Broady ousts No. 3 seed in $100K Stockton Challenger

   Liam Broady of Great Britain surprised third-seeded Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 today in the first round of the $100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger at the University of the Pacific's Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center.
   Broady, a 24-year-old left-hander who reached the final of last year's $100,000 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger as a qualifier, will play the winner of Tuesday's match between countryman Daniel Evans and Australia's James Duckworth.
   Evans won the $100,000 Vancouver Challenger as a qualifier in August. Duckworth underwent five operations (three on his right foot and one each on his right shoulder and right elbow) from February 2017 to last February. He rebounded to capture the $50,000 Challenger in Cary, N.C., three weeks ago and reach the semifinals of last week's $100,000 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger.
   Fourth-seeded Lloyd Harris of South Africa beat Dominik Koepfer of Germany 6-3, 6-4.
   Harris stunned Gael Monfils, ranked 38th after reaching a career-high sixth in 2016, last week in Chengdu, China, for his first victory on the ATP World Tour.
   Koepfer, a left-hander who starred at Tulane, reached the final of the $100,000 San Francisco Challenger indoors in February.
   Sixth-seeded Noah Rubin of Long Island, N.Y., eliminated Jenson Brooksby, a 17-year-old wild from the Sacramento suburb of Carmichael, 6-2, 6-4.
   Rubin, a product of the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in New York, advanced to the final of the 2016 Stockton Challenger and the semifinals last week in Tiburon.
   Brooksby won the USTA Boys 18 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich., in August to earn an automatic wild card in the men's main draw of the U.S. Open and lost to John Millman 6-4, 6-2, 6-0 in the opening round. Millman shocked Roger Federer in the fourth round before losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals.
   In the second round of qualifying in the Stockton Women's $60K, second seed and former Cal star Maegan Manasse routed Rhiann Newborn of Houston 6-1, 6-2. Also, Katie Volynets, a 16-year-old wild card from Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area, topped Ellie Douglas, 18, of McKinney, Texas, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
   Here are the Stockton men's singles and doubles main draws and Tuesday's schedule, plus the Stockton women's singles qualifying and main draws, doubles main draw and Tuesday's schedule. The men's tournament is being streamed live.

Tiburon players divided on new Davis Cup format

Liam Broady, 24, of Great Britain said making his
Davis Cup debut in February at Spain "was prob-
ably one of the best experiences of my life."
Photo by Paul Bauman

   TIBURON, Calif. -- Liam Broady has played on Centre Court at Wimbledon in his home country.
   But making his Davis Cup debut for Great Britain in February meant more to him.
   "It was probably one of the best experiences of my life, to be honest, and I've played a fair few matches on a fair few big courts in my time," the top-seeded Broady said after losing to eighth-seeded Steven Diez of Canada 6-1, 6-3 today in the final round of qualifying for the $100,000 Wells Fargo Tiburon Challenger at the Tiburon Peninsula Club. "It's a different feeling to play for your country. I know each week obviously every player represents their country in a way. There's a 'GBR' next to my name on every drawsheet, but actually playing with 'Great Britain' on the scoreboard instead of your name gives you chills.
   "Players grow up wanting to play Davis Cup for their country, and that was certainly one of my dreams. I'll never have that experience again, I suppose, because it's changing now."
   In an effort to boost stars' participation in the Davis Cup and increase global interest and revenue, the International Tennis Federation voted last month to revamp the 118-year-old competition beginning next year.
   Teams will play during one week in November at one site instead of four weeks spread throughout the year at host nations, countries will play the best of three matches (two singles and one doubles) instead of the best of five (four singles and one doubles), and matches will be the best of three sets instead of the best of five.
   Kosmos, a European investment group led by Spanish soccer star Gerard Pique, will invest $3 billion over 25 years in the new Davis Cup. Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who owns the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, also has pledged financial support.
   When asked if he favors or opposes the new format, Broady said: "It's quite a tricky one, isn't it? I'm quite old-fashioned. I think the tradition and history behind the Davis Cup is something that probably needed protecting a little bit more. Quite a few players made that obvious, but obviously players didn't really get a say in it this time, which was a shame.
   "I saw (Roger) Federer kind of said, 'Obviously there's going to be more money with the new backers and new way it's going to be played, and hopefully that money will go to the players.' So if it does, I guess I've got to support that as well."

Sixth-seeded Noah Rubin serves during his 6-0, 6-0
victory over Thiemo de Bakker, a former top-40 player,
today in the first round of the $100,000 Wells Fargo
Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

    Two years ago at Wimbledon, Broady lost to countryman and eventual champion Andy Murray 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 on Centre Court in the first round.
   "Obviously, it's another dream for any player to play on Centre Court," said Broady, a 24-year-old left-hander whose older sister, Naomi, plays on the women's tour. "I can't take anything away from that, but my instant reaction is to play Davis Cup. Again, to represent your country in that way and to have your teammates by your side and on the side of the court, and to play for your captain with the badge on your chest, there's nothing like it because you're part of something bigger, which is an incredible experience."
   Broady got his chance when injuries knocked out Murray, a three-time Grand Slam singles champion and former world No. 1, and Kyle Edmund, who had reached the Australian Open semifinals the previous week. Broady fell to Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (6) in the first rubber of host Spain's 3-1 victory on outdoor clay in Marbella. It was Broady's only match during the competition, which Rafael Nadal also missed.
   "I think there were two or three thousand Brits (in the crowd) because there are quite a few ex-pats in and around Marbella from the (United Kingdom), and we had the Stirling Barmy Army, which is a fantastic fan group," recalled Broady, the runner-up in last year's $100,000 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger as a qualifier. "We bring crazy fan support no matter where we play. It was amazing. The first day, the Spanish crowd didn't really turn out, but then the next day and the third day, they made a real effort to get more fans because I don't think they expected so many Brits.
   "Again, you never play in front of a crowd as passionate as a Davis Cup crowd, which I think is one of the reasons so many upsets happen."
   By losing to Spain, Great Britain was relegated to the World Group playoffs, in which it beat Uzbekistan 3-1 on Sept. 14-16 in Glasgow, Scotland.
   "Dan Evans (of Great Britain) won his tie on the first day against (Denis) Istomin, and he was crying," Broady marveled. "There was another guy playing for Hungary (Zsombor Piros) who beat (the Czech Republic's Jiri) Vesely, and he was on the floor after a (4-hour, 20-minute) match."

Top-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain cele-
brates his 6-2, 7-5 victory over Evan King
in the first round of the Tiburon Challenger.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Two seeds who won their first-round matches in the main draw of the Tiburon Challenger today agreed with the ITF that Davis Cup changes were necessary. But 22-year-old American Noah Rubin, a Davis Cup practice partner in 2014, was more supportive than 32-year-old Marcel Granollers, who played on Spain's Davis Cup championship teams in 2008 and 2011.
   "I think tennis needs some changes, and this is one of them," the sixth-seeded Rubin said after demolishing Thiemo de Bakker, a former top-40 player from the Netherlands, 6-0, 6-0 in 46 minutes in a matchup for former Wimbledon boys champions. "They're going in the right direction toward making it better for spectators. Obviously there's tradition involved in the old format that people are going to be upset about. With change comes rejection, and you have to deal with that and move forward."
   Playing Davis Cup, added the runner-up in the $100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger in 2016, "is a tremendous dream of mine. The Olympics and Davis Cup have always been a dream of mine, seeing the incredible ties that have been played against the U.S. and the victories we've had. Hopefully soon."         
   Granollers, who reached career highs of No. 19 in singles in 2012 and No. 4 in doubles in 2013, has some reservations about the new Davis Cup format.
   "I think we need some changes in the Davis Cup," he conceded after defeating Evan King, a 26-year-old left-hander from Chicago, 6-2, 7-5. "I don't know if this is the right one or not, but I think we have to give at least one chance to see how it goes next year because with the old system, the best players are not playing."
   Under the current format, the four rounds of the Davis Cup immediately follow, in order, the Australian Open, the Miami Open, the U.S. Open and the ATP Finals, leaving many top players unwilling to play for their countries.
   Granollers likes golf's system of playing the Ryder Cup every other year.
   "The (current Davis Cup) system, you cannot play every year," Granollers maintained. "It's too much, too much traveling, and the best players are focusing on their (individual) careers. I think at least we have to play every two or three years."
   Granollers ranks his Davis Cup championships with his four ATP singles titles, especially Valencia on an indoor hardcourt in 2011, as the highlights of his career. He also owns 15 doubles crowns and doubles runner-up finishes with countryman Marc Lopez at the French Open and U.S. Open in 2014.
   "For sure, one of the top," Granollers said of the Davis Cup titles. "When you represent your country, it's one of the best feelings you can have -- more exciting feelings on the court. But also the titles I won in singles are one of my best memories. Same level.
   "Grand Slam finals in doubles is good, but I'm more proud of my singles titles. Valencia was in my country, 500 (level), so it was a big tournament for me and the best week in my life."
   Here are the Tiburon singles qualifying, singles main and doubles main draws and Tuesday's schedule. The tournament is being streamed live.
   Admission is $20 through Thursday (free for club members), $25 on Friday, $30 on Saturday and $35 on Sunday ($55 for a Saturday-Sunday pass).

Brooksby, 17, to play in $100K Tiburon qualifying

Jenson Brooksby practices at the Arden Hills Club
& Spa in Sacramento in May, three months before
he won the USTA Boys 18 National Championships
to earn a wild card into the main draw of the U.S. Open.
Photo by Paul Bauman

  Three teenage wild cards from Northern California, including USTA boys 18 national champion Jenson Brooksby, are scheduled to play in Saturday's first round of qualifying in the $100,000 Wells Fargo Tiburon Challenger at the Tiburon Peninsula Club.
   Brooksby, a 17-year-old resident of Carmichael in the Sacramento area, will meet 30-year-old Brazilian Joao Souza, who reached a career-high No. 69 in 2015, on Court 4 at about 4 p.m.
   Brooksby earned an automatic wild card into the main draw of the recent U.S. Open by winning the USTA title in Kalamazoo, Mich. He lost to John Millman of Australia 6-4, 6-2, 6-0 in the first round at Flushing Meadows. Millman later stunned Roger Federer in the fourth round before losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the quarterfinals, and Brooksby reached the boys semifinals.
   The 6-foot-4 (1.93-meter) Souza played in the longest singles match in Davis Cup history in 2015, losing to Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5), 5-7, 5-7, 15-13 in 6 hours, 42 minutes.
   On Saturday at 10 a.m., Stevie Gould of Corte Madera in the San Francisco Bay Area will play Alejandro Gomez of Colombia, on Center Court and Ryder Jackson of Nicasio in the Bay Area will take on No. 4 seed Jan Choinski of Germany on Court 4.
   Brooksby, Gould and Jackson are high school seniors who have verbally committed to universities. Brooksby is headed to Texas Christian, Gould to Washington and Jackson to USC.
   Also Saturday, top-seeded Liam Broady of Great Britain will meet wild card Florian Lakat, a 23-year-old former Cal star from France, on Center Court not before 1 p.m.
   Broady, a 24-year-old left-hander, reached the final of last year's $100,000 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger as a qualifier and advanced to the quarterfinals there last month. Lakat won last year's Tiburon doubles title with ex-Cal teammate Andre Goransson of Sweden.
   Sebastian Korda, 18, of Bradenton, Fla., will take on No. 2 seed Cem Ilkel of Turkey. Korda, 6-foot-4 (1.93 meters) and only 165 pounds (75 kilograms), won the Australian Open boys title in January, 20 years after his father, Petr, captured the men's title in Melbourne. Sebastian is ranked third in the world among juniors.
   Frederik Nielsen, 35, of Denmark will meet Alexander Sarkissian, 28, of Glendale in the Los Angeles area on Court 4 after the Choinski-Jackson match.
   In 2012, Nielsen and Jonathan Marray of Great Britain became the first wild cards to win the Wimbledon men's doubles title. Nielsen's grandfather Kurt reached the Wimbledon singles final in 1953 and 1955.
   Sarkissian advanced to the 2014 NCAA final as a Pepperdine senior, losing to Marcos Giron of UCLA. Giron, from Thousand Oaks in the Los Angeles region, will play Marc-Andrea Huesler, a 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) left-hander from Switzerland, on Court 1 at 10 a.m.
   American Mitchell Krueger, a Tiburon quarterfinalist in 2015 and 2016, will face Laurent Lokoli of France on Center Court after the Gould-Gomez encounter.
   Krueger, 24, qualified for a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in 13 attempts in this year's U.S. Open and lost to Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain in the opening round.
   Lokoli made news in last year's French Open when he refused to shake Martin Klizan's hand after losing to the Slovakian 6-4 in the fifth set in the first round. Klizan had celebrated and pointed to his head after a double fault by Lokoli, violating one of tennis' unwritten rules. Lokoli also accused Klizan of faking a leg injury.
   Here are the Tiburon singles qualifying draw and Saturday's schedule. The singles main draw will be conducted Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and play will begin on Monday not before 11:30 a.m. The finals are scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 30, at a time to be determined.

Sandgren, with quirky game, gains Stockton quarters

   STOCKTON, Calif. — Tennys Sandgren is a bit of an enigma.
   Let's start with his first name. No, he was not named after tennis. He was given his great grandfather's Swedish name.
   Then there's Sandgren's game. He's a strapping American with a whipping forehand but stands far behind the baseline, loves to chase down balls and slides on hard courts as if he was playing on clay.
   "I'm 6-2 — 6-3 with shoes — but play like I'm 5-8, 155 pounds ... with a serve," the second-seeded Sandgren quipped after outslugging Liam Broady of Great Britain 7-6 (7), 6-4 today to reach the quarterfinals of the $100,000 Stockton Challenger. "I use my height and reach to play defensively."
   Sandgren is the only top-100 player in the field at No. 97. Top-seeded Ruben Bemelmans, a Belgian who lost to Elias Ymer of Sweden in the first round on Tuesday, was No. 92 when the draw came out on Saturday but fell to No. 101 in the latest rankings on Monday.
   Both Sandgren, 26, of Gallatin, Tenn., in the Nashville area and Broady, a 23-year-old left-hander, have reached recent $100,000 Challenger finals in Northern California. Sandgren lost to Cameron Norrie of Great Britain on Sunday in Tiburon in the San Francisco Bay Area. Broady fell to Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan in Aptos, a two-hour drive south of Tiburon, in August.
   On a warm, calm morning at the University of the Pacific's Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center, Broady squandered leads of 5-1 in the tiebreaker — making numerous errors, including one on set point with an open court — and 3-1 in the second set.
   "At 5-1 in the breaker, I was like, OK, I'm just gonna make as many balls as I can, at least make him beat me the next two points — I'm not gonna give him one free point," Sandgren said. "One point turned into two points, and maybe he got a little tight and gave me one. Then I'm back serving at 4-5.
   "It went back and forth, and he ended up having set point at 7-6. I was able to turn it around, thankfully, but the first set was huge because we were going back and forth against each other and whoever got that one had a lot of momentum, especially if it was him because I thought maybe he outplayed me a little bit in the first set and I was able to sneak away with it."
   Sandgren, who weighs 192 pounds (87 kilograms), hammered eight aces in the match.
   "My serve gets me out of a lot of jams," Sandgren said. "I put myself in jams, and my serve gets me out of them. I rely on my serve a lot. I've been serving well the last five matches, and it helped me out a ton (today). (Eight) aces in a match where we're scrapping for every point is a big deal."
   Sandgren played with his lower left leg taped.
   "Too many landings on the serve," Sandgren complained, "but it's better than feeling 100 percent fresh because I lost in the first round last week. I'll take that and work with that as best I can. I don't think it will affect me too much.
   "I had some plantar fasciitis in this foot at the beginning of the year, and I've been playing on it, so it hasn't really gotten better. It just moved up my leg into the shin. Something has to take the load. I've been dealing with this on and off for a couple months now."
   Sandgren will face Norrie, seeded eighth, on Friday. Norrie, a 22-year-old left-hander, outlasted Brydan Klein of Great Britain 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4 in 2 hours, 37 minutes this afternoon. Norrie is ranked No. 136 only four months after turning pro, forgoing his senior year at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.
   "I feel like I may be the underdog in that match," Sandgren said before Norrie's battle against Klein. "He's gotten me the last two times, and he's playing well. I don't feel I have as much to lose. I feel like I can go out there and try to do some different things, try some different tactics, because what I've been doing the last couple times hasn't been the most efficient. He's been running me around and wearing me down too much.
   "I'll be excited about it for sure. I wish we were in different halves, but it is what it is. He's a great player and a good competitor. If I can rise to the occasion, it will be a good match. If I don't, he'll take me down."
   In another quarterfinal, fourth-seeded Stefan Kozlov, 19, of Pembroke Pines, Fla., will meet sixth-seeded Darian King of Barbados.
   Kozlov defeated Denis Kudla, who has tumbled from a career-high No. 53 in May last year, to No. 166 in the world, 6-4, 6-4. King eliminated Noah Rubin, the runner-up in last year's inaugural Stockton Challenger, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2. Both Kudla, 25, and Rubin, 21, are American.
   The other quarterfinal matchups will be determined Thursday. 
   Here are the Stockton singles and doubles draws and Thursday's schedule. The tournament is being streamed live.

Bublik, 20, predicted to reach top 10 – seriously

Alexander Bublik, left, overpowered Liam Broady, right, 6-2, 6-3 today to win
the $100,000 Nordic Naturals Challenger in Aptos, Calif. Photo by Paul Bauman

   APTOS, Calif. — The term "wacky" generally is not associated with professional tennis players.
   "Serious," sure. "Dedicated," yes. "Resilient," check.
   But wacky? Not when only 100 men and 100 women on a planet of 7.5 billion people can make a comfortable living in the sport.
   Then there's Alexander Bublik.
   The 20-year-old Russia native confessed at Wimbledon this year that watching Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal can bore him.
   "It's interesting to see the highlights, how they're finishing (points), but when they're rallying for, like, 45 shots, you're sitting there thinking, Can I quit tennis please?"
   Playing Futures tournaments last year, the right-hander sometimes amused himself by hitting only trick shots or drop shots or, with a big lead, playing left-handed.
   At Indian Wells in March, Bublik interviewed Roger Federer and Andy Murray, among others, as part of a promotion for the inaugural Next Gen Finals, featuring the world's top 21-and-under men, in Milan in November.
   Some highlights:
   Bublik to Federer: "How can your hair be so perfect every time?"
   Federer: "It's not so perfect. It's a battle every day. Grow it out a little bit, and you'll see."
   Bublik to Murray: "What kind of advice can you give me to be as good as you are?"
   Murray: "A lot of training ... "
   Bublik: "Is that useful, training?"
   Having graduated to Challengers and some ATP and Grand Slam tournaments this year, Bublik is becoming more serious. It showed today as he overpowered qualifier Liam Broady of Great Britain 6-2, 6-3 in 62 minutes to win the $100,000 Nordic Naturals Challenger at the Seascape Sports Club.
   The Challenger, the oldest on the men's circuit in the United States, celebrated its 30th anniversary this year. Past competitors include International Tennis Hall of Famers Patrick Rafter and Michael Chang and future Hall of Famers Murray, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan.
   The unseeded Bublik had lost in the quarterfinals and second round of U.S. Challengers in the previous two weeks.
   "I just decided, OK, let's try to be serious," a bubbly Bublik, who switched his allegiance to Kazakhstan because it offered financial support, said after celebrating his title with a dip in the pool. "I need to find a balance between my jokes and serious tennis, so this week I was quite calm. I didn't mess around that much, so that's why I won the tournament."
   Broady predicts stardom for Bublik, who stands 6-foot-4 (1.93 meters) and weighs only 165 pounds (75.0 kilograms).
   "I think he has the potential to go all the way," the affable Broady, a 23-year-old left-hander, said after facing Bublik for the first time. "There's a reason he's ranked (125) already. He's very (flashy), and I'm sure he'll refine his talents as he gets older and gets more experience. He's going to be a scary prospect.
   " ... You see the way he's built. He's still not fully grown into his frame yet. He's got six, eight years before he reaches his peak. I don't see why he can't be top 10."
   Bublik improved to No. 104 in the world with the title, putting him on the verge of direct entry into the U.S. Open, and pocketed $14,400 for his second Challenger singles title.
   Bublik, who lost to world No. 1 and defending champion Murray 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 in the first round at Wimbledon early last month as a lucky loser, is happy with his progress.
   "I feel great," he crowed. "It's my first year on tour. Last year I was playing Futures and I started, like, 900 (in the world), so it's been great. I had a rough clay-court season this year, but I'm getting back my rhythm after Wimbledon. The (match) I played with Andy gave me a lot of confidence. I improved a lot after that."
   There were glimpses of the old Bublik during the week in Aptos.
   While Dennis Novikov of Milpitas in the San Francisco Bay Area took a medical timeout in Friday's quarterfinals, Bublik entertained himself and the crowd by repeatedly bouncing a ball on the edge of his racket and off both feet.
   In the final, Bublik frequently hit drop shots and then became whimsical in the last game. Hitting his second serve as hard as his first, he double-faulted three consecutive times to give Broady a break point.
   "I just said, 'OK, everything or nothing,' " Bublik admitted.

   Bublik got back to deuce with a service winner, earned his third match point with a backhand volley winner and closed out the match with an ace down the middle.
   Bublik, who finished with six aces, still likes to have fun on the court.
   "That's my way of playing," he said. "It's a game. Of course, it's a great sport and you need to work hard, but you need to enjoy every moment of it. Tennis careers are not that (long)."
   Off the court, Bublik enjoys rap music. He has two Eminem quotes tattooed on his arms: "You won't break me; you just make me stronger than I was," and "Always be a leader and not a follower."

   Bublik already has beaten two top-20 players, No. 13 Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain and No. 16 Lucas Pouille of France, and it's easy see why. Power.

   Bublik crushed his serve and groundstrokes against Broady. After the 6-foot (1.83-meter) Broady held for 2-2 in the first set, Bublik reeled off the next seven games to lead 3-0 in the second set. 

   Broady took the next two games, breaking serve for the only time in the match, but Bublik broke right back with a perfect lob. In the next-to-last game, Bublik unleashed a cross-court forehand passing shot so hard that Broady could only flail helplessly at it.

    "Sasha played really good today," said Broady, who had lost in the first round in Aptos in each of the past two years. "He's obviously got a fantastic serve, which in finals and big moments really helps. I don't think I served as well today as I have during the week. I was a little bit nervous, but that doesn't usually stop me from playing well. It was more Sasha's fault today that I didn't play very well. I'll learn from it and come back stronger."
   Broady played his seventh match in nine days.
   "I said to my coach in the quarterfinals I started to feel little bit fatigued," he conceded. "By then, it was my fifth match, so it was like I was making the finals of a tournament. Then the semifinals ... I was a little bit sluggish (today), just one or two percent.
   "I'd have loved to come out here and been fresh as a daisy, but I think in the finals, no one is ever going to be completely fresh. I gave it the best I could with the situation, and he was too good on the day anyway."

   Broady became the third British singles finalist, and second to emerge from qualifying, in Aptos in the past two years. Dan Evans beat qualifier Cameron Norrie, who was born in South Africa to British parents and grew up in New Zealand, last year. Also, Scotland's Murray won the Aptos title in 2005 at age 18.
   Evans, 27, faces a suspension of up to four years after testing positive for cocaine in April.
   Broady, who fell to 0-2 in Challenger finals, jumped from No. 336 to No. 256 and collected $8,480. He's fighting his way back after climbing to a career-high No. 158 two years ago at age 21.
   "I was saying this to a friend the other day: I didn't really know why I got to (158)," mused Broady, whose older sister, 6-foot-2 (1.89-meter) Naomi, is ranked No. 127 after reaching a career-high No. 76 last year in March. "I was quite young, just playing tennis and playing well. I was on a wave of confidence, and before I knew it, the results stopped coming a little bit, and I didn't really know how to get them back.
   "I split from my coach (David Sammel) and didn't have one for about nine months. I just did what any young guy would do. I enjoyed myself and went out with my friends. I played tennis to the best of my ability, but I had no direction.
   "As I'm sure anyone can relate in any walk of life, it's very difficult to do things when you have no direction, but I called my coach at the end of November last year and said, 'Look, I want to sort things out. I'm hungry; I want to play tennis again.' I hope we're going to start seeing dividends for the last eight months of hard work."  

Neal Skupski, left, and Jonathan Erlich won the doubles title in their first
tournament together. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Broady's countryman, Neal Skupski, teamed with Jonathan Erlich of Israel to win the doubles title in their first tournament together. Seeded third, they edged fourth-seeded Alex Bolt and Jordan Thompson of Australia 6-3, 2-6 [10-8].
   On the last point, Bolt and Thompson had a sitter in the middle of the court at the service line but let the ball go between them for a winner.
   Both Erlich, 40, and Skupski, 27, said they had never had a match end that way.
   "We don't mind," Skupski cracked. "We're happy with the result."
   Erlich and Skupski, who split $6,200, saved five match points combined in the quarterfinals and semifinals.
   Erlich also paired with countryman Andy Ram to win the Aptos Challenger in 2013 and the Australian Open in 2008.
   Here are the complete Nordic Naturals Challenger singles and doubles draws.    

Qualifier Broady to face Bublik, 20, in Aptos final

   Qualifier Liam Broady of Great Britain upset wild card Taylor Fritz, a top U.S. prospect, 7-6 (3), 6-3 today to reach the final of the $100,000 Nordic Naturals Challenger in Aptos, Calif.
   Throughout the match at the Seascape Sports Club near the Pacific Ocean, the 23-year-old Broady served his way out of trouble and outsteadied the 19-year-old Fritz from the backcourt.
   Broady, a 6-foot (1.83-meter) left-hander, won 84 percent of the points on his first serve (41 of 49) and saved all six break points against him.
   Fritz is ranked No. 131, down from a career-high No. 53 one year ago. Broady is No. 336 after climbing as high as No. 158 two years ago.
   Broady is the third British finalist, and second to emerge from qualifying, in Aptos in the past two years. Dan Evans defeated qualifier Cameron Norrie, a South Africa native, last year. Also, current world No. 1 Andy Murray of Scotland won the Aptos title in 2005 at age 18.
   Evans, 27, faces a suspension of up to four years after testing positive for cocaine in April.
   Broady's older sister, 6-foot-2 (1.89-meter) Naomi, is ranked No. 127 after reaching a career-high No. 76 in March last year.
   Liam Broady will face Alexander Bublik, who was born in Russia but changed his allegiance to Kazakhstan after being offered financial support, for the first time on Sunday after the 1 p.m. doubles final. The matches will be streamed live.
   Bublik, 20, defeated Sam Groth, a 29-year-old Australian with a booming serve, 7-6 (2), 6-3. The 6-foot-4 (1.93-meter), 165-pound (75-kilogram) Bublik won 82 percent of the points on his first serve (31 of 38).
   Groth set an unofficial record with a 163.7-mph (263.4-kph) serve in the 2012 Busan (South Korea) Challenger.
   Bublik already has beaten two top-20 players in his career: No. 13 Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain to reach the quarterfinals in Moscow on the ATP World Tour last October and No. 16 Lucas Pouille of France in the first round of the Australian Open in January as a qualifier.
   Both Bublik, ranked No. 125, and Broady will play in their second Challenger singles final. Bublik won a $50,000 hardcourt tournament in Morelos, Mexico, in February. Broady was the runner-up in Charlottesville, Va., also a $50,000 hardcourt tourney, in 2014.
   The Aptos Challenger, the oldest on the men's circuit in the United States, is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Past competitors include International Tennis Hall of Famers Patrick Rafter and Michael Chang, as well as future Hall of Famers Murray, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan.
   Here are the Nordic Naturals singles and doubles draws and Sunday's schedule.

U.S. sensation Fritz reaches semis at 100K Aptos

After practicing, Taylor Fritz glances at a match
on Center Court in Aptos, Calif., on Wednesday.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Wild card Taylor Fritz, one of the United States' top prospects, defeated sixth-seeded Tennys Sandgren of Gallatin, Tenn., 6-5, 7-6 (1) today in the quarterfinals of the $100,000 Nordic Naturals Challenger at the Seascape Sports Club in Aptos, Calif.

   Fritz, 19, of Palos Verdes in the Los Angeles area, saved three sets points while serving at 5-6 in the second set.
   Fritz made his Challenger debut two years ago in Aptos, losing to veteran Mischa Zverev, now ranked 26th, in the first round. Two months later, Fritz won the Sacramento and Fairfield Challengers, also in Northern California, back to-back at 17.
   He became the second-fastest American man to reach an ATP World Tour final last year at Memphis and stunned then-No. 7 Marin Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion, at Indian Wells in March.
   Ranked a career-high No. 53 one year ago, Fritz has tumbled to No. 131 because of knee problems.
   Fritz's mother (Kathy May), father (Guy Fritz) and uncle (Harry Fritz) all played professionally.  May peaked at No. 10 in the world in 1977 and played in three career Grand Slam quarterfinals.
   Taylor Fritz will meet qualifier Liam Broady of Great Britain in today's second semifinal. Broady, a 23-year-old left-hander, beat Raymond Sarmiento of Los Angeles 6-4, 6-4. Sarmiento, a 25-year-old former USC All-American, played in the Aptos quarterfinals for the second consecutive year.
    In the first semifinal, which will follow an 11 a.m. doubles semi, Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan will face Sam Groth of Australia.
   Bublik, a 20-year-old Russia native, eliminated wild card Dennis Novikov of Milpitas in the San Francisco Bay Area 6-1, 6-4 in 64 minutes. Milpitas is a one-hour drive north of Aptos.
   Bublik, 6-foot-4 (1.93 meters) and only 165 pounds (75 kilograms), qualified for the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year. He shocked France's Lucas Pouille, then ranked 16th, in the first round in Melbourne before losing to Malek Jaziri of Tunisia. Bublik fell to top-ranked Andy Murray 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 in the opening round at Wimbledon.
   Groth held off countryman Akira Santillan, a 20-year-old Tokyo native, 7-5, 7-6 (4). Groth pounded 17 aces, and Santillan had 15.
   Groth, 29, set an unofficial record with a 163.7-mph (263.4-kph) serve in the 2012 Busan (South Korea) Challenger and climbed to a career-high No. 53 in 2015.
    Both semifinals will be first-time meetings.
    The Aptos tournament, the oldest men's Challenger in the United States, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Past competitors include International Tennis Hall of Famers Patrick Rafter and Michael Chang, as well as future Hall of Famers Andy Murray, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan.

Four seeds, including top two, fall in 100K Aptos

   All four seeds in action on Monday, including the top two, lost in the first round of the $100,000 Nordic Naturals Challenger in Aptos, Calif.
   U.S. qualifier Austin Krajicek, the runner-up two years ago, routed No. 1 Malek Jaziri of Tunisia 6-2, 6-1 at the Seascape Sports Club.
   Akira Santillan, 20, knocked off No. 2 Jordan Thompson 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 in an all-Australian affair. Santillan, a Tokyo native, won last month's $75,000 Winnetka (Ill.) Challenger.
   Qualifier Liam Broady of Great Britain ousted No. 4 Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in a battle of left-handers. Bemelmans won the Aptos doubles title in 2014 with Laurynas Grigelis of Lithuania.
   Also, Sam Groth of Australia downed No. 8 Bjorn Fratangelo of Orlando, Fla., 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3.
   Groth, 6-foot-4 (1.93 meters) and 220 pounds (100.0 kilograms), holds the unofficial record for the world's fastest serve. He reached 163.7-mph (263.4-kph) in the 2012 Busan (South Korea) Challenger.
   Fratangelo, 24, had reached the semifinals of the last two Aptos Challengers. He advanced to the semis on grass in Newport, R.I., on the ATP World Tour last month, losing to eventual champion John Isner.
   Jaziri is ranked No. 76, Thompson No. 78 and Bemelmans No. 97.
   Australia's John Millman, the 2015 Aptos champion, will take on Mackenzie McDonald, a 22-year-old wild card from Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, in the opening round today not before 4:30 p.m.
   Millman became the first No. 1 seed in the then-28-year history of the Aptos tournament, the longest-running Challenger in the United States, to win the title.
   McDonald and former Cal star Ben McLachlan of Japan reached last year's doubles final, losing to South Africans Nicolaas Scholtz and Tucker Vorster 6-7 (5), 6-3 [10-8].
   Aptos, located on the Pacific Ocean, is a 90-minute drive south of San Francisco.
   Here are the Nordic Naturals Challenger qualifying draw, singles and doubles draws, and today's schedule.

Roundup: Bellis wins her biggest doubles title

CiCi Bellis, 16, of Atherton won the doubles title in the $100,000
Dow Corning Tennis Classic in Midland, Mich., with Ingrid Neel,
17, of Rochester, Minn. 2015 photo by Paul Bauman

   CiCi Bellis and Ingrid Neel might want to stick together.
   Playing in their first professional tournament together, the American teenagers won the doubles title in the $100,000 Dow Corning Tennis Classic on Sunday in Midland, Mich.
   Wild cards Bellis, 16, of Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area and Neel, 17, of Rochester, Minn., beat second-seeded Naomi Broady of Great Britain and Shelby Rogers of Charleston, S.C., 6-2, 6-4.
   Bellis, an amateur, won her biggest doubles title in only her seventh pro doubles event and first since an opening-round loss with Jacqueline Cako of the United States in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford last August. Bellis lives minutes from Stanford.
   Bellis and Neel defeated the top three seeds in Midland. They routed No. 1 Asia Muhammad and Maria Sanchez, a Modesto product, in the quarterfinals and edged No. 3 Nicole Gibbs, a former Stanford All-American, and Taylor Townsend in the semifinals.
   Bellis also upset No. 2 singles seed and defending champion Tatjana Maria of Germany in the first round before losing to wild card Robin Anderson of Matawan, N.J.
   The unseeded Broady won the singles title, defeating Anderson 6-7 (6), 6-0, 6-2. The 6-foot-2 (1.89-meter) Broady towered over the 5-foot-3 (1.61-meter) Anderson.

Ingrid Neel returns a shot in the first round of women's
doubles in the U.S. Open last September. Neel lost
with fellow American teenager Tornado Alicia Black.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Broady, who will turn 26 on Feb. 28, qualified in Auckland on the elite WTA tour last month and stunned former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic in the first round en route to the quarterfinals.
   Broady also won the doubles title in the $50,000 Sacramento Challenger in 2013 with Storm Sanders of Australia.

   Fed Cup in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii -- Venus Williams overpowered Magda Linette 6-1, 6-2 in 60 minutes to give the United States an insurmountable 3-0 lead over Poland in World Group II.
   The United States also won in doubles behind Bethanie Mattek-Sands and CoCo Vandeweghe to beat Poland 4-0. The final singles match was not played.
   The United States advances to the World Group playoffs in April for a chance to compete for the Fed Cup title in 2017. The draw for the playoffs will be held Tuesday.
   Williams, 35, has won the Bank of the West Classic twice (2000 and 2002) and reached the final five other times (1998, 1999, 2004, 2005 and 2009).
   Williams' younger sister, top-ranked Serena Williams, and No. 4 Agneiszka Radwanska of Poland skipped this weekend's competition.
   Fed Cup in Quebec City, Canada -- Stanford junior Carol Zhao of Canada didn't exactly ease into the Fed Cup.
   The World Group II tie between Canada and Belarus came down to doubles, with Gabriela Dabrowski and Zhao, playing her first Fed Cup match, falling to Olga Govortsova and Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-2, 6-4. That gave Belarus a 3-2 victory.
   The 6-foot (1.82-meter) Govortsova reached the Bank of the West quarterfinals in 2007 (as a qualifier) and 2013.
   Neither Belarus' Victoria Azarenka nor Canada's Eugenie Bouchard -- formerly ranked No. 1 and No. 5, respectively -- played in the tie.    

   ITA Women's Team Indoors in Madison, Wis. -- Karla Popovic defeated Olivia Sneed 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 on Court 6 to give sixth-ranked Cal a 4-3 victory over No. 16 Ohio State in the semifinals of the ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championship.
   Cal (5-0) will play defending champion North Carolina, ranked fifth, for the title today at 9 a.m. PST. It will be the Bears' second appearance in the final. They lost to Stanford in 2000 in Madison.

No. 6 seed Gibbs falls to 6-foot-2 Broady in Midland

Naomi Broady, playing in the $50,000 Stockton
Challenger last July, stunned former world No. 1
Ana Ivanovic en route to the Auckland quarterfinals
last month. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Nicole Gibbs got further in Melbourne than in Midland.
   After reaching the second round of the Australian Open as a qualifier last month, the sixth-seeded Gibbs lost to Naomi Broady of Great Britain 6-4, 7-6 (4) today in the opening round of the $100,000 Dow Corning Tennis Classic in Michigan.
   In both tournaments, the undersized Gibbs struggled against tall, powerful players.
   The 5-foot-6 (1.68-meter) Gibbs, who won the 2012 and 2013 NCAA singles titles at Stanford, defeated 5-foot-5 (1.66-meter) Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic in the first round of the Australian Open before losing to 6-foot (1.84-meter) Kristina Mladenovic, a Frenchwoman seeded 28th.
   Broady, 6-foot-2 (1.89 meters) with an unorthodox one-handed backhand, pounded 18 aces and won 84 percent of the points on her first serve to Gibbs' five aces and 67 percent.
   Gibbs, a resident of Marina del Rey in the Los Angeles area, is ranked No. 103 and Broady No. 112.
   Broady, who will turn 26 on Feb. 28, stunned former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic in the first round at Auckland on the elite WTA tour last month en route to the quarterfinals as a qualifier. Broady also won the doubles title in the $50,000 Sacramento Challenger in 2013 with Storm Sanders of Australia.
   Broady will meet Jovana Jaksic of Serbia in the second round. Jaksic, 22, defeated Gibbs' former teammate at Stanford, 5-foot-5 (1.65-meter) Kristie Ahn, in the first round.
   Two other players with Northern California ties lost in the first round. Modesto product Maria Sanchez fell to Shelby Rogers of Charleston, S.C., 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, and 16-year-old Michaela Gordon of Saratoga in the San Francisco Bay Area succumbed to wild card Robin Anderson, 22, of the United States 6-1, 6-3.
   Anderson, only 5-foot-3 (1.61 meters), was the runner-up to Adriana Perez of Venezuela in the $25,000 Redding Challenger in 2013 and won the doubles title with countrywoman Lauren Embree.
   Gordon advanced to the Wimbledon girls quarterfinals in 2014 and 2015 and, at 15 years and 1 month old, the quarters of the 2014 Redding Challenger.
   Anderson will face another 16-year-old from the Bay Area, CiCiBellis of Atherton, for the first time on Thursday. Bellis, the world's top junior at 15 in 2014, ousted No. 2 seed and defending champion Tatjana Maria of Germany on Tuesday. 
   In the opening round of doubles, wild cards Bellis and Ingrid Neel, 17, of Rochester, Minn., defeated Samantha Crawford of Tamarac, Fla., and Sharon Fichman of Canada 7-5, 7-5.
   Bellis and Neel, who signed a letter of intent in November to attend the University of Florida, will take on top-seeded Asia Muhammad and Sanchez in the quarterfinals. Muhammad and Sanchez won the Maui doubles title last week.
   Also in the quarters, third-seeded Gibbs and Taylor Townsend of Atlanta will meet Anderson and Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay.

Ginepri, two seeds ousted early in Napa Challenger

Robby Ginepri lost to Liam Broady of Great Britain 6-4, 6-0
in the first round of the $50,000 Napa Valley Challenger.
2013 photo by Paul Bauman

   Neither past accomplish- ments nor seedings meant much in the $50,000 Napa Valley Challenger on Monday.
   Robby Ginepri, the only active American man to reach a Grand Slam singles semifinal, lost to Liam Broady of Great Britain 6-4, 6-0 in the first round at the Napa Valley Country Club.
   Both singles seeds in action Monday also fell. No. 4 Bradley Klahn, a former Stanford star, lost to fellow American left-hander Wayne Odesnik 6-4, 6-4. And No. 7 Denis Kudla succumbed to Alex Kuznetsov 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 in another all-American matchup.
   Ginepri, who lost to Andre Agassi in five sets in the semis of the 2005 U.S. Open, has reached the fourth round or better at all four Grand Slam tournaments.
   The 31-year-old right-hander won the Tallahassee Challenger on clay in May and earned a wild card into the French Open, where he was annihilated by eventual champion Rafael Nadal 6-0, 6-3, 6-0 in the first round.
   Broady, a 20-year-old left-hander, won the boys doubles titles at Wimbledon in 2010 and the Australian Open in 2012. His sister, 24-year-old Naomi, gained the Wimbledon mixed doubles quarterfinals this year with countryman Neal Skupski. Both Broadys are 6-foot-2 (1.89 meters).
   Kuznetsov advanced to the semifinals of last year's inaugural Napa Challenger, and Kudla and Klahn reached the quarterfinals. Kudla was seeded first.
   This year's No. 1 seed, 54th-ranked Sam Querrey, is scheduled to play today not before 1 p.m. in the first round against qualifier Frederik Nielsen of Denmark.
   The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Querrey, a native of nearby San Francisco, has battled injuries since climbing to a career-high No. 17 in 2011.
   Nielsen and Jonathan Marray of Great Britain in 2012 became the first wild cards to win the Wimbledon men's doubles title. Nielsen's grandfather, Kurt, advanced to the Wimbledon singles final in 1953 and 1955. 

$50,000 NAPA VALLEY CHALLENGER

At Napa Valley Country Club in Napa, Calif.

Final-round singles qualifying

    Nils Langer (1), Germany, def. Jose (Rubin) Statham, New Zealand, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5.
    Julian Lenz, Germany, def. Cameron Norrie, Great Britain, 6-2, 6-1.
    Daniel Nguyen (3), United States, def. Alexios Halebian, United States, 3-6, 6-3, 6-0.
    Frederik Nielsen (6), Denmark, def. Cameron Norrie, Great Britain, 7-6 (3), 4-6, 7-5.

First-round singles

   Wayne Odesnik, United States, def. Bradley Klahn (4), United States, 6-4, 6-4.
   Alex Kuznetsov, United States, def.  Denis Kudla (7), United States, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.

   Bjorn Fratangelo, United States, def. Kyle Edmund, Great Britain, 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-2.
   Liam Broady, Great Britain, def. Robby Ginepri, United States, 6-4, 6-0.

First-round doubles

   Alex Bolt, Australia, and Frank Dancevic, Canada, def. Nicolas Meister and Clay Thompson, United States, 6-4, 3-6 [11-9].
   Adam Hubble and John-Patrick Smith, Australia, def. Tennys Sandgren and Rhyne Williams (4), United States, 6-2, 6-3.
   Bradley Klahn and Tim Smyczek (2), United States, def. Matt Reid, Australia, and Jose (Rubin) Statham, New Zealand, 6-4, 6-3.
   Sekou Bangoura and Vahid Mirzadeh (3), United States, def. Sebastian Bader, Austria, and Erik Elliott, United States, 6-3, 1-6 [10-3].

Today's schedule

(Starting at 10 a.m.)

Center Court

    Michael Russell (6), United States, vs. Tennys Sandgren, United States.
    Ryan Harrison, United States, vs. Jared Donaldson, United States.
    Sam Querrey (1), United States, vs. Frederik Nielsen, Denmark (not before 1 p.m.).
    Marcos Baghdatis (3), Cyprus, vs. Marcos Giron, United States.

  Court 7

   James McGee, Ireland, vs. Elias Ymer, Sweden.
   John-Patrick Smith, Australia, vs. Julian Lenz, Germany.
   Tim Smyczek (2), United States, vs. Nils Langer, Germany (not before 1 p.m).
   Matt Reid, Australia, vs. John Millman, Australia.
   Liam Broady, Great Britain, and Jordan Thompson, Australia, vs. Julio Peralta, Chile, and Matt Seeberger, Los Altos.

Court 8

   Frank Dancevic (8), Canada, vs. Daniel Nguyen, United States.
   Rhyne Williams, United States, vs. Jordan Thompson, Australia.
   Dennis Novikov, San Jose, vs. Matt Seeberger, Los Altos (not before 1 p.m.).
   Peter Polansky (5), Canada, vs. Alex Bolt, Australia.