McDonald upsets Bublik in Kazakhstan opener

Mackenzie McDonald, a 25-year-old San Francisco
Bay Area product, practices during the 2017 Fairfield
 (Calif.) Challenger. He went on to win the title. Photo
by Paul Bauman

   In a matchup of former Northern California Challenger champions, San Francisco Bay Area product Mackenzie McDonald dismissed sixth-seeded Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-2 today in the first round of the Astana Open in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.

   The 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) Bublik, who won the 2017 Aptos title at age 20, pounded 11 aces but committed eight double faults in the 72-minute match.

   The 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters) McDonald, who captured his first Challenger title in Fairfield in 2017, had one ace and no double faults.

   McDonald, ranked No. 209, avenged a 2-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 loss to Bublik, ranked No. 49, in the first round at St. Petersburg two weeks ago.

   McDonald, now 25 and based at the USTA National Campus near Orlando, Fla., reached a career-high No. 57 in April last year but underwent right hamstring surgery in June and missed the rest of the season. He is scheduled to play Andreas Seppi, a 36-year-old wild card from Italy, for the second time on Thursday. McDonald won 6-4, 6-2 in the second round at 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, on grass in 2018.

   Bublik, a 23-year-old free spirit who lists his best quality as "sleeping," suffered a broken ankle in Indian Wells qualifying in 2018.

   In the other half of the draw, three additional players who have won NorCal Challenger titles — fourth-seeded John Millman (2010 Sacramento and 2015 Aptos), seventh-seeded Tommy Paul (2019 Tiburon) and unseeded Frances Tiafoe (2016 Stockton) — advanced to the quarterfinals.

   Tiafoe, 22, ousted second-seeded Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia 7-5, 6-3. Kecmanovic, 21, won his first ATP title last month on clay in Kitzbuhel, Austria.

   ATP Challenger Tour — Third-seeded Andre Goransson (University of California, Berkeley, 2014-17) and Jan Zielinski of Poland reached the semifinals of the €44,820 ($52,759) Hamburg Challenger by walkover against Frenchmen Hugo Gaston and Arthur Rinderknech.

   The 5-foot-8 (1.73-meter) Gaston, 20, reached the fourth round of singles in the recent French Open, stunning 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka in the third round.

   Goransson won his first ATP title in February in Pune, India, with Christopher Rungkat of Indonesia. 

   Both Goransson and Rungkat have won a Challenger doubles title in NorCal, Goransson in Tiburon in 2017 with former Cal teammate Florian Lakat of France and Rungkat in Fairfield in 2018 with Sanchai Ratiwatana of Thailand.

   Goransson and Zielinksi will play either top-seeded Andre Begemann of Germany and David Pel of the Netherlands or unseeded Marc-Andrea Huesler of Switzerland and Kamil Majchrzak of Poland. 

   Begemann and Pel, a 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) left-hander, won the title in last week's Ismaning (Germany) Challenger.

   In singles, the 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) Huesler, a 24-year-old left-hander, lost to eighth-seeded Oscar Otte of Germany 6-2, 6-3 in the first round after winning two consecutive Challenger titles.

   USTA Pro Circuit — Rain postponed the first round of the main draw in the $80,000 Bellatorum Resources Pro Classic on hardcourts in Tyler, Texas.

   Fifth-seeded Kristie Ahn, a 28-year-old Stanford graduate, is scheduled to meet Hailey Baptiste, an 18-year-old wild card, for the first time on Thursday at a time to be announced. Live streaming will be available.

  Baptiste shocked second-seeded Madison Keys, the U.S. Open runner-up in 2017, in the opening round in Washington, D.C., Baptiste's hometown, last year. Baptiste, however, is 0-3 since the pro tours resumed from the five-month COVID-19 hiatus in August.

   CiCi Bellis, a 21-year-old Bay Area product, will face sixth-seeded Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany in a clash of former top-50 players. Bellis, also now based at the USTA National Campus, won last week's $80,000 Mercer Tennis Classic on hardcourts in Macon, Ga.

   Friedsam defeated Bellis 1-6, 7-6 (1), 6-3 in the second round of a $125,000 hardcourt tournament in San Antonio in 2016 in their only previous meeting.

   Katie Volynets, an 18-year-old wild card from Walnut Creek in the Bay Area, will play a qualifier to be determined.    

McDonald breaks through, braces for Nadal

Mackenzie McDonald, a San Francisco Bay Area product,
defeated qualifier Steven Diez of Canada in the first round
of the French Open. File photo by Paul Bauman

    The good news for Mackenzie McDonald is that he won a main-draw match in the French Open for the first time.

   The bad news is he plays Rafael Nadal next.

   McDonald, a 25-year-old product Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, defeated qualifier Steven Diez, a 29-year-old Canadian based in Spain, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 today in a matchup of undersized players in chilly Paris.

   Diez, 5-foot-9 (1.75 meters) and 167 pounds (75 kilograms), broke with McDonald serving for the match at 5-3 in the fourth set, but McDonald broke right back to advance.

   McDonald, 5-foot-10 (1.77 meters) and 160 pounds (72 kilograms), pounded 11 aces and committed two double faults in the first-time meeting.

   McDonald played at UCLA for three years (2014-16), turning pro after winning the NCAA singles and doubles titles in 2016 as a junior. He won his first Challenger title in Fairfield, Calif., 40 miles (64.4 kilometers) north of Piedmont, in 2017 and advanced to the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2018.

   Last year, McDonald reached a career-high No. 57 in April but underwent right hamstring surgery in June and sat out the rest of the season. Now ranked No. 236, he is playing with a protected ranking.

   Nadal, seeking his fourth consecutive French Open title and 13th overall, beat Belarus' Egor Gerasimov, a semifinalist in last year's Aptos (Calif.) Challenger, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. Nadal and McDonald, now based at the USTA National Campus near Orlando, Fla., are set to meet for the first time on Wednesday. 

   Like McDonald, CiCi Bellis was born and raised in the Bay Area, trains at the USTA National Campus and is rebounding from surgery. She lost to left-hander Bernarda Pera, a 25-year-old American born in Croatia, 7-6 (3), 6-1.

   Bellis, a right-hander who had three operations on her right wrist and one on her right elbow in 2018-19, played in the French Open for the first time since reaching the third round in 2017.

   Sixth-seeded Serena Williams, a three-time champion at Roland Garros, eliminated Kristie Ahn, a 28-year-old Stanford graduate, in straight sets in the first round for the second consecutive Grand Slam tournament. Williams triumphed 7-6 (2), 6-0 after beating Ahn 7-5, 6-3 in the U.S. Open.

   Meanwhile, fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev of Russia and eighth-seeded Gael Monfils, a 34-year-old Frenchman, lost in the opening round. 

   Marton Fucsovics of Hungary ousted Medvedev, the U.S. Open runner-up in 2019 and a semifinalist at Flushing Meadows this month, 6-4, 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-1. Fucsovics, ranked No. 63, had been 0-14 against top-10 players. Medvedev, 24, fell to 0-4 in the French Open.

   Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik, the champion of the 2017 Aptos Challenger, downed Monfils 6-4, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3. The 23-year-old Bublik, ranked No. 49, had been 0-5 against top-10 players. Monfils, a Roland Garros semifinalist in 2008, committed 12 double faults.

   Third-seeded Dominic Thiem, the runner-up in the last two French Opens, outclassed Marin Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion playing on his 32nd birthday, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.

   Thiem, 27, played for the first time since winning his maiden Grand Slam title in the U.S. Open. He defeated Cilic in four sets in the third round at Flushing Meadows.

   Lorenzo Giustino, a 29-year-old Italian qualifier, topped Corentin Moutet, a 21-year-old left-hander from France, 0-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3), 2-6, 18-16 in 6 hours, 5 minutes for his first Grand Slam victory. The fifth set lasted 3 hours. 

   The match fell 28 minutes short of the Roland Garros record, Fabrice Santoro's victory over fellow Frenchman Arnaud Clement in the first round in 2004.

   Iga Swiatek, 19, of Poland eliminated 15th-seeded Marketa Vondrousova, last year's runner-up to Ashleigh Barty at 19, 6-1, 6-2 in 63 minutes. Vondrousova, a 21-year-old left-hander, had left-wrist surgery last summer and sat out for the rest of the year.

   In 2018, Swiatek won the Wimbledon girls singles title and the French Open girls doubles crown with American Caty McNally.

NorCal's Novikov ousts top seed in $100K S.F. Open

Dennis Novikov serves in doubles during the 2016
U.S. Open. Photo by Paul Bauman

   SAN FRANCISCO — Patience paid off for Dennis Novikov in a wild first-set tiebreaker on Tuesday night.
   Top-seeded Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan double-faulted on the 24-year-old San Jose product's eighth set point, and Novikov went on to win 7-6 (10), 3-6, 6-2 in the first round of the $100,000 Kunal Patel San Francisco Open indoors at the Bay Club SF Tennis Center. Novikov won the last four games.
   Bublik, 20, had a set point serving at 7-6 in the tiebreaker, but his backhand slice down the line sailed wide.
   Novikov admitted it was difficult to keep his composure in the tiebreaker.
   "Definitely," he said. "He let me off the hook a little bit as well when he was serving for it and didn't convert. Tennis can go either way based on a couple of points. I just tried to stick with it."
   Bublik, who according to at least one pro has top-10 potential, double-faulted three times in the tiebreaker and twice at 2-3, 30-30 in the third set. He finished with 18 aces and 11 double faults.
   "That's the way he plays," Novikov said of Bublik going for big second serves. "He also had some games where he hit big second serves, and he came back with them in games where I should have broken. When you play like that, it kind of comes and goes. You take it as it is."
   It's the third consecutive week in which Novikov played the top seed in the opening round. He ousted former world No. 4 Kei Nishikori, who had been out since August with a right wrist injury, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 two weeks ago in Newport Beach and lost to Nishikori 6-3, 6-3 in Dallas. Nishikori went on to win the Dallas title, beating San Francisco Bay Area product Mackenzie McDonald in the final.
   "It's unlucky, I guess," Novikov said. "But I know if I come out and play to my level, it doesn't matter what seed it is. At the end of the day, you have to go through all of them to win the tournament. Obviously, it would be nice to play them in the final and get a little easier draw, but either way, you've got to beat them, so I was ready."
   Novikov lives in downtown Los Angeles, but his parents reside in Milpitas in the Bay Area.
   "I'm up here visiting pretty often," he said. "I still consider myself from the Bay Area."
   Bublik, who was not available for comment, lost in the first round of a Challenger for the second consecutive week and fell to 2-5 this year after reaching a career-high No. 95 last September.
   Russia natives Bublik, 6-foot-5 (1.96 meters) and only 167 pounds (76 kilograms), and Novikov, 6-foot-4 (1.93) and 200 pounds (91), met for the second time. Bublik won 6-1, 6-4 in the quarterfinals at Aptos, 82 miles (132 kilometers) south of San Francisco, en route to the title last August. Novikov had sprained an ankle playing in Cabo San Lucas the previous week.
   After the Aptos final, runner-up Liam Broady of Great Britain said of the hard-hitting Bublik, "I don't see why he can't be top 10."
   Unlike in Aptos, the right-handed Bublik wore a sleeve on his right arm on Tuesday night. However, the arm did not appear to trouble him.
   Bublik qualified for the Australian Open and Wimbledon last year, upsetting then-No. 16 Lucas Pouille of France in the first round in Melbourne and falling in straight sets to then-No. 1 and defending champion Andy Murray at the All-England Club.
   Bublik also reached the quarterfinals indoors in Moscow on the ATP World Tour in 2016 and 2017, ousting then-No. 23 Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain in the second round last year.
  Novikov advanced to the second round at the U.S. Open in 2012 and Wimbledon in 2016. He gained his first ATP quarterfinal last July on grass in Newport, R.I.
   Bublik, who lost in the second round of qualifying in the Australian Open this year, has dropped to No. 132. Novikov is No. 215, down from his career high of No. 119 in August 2016.
   In Tuesday night's last match, the second-seeded McDonald beat wild card Florian Lakat of France 6-4, 6-4 in a matchup of 22-year-olds. McDonald was born and raised in Piedmont, across the bay from San Francisco, and Lakat starred at Cal, a 15-minute drive north of Piedmont.
   All four seeds in action during the day session, including three Americans, won in straight sets.
   No. 3 Michael Mmoh, a semifinalist last year at 19, dispatched wild card Christian Garin of Chile 6-2, 6-3 in their first career meeting.
   Mmoh, the American son of former Nigerian pro Tony Mmoh, reached his first quarterfinal on the ATP World Tour in Brisbane, Australia, last month as a qualifier. He took out then-No. 33 Mischa Zverev of Germany in the second round.
   Garin qualified for Wimbledon last year and fell to Jack Sock, ranked eighth at the time, in the opening round. Garin also won the French Open boys singles title five years ago, beating Alexander Zverev (Mischa's younger brother) in the final. In the current rankings, 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Alexander Zverev is No. 5 at 20 years old, and the 6-foot-1 (1.85-meter) Garin is No. 298 at age 21.
   No. 5 Bradley Klahn, who graduated from Stanford in 2012, topped Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador 7-6 (1), 6-3 in a battle of 27-year-olds to even their head-to-head series at 1-1. Arevalo, a former Tulsa star, won 7-5, 6-4 in the first round of qualifying at a $50,000 Challenger on outdoor clay in Vicenza, Italy, last May.
   Arevalo reached the doubles final in the $100,000 Tiburon Challenger last fall with Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela of Mexico. The lost to Lakat and his former Cal teammate Andre Goransson of Sweden. Affluent Tiburon is situated across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco.
   Two former Wimbledon boys champions, Noah Rubin (2014) and Canada's Filip Peliwo (2012), also advanced.
   Rubin, seeded sixth, beat Jose Hernandez-Fernandez of the Dominican Republic 6-1, 3-0, retired (right thigh). Peliwo, seeded seventh, eliminated 34-year-old qualifier Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina 6-4, 6-2.
   Here are the San Francisco Open singles and doubles draws and today's schedule.

Novikov to face top seed (again) in S.F. Challenger

   With Dennis Novikov's luck, he shouldn't bet on the Super Bowl.
   The 24-year-old San Jose product drew the top seed for the third consecutive week in the Kunal Patel San Francisco Open. Novikov will face Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan in the $100,000 tournament, which begins Monday at the Bay Club SF Tennis Center.
   Novikov upset former world No. 4 Kei Nishikori, who had been out since August with a right wrist injury, in the opening round in Newport Beach two weeks ago and lost to Nishikori last week in Dallas.
   Nishikori, the 2014 U.S. Open runner-up, went on to defeat Mackenzie McDonald, from Piedmont across the bay from San Francisco, 6-1, 6-4 in the Dallas final on Saturday.
   Bublik, a 20-year-old Russia native, won a $100,000 Challenger in Aptos, 82 miles (132 kilometers) south of San Francisco, last August.
   McDonald, seeded second, will meet wild card Florian Lakat, a 22-year-old former Cal star from France.
   McDonald won the $100,000 Fairfield Challenger near San Francisco last October and reached the second round of the Australian Open as a qualifier last month.
   Lakat won the doubles title in the $100,000 Tiburon Challenger with former Cal teammate Andre Goransson of Sweden last fall. Tiburon is located across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco.
   Third-seeded Michael Mmoh, a San Francisco semifinalist last year at 19, will play wild card Christian Garin of Chile. Fifth-seeded Bradley Klahn, a 27-year-old former Stanford star, drew Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador.
   Neither 2017 champion Zhang Ze of China nor runner-up Vasek Pospisil of Canada is entered this year.
   Here are the San Francisco Open singles qualifying and main draws and today's schedule.

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.

NorCal's Novikov upsets seed, gains Aptos quarters

   Dennis Novikov, playing near home, upset fifth-seeded Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-3 in 2 hours, 40 minutes today to reach the quarterfinals of the $100,000 Nordic Naturals Challenger in Aptos, Calif.
   Novikov, a 23-year-old wild card from Milpitas in the San Francisco Bay Area, converted only 42 percent of his first serves but saved 12 of 13 break points against him at the Seascape Sports Club.
   Milpitas is a one-hour drive north of Aptos.
   Novikov, who reached his first ATP World Tour quarterfinal last month on grass in Newport, R.I., will play another Kazakh, Alexander Bublik, on Friday at 11 a.m. It will be the first match between Bublik, ranked No. 125, and Novikov, ranked No. 216.
   Bublik, 20, routed third-seeded Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland 6-1, 6-1 in 45 minutes.
   Both Bublik and Kukushkin were born in Russia.
   Bublik, 6-foot-4 (1.93 meters) and only 165 pounds (75 kilograms), qualified for the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year. He stunned 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.
   Only one seed reached the Aptos quarterfinals. No. 6 Tennys Sandgren will face wild card Taylor Fritz for the first time in an all-American showdown not before 6 p.m.
   Sandgren, 26, played in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in May. He lost to Kukushkin in the first round of the French Open.
   Fritz, 19, shocked Marin Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion, at Indian Wells in March. Cilic was ranked seventh at the time.
   In Friday's other quarterfinals, Raymond Sarmiento of Los Angeles will play qualifier Liam Broady of Great Britain not before 1:30 p.m., and Sam Groth will take on fellow Australian Akira Santillan not before 4 p.m.
   Sarmiento, a 25-year-old former USC All-American and a quarterfinalist in Aptos last year, will try to reach a Challenger semifinal for the second consecutive week. He lost to eventual champion Michael Mmoh, a 19-year-old American, in three sets in Lexington, Ky., last week.
   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. Santillan, a 20-year-old Tokyo native, won his first Challenger title last month in Winnetka, Ill.
    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 Famer Andy Murray, Tommy Haas, James Blake, John Isner, Milos Raonic, Sam Querrey, Steve Johnson, Jack Sock, Bob and Mike Bryan, Mardy Fish, Marcos Baghdatis and Radek Stepanek.
   Here are the Nordic Naturals Challenger singles and doubles draws and Friday's schedule. Live streaming is available.