Top seed Brengle plays through pain amid lawsuit

Top-seeded Madison Brengle of Dover, Del., beat Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway
6-4, 7-5 today in the first round of the $60,000 Stockton Pro Open.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   STOCKTON, Calif. — Aside from her abbreviated service motion, Madison Brengle looks fine.
   Seeded first at No. 95 in the world, the 28-year-old American scurried around the court as usual in her 6-4, 7-5 win over Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway today in the first round of the $60,000 Stockton Pro Open at the University of the Pacific's Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center.
   "She's very smart; she's got a good head," said the 25-year-old Eikeri, ranked No. 254. "She reads the game well and gets everything back. She's a great fighter."
   But Brengle is not fine. Far from it. The right-hander said the last of three anti-doping blood tests in 2016 at the U.S. Open has caused lingering severe pain in her right forearm and hand.
   "This is the test my body never recovered from," Brengle told The New York Times in April, the week before she sued the Women's Tennis Association and International Tennis Federation for battery, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. "This is the one that changed my career, changed my life, more than you can know."
   Stuart Miller, the ITF's anti-doping chief, said in The Times that urine samples are inadequate. The WTA and ITF did not respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit.

   Months after the blood test at the U.S. Open, Brengle was diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). Intense reactions to needles have been an issue in her family for generations, she told the Times. Brengle, who has earned $2.4 million in prize money, seeks damages of more than $10 million.
   "After here, I'm flying back to see my neurologist because I'm playing in an amount of pain I shouldn't have to deal with," Brengle, from Dover, Del., said today. "This nerve disease is incurable, so I'll be doing physical therapy for the rest of my life. I'm in a lot of pain.
   "The majority of it is in my hand. It just burns and burns. It's like putting your hand in an oven for the rest of your life. But I enjoy playing tennis. I don't want to stop."

Qualifier Maegan Manasse, who had right elbow surgery
after her senior year at Cal, defeated Rebecca Marino of
Canada 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-0. Photo by Paul Bauman

   The pain has forced Brengle to alter her serve. Ranked a career-high No. 35 in 2015, she has not returned to the top 50 since the 2016 U.S. Open. But last year, she stunned Serena Williams in Auckland and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova at the famed tournament. Both were second-round matches.
   In the last three months, Brengle has reached the second round at Wimbledon, won a $60,000 tournament in Landisville, Pa., lost to 19-year-old American Sofia Kenin 7-6 in the third set in the first round of the U.S. Open as a lucky loser, and reached the semifinals of last week's $60,000 tourney in Templeton in Southern California. In the latter tournament, she fell to eventual champion Asia Muhammad 6-4, 6-4.

   "I work really hard with my physical therapist," Brengle said of her success since her diagnosis. "There's a lot that I'm doing, down to my diet. I try not to eat inflammatory food because it's so much burning.
   "Sugar is an inflammatory. I eat a lot of salad, a lot of seafood, a lot of veggies. I've kind of given up desserts, which is probably not the worst thing for me. If it can give me .1 percent improvement, I'm going to try and do it. There's only so much I can control about this, so I will try and do everything that's still in my control.
   "You have good days and bad days. The bad days are really tough, and the good days make it kind of worth it."
   Brengle, the runner-up in the $50,000 Sacramento Challenger in 2013, cited footwork as her greatest strength.
   "I love my (two-handed) backhand," she said, "but if I move well, that keeps me in matches because I'm not able to generate that much (power) with my right arm."
   And if Brengle is told to take another blood test?
   "That's not in the cards," she asserted. "That's not going to happen."

Rebecca Marino battled depression during a five-year
hiatus. She returned in January. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Jessica Pegula, Maegan Manasse and Rebecca Marino have had their own issues.
   Pegula, the runner-up in the inaugural $50,000 Sacramento Challenger in 2012 and daughter of Buffalo Bills and Sabres owners Terrence and Kim Pegula, played in just one tournament in 2014 after having knee surgery and did not compete from January to August last year because of injury. She reached her first WTA final in Quebec City last month as a qualifier and, seeded second in Stockton, beat Nadia Podoroska of Argentina 6-0, retired.
   Manasse, a right-hander from Redondo Beach in the Los Angeles area, underwent right elbow surgery in August 2017 after her senior year at Cal. As a qualifier, she advanced to the final of a $60,000 tournament in Ashland, Ky., in July and defeated the 6-foot (1.83-meter) Marino 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-0 today in 2 hours, 21 minutes in 80-degree (26.7 Celsius) heat.

   Marino, after attaining a career high of No. 38 in 2011, became depressed by cruel tweets from people who had lost money betting on her matches.
   "They'll say, 'You gave that match away; you cost me such-and-such amount of money; you should go burn in hell,' or 'You should go die,' " Marino told The New York Times in 2013. "And oh, my gosh, that is really scary."
   After a five-year hiatus, the sensitive Marino returned to pro tennis in January. Since then, she has won two $25,000 tournaments, including Lubbock (Texas) two weeks ago, and reached the final of another.
   Also today, Robin Anderson edged fifth-seeded Kristie Ahn 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (4) just before an afternoon downpour halted play for the day. The match had been suspended by darkness at 4-4 in the third set on Tuesday. Overall, it lasted 3 hours, 5 minutes.
   Anderson, 25, and Ahn, 26, embraced afterward. They grew up a one-hour drive from each other in New Jersey before starring at UCLA and Stanford, respectively. Both have reached finals recently, the 5-foot-3 (1.61-meter) Anderson in Lubbock and the 5-foot-5 (1.68-meter) Ahn in Landisville in August.

Robin Anderson, left, and Maegan Manasse run for cover after
a canopy on an elevated concourse blew onto a court during a
downpour. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Whitney Osuigwe of Bradenton, Fla., defeated qualifier Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area 7-5, 6-1 in a matchup of 16-year-olds.
   Osuigwe (pronouned Oh-sig-way) last year became the first American to win the French Open girls singles title since Jennifer Capriati in 1989.
   In the Stockton men's $100,000 tournament, fourth-seeded Lloyd Harris of South Africa moved into the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Thai-Son Kwiatkowski of Charlotte, N.C.
   Harris advanced to the final of the $100,000 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger in August. Kwiatkowski led Virginia to its third consecutive NCAA championship and won NCAA singles title last year as a senior.
   Christopher Eubanks, 6-foot-7 (2.01 meters) from Atlanta, leads fifth-seeded Casper Ruud, a 19-year-old Norwegian, 6-1, 2-2. Eubanks gained the semifinals in Aptos and quarterfinals in last week's $100,000 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger.
   Daily ticket prices for the Stockton Pro Open are:
   Through Thursday — $15 courtside/VIP, $10 general admission, $5 children 5-12.
   Friday through Sunday — $25 courtside/VIP, $20 general admission, $10 children 5-12.
   Tournament passes cost $70 for courtside/VIP, $50 for general admission and $25 for children 5-12.
   Here are the Stockton men's singles and doubles draws and Thursday's schedule, plus the women's singles and doubles draws and Thursday's schedule. The men's tournament is being streamed live.

Journeywoman stuns top seed in 25K Redding

Ana Veselinovic
Photo by Paul Bauman

   REDDING, Calif. -- It shaped up as a colossal mismatch.
   Sofya Zhuk, the Wimbledon junior girls champion two years ago at 15, faced Ana Veselinovic, a 29-year-old journeywoman, on Tuesday in the first round of the $25,000 Ascension Project Women's Challenger.
   Zhuk, a 17-year-old Russian based in Bradenton, Fla., was seeded first at No. 143 in the world. Veselinovic, a native of tiny Montenegro ("Black mountain" in English) across the Adriatic Sea from Italy, is ranked No. 441. She has never been higher than No. 329, and that was 10 years ago before she earned a college degree in the United States.
   Zhuk was coming off her first appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, falling to 50th-ranked Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan in the first round of the U.S. Open as a qualifier. Veselinovic has never even played in the qualifying event at a Slam.
   None of it mattered. Veselinovic, a 5-foot-8 (1.73-meter) left-hander, outslugged Zhuk 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 in 2 hours, 13 minutes on a scorching afternoon at Sun Oaks Tennis & Fitness. Veselinovic overcame 10 double faults with clutch serving and pinpoint groundstrokes.
   "She's a great player, she's young, and it was my first time playing against her," Veselinovic said. "My ranking right now is low -- I had some injuries -- so I didn't really have the opportunity to show my potential and play a lot of matches.
   "But I believe that ranking doesn't tell all. Anybody can beat everybody. It's not about what's written on the paper. You go on the court, and you put your heart (into it), and it can only work out good for you."
   Indeed, Veselinovic exhibited much better body language than Zhuk, who was not available to comment on the match. While Zhuk moped around the court between points, Veselinovic ran in place despite the 100-degree (37.8 Celsius) heat.
   In the evening singles match, the second seed also lost. Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway fell to American Robin Anderson, a former UCLA star, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 in a matchup of 24-year-olds. But unlike Veselinovic's victory, Anderson's was not a big surprise.
   First, Eikeri does not have Zhuk's credentials. Eikeri is ranked considerably lower at No. 279 (second in Norway behind No. 265 Melanie Stokke).

   Also, the 5-foot-3 (1.61-meter) Anderson was the singles runner-up and doubles champion four years ago in Redding.

   Finally, Anderson had beaten Eikeri in three sets in their only previous meeting. That came last year in the first round of a $25,000 clay-court tournament in Jackson, Miss.

   Fourth-seeded Jovana Jaksic of Serbia avoided an upset, topping Sandra Samir of Egypt 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 in a match featuring many long, grueling rallies. But the heat didn't faze Jaksic, who moved from Las Vegas to Sacramento last December. Shortly after her match, she practiced briefly under the guidance of her new coach, John Rodrigues of Sacramento. Jaksic's Serbian boyfriend, Vuja Jovic, is a real estate broker in Sacramento.
   In the longest match of the day, wild card Anna Bright, a Cal freshman, outlasted fellow American Shelby Talcott 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 in 2 hours, 56 minutes.
   When Veselinovic found out she had drawn the top seed, she took it in stride, according to her coach.
   "She was OK," Igor Tomasevic said. "She's been around. It's not like a little girl crying. She was thinking, bad luck, because there's such a big difference between the ranking of the first seed and all the other girls. But on the other side, the underdog always has a chance."
   A case of nerves cost Veselinovic the first set.
   "The first round is always tough," she said. "You want to (get going); you want to play. Your emotions carry you away, and you can't do that against good players because you lose a game or two, you lose a set, and that's what happened with me. You've got to be there from the beginning until the end because there are no easy points."
   Once Veselinovic calmed down, she took the second set. There were no service breaks in the third set until Zhuk served at 4-4. Then both players inevitably got tight, resulting in three consecutive breaks. Given a second chance to serve for the match, Veselinovic held at love.
   "It's great to get her confidence back because this year is not so great for her," Tomasevic said of the victory. "Her expectation was higher, her ranking was solid, but things didn't happen quite well this year. It's a great win to have a new start of the year practically in September. It can lift her up."
   Veselinovic hopes to crack the top 400 this year, eventually reach the top 100 and stay there for a couple of years.
   "I have my goals, and I'm motivated," she said. "Nothing has changed. I'm still the same as when I was just out of college. I haven't really showed all I can do, my potential. With everything I've been through, I still believe. I have my dream. I love this. I'll just keep going until my body gives up."
   Veselinovic has battled two herniated discs in her back since she led Auburn University-Montgomery (Ala.) to its eighth NAIA (small college) title in nine years in 2012.
   "I've been able to work around it," said Veselinovic, who has not had surgery. "It's not easy, but I've learned how to cope with the pain and with some limitations that I have. When you love what you do -- and love means everything -- you've got to ignore (the pain and limitations) and be positive."  
   It would be easy to consider Veselinovic the ultimate underdog, but she doesn't buy it.
   "I don't think being injured, (my) small country or the (college) division I played makes me an underdog," Veselinovic said. "I don't feel like that. I feel good where I am."
   Here are The Ascension Project singles and doubles draws and Wednesday's schedule.