael Nadal, Liezel Huber-Lisa Raymond.
   April 26-28 -- Big Sky Conference men's and women's tournament, Gold River Racquet Club, Gold River, Calif., www.bigskyconf.com.

Top-seeded Becker defaults in Tiburon

   Top-seeded Benjamin Becker defaulted from his second-round match against Jack Sock on Thursday in the $100,000 First Republic Bank Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger.
   Becker had aggravated a torn groin muscle suffered four weeks ago while playing for Germany in a Davis Cup doubles match. He lost in the first round of last week's $100,000 RelyAid Natomas Challenger in Sacramento to Daniel Kosakowski, a 20-year-old wild card, but said he had no pain.
   Meanwhile, second-seeded James Blake suffered a blow in his quest to pull off a Sacramento-Tiburon double, which 6-foot-10 Ivo Karlovic accomplished last year. Blake's scheduled second-round match against Kosakowski at the Tiburon Peninsula Club was postponed by rain until today at 11 a.m. The winner will play Mischa Zverev, a Moscow native who plays for Germany, at 4 p.m. or later.
   Surviving both matches in one day against two players who reached the semifinals or better last week would be difficult for Blake, the oldest player in the singles draw at almost 33. Blake edged the 25-year-old Zverev 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 in the Sacramento final.
   Becker and Blake are the only top-100 players in the singles draw at No. 84 and No. 87, respectively.
   The Blake-Kosakowski winner will give the United States seven of the eight quarterfinalists. Sock (20 years old) will face Rhyne Williams (21) in a matchup of unseeded players at 11 a.m., followed by eighth-seeded Bobby Reynolds (30) against wild card Bradley Klahn (22). Seventh-seeded Denis Kudla (20) will meet unseeded Johnson (22) after the Blake-Kosakowski match.     
   Kudla qualified for the SAP Open on the ATP World Tour in San Jose, 64 miles south of Tiburon at the other end of the San Francisco Bay Area, in February and extended No. 2 seed Andy Roddick to 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the second round. Roddick twisted his right ankle late in the second set.
   Karlovic is back on the ATP World Tour after his ranking dropped last year because of Achilles' tendon-related surgery.

Top seed Becker ousted in Sacramento Challenger

Daniel Kosakowski, a 20-year-old wild card, upset No. 1 seed
Benjamin Becker, below, 7-5, 6-3 Tuesday in the first round
of the $100,000 RelyAid Natomas Challenger in Sacramento.
Photos by Paul Bauman

   SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- On paper, it was a stunning upset.
   Daniel Kosakowski, a 20-year-old wild card who turned pro last year in Sacramento, ousted Benjamin Becker, a 31-year-old veteran seeded first, 7-5, 6-3 Tuesday in the first round of the $100,000 RelyAid Natomas Challenger at the Natomas Racquet Club.
   Becker is ranked No. 85 in the world after reaching a career-high No. 38 five years ago. Kosakowski, meanwhile, is No. 304.
   Most glaring of all, Becker has won 97 matches on the ATP World Tour, the major leagues of men's professional tennis, to Kosakowski's one.
   But considering recent history, Kosakowski's victory wasn't all that surprising on a day featuring the exits of three more seeds, the world's fastest server, a former Sacramento champion and several U.S. prospects. Kosakowski's triumph might have even been predictable. He has been on fire while Becker has been recovering from his latest injury.

   Kosakowski, a Los Angeles-area native whose parents are Polish, has won 11 straight matches and 13 of his last 14. He reached the final round of qualifying at the U.S. Open in August, beating 82nd-ranked Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia in the second round. Becker was the second top-100 win of Kosakowski's career.
   Last month, Kosakowski won $10,000 Futures tournaments in the Los Angeles suburbs of Claremont and Costa Mesa in consecutive weeks.
   "I was working on a lot of things in the summer, and things are starting to click now," said Kosakowski, who turned pro after winning the $15,000 Futures tournament in Sacramento in June 2011. "I got a lot of confidence from the Open. I know what I'm doing on the court and executing my game plan."
   Kosakowski, who won 24 of 25 points on his first serve against Becker and displayed a sensational one-handed backhand, added that he worked on his "serve and trying to be more aggressive with the backhand, trying not to give up too many freebies or short balls."     

Second-seeded James Blake, 32, wore down 19-year-old
qualifier Taro Daniel of Japan 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 in a match featur-
ing the oldest and youngest players in the singles draw.

   Becker, meanwhile, tore a groin muscle three weeks ago playing in a Davis Cup doubles match for his native Germany. He lost with Philipp Petzschner, but host Germany beat Australia 3-2 on clay to qualify for the elite World Group next year.
  "When I came here, I didn't know if I could play," said Becker, a right-hander with a two-handed backhand who underwent two operations on his left elbow last year and missed seven months. "I'm happy I didn't have any pain today, but I'm not happy with the way I played. I expected not to play my best, obviously. That's how it goes when you have a tough first round.
   "I saw he won a few tournaments (recently)," added Becker, who's best known for ending Andre Agassi's career in the third round of the 2006 U.S. Open. "He had a lot of confidence, and he could see that my confidence was not very high. I'm trying to get it back and hopefully have a better week next week (in the Tiburon Challenger in the San Francisco Bay Area)."
   Despite their age difference and nationalities, Becker and Kosakowski have a few things in common. Both are undersized former college stars.
   Becker, who's listed at 5-foot-10 and 158 pounds, is one of the few pros who played for four years in college. As a junior at Baylor in Waco, Texas, he won the 2004 NCAA singles crown and helped the Bears capture their only NCAA team title.
   Kosakowski said he's 6-foot and 180, but he appears smaller. He turned pro after one year at UCLA, where he was named first-team All-Pacific-10 Conference and the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year.
   After the first round of the Natomas Challenger, the only seeds left are No. 2 James Blake of Tampa, Fla., and No. 5 Matteo Viola of Italy. No. 3 Ryan Sweeting, the 2005 U.S. Open boys champion, withdrew with food poisoning, and No. 8 Denis Kudla, a 20-year-old American born in Ukraine, lost to qualifier Greg Jones of Australia 6-3, 6-0.
   Blake, a 32-year-old wild card and last year's runner-up to 6-foot-10 Ivo Karlovic, wore down 19-year-old qualifier Taro Daniel of Japan 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 on a 99-degree day in a match featuring the oldest and youngest players in the singles draw.
   "I got my legs moving a little better in the second and third sets, and I think his legs kind of went out on him  in the third set," said Blake, ranked No. 97 after reaching a career-high No. 4 in 2006. "He's already played three matches here.
   "I'm not a spring chicken anymore. Sometimes it takes a little longer to warm up. Those things are going to happen sometimes, but I'm happy I got through it."
   Blake, plagued by tendinitis in his right knee last year and earlier this year, pronounced himself fit but said he's taking his career "one match at a time at this point." He hopes to play all next year, "but you never know. One more bad injury, and that can change real quick."
   Eight years ago, Blake broke his neck while practicing in Rome. He slipped on a wet clay court while racing to return a drop shot and struck the net post. Had he not moved his head at the last moment, doctors said he could have been paralyzed.
   Viola dismissed Samuel Groth of Australia 6-2, 6-3. Groth, who blasted a 163-mph (263-kph) serve in a Challenger tournament in South Korea in May, converted only 20 percent of his first serves in the first set and 39 percent overall.
   "I felt really flat on court," said Groth, who has battled a head cold for two days. "I probably had my worst serving day for a year, and I was pretty slow in my movement. I don't think there was actually too much I did well out there. Matteo doesn't give you much, and I knew I was going to have to play a lot better than I did today, that's for sure."
   Bradley Klahn, a San Diego-area resident, and John Millman of Australia had big years in 2010. Klahn won the NCAA singles title as a Stanford sophomore, and John Millman captured the Sacramento Challenger. They met for the first time Tuesday, with wild card Klahn prevailing 7-6 (0), 6-4.
   The day ended with two 30-something veterans knocking out young Americans.
   Rik de Voest, a 32-year-old South African who won the 2005 (inaugural) Sacramento Challenger at the Sutter Lawn Tennis Club, outlasted 21-year-old Rhyne Williams of Knoxville, Tenn., 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-4 in 3 hours, 13 minutes.
   Williams, who turned pro shortly after reaching the NCAA singles final in 2011 as a Tennessee sophomore, served for the match at 5-4 in the second set and led 4-1 (one service break) in the third set.
   Bobby Reynolds, 30, of Acworth, Ga., outslugged Jack Sock, 20, of Lincoln, Neb., 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4) in a matchup of 2011 Sacramento Challenger quarterfinalists. Sock, last year's doubles runner-up with Nicholas Monroe, already is out of this year's tournament. He and Phillip Simmonds of Reston, Va., narrowly lost in  the first round of doubles to Groth and Chris Guccione, the defending champion with Carsten Ball, on Monday.
   
RELYAID NATOMAS CHALLENGER - SACRAMENTO, CA, USA

$ 100,000
SEPT. 29 - OCT. 7, 2012

RESULTS - TUESDAY, OCT. 2, 2012Singles - First Round
[WC] D Kosakowski (USA) d [1] B Becker (GER) 75 63
[2] [WC] J Blake (USA) d [Q] T Daniel (JPN) 46 63 61
M Reid (AUS) d [LL] F Wolmarans (RSA) 64 64
[5] M Viola (ITA) d S Groth (AUS) 62 63
[Q] G Jones (AUS) d [8] D Kudla (USA) 63 60
M McClune (USA) d [Q] P Simmonds (USA) 16 63 61
R Farah (COL) d A Bogdanovic (GBR) 61 62
B Reynolds (USA) d J Sock (USA) 76(6) 76(4)
L Vanni (ITA) d [Q] L Gregorc (SLO) 46 64 76(3)
[WC] B Klahn (USA) d J Millman (AUS) 76(0) 64
R De Voest (RSA) d R Williams (USA) 57 76(3) 64
Doubles - First Round
[4] A Daescu (ROU) / A Hubble (AUS) d [LL] L Gregorc (SLO) / A Pavic (CRO) 63 64
A Kuznetsov (USA) / M Zverev (GER) d S Ianni (ITA) / M Viola (ITA) 63 64

ORDER OF PLAY - WEDNESDAY, OCT. 3, 2012
STADIUM start 11:00 am
D Kudla (USA) / T Smyczek (USA) vs A Courtney (USA) / P Raja (IND)
Not Before 12:30 PM
A El Mihdawy (USA) vs B Reynolds (USA)
S Groth (AUS) / C Guccione (AUS) vs [4] A Daescu (ROU) / A Hubble (AUS)
Not Before 4:00 PM
L Vanni (ITA) vs A Kuznetsov (USA)
COURT 1 start 11:00 am
M Reid (AUS) vs T Sandgren (USA)
M Zverev (GER) vs I Van der Merwe (RSA)
Not Before 3:30 PM
[3] B Reynolds (USA) / I Van der Merwe (RSA) vs [Q] J Dadamo (USA) / B Klahn (USA) - After suitable rest

Updated: World's fastest server enters Sacramento

   The world's fastest server, the player who ended Andre Agassi's career and a Wimbledon champion head the field in next week's $100,000 RelyAid Natomas Challenger in Sacramento.

   Samuel Groth, 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds, was credited with a 163.4-mph (263-kph) serve in May at a Challenger tournament in Busan, South Korea. Groth, a 24-year-old Australian ranked No. 237 in the world, broke the record of 156 mph by 6-foot-10 Ivo Karlovic, who won last year's Sacramento and Tiburon Challengers. 
   Benjamin Becker beat Agassi in the third round of the 2006 U.S. Open, the last tournament of the future International Tennis Hall of Famer's career. Becker, the 2004 NCAA singles champion from Baylor, is the only top-100 player entered in the RelyAid Challenger at the Natomas Racquet Club. The 31-year-old German, just 5-foot-10 and 158 pounds, is ranked No. 84. He reached a career-high No. 38 in 2007 and sat out for six months last year with an elbow injury.

   Also entered in Sacramento is Frederik Nielsen, 29, of Denmark. Nielsen, the grandson of two-time Wimbledon singles runner-up Kurt Nielsen, and Jonathan Marray of Great Britain teamed in July to become the first wild cards to win the Wimbledon men's doubles title.
   James Blake, last year's runner-up, accepted a wild card to return to Sacramento. The 32-year-old American is ranked No. 99 after reaching a career-high No. 4 in 2006.
   Neither Karlovic nor 2011 semifinalist Sam Querrey is on the direct entry list this year. Both are former top-20 players who were coming back from injuries at this time last year. The 24-year-old Querrey has rebounded to No. 26, but the 33-year-old Karlovic is mired at No. 80. 
   Three former Sacramento Challenger champions plan to return: 32-year-old Rik de Voest, a South African who won the inaugural tournament at the Sutter Lawn Tennis Club in 2005; Wayne Odesnik (2007) of Weston, Fla.; and John Millman (2010) of Australia. Odesnik, a 5-foot-11 left-hander, served a one-year suspension in 2010 for transporting human growth hormone into Australia.

   The Sacramento field also includes top U.S. prospects Denis Kudla (20 years old), Jack Sock (20), Rhyne Williams (21) and Steve Johnson (22). Sock won the U.S. Open mixed doubles title last year with Melanie Oudin. Johnson captured the last two NCAA singles titles, beating Williams of Tennessee in the 2011 final at Stanford, before completing his eligibility at USC in May.
   Based on current rankings, the Sacramento seeds will be Becker, 34-year-old Michael Russell (No. 104) of Houston, Ryan Sweeting (No. 135) of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Odesnik (No. 136), Matteo Viola (No. 148) of Italy, Peter Polansky (No. 149) of Canada, Tim Smyczek (No. 154) of Tampa, Fla., and Kudla (No. 158) of Arlington, Va.
   Qualifying for this year's Sacramento Challenger begins Saturday at 9 a.m. The main draw starts Monday at 10 a.m., and the singles and doubles finals will be played on Oct. 7 at times to be determined.

TV SCHEDULE

(All Times PDT)

   Wednesday -- Tokyo (women), quarterfinals, Tennis Channel, 10 p.m.-5 a.m. Thursday (live).
   Thursday -- Tokyo (women), semifinals, Tennis Channel, 9 p.m.-1 a.m. Friday (live). Bangkok (men), early rounds, Tennis Channel, 5-9 p.m. (delay).
   Friday -- Tokyo (women), final, Tennis Channel, 9-11 p.m. (live). Bangkok (men), quarterfinals, Tennis Channel, 5-9 p.m. (delay).
   Saturday -- Kuala Lumpur (men), semifinals, Tennis Channel, 1-5 p.m. (delay). Bangkok (men), semifinals, Tennis Channel, 5-9 p.m. (delay).
   Sunday -- Kuala Lumpur (men), final, Tennis Channel, 1-3 p.m. (delay). Bangkok (men), final, Tennis Channel, 5-7 p.m. (delay).

CALENDAR

    Saturday-Oct. 7 -- $100,000 RelyAid Natomas Challenger, Natomas Racquet Club, 2450 Natomas Park Drive, Sacramento, Calif., 95833, www.natomaschallenger.com, (916) 649-0909. 2011 champions: Ivo Karlovic, Carsten Ball-Chris Guccione.
   Oct. 6-14 -- $100,000 First Republic Bank Men's Challenger, Tiburon Peninsula Club, 1600 Mar West St., Tiburon, Calif., 94920, www.tiburonchallenger.com, (415) 789-7900. 2011 champions: Ivo Karlovic, Carsten Ball-Chris Guccione.
   Oct. 23-28 -- WTA Championships (top eight singles players and top four doubles teams of 2012), Istanbul, www.wtatennis.com/page/Tournaments/Info/0,,12781~742,00.html. 2011 champions: Petra Kvitova, Liezel Huber-Lisa Raymond.
   Nov. 3-4 -- Fed Cup Final, Serbia at Czech Republic, www.fedcup.com. 2011 champion: Czech Republic.
   Nov. 5-12 -- ATP World Tour Finals (top eight singles players and top eight doubles teams of 2012), London, www.atpworldtour.com/Finals/2012.aspx. 2011 champions: Roger Federer, Max Mirnyi-Daniel Nestor.
   Nov. 16-18 -- Davis Cup Final, Spain at Czech Republic, www.daviscup.com. 2011 champion: Spain.
   Jan. 14-27, 2013 -- AUSTRALIAN OPEN, www.australianopen.org. 2012 champions: Novak Djokovic, Victoria Azarenka, Leander Paes-Radek Stepanek, Svetlana Kuznetsova-Vera Zvonareva.
   Feb. 1-3, 2013 -- Davis Cup, first round, Brazil at United States, www.daviscup.com.
   Feb. 9-10, 2013 -- Fed Cup, first round, United States at Italy, www.fedcup.com.
   Feb. 11-17, 2013 -- SAP Open, HP Pavilion in San Jose, www.sapopentennis.com. 2012 champions: Milos Raonic, Mark Knowles-Xavier Malisse.
   March 4-17, 2013 -- BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells, Calif., www.bnpparibasopen.com. 2012 champions: Roger Federer, Victoria Azarenka, Marc Lopez-Rafael Nadal, Liezel Huber-Lisa Raymond.

PRO RANKINGS

   Following are this week's world rankings of professional players with Northern California ties (change from last week in parentheses):

Men

   Kevin Anderson, Sacramento Capitals (2012) of World TeamTennis -- No. 35 in singles (no change), No. 96 in doubles (-3).
   Nick Andrews, Cal All-American in 2012 -- No. 1,429 in singles (-4), career-high No. 1,221 in doubles (+294).  
   Bob Bryan, 1998 NCAA doubles champion from Stanford -- Career-high No. 1 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Mike Bryan, 1998 NCAA doubles champion from Stanford -- Career-high No. 1 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Mardy Fish, Capitals (2012) -- No. 22 in singles (no change), No. 728 in doubles (+2).
   John Paul Fruttero, Cal All-American in 2001 and 2002 -- No. 107 in doubles (-8), unranked in singles.
   Artem Ilyushin, Granite Bay resident -- No. 921 in singles (-1), No. 1,224 in doubles (+5).
   Bradley Klahn, 2010 NCAA singles champion and 2011 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford -- Career-high No. 347 in singles (+2), No. 1,024 in doubles (+7). 
   Mark Knowles, Capitals (2001-07, 2009-12), three-time World TeamTennis Male MVP (2001, 2005 and 2007) -- No. 124 in doubles (-1), unranked in singles.
   Alex Kuznetsov, Capitals (2012) -- No. 194 (+4) in singles, No. 427 in doubles (+1) in doubles.
   Scott Lipsky, 2002 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford -- No. 26 in doubles (+1), unranked in singles.
   Sam Querrey, San Francisco native, Capitals (2012) -- No. 26 in singles (no change), No. 46 in doubles (-2).
   Ryan Sweeting, Capitals (2012) -- No. 135 in singles (-1), No. 844 in doubles (-7).
   Ryan Thacher, 2011 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford -- No. 1,288 in singles (-7), No. 1,466 in doubles (-33).
   Dmitry Tursunov, Folsom resident -- No. 100 in singles (+25, won $83,000 tournament in Izmir for second Turkish Challenger singles title in two weeks), No. 179 in doubles (-2).
   Jimmy Wang, trains part-time in Granite Bay -- No. 151 in singles (+2), No. 339 in doubles (+5).
   Pedro Zerbini, All-Pacific-10 Conference first team at Cal (2009-11) -- No. 625 in singles (no change), No. 701 in doubles (+5).

Women

   Mallory Burdette, NCAA singles runner-up in 2012 and NCAA doubles champion in 2011 and 2012 from Stanford -- Career-high No. 165 in singles (-5), No. 660 in doubles (+10). 
   Jana Juricova, NCAA singles (2011) and doubles (2009) champion from Cal -- No. 927 in singles (no change), unranked in doubles.
   Vania King, Capitals (2010-12) -- No. 13 in doubles (no change), No. 59 in singles (-2).
   Raquel Kops-Jones, 2003 NCAA doubles champion from Cal -- No. 20 in doubles (no change), No. 743 in singles (+19).
   Asia Muhammad, Capitals (2012) -- No. 168 in doubles (no change, won $75,000 Albuquerque Challenger), No. 474 in singles (+41, quarterfinalist in $75,000 Albuquerque Challenger).
   Maria Sanchez, Modesto resident -- Career-high No. 108 in doubles (+7, runner-up in $75,000 Albuquerque Challenger), career-high No. 149 in singles (+28, won $75,000 Albuquerque Challenger).

   Yasmin Schnack, Elk Grove resident, Capitals (2011-12) -- No. 141 in doubles (+12, won $75,000 Albuquerque Challenger), No. 505 in singles (-50).
   Romana Tedjakusuma, Tracy resident -- No. 492 in singles (-28), No. 1,123 in doubles (-1).
   CoCo Vandeweghe, Capitals (2009, 2012) -- No. 83 in singles (+4), No. 490 in doubles (+5).