Another Italian teenager scores big upset in Rome

Third-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece lost to 19-year-old wild card Jannik
Sinner of Italy in three sets today in the second round of the Italian Open in Rome.
2019 photo by Mal Taam

   An Italian teenage man pulled off a major upset in the Italian Open for the second consecutive day today.

   One day after 18-year-old qualifier Lorenzo Musetti stunned 10th-seeded Stan Wawrinka, 19-year-old wild card Jannik Sinner ousted third-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 6-1, 6-7 (9), 6-2 in the second round in Rome. 

   Sinner, ranked No. 81, led 6-1, 5-2, but the 22-year-old Tsitsipas, ranked sixth, won four straight games to serve for the second set and saved two match points in the tiebreaker.

   Sinner recorded his second victory over a top-10 player. He knocked off No. 10 David Goffin in the second round in Rotterdam in February.

   Sinner, who reached the second round of last year's Aptos, Calif., Challenger one week after winning the Lexington, Ky., title, is set to face 15th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria on Friday for a quarterfinal berth.

   Dimitrov, a 2014 Rome semifinalist who climbed as high as No. 3 in 2017, demolished Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan 6-1, 6-0 in 55 minutes. Dimitrov won 24 of 25 points on his first serve.

   Another Italian wild card, 28-year-old Stefano Travaglia, surprised unseeded Borna Coric, a U.S. Open quarterfinalist last week, 7-6 (2), 7-5. Travaglia, ranked No. 84, is scheduled to take on countryman Matteo Berrettini, seeded fourth, on Friday.

   Top-ranked Novak Djokovic, playing his first match since getting defaulted from the U.S. Open on Sept. 6, outclassed Italian wild card Salvatore Caruso 6-3, 6-2.

   Djokovic, a four-time Italian Open champion, next will meet fellow Serb Filip Krajinovic, a 6-4, 6-1 winner over Italian qualifier Marco Cecchinato.

   Second-seeded Rafael Nadal, playing his first official match since winning Acapulco in February, overwhelmed Spanish countryman Pablo Carreno Busta, a U.S. Open semifinalist, 6-1, 6-1 in 73 minutes. 

   Nadal, seeking his third consecutive Rome title and 10th overall, will play the winner of Thursday's match between 13th-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada and Dusan Lajovic of Serbia.

   Both sixth seeds lost today. Marin Cilic, an Italian Open semifinalist in 2018 and a two-time Rome quarterfinalist, routed Goffin 6-2, 6-2. Qualifier Danka Kovinic of Montenegro dominated Belinda Bencic, playing her first match since February, 6-3, 6-1.

   Top-seeded Simona Halep, a two-time Italian Open runner-up, beat Italian wild card Jasmine Paolini 6-3, 6-4 for her 10th straight victory and 15th in her last 16 matches.

   In a matchup of former world No. 1s and Bank of the West Classic champions at Stanford, Victoria Azarenka eliminated 40-year-old Venus Williams 7-6 (7), 6-2.

   Azarenka has won 13 of her last 14 matches, losing to Naomi Osaka in the U.S. Open final, after going 0-3 since August 2019.

   Williams lost in the first round for the third consecutive tournament and fell to 1-7 this year. Her only victory is over Azarenka in the opening round in Lexington last month.

American Kenin voted WTA Most Improved Player

Sofia Kenin, shown en route to the 2018 Berkeley (Calif.) title,
  ended this year at No. 14 in the world. Photo by Paul Bauman

  Sofia Kenin, who starred in Northern California Challengers, was voted the Most Improved Player of the Year, the WTA announced on Wednesday.
   The 21-year-old American jumped from No. 52 to No. 14 in the year-end rankings. She peaked at No. 12 on Oct. 21.
   The Moscow native won her first three WTA singles titles (Hobart, Mallorca and Guangzhao) and reached the round of 16 at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time, stunning Serena Williams in the third round of the French Open.
   Kenin also beat reigning No. 1 players in back-to-back weeks, ousting Ashleigh Barty in Toronto and Naomi Osaka in Cincinnati.
   Kenin won NorCal Challenger singles titles in three consecutive years – Sacramento in 2016 at age 17, Stockton and Berkeley.
   Other award winners, as voted on by international journalists, were Barty (Player of the Year), Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic (Doubles Team of the Year), Bianca Andreescu (Newcomer of the Year) and Belinda Bencic (Comeback Player of the Year).
   Barty, a 23-year-old Australian, claimed her first Grand Slam singles title in the French Open, also won the WTA Finals and ended the year at No. 1 for the first time.
   Babos and Mladenovic – 26-year-olds from Hungary and France, respectively – took the French Open crown and won the WTA Finals for the second straight year.
   Andreescu, 19, soared from No. 178 to No. 5 in the year-end rankings. She became the first Canadian, male or female, to win a major singles title, shocking Williams in the U.S. Open final.
   Bencic, a right-hander who underwent left wrist surgery in the spring of 2017 and plunged as low as No. 318, ended the year in the top 10 for the first time at No. 8. The 22-year-old Swiss matched her career high of No. 7 after winning the Moscow title in October.

Serena, Andreescu advance to U.S. Open final

Serena Williams, playing in San Jose last year, will try again to equal Margaret
Court's record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles. Photo by Mal Taam

   Serena Williams has lost one-sided finals three times while trying to tie Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles.
   Williams will get another chance on Saturday (1 p.m. PDT on ESPN).
   Seeded eighth, the 37-year-old part-time resident of Silicon Valley dismissed fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-3, 6-1 in 70 minutes on Thursday in the U.S. Open semifinals.
   Combined with her 44-minute quarterfinal victory over Wang Qiang, Williams has averaged 57 minutes in her last two matches in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   Williams will meet 15th-seeded Bianca Andreescu, a 19-year-old Canadian, for the title. Andreescu turned back 13th-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 7-6 (3), 7-5 to reach her first Grand Slam final. Bencic, 22, led 5-2 in the second set.
   Andreescu and Williams have met once – sort of. Andreescu led 3-1 in last month's Toronto final when Williams retired with back spasms.
   Williams won her 23rd major singles crown in the 2017 Australian Open, had her first child seven months later and suffered life-threatening complications. She lost finals to Angelique Kerber 6-3, 6-3 at Wimbledon in 2018, Naomi Osaka 6-2, 6-4 in last year's U.S. Open and Simona Halep 6-2, 6-2 at Wimbledon in July.
   Williams has been on her best behavior during matches and interviews the last two weeks after her tumultuous loss to Osaka.
   In the third round of boys singles on Thursday, eighth-seeded Emilio Nava, 17, of Woodland Hills in the Los Angeles area beat Aidan Mayo, a 16-year-old product of Roseville in the Sacramento region, 7-6 (3), 6-2.

Serena, Nadal close in on U.S. Open titles

   It appears that Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal each will win another Grand Slam singles title this weekend.
   Four women and four men remain in the U.S. Open singles draws, and Williams and Nadal are the only ones who have played in a major final. Actually, Williams has played in 32 of them, winning 23, and Nadal has appeared in 26 of them, winning 18.
   That, of course, guarantees nothing. If Williams and Nadal reach the finals, their opponents will have nothing to lose. Williams, in fact, is 0-3 in major finals since having her first child on Sept. 1, 2017.
   Williams needs one more Grand Slam singles title to equal Margaret Court's record of 24, and Nadal can pull within one of Roger Federer's record of 20 major singles crowns.
   The eighth-seeded Williams, who has a residence in Silicon Valley, is scheduled to play fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine today at 4 p.m. PDT (ESPN), followed by 13th-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland against 15th-seeded Bianca Andreescu of Canada.
   Today, Bencic beat 23rd-seeded Donna Vekic of Croatia 7-6 (5), 6-3, and Andreescu topped 25th-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. Vekic, 23, reached the San Jose semifinals this summer.
   Williams, 37, is 4-1 against the 24-year-old Svitolina, a quarterfinalist as the top seed in San Jose, but they have not met since 2016. Bencic, 22, and Andreescu, 19, will meet for the first time.
   The second-seeded Nadal, 33, will face 24th-seeded Matteo Berrettini – a sturdy, 6-foot-5 (1.95-meter) Italian – for the first time on Friday at 4 p.m. (ESPN). Nadal dispatched 20th-seeded Diego Schwartzman, a 5-foot-7 (1.70-meter) Argentine, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2.
   Berrettini, 23, edged 13th-seeded Gael Monfils of France 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (5) in 3 hours, 57 minutes to become the second Italian man to reach the U.S. Open semis. Corrado Barazzutti accomplished the feat in 1977.
   In the other semifinal, fifth-seeded Daniil Medvedev of Russia is set to play unseeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria on Friday at 1 p.m. (ESPN). Medvedev, 23, and Dimitrov, 28, have split two career meetings, both in 2017.
   Meanwhile, top-seeded Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah of Colombia eliminated Luke Bambridge of Great Britain and Ben McLachlan (Cal, 2011-14) of Japan 6-4, 6-4 in the men's doubles quarterfinals.
   In the second round of girls singles, fourth-seeded Maria Camila Osorio Serrano of Colombia beat Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area 6-4, 6-4.

Osaka follows Djokovic out the door in U.S. Open

   Less than 24 hours after world No. 1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic lost in the round of 16 at the U.S. Open, his female counterpart did the same.
   Naomi Osaka fell to 13th-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 7-5, 6-4 on Monday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   Since winning her second consecutive Grand Slam singles title in the Australian Open in January, the 21-year-old Osaka has failed to reach the quarterfinals of a major.
   Ashleigh Barty will rise one spot to regain the No. 1 ranking after the U.S. Open, Karolina Pliskova will improve one notch to No. 2, and Osaka will drop to No. 3.
   Bencic, 22, advanced to her second Grand Slam quarterfinal. The first came five years ago in the U.S. Open.
   A 5-foot-9 (1.75-meter) right-hander, Bencic climbed to a career-high No. 7 at age 18 in 2016 but underwent left-wrist surgery in the spring of 2017 and sat out for five months. She has fought back from No. 318 in September 2017 to No. 12 and will improve to at least No. 8 after the U.S. Open.

Donna Vekic, shown last month in San Jose, saved
a match point in her three-set victory over Julia
Goerges. Photo by Mal Taam

   Bencic is set to face 23rd-seeded Donna Vekic of Croatia on Wednesday. Vekic, a semifinalist in San Jose last month and first-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist, saved a match point in her 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-3 victory over 26th-seeded Julia Goerges of Germany.
   Bencic is 2-1 against the 23-year-old Vekic, winning in straight sets on grass and a hard court in 2014 and losing 6-4, 6-1 in the third round of the French Open in June.
   In the other quarterfinal in the top half of the women's draw, 15th-seeded Bianca Andreescu of Canada will meet 25th-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium for the first time.
   Andreescu, 19, stopped U.S. qualifier Taylor Townsend, who played for the now-defunct Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis six years ago at 17, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2. Mertens routed U.S. wild card Kristie Ahn 6-1, 6-1 in 66 minutes, avenging a loss to the 27-year-old Stanford graduate in the second round in San Jose.
   Ahn had never won a main-draw match in a Grand Slam tournament before last week. She was born two miles from the National Tennis Center at Flushing Hospital, lives in nearby Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and trains at the center.
   Ahn will soar 48 places to No. 93, cracking the top 100 for the first time, and add $280,000 to her career prize money of $548,241.
   In the men's quarterfinals in the bottom half of the draw on Wednesday, second seed and three-time U.S. Open champion Rafael Nadal will play 20th-seeded Diego Schwartzman of Argentina, and 13th-seeded Gael Monfils of France will meet 24th-seeded Matteo Berrettini of Italy for the first time.
   Nadal, 33, is 7-0 against the 5-foot-7 (1.70-meter) Schwartzman, 27.
   Meanwhile, 41-year-old twins Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, both former Stanford stars, lost in the third round of a major for the third consecutive time. The seventh seeds and five-time U.S. Open champions fell to unseeded Jack Sock and Jackson Withrow 6-4, 7-5 in an all-American matchup.
   Sock and Mike Bryan won last year's U.S. Open while Bob Bryan was recovering from hip surgery.
   Also on Monday, fourth-seeded Latisha Chan of Chinese Taipei and Ivan Dodig of Croatia topped Raquel Atawo (Cal, 2001-04) of San Jose and Fabrice Martin of France 7-6 (3), 3-6 [10-3] in the mixed doubles quarterfinals.
   In the first round of boys singles, 16-year-old Aidan Mayo, who grew up in the Sacramento suburb of Roseville, surprised 12th-seeded Shunsuke Mitsui of Japan 6-4, 7-5.

Open Day 7 highlights: Wozniacki tops Sharapova



   Match of the day -- In a battle of former No. 1 players, 10th-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark outslugged fifth-seeded Maria Sharapova of Russia 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 in high humidity in 2 hours, 37 minutes.

   Wozniacki, 24, advanced to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal since the 2012 Australian Open. Only one of the top six women's seeds, No. 1 Serena Williams, remains alive entering the second week.
   Upset of the day -- The men's draw, unlike the women's, has gone largely according to form. No. 4 David Ferrer of Spain became the first top-10 seed to fall, succumbing to No. 26 Gilles Simon of France 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 in the third round.
   Notable -- Belinda Bencic, 17, of Switzerland became the youngest U.S. Open quarterfinalist since her mentor, Martina Hingis, in 1997. Bencic ousted ninth-seeded Jelena Jankovic 7-6 (6), 6-3.

Caroline Wozniacki, practicing during the 2012 Austral-
ian Open, beat Maria Sharapova in a battle of former
No. 1 players. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Second-seeded Roger Federer lost the first 10 points in his 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Marcel Granollers of Spain in the third round. Federer, a five-time U.S. Open champon, trailed 2-5 (one service break) in the first set when thunderstorms delayed the match for two hours.
   Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, a 32-year-old qualifier who had shocked second-seeded Simona Halep in the third round, lost to 13th-seeded Sara Errani 6-3, 2-6, 6-0. The 5-foot-4 1/2 (1.64-meter) Errani had four winners and nine errors to the 5-foot-11 (1.80-meter) Lucic-Baroni's 46 and 69, respectively.
   Men's seeded winners -- Federer, No. 6 Tomas Berdych, No. 7 Grigor Dimitrov, No. 14 Marin Cilic, No. 17 Roberto Bautista Agut, No. 20 Gael Monfils and Simon.
   Men's seeded losers -- Ferrer, No. 12 Richard Gasquet, No. 18 Kevin Anderson and No. 19 Feliciano Lopez.
   Women's seeded winners -- Wozniacki and Errani.
   Women's seeded losers -- Sharapova, Jankovic and No. 14 Lucie Safarova.
   Northern California connection -- Unseeded Americans Scott Lipsky, a 33-year-old former Stanford star, and Rajeev Ram surprised third-seeded Daniel Nestor of Canada and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia 6-3, 6-4 to reach the men's doubles quarterfinals. Nestor, who will turn 42 on Thursday, has won eight Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and the 38-year-old Zimonjic six.
   Michaela Gordon, 15, of Saratoga in the San Francisco Bay Area dominated Miriam Kolodziejova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-2 in the first round of girls singles. 
   Fast fact -- Wozniacki plans to run in the New York City Marathon on Nov. 2.
   Quote -- Wozniacki, on taking a break from marathon training during the U.S. Open: "I have a pretty big tournament here that I kind of want to try and win."

Gold River champ Hibi loses in U.S. Open girls semis

Mayo Hibi, seeded 11th, fell to No. 2
Ana Konjuh of Croatia 6-3, 6-3.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Second-seeded Ana Konjuh of Croatia defeated 11th-seeded Mayo Hibi of Japan 6-3, 6-3 today in the junior girls semifinals of the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   Hibi, 17, won the $50,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger in the Sacramento area in July. She was born in Japan but has lived in California, first in Foster City in the San Francisco Bay Area and now in Irvine, since she was 2 1/2.
   Konjuh, who won the Australian Open girls singles and doubles titles in January, will play wild card Tornado Alicia Black of Boca Raton, Fla., for the title on Sunday in a matchup of 15-year-olds.
   Black downed seventh-seeded Antonia Lottner of Germany 7-5, 6-3. Lottner had ousted top-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland in the quarterfinals.
   Bencic, 16, won this year's French Open and Wimbledon girls titles, defeating Lottner and Taylor Townsend, respectively, in the finals. Townsend, 17, played for the Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis in July.
   Sylvester Black, an African American, hopes to mold his daughters, Ali and 12-year-old Tyra, into the next Venus and Serena Williams. Sylvester nicknamed Alicia "Tornado Ali" because of her quick feet and Tyra "Hurricane Tyra" for her aggressive style.