Stanford's Gordon avoids letdown, rolls in NCAA singles

Michaela Gordon, shown on May 5, dominated in the first round of the NCAA
Singles Championships one day after helping Stanford win its second consec-
utive NCAA title. Photo by Mal Taam

   Michaela Gordon easily could have suffered a letdown in the first round of the NCAA Singles Championships.

   Instead, the Stanford sophomore from Saratoga in the San Francisco Bay Area dominated. 

   Less than 24 hours after helping Stanford win its second consecutive NCAA title, Gordon routed fifth-seeded Makenna Jones of North Carolina 6-2, 6-1 today in Orlando, Fla.

   Gordon, who outlasted Jones 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 two days ago in the team semifinals, has won nine of her last 10 matches. She will face Jada Hart of UCLA.

   Two other Stanford players lost three-set battles. Senior Melissa Lord fell to Paola Delgado of Virginia Commonwealth 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, and junior Emily Arbuthnott came up short against Justina Mikulskyte of Kentucky 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.

   Cal women went 1-1. Sophomore Julia Rosenqvist overwhelmed Valeriya Zeleva of Central Florida 6-0, 6-2, but senior Olivia Hauger lost to 2017 NCAA champion Brienne Minor of Michigan 6-1, 6-4. Rosenqvist will take on No. 9-16 seed Anastasia Rychagova of Kansas.

   Texas Tech's Felicity Maltby, a senior from the Bay Area suburb of Sunnyvale, surprised No. 9-16 seed Christina Rosca of Vanderbilt 6-2, 7-5 to set up a match against Aiwen Zhu of UNLV.

   South Carolina's Paige Cline, a senior from Kentfield in the Bay Area seeded No. 9-16, lost to Katarina Stresnakova of Oklahoma State 6-2, 6-4.
   In the men's draw, Stanford freshman Alexandre Rotsaert fell to Emil Reinberg of Georgia 6-2, 7-5. Cardinal sophomore Axel Geller, ranked No. 13 in singles, withdrew from singles and doubles. The reason was not disclosed.
   Florida's Sam Riffice, who grew up in Roseville in the Sacramento region, knocked off No. 9-16 seed Johannes Schretter of Baylor 7-5, 6-2. Riffice, the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year, will meet Daniel Cukierman of USC.
   Columbia's Victor Pham, a senior from Saratoga, outplayed Carlos Divar of Georgia Tech 6-2, 6-2. Pham will take on No. 9-16 Yuya Ito, the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA team competition after clinching the title for Texas on Sunday.
   The NCAA Doubles Championships begin Tuesday.

Three Stanford women chosen for NCAA singles

Stanford's Michaela Gordon, a sophomore from Saratoga in the San Francisco
Bay Area, was selected to play singles and doubles in the NCAA Champion-
ships, May 20-25 in Orlando, Fla. Photo by Rob Vomund

   Three women from defending champion Stanford are two from Cal were among the 64 singles players selected Tuesday for the NCAA Championships.
   The men's and women's singles and doubles tournaments are scheduled for May 20-25, following the May 16-19 team competition, at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.
   Stanford will send sophomore Michaela Gordon of Saratoga in the San Francisco Bay Area, junior Emily Arbuthnott and senior Melissa Lord. Cardinal senior Caroline Lampl was named as an alternate.
   Representing Cal in singles will be senior Olivia Haugen and sophomore Julia Rosenqvist.
   Also chosen were South Carolina's Paige Cline, a senior from Kentfield, and Texas Tech's Felicity Maltby, a senior from Sunnyvale. Kentfield and Sunnyvale are also in the Bay Area.
   The 32-team doubles field includes the teams of Arbuthnott and Gordon, Lampl and senior Kimberly Yee, and Rosenqvist and sophomore Hana Mraz. Saint Mary's sophomores Hind Abdelouahid and Mariia Kozyreva are alternates.
   Stanford sophomore Axel Geller is seeded 9-16 in men's singles. Also selected were Columbia's Victor Pham, a senior from Saratoga, and Florida's Sam Riffice, a freshman who grew up in the Sacramento suburb of Roseville.
   The doubles draw includes Geller and freshman Alexandre Rotsaert, Cal freshman Yuta Kikuchi and sophomore Jacob Brumm, and Vanderbilt senior Cameron Klinger from San Jose and junior Billy Rowe.

Stanford's Geller rises to No. 8; Gibbs falls in qualies

Stanford's Axel Geller, playing in the $100,000 Fairfield (Calif.)
Challenger last October, improved five spots to No. 8 in the Inter-
collegiate Tennis Association rankings. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Despite not beating a ranked player, Stanford's Axel Geller jumped five spots to No. 8 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings released today.
   Since the last singles rankings on Feb. 20, the sophomore from Argentina sat out of singles in Stanford's 4-0 victory over UC Davis on Feb. 22 and crushed Cal's Jacob Brumm 6-1, 6-0 on Court 1 in the Cardinal's 4-2 win over Cal on Feb. 24. Both dual matches were at Stanford.
   Geller ended 2017 as the No. 1 junior in the world.
   The Cardinal (9-2) remained No. 7, and Cal (2-5), previously No. 40, dropped out of the 50-team rankings.
   In the women's team rankings, Stanford (6-1) stayed No. 4, and Cal (5-3) fell four notches to No. 20.
   BNP Paribas Open -- No. 10 seed Zarina Diyas, a Kazakh who reached a career-high No. 31 in 2015, defeated Nicole Gibbs (Stanford, 2011-13) 7-6 (4), 7-5 in the second (final) round of qualifying in Indian Wells.
   Gibbs, who turned 26 on Sunday, has not won a main-draw match in Indian Wells since reaching the fourth round as a qualifier in 2016.

INTERCOLLEGIATE TENNIS ASSOCIATION RANKINGS

(Top 10 plus Northern California; previous ranking in parentheses)

Men's team

1. Ohio State (1)
2. Wake Forest (2)
3. Texas (3)
4. Virginia (4)
5. Baylor (7)
6. North Carolina (6)
7. Stanford (5)
8. Columbia (9)
9. Florida (10)
10. Mississippi State (8)

Men's singles

1. JJ Wolf, Ohio State (1)
2. Petros Chrysochos, Wake Forest (2)
3. Nuno Borges, Mississippi State (3)
4. Christian Sigsgaard, Texas (8)
5. Thomas Laurent, Oregon (7)
6. Daniel Cukierman, USC (11)
7. Alex Rybakov, TCU (6)
8. Axel Geller, Stanford (13)
9. Yuya Ito, Texas (12)
10. Jan Zielinski, Georgia (5)
31. Victor Pham (Saratoga), Columbia (65)
32. Alexandre Rotsaert, Stanford (39)
35. Sameer Kumar, Stanford (31)
48. Sam Riffice (Roseville), Florida (46)
56. William Genesen, Stanford (60)
105. Zdenek Derkas, Fresno State (NR)

Men's doubles

1. Henry Patten and Oli Nolan, UNC Ashville (1)
2. Sven Lah and Jimmy Bendeck, Baylor (2)
3. Niclas Braun and Giovanni Oradini, Mississippi State (6)
4. Constant De La Bassetiere and Gabriel Nemeth, Penn State (7)
5. Fabian Fallert and Finn Reynolds, Mississippi (4)
6. Parker Wynn and Bjorn Thomson, Texas Tech (8)
7. Nuno Borges and Strahinja Rakic, Mississippi State (11)
8. Kyle Seelig and Alex Kobelt, Ohio State (3)
9. Johannes Ingildsen and Brian Berdusco, Florida (14)
10. Jack Lin and William Matheson, Columbia (5)
11. Yuta Kikuchi and Jacob Brumm, Cal (13)
27. Sam Riffice (Roseville) and Andy Andrade, Florida (16)
33. Paul Barretto (Tiburon) and Can Kaya, Cal (31)
70. Axel Geller and Alexandre Rotsaert, Stanford (NR)

Women's team

1. North Carolina (1)
2. Georgia (2)
3. Duke (3)
4. Stanford (4)
5. Vanderbilt (6)
6. UCLA (5)
7. Washington (22)
8. Oklahoma State (8)
9. South Carolina (10)
10. Ohio State (14)
20. Cal (16)

Women's singles

1. Katarina Jokic, Georgia (1)
2. Estela Perez-Somarriba, Miami (Fla.) (7)
3. Fernanda Contreras, Vanderbilt 3)
4. Kate Fahey, Michigan (8)
5. Makenna Jones, North Carolina (2)
6. Alexa Graham, North Carolina (5)
7. Sophie Whittle, Gonzaga (4)
8. Christina Rosca, Vanderbilt (9)
9. Ingrid Gamarra Martins, South Carolina (10)
10. Elysia Bolton, UCLA (11)
17. Emily Arbuthnott, Stanford (19)
22. Michaela Gordon, Stanford (16)
24. Olivia Hauger, Cal (20)
25. Julia Rosenqvist, Cal (45)
41. Melissa Lord, Stanford (49)
49. Paige Cline (Kentfield), South Carolina (38)
51. Caroline Lampl, Stanford (59)
55. Janice Shin, Stanford (58)
63. Emma Higuchi, Stanford (63)
74. Anna Bright, Cal (69)
94. Sara Choy (Palo Alto), Stanford (76)
106. Niluka Madurawe (Sunnyvale), Stanford (78)
107. Mariia Kozyreva, Saint Mary's (93)
115. Katerina Stloukalova, Cal (NR)

Women's doubles

1. Ashley Lahey and Evgeniya Levashova, Pepperdine (5)
2. Janet Koch and Nina Khmelnitckaia, Kansas (3)
3. Jessica Golovin and Eden Richardson, LSU (11)
4. Fernanda Navarro and Marie Leduc, Clemson (1)
5. Cameron Morra and Makenna Jones, North Carolina (4)
6. Lauryn John-Baptiste and Ilze Hattingh, Arizona State (6)
7. Mia Horvit and Ingrid Gamarra Martins, South Carolina (2)
8. Kaitlin Staines and Sadie Hammond, Tennessee (9)
9. Jessie Aney and Alexa Graham, North Carolina (16)
10. Gabby Andrews and Ayan Broomfield, UCLA (8)
11. Kimberly Yee and Caroline Lampl, Stanford (12)
20. Emily Arbuthnott and Michaela Gordon, Stanford (15)
23. Anna Bright and Jasie Dunk, Cal (23)
26. Hana Mraz and Julia Rosenqvist, Cal (28)
27. Kimberly Yee and Niluka Madurawe (Sunnyvale), Stanford (29)
36. Melissa Lord and Niluka Madurawe (Sunnyvale), Stanford (40)
48. Abi Altick and Alaina Miller (Saratoga), UCLA (38)
50. Katerina Stloukalova and Hana Mraz, Cal (NR)

Stanford's Geller tops world junior boys rankings

   From the pros to college to the juniors, it was a sensational two days for Stanford.
   On Sunday, ex-Cardinal star Kristie Ahn won the $80,000 Tyler (Texas) Challenger for the biggest title of her career. Also, sophomore Emily Arbuthnott and freshman Michaela Gordon won the women's doubles title in the ITA National Fall Championships in Indian Wells, Calif.
   On Monday, freshman Axel Geller of Argentina rose to No. 1 in the ITF world junior boys rankings. It's uncertain if or when another college player has achieved that distinction.
   Geller reached the Wimbledon and U.S. Open junior finals this year, losing to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain and Wu Yibing of China, respectively. Geller won the Wimbledon doubles title with Hsu Yu Hsiou of Taiwan.
   Stanford, coached by alumnus and former world top-60 player Paul Goldstein, will open its dual-match season against San Francisco on Jan. 19 at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.

Nadal dominates Anderson for 16th major title

Rafael Nadal, playing at Indian Wells in March, beat Kevin Anderson
6-3, 6-3, 6-4 today for his third U.S. Open title. Photo by Mal Taam

   It had all the suspense of a trip to the dry cleaner.
   Top-ranked Rafael Nadal coasted past 28th-seeded Kevin Anderson 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 today in the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., for his second Grand Slam singles title of the year and 16th overall. Nadal, 31, ranks second behind 36-year-old Roger Federer, who has 19 Slams.
   It was Nadal's third U.S. Open title and first since 2013. Because of injuries, he failed to advance past the quarterfinals of 10 consecutive majors from Wimbledon in 2014 through last year's U.S. Open.
   "Of course, after a couple of years without competing at this very high, high level," Nadal told reporters, "very happy to be back."
   Anderson, a 31-year-old South African, capitalized on a depleted draw to become the tallest Grand Slam finalist in history at 6-foot-8 (2.03 meters. The top five players in the 2006 year-end rankings -- Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Milos Raonic, Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori -- missed the tournament with injuries.
   At No. 32, Anderson was the lowest-ranked U.S. Open men's finalist since the ATP computer rankings began in 1973.
   Anderson has played extensively in Northern California, beginning with his NCAA doubles title in the 2006 tournament at Stanford as an Illinois junior. The following year, he reached the final of a $15,000 Futures tournament in Loomis in the Sacramento area, losing to since-retired American Scoville Jenkins.
   In 2012, Anderson advanced to the quarterfinals of the SAP Open in his only appearance in San Jose and played part-time for the Sacramento Capitals in World TeamTennis. The SAP Open and Capitals folded after the 2013 season.
   Junior girls -- Not only did the United States sweep the women's semifinal berths, two Americans met in the girls singles final.
   Fourth-seeded Amanda Anisimova overpowered unseeded Cori Gauff 6-0, 6-2 in a matchup of 16- and 13-year-old potential superstars, respectively.
   Anisimova, 5-foot-10 (1.83 meters), won the $60,000 Sacramento Challenger in July for her first professional title. She turned pro last September shortly after turning 15.
   Anisimova was born in Freehold Township, N.J., to Russians Konstantin Anisimov and Olga Anisimova. Amanda speaks Russian at home in Aventura, Fla., but has never been to her parents' homeland.
   Junior boys -- No. 2 Yibing Wu of China beat No. 1 Axel Geller, a Stanford freshman from Argentina, 6-4, 6-4 for the title. Geller also was the runner-up at Wimbledon in July.

Poised Stephens routs Keys for U.S. Open title

Sloane Stephens, playing at Indian Wells last year, won the U.S. Open only
nine months after undergoing foot surgery. Photo by Mal Taam

   The occasion got to Madison Keys but not Sloane Stephens.
   Showing remarkable poise in the first Grand Slam final for both players, Stephens routed her close friend 6-3, 6-0 in 61 minutes on Saturday in the U.S. Open.
   It was the first all-American women's final at Flushing Meadows since Serena Williams defeated Venus Williams in 2002 and the most lopsided since Kim Clijsters trounced Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-1 in 2010.
   Stephens, who grew up in Fresno and still has relatives there, made a remarkable comeback from January foot surgery. She became only the second unseeded woman to win the U.S. championships in the Open Era, which began in 1968, and the first American woman not named Williams to capture the title since Lindsay Davenport in 1968.
   "There are no words to describe how I got here -- the process it took or anything like that," the 24-year-old Stephens, who was born in Plantation, Fla., told reporters, "because if you told someone this story, they'd be like, 'That's insane.' "
   Keys committed 30 unforced errors to Stephens' six.
   "I definitely think my play today came down to nerves and all of that," said the 22-year-old Keys, who won the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford last month, "and I just don't think I handled the occasion perfectly."
   Keys, a right-hander with a two-handed backhand, had surgery on her left wrist in November and again in June.
   For the first time in the Open Era, two unseeded women won a Grand Slam singles title in a calendar year. Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia captured the French Open two days after her 20th birthday.
   Stephens began playing tennis at the advanced age of 9 in Fresno. She moved to Boca Raton, Fla., two years later to train at the Evert Tennis Academy.
   Stephens' father, John Stephens, was named the 1988 NFL Offensive Player of the Year as a running back for the New England Patriots, and her mother, Sybil Smith, was Boston University's first All-American in women's swimming. John Stephens died in a one-car accident in his native Louisiana in 2009, days before Sloane played in her first U.S. Open match.
   Junior boys -- Top-seeded Axel Geller, a Stanford freshman from Argentina, beat Timofey Skatov of Russia 6-1, 7-6 (7) to reach his second consecutive Grand Slam final.
   Geller, who lost to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain at Wimbledon, will face second-seeded Yibing Wu of China. Wu edged Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
   Men's Collegiate Invitational -- Tom Fawcett, a Stanford senior, topped Michael Redlicki, who completed his eligibility at Arkansas in May, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 6-4 for the title. None of the eight players in the event were seeded.