No. 3 seed Svitolina falls at Wimbledon; BNP dates set

Magda Linette ousted Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-4 today in the
second round at Wimbledon. 2016 photo by Paul Bauman

   Magda Linette stunned a top-three seed for the second consecutive Grand Slam tournament today.

   This time, it came without an asterisk.

   Linette, 29, of Poland ousted No. 3 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-3, 6-4 in the second round at Wimbledon after defeating No. 1 seed Ashleigh Barty 6-1, 2-2 (retired, hip) at the same stage of the French Open last month.

   Svitolina reached the semifinals at Wimbledon in 2019 and in the now-defunct Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in 2015. She also advanced to the quarterfinals of the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif., in 2019.

   Only two of the top six women's seeds at Wimbledon — No. 1 Barty and No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, the San Jose runner-up in 2019 — and only two past ladies champions, Garbine Muguruza (2017) and Angelique Kerber (2018), remain. 

   Kerber, who won the 2015 Bank of the West Classic, outlasted Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 in 3 hours, 19 minutes, the longest women's match at Wimbledon this year.

   As usual, the men's draw has been much more predictable. Five of the top six seeds remain after two rounds: No. 1 Novak Djokovic, No. 2 Daniil Medvedev, No. 4 Alexander Zverev, No. 5 Andrey Rublev and No. 6 Roger Federer.

   Federer, an eight-time Wimbledon champion who will turn 40 next month, beat Richard Gasquet, a 35-year-old Frenchman and two-time Wimbledon semifinalist, 7-6 (1), 6-1, 6-4.

   James Duckworth, a 29-year-old Australian, surprised Sam Querrey, a 33-year-old San Francisco native now living in Las Vegas, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-2 to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

   Duckworth underwent five operations in 13 months in 2017-18 and another one in March 2020. Querrey advanced to the Wimbledon semifinals in 2017 and quarterfinals in 2016 and 2019.

   In the first round of doubles:

   —No. 5 seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan outplayed Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Caroline Garcia of France 6-4, 6-2. Shibahara, 23, was born in Mountain View and starred at UCLA.

   —No. 9 seeds Sharon Fichman of Canada and Giuliana Olmos — who was born in Austria, grew up in Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area and represents Mexico — routed Vivian Heisen of Germany and Kveta Peschke, a Czech who will turn 46 on July 9, 6-2, 6-1 in 51 minutes.

   Peschke won her only Grand Slam women's doubles title 10 years ago at Wimbledon with Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia. Peschke also has won both San Jose doubles titles, in 2018 with Latisha Chan of Chinese Taipei and in 2019 with Nicole Melichar, a Czech-born American.

   —No. 14 seeds Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Ben McLachlan (University of California, Berkeley, 2011-14) of Japan defeated Andres Molteni of Argentina and Andrea Vavassori of Italy 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4.

   —Andre Goransson (Cal, 2014-17), a 27-year-old Swede making his Grand Slam debut, and Casper Ruud of Norway edged Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez (no relation) of Spain 7-5, 4-6, 11-9. 

   BNP Paribas Open — The prestigious men's and women's tournament, normally held in March, is set for Oct. 4-17 in Indian Wells, Calif., tournament director Tommy Haas announced. 

   It will be the first edition of the BNP Paribas Open in 2 1/2 years. Because of the pandemic, the 2020 tourney was canceled the day before, and this year's event was postponed until the fall. 

   All fans, staff, sponsors, journalists and vendors must show valid proof of full vaccination. Depending on the COVID-19 conditions in October, Riverside County and California may require additional testing as well as mask mandates in certain seating areas.

Kevin King takes out second-seeded Kudla in Fairfield

Second-seeded Denis Kudla lost to fellow American
Kevin King 6-2, 6-3 today in the Fairfield (Calif.)
Challenger. File photo by Paul Bauman

   Unseeded Kevin King of Atlanta dispatched second-seeded Denis Kudla of Arlington, Va., 6-2, 6-3 today to reach the quarterfinals of the $108,320 NorthBay Healthcare Men's Pro Championship at Solano Community College in Fairfield, Calif.
   King, a 6-foot-3 (1.91-meter) left-hander ranked No. 399, evened his career record against Kudla, ranked No. 107, at 1-1.
   King, a 28-year-old former Georgia Tech All-American, reached the second round in Atlanta on the ATP World Tour in July as a qualifier, shocking former world No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov in the first round. Later in the summer, Dimitrov ousted Roger Federer in the U.S. Open to reach his third Grand Slam semifinal.
   Kudla, 27, advanced to the third round of the U.S. Open this past summer, losing to defending champion Novak Djokovic in straight sets.
   King is scheduled to face eighth-seeded Peter Polansky of Canada for the first time on Friday. The 31-year-old Polansky, ranked No. 163, beat 10th-seeded Nicola Kuhn of Spain 6-4, 6-4.
   Brandon Nakashima, an 18-year-old wild card from San Diego, eliminated sixth-seeded James Duckworth of Australia 7-6 (5), 7-5.
   Nakashima, a sophomore at the University of Virginia, also reached the quarterfinals of the $108,320 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger two weeks ago. He will meet Japan's Taro Daniel, seeded fourth and ranked No. 111, for the first time.
   Daniel, 26, escaped with a 1-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3 victory over 16th-seeded Maxime Cressy, a Paris native who plays for the United States. Daniel is 1-0 against Novak Djokovic. UCLA's Cressy and Keegan Smith, both 6-foot-6 (1.98 meters), won the NCAA doubles title in May in Orlando, Fla.
   In Friday's other quarterfinals, top-seeded Steve Johnson of Redondo Beach in the Los Angeles area will face ninth-seeded Darian King of Barbados, and 12th-seeded Christopher O'Connell of Australia will play Jack Draper, 17, of Great Britain.
   The 6-foot-3 (1.91-meter) Draper extended his winning streak to eight matches with a 6-3, 7-6 (1) victory over 30-year-old Donald Young in a matchup of left-handers. Young, 30, has tumbled from a career-high No. 38 in 2012 to No. 233.
   Draper won a $25,000 tournament on an indoor hardcourt in Shrewsbury, Great Britain, two weeks ago and upset 14th-seeded Jack Sock on Wednesday night. Sock has plunged a high of No. 8 in 2017 to No. 210.
   The 29-year-old Johnson, ranked No. 99, has never lost more than three games in a set in two career matches against the 27-year-old King, ranked No. 171.
   The 192nd-ranked O'Connell, a Fairfield semifinalist as a qualifier in 2017, and Draper, ranked No. 340, will meet for the first time. 
   Here are the updated Fairfield singles and doubles draws and Friday's schedule. Live streaming is available.

Aussie scores emotional win; Quan gains junior semis

James Duckworth winds up on a forehand during
his 4-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (6) victory over fellow Aus-
tralian Alexei Popyrin, 19, in the second round of
the $100,000 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger in Sep-
tember. Duckworth escaped six match points.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   After shaking hands with the chair umpire, James Duckworth sat down, put his head in his hands for an extended period and rubbed his eyes.
   Duckworth, 26, had just defeated fellow Aussie Luke Saville 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (2) today in Melbourne to earn a wild card in next month's Australian Open.
   Duckworth, a semifinalist in the $100,000 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger last September, underwent five operations from February 2017 to February this year. The 6-foot (1.83-meter) right-hander had three surgeries on his right foot, one on his right shoulder and one on his right elbow.
   Duckworth, ranked No. 243 after attaining a career-high No. 82 in 2015, earned his seventh main-draw berth in the Australian Open. He reached the second round in Melbourne in 2012, 2013 and 2015.
   Saville won the junior singles title at Wimbledon in 2011 and the Australian Open in 2012, and won this year's Tiburon doubles crown with Hans Hach Verdugo of Mexico. Saville and Hach Verdugo were qualifiers playing in their first tournament together.
   Kimberly Birrell capped her own injury comeback with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over fellow Aussie Astra Sharma to earn her second Grand Slam appearance.
   Birrell, 20, had elbow surgery two years ago and tumbled out of the world's top 1,000. She lost to Modesto product Maria Sanchez in the first round of the inaugural $60,000 Berkeley (Calif.) Challenger in July.
   Sharma played No. 1 singles on the Vanderbilt team that lost to Stanford in the NCAA final in May.
   Whitney Osuigwe, a 16-year-old American who reached the quarterfinals of the $60,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger in October, received a reciprocal wild card in the Australian Open.
   Osuigwe (pronounced Oh-SIG-way), who last year became the first American to win the French Open girls singles title since Jennifer Capriati in 1989, will make her second appearance in the women's main draw of a Grand Slam tournament.
   Osuigwe earned a wild card in this year's U.S. Open by winning the national girls 18 title and lost to Italy's Camila Giorgi, ranked 40th at the time and 26th now, 6-4, 6-1 in the first round.
   The Australian Open is scheduled for Jan. 13-27.
   Junior Orange Bowl -- Top-seeded Rudy Quan of Roseville in the Sacramento region blitzed ninth-seeded Thanaphat Boosarawongse of Thailand 6-0, 6-0 in the quarterfinals in the Miami suburb of Coral Gables, Fla.
   Quan has not lost more than three games in a set in his five matches in the clay-court tournament. He also blanked Matthew Yang of Canada in the third round.
   Quan is scheduled to play Croatia's Antonio Voljavec, the third seed who dismissed fifth-seeded Quang Dong of the United States 6-3, 6-3.

Veteran Granollers, promising Mmoh reach Tiburon final

   TIBURON, Calif. -- Marcel Granollers has reached the top 20 in the world in singles.
   Michael Mmoh could get there.
   Granollers, a 32-year-old Spaniard, and Mmoh, a 20-year-old American, will meet for the first time today in the final of the $100,000 Wells Fargo Tiburon Challenger.
   The top-seeded Granollers, ranked No. 104, outclassed sixth-seeded Noah Rubin, a 5-foot-9 (1.75-meter) American, 6-2, 6-2 with his impressive all-around game on Saturday at the Tiburon Peninsula Club.
   "It was not easy; it was a bit windy today," said the 6-foot-3 (1.91-meter) Granollers, who has fallen from career highs of No. 19 in singles in 2012 and No. 4 in doubles in 2013 to No. 104 and No. 22, respectively. "I think I played a very solid match, a smart match with no mistakes."
   The fifth-seeded Mmoh, ranked a career-high No. 108, coped with not only the wind but Australian alternate James Duckworth's unusual game to prevail 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in a matchup of the last two Challenger champions.
   Mmoh won last week's $75,000 tournament in Columbus, Ohio, and the Duckworth triumphed as a qualifier in a $50,000 tourney in Cary, N.C., two weeks ago in his comeback from five operations (three on his right foot and one each on his right shoulder and right elbow).
    "I hadn't really played a guy with that type of game style in a very long time, if ever," said Mmoh, the Tiburon runner-up two years ago as a qualifier. "Some of the plays he was coming up with I've never seen. He has a really good short slice where he kind of baits you. He hits it short and wants you to come in; he has pretty good passing shots. Nobody really uses that play except for maybe (Roger) Federer.
   "And it's a different slice. He puts a lot of undercut on it. In this wind, it's pretty tough to play against his slice. The stuff he does with his slice and sometimes with his drop shots, his volleys ... he's a very creative, crafty tennis player."
   Mmoh said Duckworth did not play the same way in their only other match, which the Aussie won  6-3, 6-4 two years ago in the first round of qualifying in Winston-Salem (N.C.) on the elite ATP World Tour.
     "I think two years ago he was just better than me.," Mmoh admitted. "He was beating me from the back, but I feel like I've improved a lot, so he felt he had to change it up, and it almost threw me off guard."
   This time, Mmoh served and returned better than Duckworth, 26, in a match that featured many long rallies. Mmoh's first-serve percentage for the match was almost double Duckworth's: 70 to 38.
   After Mmoh broke serve to lead 3-2 in the third set, Duckworth pleaded, "One first serve, one first serve!"
   The sixth game of the second set was almost a match in itself. It went to 13 deuces, and Duckworth saved seven break points before holding serve for 4-2.
   "I couldn't believe I didn't win it," Mmoh said. "I thought I played a good game, had so many chances. I felt like every single break point he was down he was playing a very tough point. He made sure he hit that slice with a lot of undercut and just didn't miss. Sometimes on the deuce point, he wasn't doing that. He was little streaky.
   "That game was a momentum changer. It gave him a lot of confidence and kind of defeated me in a way."

   But only temporarily. Mmoh recovered in the third set to advance.
   Not only are Mmoh and Granollers ranked near each other now, they were No. 175 and No. 177, respectively, at the beginning of the year.
   Granollers, who has earned $9.74 million in career prize money, attributed his rise to "playing more matches, and this gives you more confidence. Last year, I lost many first rounds, so I don't play many matches during the week, and you are out of your rhythm."
   Mmoh, meanwhile, credited "a lot of hard work last offseason" with his former coach, Glenn Weiner, and help from his new coach, Alexander Waske, a 43-year-old former pro from Germany.
   "He's taken my game to the next level," said Mmoh, who played in the main draw at Wimbledon for the first time as a qualifier in July and reached his second career ATP quarterfinal at Los Cabos later in the summer. "The fact I've been doing so well so consistently the second half of the year is all due to him, honestly."
   Mmoh, a chiseled 6-foot-2 (1.88 meters) and 198 pounds (98 kilograms), added that Waske has helped him add offense.
   "I'm a very good defensive player. It's tough to get by me and whatnot, but my offensive tennis wasn't fully developed, and I didn't exactly know how to execute it. I felt like he gave me a very good template," Mmoh said.
   Waske, who peaked at No. 16 in doubles in 2007 and No. 89 in singles in 2006, agreed that "offense is the thing that's missing in order to do the next step. There's a couple more steps he needs to do in order to get even higher -- get to top 50, top 20, whatever -- but Michael has incredible potential. His physical abilities are very strong. He has a lot of power, and he hasn't been using his power for offense, only for defense. In my opinion, he's too strong and too big to play defensive tennis purely. He will never be a chip-charger, but he needs to realize in which situation to play what. If he has a good serve and gets a short return, he needs to play offensive.
   "He's a smart guy. We had a lot of video analysis and looked at certain things. He's worked on it, and it's getting better."
   It figures that Mmoh, a one-man United Nations, would hire a non-American.
   Mmoh was born in Saudi Arabia to Tony Mmoh, a former journeyman professional and Olympian from Nigeria, and Geraldine O'Reilly, an Irishwoman who moved to Australia in 2016.
   Tony was coaching the Saudi Arabian Davis Cup team, and Geraldine, an avid tennis fan, was working in Saudi Arabia as a nurse at the time.
   Michael was named after Michael Jordan. Tony had become infatuated with the NBA legend while attending St. Augustine's College (now St. Augustine's University) in North Carolina and becoming a U.S. citizen. Michael moved from Saudi Arabia to Bradenton, Fla., at 12 to train at the IMG Academy and still is based there.
   Here are the Tiburon singles and doubles draws and today's schedule. The tournament is being streamed live.
   Here are the singles qualifying and main draws and today's schedule in the men's $100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger and the singles qualifying draw and today's schedule in the Stockton Women's $60K.

Mmoh tops Paul in dramatic clash of U.S. prospects

No. 5 seed Michael Mmoh held off wild card Tommy Paul 7-6 (7), 2-6,
6-3 today in the quarterfinals of the $100,000 Wells Fargo Tiburon
Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Note to readers: If you enjoy my coverage of Northern California tennis, please donate on my homepage. Even $5 or $10 will help. Here's why I need your support. Thank you.
   TIBURON, Calif. -- If today's match between Michael Mmoh and Tommy Paul is any indication, American fans have a lot to look forward to.
   In a dramatic battle between two of the United States' many men's prospects, the fifth-seeded Mmoh held off Paul, a wild card, 7-6 (7), 2-6, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the $100,000 Wells Fargo Tiburon Challenger on a chilly evening at the Tiburon Peninsula Club.
   Mmoh saved four set points and Paul two in the first set, which lasted 1 hour, 13 minutes. Mmoh bolted to a 5-0 lead in the third set before Paul reeled off the next three games to make matters interesting. Mmoh needed five match points, including four in the last game, to prevail in 2 hours, 37 minutes.
   Mmoh, 20, said it was the highest-quality match in which he has ever played.
   "I've played a lot of great players, and that was a really high level," he asserted.
   Mmoh attributed his victory to "mental toughness. I think he sometimes went through waves in the match where he was super locked-in and he wouldn't miss a ball, then at the beginning of the third set where he literally couldn't make a ball for five games. I think I was mentally locked in the entire time. I think that was the difference."
   Mmoh improved to 3-0 against the 21-year-old Paul, who was not available for comment. Each match has gone three sets.
   "I think Tommy Paul is going to be a name to remember in years to come just like my name, and I think we're going to have a lot of great battles in the future as well," said Mmoh, who was born in  Saudi Arabia to Nigerian pro Tony Mmoh and an Irish mother and named after Michael Jordan. "I'm looking forward to it."

Tommy Paul saved four match points before
succumbing. Photo by Paul Bauman

   And it's hardly just Mmoh, ranked No. 108, and Paul, ranked No. 343 after reaching a career-high No. 149 in January and then missing 4 1/2 months with a right elbow injury.
   The United States has four players 23 or younger in the top 100 -- No. 41 Frances Tiafoe (20), No. 62 Taylor Fritz (20), No. 80 Mackenzie McDonald (23) from Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area and No. 99 Jared Donaldson (21) -- and 11 more in the top 350. Two of them -- No. 138 Noah Rubin and No. 223 Christopher Eubanks, both 22 -- met earlier today in Tiburon.
   The 5-foot-9 (1.75-meter) Rubin, seeded sixth, beat the 6-foot-7 (2.01-meter) Eubanks 6-4, 6-3 in a matchup of the shortest and tallest players in the draw.
   "I don't think there are too many of us (little guys) left (on the pro tours)," Rubin said with a laugh. "The small guys coming out now are like 6-1 (1.85 meters). That's considered small, so 5-9 is incredibly small. It's tough, but at the same time, I'm willing to work to get where I need to be."
   Beating giants is nothing new for Rubin, a product of the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in New York. He toppled 6-foot-10 (2.08-meter) John Isner 6-4, 7-6 (6) in the second round in Washington, D.C., on the elite ATP World Tour this summer for his first victory over a top-10 player. Rubin then lost to 20-year-old Russian Andrey Rublev.
   Asked how he beats players like Isner and Eubanks in an era of power, Rubin said: "I think my power is underestimated. For a guy my size, I can come up with the goods. I can still attack if needed, but when I need to dig down balls for six straight games, my legs are able to do it. It's kind of the best of both worlds. I might not get the aces on big points, but at the same time, I'm going to steal some points."
   In Saturday's semifinals, which follow an 11 a.m. doubles match, Rubin will face top-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain for the first time, and Mmoh will play Australian alternate James Duckworth in a matchup of the last two Challenger champions.

Tommy Paul tries to stay warm during one of Michael Mmoh's
two medical timeouts. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Duckworth won a $50,000 tournament in Cary, N.C., two weeks ago in his comeback from five operations (three on his right foot and one each on his right shoulder and right elbow), and Mmoh triumphed in last week's $75,000 tourney in Columbus (Ohio). In their only previous meeting, Duckworth won 6-3, 6-4 two years ago in the first round of qualifying for Winston-Salem on the ATP World Tour.
   "He was just coming out of juniors then, so he wasn't playing anywhere near the level he's playing at now," Duckworth said after beating Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador 7-5, 6-3. "He's obviously pretty confident coming off a win in Columbus."
   Granollers, who reached career highs of No. 19 in singles in 2012 and No. 4 in doubles in 2013, dismissed John-Patrick Smith of Australia 6-2, 6-3.
   Smith, a 29-year-old left-hander, had beaten the 32-year-old Granollers 6-3, 6-4 on grass in the second round of qualifying at Wimbledon in June.
   "Every match is different," explained Granollers, now ranked No. 104. "At Wimbledon, he played a really good match. Today I served very good, I was aggressive, and I was very focused on the return also. I knew he's a great server, so I'm very happy to be in the semifinals."
   The first set of the Mmoh-Paul match featured two long, breathtaking rallies, including one on the last point that Mmoh won with a spectacular backhand passing shot down the line to elicit a roar from the crowd.
   Mmoh said he had "no idea" how many balls he and Paul, who won the Columbus doubles title with Peter Polansky of Canada, hit during the rallies.
   "It was just a blur, honestly. I don't even remember a lot of the points that I played. Every single point was a grind, and the whole match was a battle," said Mmoh, who reached his first Challenger final in Tiburon two years ago as a qualifier.

Top-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain exults
during his 6-2, 6-3 victory over John-Patrick
Smith of Australia. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Mmoh lost his serve in the opening game of the second set on a double fault, and Paul coasted the rest of the set.
   "I didn't feel like I could have hung in that set and been ready for the third," Mmoh said. "I was competing in the second set but getting ready for the third. I knew I had to ramp it up, and that's what I did."
   But Paul wouldn't go quietly. He came up with one tremendous shot after another on the first four match points, prompting Mmoh to yell at his coach, Alexander Waske, in frustration. Finally, Mmoh pounded a service winner to end matters.
   "I felt like I was playing just as good when it went to 5-3 as when I went up 5-0," Mmoh said. "I didn't think I did anything wrong, especially on all those match points. I thought I did the right thing and played well. He just came up with the goods."
   Mmoh, a right-hander with a two-handed backhand, took medical timeouts at 3-2 in the first set for a dried skin on his left little finger that had split and after the second set for a tight right shoulder.
   Paul, meanwhile, continually patted his lower back and tweaked his left ankle in the second game of the third set but never called for the trainer in the match.
   Here are the Tiburon singles and doubles draws and Saturday's schedule. The tournament is being streamed live. Admission is $30 on Saturday and $35 on Sunday ($55 for both days).
   Here are the singles qualifying draw and Saturday's schedule in the $100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger.

After five operations, Aussie survives Tiburon thriller

James Duckworth, 26, of Australia winds up on a forehand
during his 4-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (6) victory over 19-year-old
countryman Alexei Popyrin today. Duckworth escaped
six match points. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Note to readers: If you enjoy my coverage of Northern California tennis, please donate on my homepage. Even $5 or $10 will help. Here's why I need your support. Thank you.
   TIBURON, Calif. — James Duckworth is lucky to be playing tennis at all, lucky to be in the main draw of the $100,000 Wells Fargo Tiburon Challenger and lucky to be in the quarterfinals.
   A big serve, mental toughness and experience also had a lot to do with the 26-year-old Australian alternate's nerve-wracking victory today at the Tiburon Peninsula Club.
   Duckworth, who underwent five — yes, five -- operations from February 2017 to February this year, survived six — yes, six — match points to beat 19-year-old countryman Alexei Popyrin 4-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (6) in a 2-hour, 25-minute thriller filled with spectacular shots by both players. Only one of the match points came on Popyrin's serve.
   When asked how he pulled out the match, his first against Popyrin, Duckworth replied with a laugh: "I have no idea. I was down a few match points. I was just thinking one point at a time. I was thinking, don't make an unforced error; make him win the point. I got pretty lucky in the end. I'm thrilled to have won."
   Duckworth is scheduled to play Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador on Friday. Arevalo, coming off a victory over second-seeded Jordan Thompson of Australia in the first round, defeated Mikael Torpegaard, a 24-year-old former Ohio State star from Denmark, 6-3, 0-6, 6-3 in a matchup of the top players from their countries. Torpegaard reached the semifinals of last week's $75,000 Columbus (Ohio) Challenger on his former home courts.
   In the other quarterfinal in the bottom half of the draw, fifth-seeded Michael Mmoh will meet wild card Tommy Paul in a clash of top American prospects. Both advanced by retirement.
   Mmoh, who reached the Tiburon final two years ago as an 18-year-old qualifier and won the Columbus title last week, led 6-2, 3-0 when compatriot Ernesto Escobedo quit with a hip injury.

Alexei Popyrin showed great potential in his loss to James
Duckworth. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Paul, who won the 2015 French Open boys singles title and upset fourth-seeded Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland in the opening round this week, was up 5-0 when wild card Brandon Holt, a USC junior and the son of International Tennis Hall of Famer Tracy Austin, couldn't continue because a shoulder problem. 
   In the doubles quarterfinals, Spaniards Gerard Granollers and Pedro Martinez beat wild cards and defending champions Andre Goransson and Florian Lakat -- former Cal teammates from Sweden and France, respectively -- 6-4, 6-4. Granollers is the younger brother of Marcel Granollers, the top seed in Tiburon singles. 
   Duckworth escaped three match points while serving at 4-5 in the third set and three more when the 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) Popyrin, last year's French Open boys singles champion, led 6-3 in the subsequent tiebreaker.
   Duckworth, a muscular 6 feet (1.83 meters), saved the first two match points with aces. Then Duckworth missed his first serve, but Popyrin netted a backhand return of the second delivery.
   With Duckworth serving at 3-6 in the third-set tiebreaker, Popyrin netted a backhand off Duckworth's net-cord backhand. Duckworth then blasted another ace and pulled even at 6-6 when Popyrin converted his first serve but netted a forehand.
   After Popyrin missed his first serve on the next point, he shanked a forehand off another net-cord shot by Duckworth, inducing Popyrin to yell in frustration, "How many net tapes?"

   Duckworth then converted his first match point with an overhead.
   Experience "definitely helped" Duckworth in the match, he said.
   "I was probably a little bit more composed than he was in those bigger moments, which probably got me over the line in the end," Duckworth surmised.

Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador celebrates after
beating Mikael Torpegaard of Denmark in a
matchup of the top players from their countries.
Photo by Paul Bauman 

   Duckworth's spot in the main draw would have gone to countryman Luke Saville as a "special exempt" if he had won his quarterfinal in Columbus. That would have prevented Saville, then ranked No. 488, from playing in Tiburon qualifying. But he lost, opening a main-draw berth for Duckworth, the highest-ranked player at No. 289 to sign up for Tiburon qualifying. Got it?
   Duckworth attained a career high of No. 82 in 2015, reached the second round of a Grand Slam tournament for the fifth time in the 2016 U.S. Open and ended that year at No. 103. Then came surgery on his right foot in February 2017, right shoulder the following month, right foot in August 2017 and January this year, and right elbow in February.
   "I had a navicular stress fracture, and they put two pins in my navicular bone," Duckworth said of his foot injury. "From that, there were just different complications. I had pains in different areas, from what I can't really tell you. I had to have two more operations on my foot.
   "I also had shoulder and elbow issues that needed to be (addressed) at some stage, and we thought we may as well do them at the same time. The foot was the main thing that held me back for such a long time."
   It was all "extremely" frustrating, averred Duckworth, who used a protected ranking to return at the French Open in late May and lost to third-seeded Marin Cilic 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (4) in the first round.
   "At the end of 2016, I felt like I was really playing my best tennis," he said. "I was pretty close to the top hundred, and I had no (ranking) points to defend for six months. I thought I could push for the top 50.
   "It was a terrible 18 months, really. I went through five surgeries and was doing lots and lots of boring rehab. I was struggling to get healthy. I was in pain for such a long period of time, and I couldn't run for so long because of my foot. It was really tough, but I had a great team that helped me back in Brisbane. I went through everything, and I'm really excited to be back out here playing again."

Brandon Holt, the son of International Tennis Hall
of Famer Tracy Austin, retired with a shoulder in-
jury after trailing Tommy Paul 0-5 in a matchup
of American wild cards. Photo by Paul Bauman 

   Duckworth said he didn't consider retiring but "there were lots of times I thought I was never going to be able to run again. I didn't want to quit, but I thought my body might get the best of me."
  It didn't. Duckworth reached the third round in Washington on the elite ATP Tour in early August and won the $50,000 Cary (N.C.) Challenger two weeks ago. His last three matches in Cary were moved indoors because of light rain from Hurricane Florence.       
   After his ordeal, Duckworth is enjoying tennis more than ever.
   "I always loved tennis, and I've never really taken it for granted," he cautioned. "But I guess now — I don't want to say I appreciate it more because I did really appreciate it — but I'm just trying to soak up every tournament I go to. Every time I'm practicing and playing matches, I'm thinking, Gee, this is so much better than being on the operating table or doing rehab."
   Here are the Tiburon singles and doubles draws and Friday's schedule. The tournament is being streamed live. Admission is $25 on Friday, $30 on Saturday and $35 on Sunday ($55 for a Saturday-Sunday pass).