Dream team: California acquires Bryan brothers

Bob, left, and Mike Bryan watch the action in 2013 at Sunrise Mall
in the Sacramento suburb of Citrus Heights. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Sacramento's new World TeamTennis franchise won't have coach Wayne Bryan this season.
   But California Dream fans shouldn't feel too bad. The team will have Bryan's sons.
   The Dream acquired Bob and Mike Bryan, the top-ranked men's doubles team in the world, from the San Diego Aviators for financial considerations before Monday's draft.
   The 36-year-old identical twins and former Stanford stars have won 16 Grand Slam men's doubles titles and 104 on the ATP Tour, both records.
   WTT did not announce how many of the Dream's 14 regular-season matches the Bryans will play. Marquee players usually do not play full-time.
    Wayne Bryan, 68, retired in 2013 after guiding the Sacramento Capitals for 12 years and being named Coach of the Year three times (2004-06).
   David Macpherson, a former Capital and the twins' personal coach, will lead the Dream. He won Coach of the Year honors last season with San Diego in his first year at the helm in WTT.
   The Capitals announced early in 2014 that they were moving to Las Vegas after 28 years. Instead, WTT terminated the franchise after team owner Deepal Wannakuwatte was arrested on fraud charges related to his medical supply business. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in November.
   In Monday's four-round roster draft, California selected, in order, Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia, Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain, Tennys Sandgren of Wesley Chapel, Fla., and Aisam Qureshi of Pakistan.  
   Gajdosova, a 27-year-old Slovakia native, became an Australian citizen in 2009. She won the 2013 Australian Open mixed doubles title with Aussie Mathew Ebden.
   Medina Garrigues, 32, and Qureshi, a doubles specialist who turned 35 today, played last year for the Texas Wild, which relocated to Sacramento.
   Medina Garrigues, the WTT Female Rookie of the Year in 2014, has been ranked as high as third in the world in doubles and 16th in singles. She won the 2008 and 2009 French Open women's doubles titles with countrywoman Virginia Ruano Pascual.
   Qureshi reached a career-high No. 8 in men's doubles in 2011. In the 2010 U.S. Open, he was the runner-up in men's doubles with Rohan Bopanna of India and in mixed doubles with Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic.
   Sandgren, 23, turned pro after reaching the NCAA singles semifinals in 2011 as a sophomore at the University of Tennessee. He has won eight singles and 12 doubles titles in tennis' minor leagues but underwent hip surgery last year and missed more than six months.
   The Washington Kastles are heavily favored to win a record fifth straight WTT title and sixth in seven years.
   Playing at least part-time for Washington will be International Tennis Hall of Famer Martina Hingis; future Hall of Famers Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Leander Paes; former top-20 player Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native; and holdover Anastasia Rodionova. Querrey and Rodionova are former Capitals, although at different times.
   Eugenie Bouchard, the Wimbledon runner-up to Petra Kvitova last year, was drafted first overall by the Boston Lobsters.
   Joining Bouchard on the Lobsters will be Scott Lipsky, a 33-year-old doubles specialist from Stanford. Former Cardinal Nicole Gibbs, the 2012 and 2013 NCAA singles champion, went in the first round to Austin Aces.
   WTT's 40th season will begin on July 12 and end on Aug. 2 with the finals. The Dream will play at the Capitals' former home, a temporary stadium in the parking lot at Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights.
   BNP Paribas Open -- Fourth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki and fifth-seeded Ana Ivanovic, both former No. 1 players and champions at Indian Wells, exited in the third round.
   Wozniacki lost to 31st-seeded Belinda Bencic, 18, of Switzerland 6-4, 6-4, and Ivanovic fell to 25th-seeded Caroline Garcia, 21, of France 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.
    In another matchup of former top-ranked players and titlists at Indian Wells, second-seeded Maria Sharapova outplayed 32nd-seeded Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 6-3. Azarenka is rebounding from a left foot injury that limited her to nine tournaments last year.
   On the men's side, 32nd-seeded Bernard Tomic eliminated eighth-seeded David Ferrer 7-5, 6-4 in the third round. Tomic will meet fellow Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis, an 18-year-old wild card, in the round of 16.
   Kokkinakis lost in the first round of qualifying in his Indian Wells debut last year.
   Futures tournament -- Ninth-seeded Connor Farren defeated Victor Pham 6-2, 6-4 in a clash of San Francisco Bay Area residents to qualify for the $15,000 Bakersfield (Calif.) Tennis Open.
   Farren, a USC sophomore, lives in Foster City, and Pham, a high school senior, is from Saratoga.

Farren, No. 1 USC reach National Indoor final

   The ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championships has its dream final.
   Top-ranked USC, with Connor Farren from the San Francisco Bay Area, will face No. 2 Oklahoma today in a rematch of last year's NCAA final. The Trojans won 4-2 for their fifth title in six years.
   On Sunday in Chicago, USC (9-0) outclassed No. 4 Georgia 4-1, and Oklahoma (9-0) topped No. 10 Baylor 4-2.
   Farren, a sophomore from Foster City, lost at No. 3 doubles (with Nick Crystal) in his only action.
   No. 63 Alex Ghilea clinched the match for Oklahoma, winning the last 11 games in a 4-6, 7-5, 6-0 decision over Mate Zsiga at No. 5.
   Meanwhile, No. 3 Virginia and No. 13 Cal completed play with consolation victories.
   The Cavaliers (7-1), featuring freshman Collin Altamirano of Sacramento, routed No. 7 North Carolina 4-0. The Bears (7-2), with freshmen Billy Griffith of Fresno and JT Nishimura of San Jose, defeated No. 22 Penn State 4-2.
   Altamirano won at No. 4 singles and No. 3 doubles. Griffith lost at No. 3 singles, but Nishimura triumphed at No. 4. Neither played doubles.

No. 1 USC 4, No. 4 Georgia 1

Doubles

   1. Austin Smith and Ben Wagland (Georgia) def. No. 1 Yannick Hanfmann and Roberto Quiroz, 6-4.
   2. No. 38 Max de Vroome and Eric Johnson (USC) vs. Nathan Pasha and Eric Diaz, 5-5, suspended.
   3. Paul Ooosterbaan and Wayne Montgomery (Georgia) def. Nick Crystal and Connor Farren, 6-1.
   Order of finish: 3, 1.

Singles

   1. No. 17 Wayne Montgomery (Georgia) vs. No. 7 Yannick Hanfmann, 6-4, 3-6, 4-1, suspended.
   2. No. 24 Roberto Quiroz (USC) def. No. 21 Austin Smith, 7-6 (2), 6-3.
   3. No. 15 Nathan Pasha (Georgia) vs. No. 20 Jonny Wang, 3-6, 6-2, 3-3, suspended.
   4. Eric Johnson (USC) def. Nick Wood, 6-1, 6-1.
   5. Max de Vroome (USC) def. Ben Wagland, 7-5, 6-1.
   6. No. 49 Nick Crystal (USC) def. Paul Oosterbaan, 6-2, 6-3.
   Order of finish: 4, 6, 5, 2.

Former Sacramento champ Young will crack top 50

   It was supposed to have happened a long time ago. Then it seemed it would never happen.
   Donald Young, a supremely gifted but undersized and temperamental left-hander with strong ties to Northern California, is projected to crack the top 50 in the world for the first time after reaching the semifinals of the PTT Thailand Open in Bangkok.
   The unseeded American routed Japanese qualifier Go Soeda, who won the 2009 Tiburon Challenger, 6-1, 6-2 Thursday night in the $587,000 tournament.
   “It wasn’t as easy as the score suggests,” Young said on the ATP World Tour's Web site. “I had to play well and figure out his game a little bit. I’m happy to move on to the semis, definitely. I hope to go further. I like playing here, and this year I’m coming with more confidence than I’ve had previously.”
   Young will face second-seeded Gael Monfils, ranked ninth in the world, for a berth in the final. Monfils is listed at 6-foot-4 and 177 pounds, Young at 6-0 and 160. In their only previous meeting, Monfils breezed 6-1, 6-1 in the first round at Cincinnati in 2008.
   Northern California has figured prominently in Young's career. He made his ATP World Tour debut in San Jose at 15 in 2005 and won Challenger singles titles in Aptos in 2007 and Sacramento in 2008.
   Young turned professional at 14. At 15, he won the Australian Open junior title to become youngest-ever and first African-American boy to be ranked No. 1 in the world.
   Even then, he accepted wild cards into ATP tournaments for the money, got hammered and lost confidence. He then essentially started his career over, gradually working his way up from Futures to Challengers and back to the ATP World Tour.
  There was one other problem. Having been told all his life how talented he is, Young thought he didn't have to work hard. He finally addressed that issue this year, and it has paid off handsomely.
  Still only 22, Young is ranked a career-high No. 55 after reaching his first ATP semifinal (in Washington) and the fourth round of the U.S. Open for his best Grand Slam result.
  The question is how much higher Young can go. One thing is certain. Confidence, especially when combined with rare talent, can do a lot for a player.
   Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur -- Seventh-seeded Dmitry Tursunov, a Moscow native living in Folsom, lost to second-seeded Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the $850,000 Malaysian Open. Tursunov is 0-4 lifetime against Troicki.
   Americans Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram, seeded fourth, defeated Australians Matthew Ebden and Bernard Tomic 6-2, 6-3 in the doubles quarterfinals.
   Lipsky, a former Stanford All-American, and Ram, a past singles and doubles runner-up in the Sacramento Challenger, will meet second-seeded Eric Butorac, a former Sacramento Capital from Rochester, Minn., and Jean-Julien Rojer of Netherlands Antilles in the semifinals.
   WTA tour in Tokyo -- Third-seeded Vania King, a Capital living in Boynton Beach, Fla., and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan lost to second-seeded Gisela Dulko of Argentina and Flavia Pennetta of Italy 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 tiebreak in the doubles semifinals of the $2.05 million Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.
   King and Shvedova, last year's Wimbledon and U.S. Open champions, led 6-4, 3-1 against the reigning Australian Open titlists.
   "We were down pretty much the whole match," Dulko said on the WTA tour's Web site. "They were very tough opponents. At the end we were a little bit nervous, but we closed it out, and we are very happy."
   It was the second consecutive tournament in which King and Shvedova blew a late lead. In a 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) loss to Americans Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond in the U.S. Open final, Shvedova served for match at 5-4 in the second set and had the match on her racket serving at 5-4 in the second-set tiebreaker.
   Unseeded Raquel Kops-Jones, a former Cal All-American from Fresno, and Abigail Spears of San Diego fell to fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and Maria Kirilenko of Russia 6-0, 6-1 in the Pan Pacific quarterfinals.
   Women's Challenger in Las Vegas -- Wild card Maria Sanchez of Modesto dismissed Krista Hardebeck  of Santa Ana 6-3, 6-2 in the second round of the $50,000 Lexus of Las Vegas Open.
   Sanchez and Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove advanced to the doubles semifinals with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Laura Siegemund of Germany in a matchup of unseeded teams.
   Men's Futures in Laguna Niguel -- Unseeded Kiryl Harbatsiuk, who graduated from Sacramento State in May, wore down Connor Farren, a wild card from Hillsborough who will turn 17 Monday, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-2 in the second round of the $10,000 USTA Futures of Laguna Niguel.

King falls to Wimbledon champion Kvitova

   Vania King faced a fellow Wimbledon champion, Petra Kvitova, in singles Wednesday at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.
   The problem for King was that her Wimbledon crown came in women's doubles.
   Kvitova, seeded fifth, eliminated the Sacramento Capital 6-1, 7-6 (4) in the third round of the $2.05 million tournament.
   Kvitova, a 21-year-old Czech who stands 6-foot, won Wimbledon in July for her first Grand Slam title.
   King, a 22-year-old Long Beach product who's only 5-5, captured the Wimbledon doubles championship last year with Yaroslava Shvedova. It was the first of two Grand Slam titles for the pair, who also won the U.S. Open last year.
   Kvitova will meet 6-2 Maria Sharapova, the second seed and 2004 Wimbledon champion, in the quarterfinals. They are 1-1 lifetime against each other.
   In doubles Wednesday, King and Shvedova reached the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Natalie Grandin of South Africa and Vladimira Uhlirova of the Czech Republic. Grandin and Uhlirova were coming off their first title together Sunday in Seoul, South Korea.
   Kng and Shvedova will face No. 2 seeds Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta, the reigning Australian Open champions. The teams have split two career meetings, both last year. King and Shvedova won 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open, and Dulko and Pennetta prevailed 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals of the WTA Championships in Doha, Qatar.
   ATP World Tour in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -- Folsom resident Dmitry Tursunov, seeded seventh, brushed aside Belgian wild card David Gofffin 6-3, 6-3 in the second round of the $850,000 Malaysian Open.
   Tursunov, a Moscow native ranked No. 41, will meet second-seeded Viktor Troicki, a Serb ranked 15th, in the quarterfinals. Tursunov is 0-3 lifetime against Troicki. 
   Women's Challenger in Las Vegas -- Wild card Maria Sanchez of Modesto defeated Monica Puig of Puerto Rico 6-1, 7-5 in the first round of the $50,000 Lexus of Las Vegas Open.
   Sanchez, 21, was named the Pacific-10 Conference Women's Player of the Year in May as a senior at USC. She will meet qualifier Krista Hardebeck, who turned 17 two weeks ago, in the second round.
   Hardebeck upset fourth-seeded Mirjana Lucic, 29, of Croatia 7-6 (4), 6-4. Lucic became the youngest player to win an Australian Open title when she took the 1998 women's doubles crown at 15 years, 10 months with Martina Hingis.
   At 17, Lucic reached the 1999 Wimbledon singles semifinals. She was the lowest-ranked player (No. 134) at the time to reach a Grand Slam semifinal but since has been surpassed. Her career was derailed by problems with her father, who Mirjana has said physically abused her and tampered with her prize money.
   Puig, who turned 18 Tuesday, advanced to the Australian Open and French Open junior finals this year.
   Men's Futures in Laguna Niguel -- Connor Farren, a 16-year-old wild card from Hillsborough, beat lucky loser Aaron Yovan, 27, of Irvine 6-1, 6-4 in the first round of the $10,000 USTA Futures of Laguna Niguel.
   Farren, who turns 17 Monday, will meet Kiryl Harbatsiuk -- a native of Minsk, Belarus, who graduated from Sacramento State in May -- on Thursday in the second round.

King, Shvedova eye U.S. Open repeat

   Vania King of the Sacramento Capitals and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan will play for their second straight U.S. Open women's doubles title.
   The third seeds outlasted fifth-seeded Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova, both of Russia, 7-6 (7), 2-6, 6-3 in two hours, 26-minutes Friday in Flushing Meadows. Kirilenko and Petrova, playing in their first Grand Slam tournament together, had a set point at 7-6 in the tiebreaker.
   "I wouldn't want to be in the finals with anyone other than Slava," King, who served on the set point, was quoted as saying on the WTA Web site. "We have fun and help each other out. That's why we play so well together."
   In men's singles, 28th-seeded John Isner of Tampa, Fla., lost to fourth seed and 2008 U.S. Open runner-up Andy Murray of Great Britain 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (2) in the quarterfinals. It was the best showing in a Grand Slam tournament for the 6-foot-9 Isner, who won a $15,000 tournament in the Sacramento suburb of Shingle Springs in his professional debut four years ago.
  Also, Stanford sophomore Nicole Gibbs advanced to the junior girls semifinals in singles and quarterfinals in doubles. Connor Farren, 16, of Hillsborough lost in the second round of junior boys doubles.
   King, a 22-year-old Long Beach product, and Shvedova, who will turn 24 Monday, will face fourth-seeded Liezel Huber, a U.S. citizen from South Africa, and Lisa Raymond of Wayne, Pa., on Sunday at 10 a.m. PDT (ESPN2). Huber and Raymond advanced with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over unseeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia and Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.
   In the finalists' only previous meeting, King and Shvedova won 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the quarterfinals at Cincinnati three weeks ago en route to the title.
   King and Shvedova won Wimbledon and the U.S Open last year, their first season together, but have been unable to win a Grand Slam in 2011.
   King lost in the first round of the Australian Open with Arantxa Parra Santonja of Spain while Shvedova recovered from a knee injury. King and Shvedova then lost in the French Open semifinals to eventual champions Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic and in the second round at Wimbledon to eventual runners-up Sabine Lisicki of Germany and Samantha Stosur of Australia.
   Huber, 35, and Raymond, 38, began playing together five months ago. They have not won a Grand Slam as a pair, but Huber has won four major women's doubles titles (all with Cara Black) and Raymond five (three with Rennae Stubbs and two with Samantha Stosur).
   Huber's last Grand Slam women's doubles crown came in the 2008 U.S. Open; Raymond last prevailed in the 2006 French Open with Stosur.
   Huber and Raymond finished as the runners-up to Victoria Azarenka and Kirilenko at Stanford in late July and won the Toronto title last month.

King, Shvedova gain revenge, reach doubles semis

   Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova avenged a devastating loss and advanced to the women's doubles semifinals at the U.S. Open.
   The third seeds and defending champions beat eighth-seeded Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic 6-4, 7-5 Thursday in Flushing Meadows.
   "Got through our match today. Ran like a bee stung me! Oh wait, one did," tweeted King, who indeed was stung on her left hip during the win.
   King, a member of the Sacramento Capitals living in Boynton Beach, Fla., and Shvedova, a Moscow native who plays for Kazakhstan, were undefeated in Grand Slam tournaments when they lost to Hlavackova and Hradecka 6-3, 6-3 in the French Open semifinals in June. The Czechs went on to win their first Grand Slam title.
   King and Shvedova are scheduled to meet fifth-seeded Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova today at about 4 p.m. PDT on the Grandstand court. The Russian pair, playing in their first major together, surprised top seeds and reigning Wimbledon champions Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
   Meanwhile, No. 28 seed John Isner of Tampa, Fla., reached his first Grand Slam quarterfinal with a 7-6 (2), 3-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4) over No. 12 seed Gilles Simon of France.
   Isner, who's listed at 6-foot-9, uncharacteristically lost his serve five times yet won in four sets.
   "That's pretty encouraging," Isner, who won a $15,000 tournament in the Sacramento suburb of Shingle Springs in 2007, told reporters.
   Isner will face Great Britain's Andy Murray, the fourth seed and 2008 U.S. Open runner-up who dispatched unseeded Donald Young of Atlanta 6-2, 6-3, 6-3.
   Young, who won the 2008 Sacramento Challenger, did not appear ready to play after rain wiped out all of Tuesday's matches and all but 15 minutes of play Wednesday.
   "I haven’t had to do that, especially at this level of a tournament, this deep in a tournament," said Young, 22. "To get up every day, getting ready to play and not playing, it’s kind of emotionally draining."
   Tournament officials announced that the women's and men's singles finals will be pushed back one day to Sunday and Monday, respectively. Both matches are scheduled for 1 p.m. PDT.
   In junior girls singles Thursday, qualifier Nicole Gibbs, a Stanford sophomore from Santa Monica, outlasted 15-year-old wild card Taylor Townsend of Stockbridge, Ga., 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals.
   In junior boys singles, 16-year-old Connor Farren of Hillsborough lost to 10th-seeded George Morgan of Great Britain 7-6 (3), 7-6 (8) in the second round.
  
  

Young begins to fulfill promise

   Perseverance and patience are paying off for Donald Young.
   Once touted as the future of American men's tennis, Young has struggled since turning professional at 14 years old. Heading into this year's U.S. Open, he had lost in the first round of singles in 11 of his 13 Grand Slam tournaments. Never had he advanced past the third round.
   Furthermore, Young blasted the USTA in an obscenity-laced Twitter message in April for declining to give him a wild card into the French Open.
   Young's troubles seemed distant memories Sunday, though, as the 22-year-old left-hander knocked off his second consecutive seed to reach the fourth round in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   The Atlanta resident, born in Chicago, followed his five-set victory over No. 14 Stanislas Wawrinka with a 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 decision over No. 24 Juan Ignacio Chela, a U.S. Open quarterfinalist in 2007.
   "You have your highs and lows in tennis," the 84th-ranked Young told reporters. "I've definitely had the lows. Hopefully I'll have a lot more highs."
   Northern California has figured prominently in Young's career. He made his ATP World Tour debut in San Jose at 15 in 2005 and won Challenger singles titles in Aptos in 2007 and Sacramento in 2008.
   Young, who will eclipse his career high of No. 73 after the U.S. Open, will face fourth-seeded Andy Murray, the 2008 U.S. Open runner-up, of Great Britain on Tuesday for a berth in the quarterfinals.
   Young beat Murray, who won Aptos in 2005 and San Jose in 2006 and 2007, 7-6 (4), 6-3 in the first round at Indian Wells in March in their only career meeting.
   Meanwhile, Mark Knowles of the Bahamas did not have a very happy 40th birthday Sunday. Not only did the longtime Sacramento Capital in World TeamTennis lose in his only U.S. Open events, men's doubles and mixed doubles, he and his partners lost in straight sets to unseeded teams.
   Knowles and Belgium's Xavier Malisse, the 15th seeds in men's doubles, fell to Italians Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini 7-5, 6-4 in the third round. Then Knowles and Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia lost to Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic and Philipp Petzschner of Germany 6-4, 6-3 in the second round of mixed doubles.
   Knowles won the 2004 U.S. Open men's doubles title with Daniel Nestor.
   In junior boys singles, 16-year-old Connor Farren of Hillsborough defeated Diego Hidalgo of Ecuador 6-4, 6-4 in the first round.
   Labor Day Grand Prix -- Rob Lessler edged Robert Crawford 7-5, 3-6, 10-7 tiebreaker for the title in 4.5 singles, the highest men's division, in the 58th annual Labor Day Grand Prix at McKinley Park in Sacramento.
   Marisol Prieto-Valle routed Eva Wilson 6-0, 6-0 in the final of 4.0 singles, the top women's category.
   Paul Gregory, playing in the tournament for the 31st consecutive year, won the men's 4.0 singles crown.
  
    

   
  

Two NorCal juniors win national titles

   Northern California juniors ended their main-draw participation in the USTA national championships Friday with two more titles.
   San Jose's Cameron Klinger, seeded second in boys 14 singles in San Antonio, defeated 14th-seeded Jake Devine of Boca Raton, Fla., 7-6 (8), 4-6, 6-1 to complete a sweep. The top-seeded team of Klinger and Tommy Paul of Greenville, N.C., won the doubles crown Wednesday.   
   Atherton's Catherine Bellis, seeded first in girls 12 singles in Alpharetta, Ga., coasted past fifth-seeded Michaela Gordon of Los Altos Hills 6-1, 6-1 for the title.
   Gordon also fell in the doubles final with Kayla Day of Santa Barbara. Seeded second, they lost a heartbreaker to fourth-seeded Samantha Martinelli of Denver and Delaney Nothaft of Tempe, Ariz., 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
   Hillsborough's Connor Farren, seeded first in boys 16 singles in Kalamazoo, Mich., lost to 13th-seeded J.C. Aragone of Yorba Linda 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
   Pleasanton's Ellen Tsay, unseeded in girls 18 doubles in San Diego with Robin Anderson of Matawan, N.J., fell to unseeded Jennifer Brady of Boca Raton and Kendal Woodard of Stockbridge, Ga., 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals.

  

Klinger reaches USTA Boys 14 final

   Second-seeded Cameron Klinger of San Jose edged unseeded Anudeep Kodali of Durham, N.C., 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (1) Thursday to reach the final of the USTA Boys 14 National Championships in San Antonio.
   Klinger will face 14th-seeded Jake Devine of Boca Raton, Fla., in today's final.
   Top-seeded Klinger and Tommy Paul of Greenville, N.C., beat seventh-seeded Ryan Dickerson of Marlton, N.J., and Kyle Seelig of Hatfield, Pa., 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1 for the doubles title.    
   In San Diego, unseeded Ellen Tsay of Pleasanton and Robin Anderson of Matawan, N.J., surprised ninth-seeded Kourtney Keegan of Roswell, Ga., and Megan Kurey of Alpharetta, Ga., 6-1, 7-5 in the 18-and-under doubles quarterfinals at the USTA girls nationals.
   Tsay and Anderson will meet unseeded Jennifer Brady of Boca Raton, Fla., and Kendal Woodard of Stockbridge, Ga., in the semifinals. Brady and Woodard knocked off top-seeded Gabrielle Andrews of Pomona and Taylor Townsend of Stockbridge, Ga., in the round of 32.
   Tsay, seeded 10th in singles, lost to fourth-seeded Nicole Gibbs of Santa Monica 6-3, 6-0 in the round of 16. Gibbs reached the NCAA singles semifinals on her home courts at Stanford last May as a freshman. She lost to top-ranked and eventual champion Jana Juricova of Cal.    
   Also in San Diego, unseeded Hadley Berg of Greenbrae and Mary Closs of Menlo Park fell in the 16-and-under doubles quarterfinals.
   In Kalamazoo, Mich., top-seeded Connor Farren of Hillsborough is scheduled to play 13th-seeded JC Aragone of Yorba Linda on Friday in the 16-and-under singles quarterfinals of  the USTA Boys National Championships.
   In Alpharetta, Ga., top-seeded Catherine Bellis of Atherton and fifth-seeded Michaela Gordon of Los Altos Hills advanced to the singles final at the USTA Girls 12 National Championships.
   Second-seeded Gordon and Kayla Day of Santa Barbara reached the doubles final, but top-seeded Bellis and Ryan Peus of Santa Barbara lost to fourth-seeded Samantha Martinelli of Denver and Delaney Nothaft of Tempe, Ariz., 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-5.
   Men's Futures -- Kiryl Harbatsiuk, a former Sacramento State star from Belarus, and Boris Nicola Bakalov of Bulgaria lost to Nicolas Meister of  Trabuco Canyon and John Peers of Australia 6-3, 6-4 in the doubles semifinals of the $10,000 Edwardsville (Ill.) Futures.
   It was incorrectly reported that Harbatsiuk and Bakalov had lost to top-seeded Erik Crepaldi of Italy and Tal Eros of Israel 7-6 (6), 6-2 in the first round. Harbatsiuk and Bakalov won by that score.
   I've been on vacation in Hawaii this week and must have suffered from sunstroke.

Farren advances in USTA boys 16s

  Top-seeded Connor Farren of Hillsborough defeated ninth-seeded Spencer Papa of Edmond, Okla., 6-1, 7-6 (7) Wednesday to reach the 16-and-under singles quarterfinals at the USTA Boys National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich.
  Farren, coached by ex-Stanford star and former world No. 7 Sandy Mayer, next faces 13th-seeded JC Aragone of Yorba Linda.
   In boys 18 singles, top-seeded Jack Sock of Lincoln, Neb., beat 10th-seeded Emmett Egger of Issaqua, Wash., 6-1, 6-1 in the round of 16. Egger won the West Coast Junior Championships last month at the Rio del Oro  Racquet Club in Sacramento.
   In San Diego, 10th-seeded Ellen Tsay of Pleasanton reached the round of 16 in 18-and-under singles at the USTA Girls National Championships. Tsay, who's also in the doubles quarterfinals with Robin Anderson of Matawan, N.J., next meets fourth-seeded Nicole Gibbs of Santa Monica in singles.
   Gibbs reached the NCAA singles semifinals, falling to top-ranked and eventual champion Jana Juricova of Cal in three sets, in May as a Stanford freshman.
   In 16-and-under singles, unseeded Mary K. Closs of Menlo Park lost to Emma Alderman of Hingham, Mass., 6-4, 6-1 in the round of 16.
   In San Antonio, second-seeded Cameron Klinger of San Jose breezed into the boys 14 singles semifinals. As the top seeds in doubles, Klinger and Tommy Paul of Greenville, N.C., will face seventh-seeded Ryan Dickerson of Marlton, N.J., and Kyle Seelig of Hatfield, Pa., today for the title.
   In North Little Rock, Ark., eighth-seeded Sam Riffice of Roseville fell to top-seeded Nathan Perrone of Mount Laurel, N.J., 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 in the boys 12-and-under quarterfinals. Second-seeded Riffice and Noah Schachter of Steilacoom, Wash., have reached the doubles quarterfinals. 
   In Alpharetta, Ga., top-seeded Catherine Bellis of Atherton and fifth-seeded Michaela Gordon of Los Altos Hills gained the girls 12-and-under semifinals. Both are in the doubles semifinals on separate teams.

 

Harbatsiuk has bad luck; Tsodikov falls in juniors

   The tennis gods were not on Kiryl Harbatsiuk's side Tuesday.
   But the former Sacramento State star made the best of it.
   On the first day of the $10,000 Edwardsville (Ill.) Futures, Harbatsiuk lost to the second seed in singles but teamed with Boris Nicola Bakalov of Bulgaria to knock off the top seeds in doubles.
   Harbatsiuk, a native of Minsk, Belarus, fell to Blake Strode 6-4, 6-3 but won 7-6 (6), 6-2 against Erik Crepaldi of Italy and Tal Eros of Israel.
   Harbatsiuk, arguably the best men’s tennis player in Sac State history, turned pro in June after completing his eligibility. A three-time Big Sky Conference MVP and first-team all-conference selection all four years, he  also was named Sac State’s Male Student-Athlete of the Year in April.
   Strode, a former University of Arkansas All-American, has deferred his acceptance to Harvard Law School to play professional tennis.
   USTA junior nationals -- Seventeenth-seeded Anthony Tsodikov of San Francisco lost to top-seeded Jack Sock of Lincoln, Neb., 6-1, 6-1 in the fourth round of 18 singles at the USTA Boys National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich.
   Sock, the defending champion and 2010 U.S. Open boys champion, turned pro two weeks ago after graduating from high school. He will face 10th-seeded Emmett Egger of Issaqua, Wash., in the round of 16.
   Egger won the boys 18 singles title in the West Coast Junior Championships at the Rio del Oro Racquet Club in Sacramento last month. He will play on scholarship at the University of Washington in the fall.
   In 16 singles in Kalamazoo, top-seeded Connor Farren of Hillsborough defeated 18th-seeded Elliott Orkin of Marietta, Ga., 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to reach the round of 16.
   In San Diego, 10th-seeded Ellen Tsay of Pleasanton and unseeded Mary K. Closs of Menlo Park advanced to the round of 16 in 18 and 16 singles, respectively, at the USTA Girls National Championships.
   In San Antonio, second-seeded Cameron Klinger of San Jose moved into the boys 14 singles quarterfinals, but 13th-seeded Victor Pham of Saratoga lost to sixth-seeded Catalin Mateas of Braintree, Mass., 6-2, 6-1.
   In North Little Rock, Ark., eighth-seeded Sam Riffice of Roseville gained the boys 12 singles quarterfinals, in which he will face top-seeded Nathan Perrone of Mount Laurel, N.J. Jenson Brooksby of Sacramento and Keenan Mayo of Roseville fell in the second round earlier in the tournament.  
   In Alpharetta, Ga., top-seeded Catherine Bellis of Atherton and fifth-seeded Michaela Gordon of Los Altos Hills reached the girls 12 singles quarterfinals. However, 16th-seeded Katya Tabachnik of San Francisco lost to fourth-seeded Anna Bright of Fort Worth, Texas, 6-1, 6-1 in the round of 16.   


      

Knowles ousted in doubles; USTA juniors update

   Mark Knowles of the Sacramento Capitals and Philipp Petzschner of Germany lost to Serbians Novak Djokovic and Janko Tipsarevic 5-7, 6-3 (12-10 match tiebreaker) Monday in the first round of doubles at the $2.43 million Rogers Cup in Montreal.
   Petschner won last year's Wimbledon men's doubles title with Jurgen Melzer of Austria.
   Knowles, a Bahamian who turns 40 on Sept. 4, won his first men's doubles title of the year and the 54th of his career two weeks ago. In his initial tournament with Xavier Malisse of Belgium, Knowles won in Los Angeles for the first time. The tournament was held at UCLA, where Knowles played from 1990 to 1992.
   Knowles ranks fourth among active players in career men's doubles titles -- behind Mike Bryan (75), Bob Bryan (73) and Daniel Nestor (73) -- and is tied for 16th in the Open Era (since 1968). Knowles played for most of his career with Nestor, winning all three of his Grand Slam men's doubles titles with the Canadian. 
   USTA junior nationals --Seventeenth-seeded Anthony Tsodikov of San Francisco reached the fourth round of 18 singles in the USTA Boys National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich. Tsodikov will face No. 1 seed Jack Sock of Lincoln, Neb. Sock, the defending champion, recently turned pro.
   Matthew Alves of Gold River lost to 20th-seeded Michael Redlicki of Hawthorn Woods, Ill., 6-4, 6-4 in the third round.
   Top-seeded Connor Farren of Hillsborough advanced the fourth round of the 16s, but Brandon Sutter of El Dorado Hills fell to Konrad Zieba of Glenview, Ill., 6-1, 2-6, 6-2.
   In San Diego, 10th-seeded Ellen Tsay of Pleasanton gained the third round of girls 18 singles, and unseeded Mary K. Closs of Menlo Park moved into the round of 32 in the 16s.
   In San Antonio, second-seeded Cameron Klinger of San Jose and 13th-seeded Victor Pham of Saratoga reached the round of 16 in boys 14 singles, but 17th-seeded Kenneth Tao of San Jose fell in the round of 32.
   In North Little Rock, Ark., eighth-seeded Sam Riffice of Roseville advanced to the round of 16 in boys 12 singles.
   In Alpharetta, Ga., top-seeded Catherine Bellis of Atherton, fifth-seeded Michaela Gordon of Los Altos Hills and 16th-seeded Katya Tabachnik of San Francisco reached the round of 16 in girls 12 singles. Gordon beat 17th-seeded Alexa Corcoleotes of Hillsborough 6-2, 6-1 in the round of 32. 
 

Farren, Sutter advance in USTA boys nationals

   Top-seeded Connor Farren of Hillsborough and unseeded Brandon Sutter of El Dorado Hills on Sunday advanced to the third round of boys 16 singles at the USTA national championships in Kalamazoo, Mich.
   Farren defeated Christopher Barrus of Marmora, N.J., 7-5, 6-0, and Sutter beat Samuel Shropshire of Philadelphia 6-1, 7-5.
   Meanwhle, all three Sacramento-area players lost in singles at the USTA Girls 18 and 16 National Championships in San Diego.
   In the 18s, Tiffany Pham of Elk Grove fell to Madeleine Hamilton of Greensboro, N.C., 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, and Karolina Kecki of Orangevale lost to Sarah Bessen of Henderson, Nev., 6-0, 6-1.
   In the 16s, Kassidy Jump of Granite Bay was ousted by 17th-seeded Kimmy Guerin of Weston, Conn., 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4).
   All Northern California seeds in lower age groups advanced to the third round of singles:
   Boys 14s in San Antonio -- No. 2 Cameron Klinger of San Jose, No. 13 Victor Pham of Saratoga and No. 17 Kenneth Tao of San Jose.
   Boys 12s in North Little Rock, Ark. -- No. 8 Sam Riffice of Roseville.
   Girls 12s in Alpharetta, Ga. -- No. 1 Catherine Bellis of Atherton, No. 5 Michaela Gordon of Los Altos Hills, No. 16 Katya Tabachnik of San Francisco and No. 17 Alexa Corcoleotes of Hillsborough.

NorCal juniors seeded in USTA nationals

   Connor Farren of Hillsborough is seeded first in boys 16 singles in the USTA National Championships, Friday through Aug. 14 in Kalamazoo, Mich.
   Anthony Tsodikov of San Francisco and Eric Johnson of San Jose are seeded 17th and 32nd, respectively, in boys 18 singles in Kalamazoo.
   Meanwhile, Ellen Tsay of Pleasanton is seeded 10th in national girls 18 singles, Saturday through Aug. 14 in San Diego. No Northern Californians are seeded in girls 16 singles in San Diego.
   The nationals in lower age groups are scheduled for Sunday through Aug. 12 at various sites across the country. Seeded players from Northern California are:
   --No. 2 Cameron Klinger of San Jose, No. 13 Victor Pham of Saratoga and No. 17 Kenneth Tao of San Jose in the boys 14s in San Antonio.
   --No. 8 Sam Riffice of Roseville in the boys 12s in North Little Rock, Ark.
   --No. 1 Catherine Bellis of Atherton, No. 5 Michaela Gordon of Los Altos Hills, No. 16 Katya Tabachnik of San Francisco and No. 17 Alexa Corcoleotes of Hillsborough in the girls 12s in Alpharetta, Ga.
   Unseeded singles players from the Sacramento area include:
   --Matthew Alves in the boys 18s.
   --Brandon Sutter in the boys 16s.
   --Tiffany Pham, Kamila Kecki and Karolina Kecki in the girls 18s.
   --Kassidy Jump in the girls 16s.
   --Jenson Brooksby and Keenan Mayo in the boys 12s.

Junior champions span West Coast

   The USTA West Coast Junior Championships lived up to its name in boys and girls 18 singles.
   Emmett Egger of Issaquah, Wash., near Seattle, and Christina Makarova of San Diego, took the titles Tuesday at the Rio del Oro Racquet Club in Sacramento. Both players were seeded No. 1.
   Egger, ranked fourth nationally in the 18s, wore down his good friend, second-seeded Connor Farren of Hillsborough, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the final. Farren is No. 2 in the United States in the boys 16s.
   Egger and Farren recently returned to the United States after traveling to European tournaments together for seven weeks.
   In the first set of the final, "there was a little nervous tension after spending that much time together," said Egger, 18. "I hit some key serves at good times (in the match), which helped me because Connor has such good returns."
   Makarova, ranked second nationally in the girls 16s, outsteadied unseeded Alison Ho, a left-hander from Thousand Oaks, 6-4, 6-3 for the title.
   "She gave me a lot of free points by hitting too hard," said Makarova, 15.
   Like Egger, Makarova admitted to being nervous in the first set, which had been tied 4-4. She resorted to hitting moonballs.
   "I was trying to be aggressive, but I guess I got tight because it was a final and fell into that," she said.
   Egger's parents, recreational players, introduced him to tennis when he was 7. He said growing up in the rainy Pacific Northwest did not hurt his tennis development because he has spent most of his time at academies in Florida, Texas and California since he was 14.
   Egger, who studied at an online high school, will play on scholarship at the University of Washington in Seattle beginning in the fall.
   "I liked the coach, Matt Anger," Egger said of the former touring pro who reached a career-high No. 23 in the world in 1986. "That's what sold me. I like the way he coaches and what he thought about my game. He changes (his style according) to the player. He's definitely not 'one size fits all.' He (talked about) mixing it up and keeping it deep, and he's helping me with my volley."
   If Egger becomes a successful pro player, as he hopes, he will not be the first from Washington.
   Tom Gorman of Seattle reached the semifinals at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the French Open in the early 1970s and coached the U.S. Davis Cup team to titles in 1990 and 1992.             
   Patrick Galbraith of Tacoma reached No. 1 in the world in doubles in 1993, and Jan-Michael Gambill of the Spokane area in eastern Washington climbed to No. 14 in singles 10 years ago.
   Makarova was born in Montreal to Russian parents and moved with her family to San Diego when she was 4 because of her father's job. Michael Popkov is a scientist. Christina's mother and coach, Luda, was once the highest-ranked woman in the Soviet Union.
   Makarova, who will be a sophomore at an online high school in the fall, will either turn pro in the next few years or attend college.            
   "It depends on how things go," she said.
   Champions from Northern California in the West Coast Junior Championships were:
   --Eighth-seeded Sarah Hu of Oakland in girls 16 singles.
   --Unseeded Katya Tabachnik of San Francisco in girls 14 singles.
   --Second-seeded Richard Pham of Saratoga and Brandon Sutter of El Dorado Hills in boys 18 doubles.
   --Unseeded Kristy Jorgensen of San Carlos and Christi Tain of Milpitas in girls 16 doubles.
   --Top-seeded Grace Lin of South San Francisco and Karina Vyrlan of Sacramento in girls 14 doubles.