Ex-Fresno State star reaches first $100K final

   Qualifier Maiar Sherif Ahmed Abdelaziz, a former Fresno State All-American, reached her first final in a $100,000 tournament today when fourth-seeded Misaki Doi retired in the third set in Charleston, S.C.

   Abdelaziz, a 24-year-old Egyptian, had just broken serve on three consecutive unforced errors by Doi to lead 3-6, 6-3, 4-3 in the clay-court LTP Tennis when the 29-year-old Japanese left-hander quit with a left-calf injury suffered in the quarterfinals.

   Doi, only 5-foot-3 (1.59 meters), lost the last three games of the 2-hour, 30-minute battle on a windy day. 

   Abdelaziz recently became the first Egyptian woman to play in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, qualifying for the French Open and extending second-seeded Karolina Pliskova to 6-4 in the third set in the first round.

   Abdelaziz won six ITF (minor-league) singles titles last year — four in $15,000 tournaments and two at the $25,000 level. She reached the NCAA doubles quarterfinals in 2016 as a Fresno State sophomore with her sister Rana before transferring to Pepperdine and advancing to the NCAA singles semifinals in 2018 as a senior.

   Doi's best year came in 2016 as she reached the fourth round at Wimbledon, advanced to the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford and climbed to No. 30.

   Abdelaziz, who's projected to rise at least 19 places to a career-high No. 145 on Monday, is scheduled to face unseeded Katarzyna Kawa of Poland for the first time on Sunday at 9 a.m. PST. The match will be streamed live.

   Kawa, the runner-up on clay in Jurmala, Latvia, on the elite WTA Tour in July last year as a qualifier, beat 5-foot-3 (1.60-meter) Renata Zarazua, a 23-year-old Mexican, 6-4, 6-3 in a matchup of unseeded players. 

   In the French Open, Zarazua became the first Mexican woman in 20 years to win a main-draw match in a Grand Slam tournament.

   Kawa, who's projected to improve at least 18 spots to a career-high No. 112, has had an eventful tournament. She lost her first set in the tournament 0-6 to U.S. wild card Kennedy Shaffer, ranked No. 674; topped wild card CiCi Bellis, who had won nine of her last 10 matches; and dismissed second-seeded Lauren Davis, formerly ranked 26th, 6-3, 6-3 in a quarterfinal matchup of 27-year-olds.

   Abdelaziz and Kawa also faced each other in today's doubles final. Kawa and countrywoman Magdalena Frech defeated Abdelaziz and Astra Sharma of Australia 4-6, 6-4 [10-2] in a clash of unseeded teams. 

   Frech, 22, and Kawa ousted top-seeded Coco Gauff and Caty McNally in the first round and captured the doubles title in the $80,000 Mercer Tennis Classic on hardcourts in Macon, Ga., two weeks ago.

   Unseeded Iga Swiatek, 19, of Poland won the French Open without losing more than four games in a set.

Ex-Fresno St. star reaches singles semis, doubles final

   Maiar Sherif Ahmed Abdelaziz, a former Fresno State star, continued to march through the singles and doubles draws today in the $100,000 LTP Tennis in Charleston, S.C.

   So did Katarzyna Kawa.

   Abdelaziz, a 24-year-old Egyptian, eliminated fellow qualifier Gabriela Talaba of Romania 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the quarterfinals of the clay-court tournament. Talaba, a 25-year-old left-hander with a one-handed backhand, won the $25,000 Redding (Calif.) Challenger last fall.
   Also, unseeded Abdelaziz and Astra Sharma of Australia topped wild cards Allura and Maribella Zamarripa, 18-year-old identical twins from St. Helena in the Napa Valley, 7-6 (2), 7-5 to reach Saturday's doubles final.

   The Zamarripas won the title in last week's $80,000 hardcourt tournament in Tyler, Texas, as alternates, saving two championship points. 

   Poland's Kawa, undoubtedly inspired by 19-year-old countrywoman Iga Swiatek's shocking victory in the recent French Open, ousted second-seeded Lauren Davis, a 5-foot-2 (1.57-meter) American formerly ranked 26th, 6-3, 6-3 in a matchup of 27-year-olds. 

   Kawa then paired with compatriot Magdalena Frech to beat Americans Ingrid Neel and Caitlin Whoriskey 7-6 (5), 6-2 in a clash of unseeded teams. Frech and Kawa took the crown in an $80,000 hardcourt tourney in Macon, Ga., two weeks ago.

   Saturday's singles semifinals are scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. PST. The 164th-ranked Abdelaziz will face Japan's Misaki Doi, seeded fourth at No. 85, on Center Court, and the 130th-ranked Kawa will play 5-foot-3 (1.60-meter) Mexican Renata Zarazua, unseeded at No. 150, on Court 9. Both are first-time meetings.

   The doubles final will follow on Center Court after suitable rest. The Center Court matches will be streamed live.

   Doi, a 5-foot-3 (1.59-meter) left-hander who climbed as high as 30th in 2016, took out eighth-seeded Ann Li, a 20-year-old American coming off the Tyler title, 6-3, 7-6 (6).

   Both Abdelaziz and Zarazua, 23, qualified for the French Open. Zarazua became the first Mexican woman in 20 years to win a main-draw match in a Grand Slam tournament, then lost to third-seeded Elina Svitolina in three sets in the second round. Abdelaziz fell in the opening round of the main draw, extending second-seeded Karolina Pliskova to 6-4 in the third set.

   Abdelaziz reached the NCAA doubles quarterfinals in 2016 as a Fresno State sophomore with her sister Rana before transferring to Pepperdine and advancing to the NCAA singles semifinals in 2018 as a senior.

Bellis linked to Evert in rout of former No. 5 Errani

CiCi Bellis, 21, thrashed 33-year-old Sara Errani, formerly ranked
No. 5 in singles and No. 1 in doubles, 6-0, 6-3 today in Macon, Ga.
Bellis won the first nine games. 2018 photo by Mal Taam

   Before multiple surgeries derailed CiCi Bellis' career, her former coach compared her to Jennifer Capriati.

   Veteran commentator Ken Thomas paid Bellis, a 21-year-old San Francisco native who grew up down the peninsula in Atherton, another tremendous compliment today.

   "I see a little Chris Evert in CiCi Bellis — quality groundstrokes," Thomas declared on the live stream of Bellis' 6-0, 6-3 thrashing of Sara Errani, formerly ranked No. 5 in singles and No. 1 in doubles, today in the quarterfinals of the $80,000 Mercer Tennis Classic in Macon, Ga. "For American women's tennis, it's really good to see Bellis playing like this."

   Earlier, sixth-seeded Marta Kostyuk, 18, of Ukraine, routed top-seeded Misaki Doi of Japan 6-2, 6-1 in 1 hour, 23 minutes in a matchup of the only remaining singles seeds.      Bellis, a wild card now based at the USTA National Campus outside of Orlando, Fla., had more firepower than the unseeded Errani, a 33-year-old Italian counterpuncher ranked No. 137, in the 65-minute match.

   Playing almost flawlessly, the petite, 5-foot-7 (1.68-meter) Bellis reeled off the first seven points and the opening nine games in her first meeting with the 5-foot-5 (1.64-meter) Errani, the runner-up to Maria Sharapova in the 2012 French Open. Bellis then lost two consecutive games before breaking serve for 4-2. Both players held serve from there.

   Granted, the Mercer Tennis Classic is a minor-league tournament, but Bellis reached her first semifinal since the 2017 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, a five-minute drive from her childhood home, on the WTA Tour. She reached a career-high No. 35 two weeks later at 18 and was named the WTA Newcomer of the Year for 2017. 

   But slugging it out against older, bigger players at the top level of women's tennis took a massive toll on Bellis. She underwent three operations on her right wrist and one on her right elbow in 2018-19 and missed 19 months.     

   Errani, meanwhile, had her own troubles. She was suspended for two months in 2017 after failing a drug test, and the suspension was lengthened to 10 months in 2018. Errani claimed that she accidentally consumed her mother's cancer medication in homemade tortellini.

   Bellis, who's projected to rise at least 15 places to No. 158 on Monday, has an excellent chance in Saturday's semifinals against another accomplished veteran, weary qualifier Varvara Lepchenko. The 34-year-old American left-hander from Uzbekistan outlasted Sachia (pronounced SAH-shuh) Vickery, a 25-year-old Miramar, Fla., native, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4 in 3 hours, 15 minutes.

   That wasn't even Lepchenko's longest match of the tournament. She edged second-seeded Nina Stojanovic of Serbia 6-7 (5), 6-2, 7-6 (6) in 3 hours, 33 minutes in the opening round on Wednesday.

   Bellis is 1-1 against Lepchenko, ranked No. 186 after climbing as high as No. 19 in 2012. Bellis prevailed 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (5) in the second round of her comeback tournament in Houston, a $125,000 event, on hardcourts as a qualifier last November, and Lepchenko coasted 6-3, 6-2 in the Rabat (Morocco) quarterfinals on clay in 2017.

   Both Lepchenko and Vickery have starred in NorCal, albeit at different levels. Lepchenko advanced to two semifinals (2014 and 2015) and one quarterfinal (2013) at Stanford. Vickery reached the singles semifinals and teamed with countrywoman Madison Brengle to win the doubles title in last year's $60,000 Berkeley Challenger. 

   Doi, a 5-foot-3 (1.59-meter) left-hander, was coming off a physically and mentally draining 6-7 (5), 7-6 (3), 6-1 victory over qualifier Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay in 3 hours, 9 minutes on Thursday. Cepede Royg served for the match at 6-5 in the second set. 

   Kostyuk, meanwhile, has lost an average of only four games in her three matches this week.

   Both Kostyuk and Doi lost to eventual champion Naomi Osaka in three sets in the recent U.S. Open, Kostyuk in the third round and Doi in the first round.

   Kostyuk, ranked No. 113, will meet Poland's Magdalena Frech, a qualifier ranked No. 165, for the first time on Saturday. Frech, 22, beat unseeded American Francesca Di Lorenzo 7-5, 6-3. 

   Both singles semifinals are scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. PDT with thunderstorms forecast to strike as early as 9 a.m. The doubles final, also featuring Frech, will follow, weather permitting.

   The unseeded team of Frech and compatriot Katarzyna Kawa dispatched top-seeded Caroline Dolehide and Caty McNally of the United States 6-4, 6-3. Frech and Kawa will play the unseeded pair of Di Lorenzo and countrywoman Jamie Loeb, who nipped second-seeded Doi and Stojanovic 1-6, 6-3 [10-8].

   ATP Challenger Tour — Qualifier Mackenzie McDonald, another San Francisco Bay Area product now based at the USTA National Campus, lost to unseeded Martin Klizan, a former top-25 player from Slovakia, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the $104,160 Istanbul Challenger on hardcourts.

   The diminutive McDonald, who was born and raised in Piedmont, advanced to the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2018 and climbed as high as No. 57 in April last year. However, he tore a right hamstring tendon during a doubles match the following month in the French Open, had surgery in June and sat out for the rest of the season. He is projected to rise 14 places to No. 209 on Monday.

   Klizan won the 2006 French Open boys singles title and reached a career-high No. 24 in 2015 before battling injuries. The 31-year-old left-hander will improve at least 13 spots to No. 155. 

   ATP Tour — Raven Klaasen and Ben McLachlan (University of California, Berkeley, 2011-14), playing in their first tournament together, defeated Max Purcell and Luke Saville 7-5, 6-4 to reach the final in Cologne, Germany.

   Purcell and Saville, the 2011 Wimbledon boys singles champion, reached the Australian Open final early this year, losing to American Rajeev Ram, now a volunteer assistant coach at Cal, and Great Britain's Joe Salisbury. 

   Saville and Hans Hach Verdugo of Mexico won the 2018 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger as qualifiers in their first tournament together.  

   Klaasen, 38, of South Africa and Ben McLachlan, a 28-year-old New Zealand native who plays for his mother's native Japan, will play either third seeds and two-time reigning French Open champions Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies of Germany or unseeded Marcus Daniell of New Zealand and Philipp Oswald of Austria on Sunday.

   Daniell and Oswald ousted top-seeded Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Marcelo Melo of Brazil 6-2, 4-6 [10-3].

   Klaasen seeks his 17th ATP doubles title and McLachlan his sixth.

Bay Area products gain quarters, continuing comebacks

CiCi Bellis routed Romanian qualifier Gabriela Talaba 6-1, 6-3
in Macon, Ga. 2016 photo by Paul Bauman

   Almost 6,000 miles apart, San Francisco Bay Area products CiCi Bellis and Mackenzie McDonald reached the quarterfinals of minor-league hardcourt tournaments as they continued comebacks from surgery.

   Bellis, a 21-year-old wild card who was born in San Francisco and grew up down the peninsula in Atherton, routed qualifier Gabriela Talaba, a 25-year-old Romanian left-hander, 6-1, 6-3 today in the $80,000 Mercer Tennis Classic in Macon, Ga.

   Bellis saved eight of nine break points against her. She double-faulted twice while serving for the match at 5-0 in the second set. Talaba, one of the few women with a one-handed backhand, won last year's $25,000 Redding, Calif., Challenger. 

   Mackenzie McDonald, who was born and raised in Piedmont, defeated Nino Serdarusic of Croatia 7-6 (9), 6-3 in a matchup of qualifiers in the $104,160 Istanbul Challenger.

   Bellis, a petite 5-foot-7 (1.68 meters), was named the WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2017 after attaining a career-high No. 35 ranking at age 18. Then the nightmare began. She underwent three operations on her right wrist and one on her right elbow in 2018-19 and missed 19 months.

   McDonald, only 5-foot-10 (1.77 meters) and 160 pounds (72 kilograms), advanced to the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2018 and climbed as high as No. 57 in April last year. However, he tore a right hamstring tendon during a doubles match the following month in the French Open, had surgery in June and sat out for the rest of the season. 

   Both Bellis, ranked No. 173, and McDonald, ranked No. 223, are now based at the USTA National Campus near Orlando, Fla., and both face big quarterfinal challenges.

   Bellis will meet unseeded Sara Errani, formerly ranked No. 5 in singles and No. 1 in doubles, for the first time on Friday not before 10:45 a.m PDT. Live streaming is available.

   Errani, a 33-year-old Italian, outplayed fourth-seeded Kristie Ahn, a 28-year-old Stanford graduate from Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 6-3, 6-4. Errani, now ranked No. 137, broke serve in the final game.

Mackenzie McDonald beat Nino Serdarusic of Croatia
7-6 (9), 6-3 in a matchup of qualifiers in Istanbul.
2016 photo by Paul Bauman

   McDonald will play Martin Klizan, the 2006 French Open boys champion who reached No. 24 in 2015 before battling injuries, for the first time. Klizan, a 31-year-old left-hander from Slovakia now ranked No. 168, defeated Roberto Marcora of Italy 7-6 (3), 6-1.

   Another Bay Area product, 18-year-old Katie Volynets, lost to Varvara Lepchenko, a 34-year-old American left-hander from Uzbekistan formerly ranked No. 19, by the deceptive score of 6-0, 6-1 in a clash of qualifiers.

   "This is the best 6-0, 6-1 match I've ever seen," veteran commentator Ken Thomas crowed during the final game of the 1-hour, 20-minute match that featured many long, hard-hitting rallies. 

   Volynets, who was born and still lives in Walnut Creek, fought hard throughout the match and never appeared frustrated.

   "She's not complaining; she's not quitting," Thomas said during the second set. "A lot of big-name players who will go unnamed would quit if they were getting rolled 6-0, 3-0. It's nice to see Katie Volynets dig deep."

   Thomas concluded that Volynets, who won the USTA 18 national championship in August 2019 and turned pro in December, "is the real deal even though she got hammered today."

   Lepchenko has played in the main draw of 44 Grand Slam tournaments, reaching the fourth round of the 2012 French Open and 2015 U.S. Open. She advanced to two semifinals (2014 and 2015) and one quarterfinal (2013) in the now-defunct Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.

   Lepchenko, now ranked No. 186, had no trouble rebounding from her grueling 6-7 (5), 6-2, 7-6 (6) victory over second-seeded Nina Stojanovic, ranked No. 91, on Wednesday in the opening round. 

   Top-seeded Misaki Doi of Japan narrowly avoided an upset, topping qualifier Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay 6-7 (5), 7-6 (3), 6-1. Cepede Royg, who lost in the second round of the 2012 Redding Challenger as the second seed, served for the match at 6-5 in the second set against the 5-foot-3 (1.59-meter) left-hander.

   Doi held a match point against left-hander Angelique Kerber in the opening round of the 2016 Australian Open. Kerber survived and went on to win the first of her three Grand Slam singles titles.

   Doi, ranked No. 86, is scheduled to face sixth-seeded Marta Kostyuk, an 18-year-old Ukrainian ranked No. 113, at 9 a.m. in a matchup of the only remaining singles seeds.

   In the Istanbul doubles quarterfinals, Americans Robert Galloway and Nathaniel Lammons downed second-seeded Andre Goransson (University of California, Berkeley, 2014-17) of Sweden and Artem Sitak, a Russia native who plays for New Zealand, 7-5, 7-6 (1). 

   ATP Tour — Unseeded Raven Klaasen, 38, of South Africa and Ben McLachlan (Cal, 2011-14), a 28-year-old New Zealand native who plays for his mother's native Japan, beat fourth-seeded Jurgen Melzer, 39, of Austria and Edouard Roger-Vasselin, 36, of France 7-5, 6-4 to reach the semifinals in Cologne, Germany.

   Klaasen and McLachlan will play unseeded Australians Max Purcell and Luke Saville, who edged second-seeded Oliver Marach of Austria and Mate Pavic of Croatia 2-6, 6-3 [11-9]. 

   Purcell and Saville, the 2011 Wimbledon boys singles champion, reached the Australian Open final early this year, losing to American Rajeev Ram, now a volunteer assistant coach at Cal, and Great Britain's Joe Salisbury. 

   Saville and Hans Hach Verdugo of Mexico won the 2018 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger as qualifiers in their first tournament together. 

Bellis wins in Italian Open, will crack world top 50

CiCi Bellis slugs a backhand in her victory over fellow
American Shelby Rogers in the second round of the
U.S. Open last August. Photo by Paul Bauman

   CiCi Bellis, an 18-year-old qualifier who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, defeated Misaki Doi of Japan 6-4, 7-6 (6) today on clay in the first round of the Italian Open in Rome.
   Doi, a 5-foot-3 (1.59-meter) left-hander, is ranked No. 62. She held a match point against Angelique Kerber in the first round of last year's Australian Open. Kerber won the match and went on to capture the first of her two Grand Slam singles titles.
   The victory assures that Bellis, who turned pro last September after reaching the third round of the U.S. Open as a qualifier, will crack the top 50 in the world for the first time on Monday.
   The Atherton product, now based in Orlando, Fla., will rise from No. 53 to about No. 45 -- or higher if she upsets Kiki Bertens, seeded 15th and ranked 20th, on Wednesday.
   Three teenage women, all 19, are ranked in the top 50. They are No. 28 Ana Konjuh of Croatia, No. 49 Naomi Osaka of Japan and No. 50 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia.
   The 5-foot-7 (1.68-meter), 120-pound (54.4-kilogram) Bellis is headed higher, according to Chris Evert.
   "There are a handful of players who are going to overpower her right now, but by the end of the year I wouldn't be surprised if she was top 20," Evert, who has been mentoring Bellis through a USTA program, declared in a March 7 profile of the phenom in the New York Times.
   When Bellis plays Bertens, a 6-foot (1.82-meter) Dutchwoman, for the first time, she will try to defeat a Grand Slam quarterfinalist or better for the sixth time. Bertens reached the semifinals of last year's French Open.
   Bellis also will try to beat a top-20 player for the third time. She stunned No. 13 Dominika Cibulkova in the 2014 U.S. Open at 15 years old and No. 6 Agnieszka Radwanska in the third round at Dubai in February.

Despite loss, teenager Bellis nears top 50 in world

CiCi Bellis (above in 2016) and Sorana Cirstea (below
in 2013) meet the press during the Bank of the West
Classic at Stanford. Photos by Paul Bauman

   Despite losing today in the second round of the Madrid Open, CiCi Bellis is closing in on a top-50 world ranking.
   For the second consecutive week, the 18-year-old San Francisco Bay Area product lost 6-3, 6-2 after beating a top-30 player on clay.
   Bellis fell to resurgent Sorana Cirstea, a 27-year-old Romanian, in Madrid after  upsetting No. 26 Daria Gavrilova, a Moscow-born Australian, 7-5, 5-7, 6-2.
   Last week, Bellis lost to Varvara Lepchenko, a 30-year-old American from Uzbekistan, in the quarterfinals in Rabat, Morocco, after surprising No. 2 seed and defending champion Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 6-7 (3), 7-5, 7-5 in 3 hours, 8 minutes.
   Unlike last week, Bellis had a day to rest before her loss. She was trying to beat a Grand Slam quarterfinalist or better for the sixth time. Cirstea reached the French Open quarters in 2009.
   Bellis, now based in Orlando, Fla., will rise about three spots to No. 52 on Monday. Three teenagers, all 19, are ranked in the top 50: No. 29 Ana Konjuh of Croatia, No. 46 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and No. 49 Naomi Osaka Of Japan.
   Bellis defeated Ostapenko in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford last July en route to the quarterfinals. Bellis grew up in neighboring  Atherton.
   Bellis, who turned pro last September after reaching the third round of the U.S. Open as a qualifier, is by far the youngest woman in the top 100. Next is Konjuh, who's 15 months older than Bellis.
   Cirstea, ranked No. 83, will play No. 53 Misaki Doi of Japan for a berth in the Madrid quarterfinals. Doi, a 5-foot-3 (1.59-meter) left-hander, routed qualifier Donna Vekic of Croatia 6-1, 6-2 after ousting No. 9 seed Madison Keys in the first round.
   Keys, a 22-year-old American right-hander with a two-handed backhand, underwent arthroscopic surgery on her left wrist last November.
   Doi held a match point against Angelique Kerber in the first round of last year's Australian Open. Kerber went on to win the first of her two Grand Slam singles titles.
   Cirstea advanced to the Bank of the West semifinals in 2012 and climbed to a career-high No. 21 in 2013. However, she dropped out of the top 200 in 2015 because of shoulder problems.

Bellis, 16, to make hometown tournament debut

Wild card CiCi Bellis, shown in the recent Sacramento Challenger,
will play qualifier Misaki Doi of Japan today in the first round of
the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford. Bellis lives in neighbor-
ing Atherton. Photo by Paul Bauman

   CiCi Bellis has waited most of her young life for this day.
   The 16-year-old wild card will make her Bank of the West Classic debut today at 11 a.m. against qualifier Misaki Doi of Japan in the first round at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
   Bellis, who lives in neighboring Atherton, said recently that she attended the Bank of the West Classic as a spectator every year since she was 5 or 6 years old.
   After winning the USTA national 12-and-under title in 2011, Bellis did the coin flip for the second-round match between Maria Sharapova and Daniela Hantuchova.
   Playing in the Bank of the West "means everything to me," Bellis said two weeks ago at the $50,000 Sacramento Challenger. "Every year I've gone, I've been thinking about how long it'll take for me to be able to play in that tournament, and I never thought it would be this soon.
   "It's basically in my back yard. I played there so many times when I was younger in clinics and practices. It's one of my favorite places to play, and it's such a beautiful campus, so I think it's going to be amazing to play there."
   At 15 last year, Bellis stunned 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova, the 2014 Australian Open runner-up, in the first round of the U.S. Open and ended the season as the youngest No. 1 junior in the world since 2006.
   Doi, a 24-year-old left-hander, is ranked No. 104 to Bellis' No. 157. Bellis, 5-foot-6 (1.68 meters) and 110 pounds (50 kilograms), is three inches (7.6 centimeters) taller than Doi but 11 pounds (five kilograms) lighter. This will be their first meeting.
   Doi or Bellis will face second-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, the runner-up at Wimbledon in 2012 and Stanford in 2013, on Wednesday night. The top four seeds receive a first-round bye.
   Following Bellis' match today, qualifier Nicole Gibbs, a 22-year-old former Stanford star, will play Caroline Garcia of France. Gibbs won NCAA singles titles in 2012 and 2013 and the doubles crown in 2012 with Mallory Burdette.
   At 7 p.m., seventh-seeded Madison Keys of Boca Raton, Fla., will face Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia. The 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) Keys, who turned 20 in February, has reached the Australian Open semifinals and Wimbledon quarterfinals this year.
   Krunic, only 5-foot-4 (1.63 meters), turned 22 in March. As a qualifier in last year's U.S. Open, she shocked Keys and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova to gain the fourth round.
   In tonight's last match, Mona Barthel of Germany will meet Canadian wild card Carol Zhao, who advanced to the NCAA singles final in May as a Stanford sophomore.
   Kimiko Date-Krumm, 44, of Japan advanced to the main draw with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada.
   Date-Krumm, who climbed to a career-high No. 4 in the world 20 years ago but retired at 26 for 12 years, will face 2013 Wimbledon runner-up Sabine Lisicki of Germany late Tuesday night in the first round.
   Lisicki set women's records with a 131-mph (210.8-kph) serve in last year's Bank of the West Classic and 27 aces in a June match in Birmingham, England.

BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC

At Stanford

Final-round qualifying

   Misaki Doi (1), Japan, def. Julia Boserup, United States, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
   Kateryna Bondarenko (2), Ukraine, def. Petra Martic (6), Croatia, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
   Kimiko Date-Krumm, Japan, def. Gabriela Dabrowski, Canada, 6-4, 6-1.
   Nicole Gibbs (5), United States, def. Anna Tatishvili, United States, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Today's schedule

Stadium Court

(Starting at 11 a.m.)

   Misaki Doi, Japan, vs. CiCi Bellis, United States.

(Not before 1 p.m.)

   Caroline Garcia, France, vs. Nicole Gibbs, United States.
   Andrea Petkovic (6), Germany, vs. Carina Witthoeft, Germany.

(Not before 7 p.m.)

   Madison Keys (7), United States, vs. Aleksandra Krunic, Serbia.
   Mona Barthel, Germany, vs. Carol Zhao, Canada.

Court 6
(Starting at 11 a.m.)

   Alison Riske, United States, vs. Tatjana Maria, Germany.

(Not before 12:30 p.m.)

   Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan, Taiwan, vs. Kimiko Date-Krumm, Japan, and Mandy Minella, Luxembourg.
   Asia Muhammad, United States, and Ajla Tomljanovic, Croatia, vs. Maria Irigoyen, Argentina, and Paula Kania, Poland.
   Kateryna Bondarenko, Ukraine, and Tatjana Maria, Germany, vs. Eva Hrdinova, Czech Republic, and Petra Martic, Croatia.