Anisimova, 15, ousts No. 3 seed in 60K Sacramento

   In a matchup of top U.S. prospects, 15-year-old Amanda Anisimova ousted third-seeded Kayla Day 6-3, 7-5 today in the first round of the $60,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger in the Sacramento area.
  In May, Anisimova of Hallandale Beach, Fla., became the youngest player to compete in the women's main draw of the French Open since 15-year-old Alize Cornet in 2005.
   Day, a 17-year-old left-hander from Santa Barbara, Calif., advanced to the third round of the prestigious BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells in March, losing to Garbine Muguruza 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. Muguruza won Wimbledon nine days ago for her second Grand Slam singles title.
   In another upset today, 24-year-old wild card Robin Anderson beat No. 6 seed Lizette Cabrera of Australia 7-5, 6-3.
   No. 2 seed Kristie Ahn, a 25-year-old former Stanford star based in Orlando, Fla., and No. 7 Danielle Collins, 23, of St. Petersburg, Fla., advanced in straight sets.
   Ahn, ranked No. 116, defeated 19-year-old left-hander Francesca Di Lorenzo, the top-ranked college player all spring as an Ohio State sophomore, 6-4, 6-4.
   Collins, the 2014 and 2016 NCAA champion from the University of Virginia, dismissed U.S. wild card Anna Tatishvili, a former top-50 player, 6-0, 6-3.
   In the final round of qualifying, cancer survivor Victory Duval, 21, of Bradenton, Fla., overwhelmed Michaela Gordon of Saratoga in the San Francisco Bay Area 6-0, 6-1 in 60 minutes.
   Duval was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2014, shortly before cracking the top 100. Gordon will turn 18 on Wednesday and enroll at Stanford in September.
   Here are the Sacramento qualifying, singles and doubles draws and Wednesday's schedule.

Grueling workouts as teen pay off for 30 Indoors champ

Second-seeded Jan Tiilikainen, left, used his outstanding fitness
to beat top-seeded Clayton Almeida for his fifth men's singles
title in the National 30 Indoors. Photo by Paul Bauman

   GOLD RIVER, Calif. — From age 15 to 18, Jan Tiilikainen endured workouts that make a North Korean labor camp look like Club Med.
   "We had a crazy coach in Finland," Tiilikainen, a 42-year-old Reno teaching pro from Helsinki, recalled Monday after winning his fifth singles title in the USTA National Men's, Women & Mixed 30 Indoor Championships. "We did 2 1/2 hours of conditioning five or six days a week in addition to tennis. He'd put a bucket in the corner of the field and say, 'Go throw up.'
   "We'd carry a guy piggyback 400 yards around a track. We'd run a lap, do 2,000 sit-ups, run a lap ... We'd do cross-country skiing pulling a sled filled with rocks uphill. Your thighs would be burning. We did whatever he'd come up with. You never knew what to expect."
   Tiilikainen continued: "If you didn't give 100 percent, you were out of the group. He'd get someone else. There were eight of us.
   "I was never kicked out. I was very self-motivated. I was usually the first guy out there and the last guy who left the gym."
   Considering that regimen — and other factors — it's not so surprising that it was the much younger, bigger and stronger Clayton Almeida rather than Tiilikainen who broke down in the final at the Spare Time Indoor Tennis Center.
   Almeida, the top seed from West Palm Beach, Fla., strained a groin and quadriceps muscle late in the second set of the second-seeded Tiilikainen's 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 victory. Clearly hurting, Almeida stopped moving in the third set of the 2-hour, 44-minute match. At times, the 33-year-old Brazil native bent over and winced between points.
   "It was a tough decision whether to keep playing or retire," conceded Almeida, who had cramped at the end of his 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 semifinal victory. "I've never retired in my life. Jani is a great guy. It definitely would have taken a little bit away from his title. It's just not a part of me."  
   Tiilikainen, meanwhile, looked as if he could run all day. He was playing at sea level rather than at Reno's 4,505-foot (1,373-meter) elevation, and he's accustomed to playing four matches a day (singles and doubles) in the heat in outdoor tournaments.
   "This is easy for me," proclaimed Tiilikainen, who played singles only in the 30 Indoors.
   Indeed, when asked what he considers his greatest strength, Tiilikainen blurted, "Fitness." 

Heather Nobler, middle, won the women's singles round robin. Marisue Jacu-
tin Mariona, left, finished second, and Petra Wallace, right, was third.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Heather Nobler of Lincoln, Neb., won the women's title by finishing 3-0 in round-robin play. The former University of Oklahoma standout coasted after outdueling Marisue Jacutin-Mariona 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (4) in Saturday's opening round.
   Almeida and Tiilikainen contrasted sharply in almost every way.
   Almeida, 6-foot-5 (1.96 meters) and 225 pounds (102.1 kilograms), looks more like a tight end or heavyweight boxer than a tennis player.
   Tiilikainen, 5-foot-11 (1.80) and 158 pounds (71.7), looks by comparison as if he could have ridden California Chrome to victory in Saturday's Kentucky Derby instead of demolishing Joshua Prager of Yuba City 6-0, 6-0 in the quarterfinals.
   Almeida has a powerful serve and sensational one-handed backhand. Tiilikainen employs a strong return of serve and slugs two-fisted backhands.  
   Both starred at U.S. colleges but in vastly different parts of the country. Almeida played at Winthrop in steamy Rock Hill, S.C., and Tiilikainen in the desert at Nevada.
   After winning the 30 Indoors title in his debut in 2007 and repeating in 2008, 2010 and 2011, Tiilikainen lost to former Pepperdine All-American Calle Hansen in the semifinals in 2012 and final last year.
   "It bugged me," Tiilikainen, whose brother Kim coaches 2013 Wimbledon semifinalist Jerzy Janowicz of Poland, said of the drought. "It was a long drive home. People were texting me wishing me good luck (this year), and it's always nicer to text back saying I won."
   In Almeida, Tiilikainen was playing a 6-foot-5, 33-year-old in the final for the second year in a row.
   "This guy had beaten Hansen in college," Tiilikainen noted. "I knew it would be a tough match."
   But Tiilikainen figured he could use Almeida's size against him.
   "I knew if I could keep him moving and stretching, I'd get him tired," Tiilikainen offered.
   Eventually, that's what happened.
   The first set was a titanic, 65-minute battle as the players traded vicious groundstrokes and displayed tremendous mental toughness. Almeida survived four set points to hold serve for 5-5 and broke Tiilikainen at love on a runaround forehand passing shot for 6-5. Tiilikainen saved five set points in the next game before uncharacteristically spraying a forehand wide to hand Almeida the set.
   Both players held serve for 3-3 in the second set, but Almeida was done. Tiilikainen won nine of the last 11 games.       
   "He chases everything down, hits solid and puts a lot of stress on your body," Almeida said. "I'll practice more for next year."
   Almeida, a teaching pro, is playing in the 30s for the first year as he prepares for the 35s. He won the  USTA 30 Hard Court Championships in Austin, Texas, in March for his first gold ball.
   "I love teaching and playing," Almeida gushed. "It's more about the competition than the gold ball. To know I can still play at this level at 33, it makes me happy at the end of the day."

USTA NATIONAL MEN'S, WOMEN'S & MIXED 30 INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

Men's singles final

   Jan Tiilikainen (2), Reno, def. Clayton Almeida (1), West Palm Beach, Fla., 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.

Women's singles final round-robin standings

   1. Heather Nobler, Lincoln, Neb., 3-0.
   2. Marisue Jacutin-Mariona, Los Altos, 2-1.
   3. Petra Wallace, Sacramento, 1-2.
   4. Amy McCampbell, Austin, Texas, 0-3.

Men's doubles final

   Darrin Cohen, Lafayette, and Pablo Schurig, Walnut Creek, def. Derek Fitzpatrick, San Jose, and Marco Foelz, Campbell, 6-2, 6-4.

Women's doubles final round-robin standings

   1. Lauren Barnikow and Francesca LaO (2), San Francisco, 3-0.
   2. Amy McCampbell, Austin, Texas, and Heather Nobler (1), Lincoln, Neb., 2-1.
   3. Ditta Reed and Petra Wallace, Sacramento, 1-2.
   4. Camille Benvenuti, Sacramento, and Stacey Griggs, Carmichael, 0-3.

Mixed doubles final

   Francesca LaO, San Francisco, and Jason Pickett, San Carlos, def. Clayton Almeida, West Palm Beach, Fla., and Heather Nobler (1), Lincoln, Neb., 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Pegula withdraws from Gold River Challenger

Maria Sanchez, left, defeated Jessica Pegula, right, in the final
of last year's inaugural FSP Gold River Women's Challenger.
2012 photo by Paul Bauman

   One day after last year's champion accepted a wild card in the $50,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger, 2012 runner-up Jessica Pegula withdrew.
   Jessica Pegula, a 19-year-old resident of Boca Raton, Fla., today dropped off the acceptance list for the July 1-6 tournament. But Maria Sanchez, a 23-year-old Modesto native, plans to defend her title at the Gold River Racquet Club in the Sacramento area.
   Sanchez, a former USC All-American who's mentored by International Tennis Hall of Famer Chris Evert, defeated Pegula 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the final of last year's inaugural tournament. Pegula's billionaire father, Terry, owns the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League.
   Five players ranked in the top 200 in the world tentatively are entered in the Gold River Challenger. Sanchez tops the list at No. 114. She is followed by Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal at No. 131, Casey Dellacqua of Australia at No. 145, Chanel Simmonds of South Africa at No. 165 and Julie Coin of France at No. 176. 
    Larcher de Brito played one season for the Sacramento Capitals, helping them win the last of their record six World TeamTennis titles in 2007. At 14, she was the youngest player in league history until Madison Keys surpassed her by 19 days two years later as a 14-year-old with the Philadelphia Freedoms. Keys, who also lives in Boca Raton, is now ranked a career-high 53rd.
   Dellacqua, a 28-year-old left-hander, won the 2011 French Open mixed doubles title with former Stanford All-American Scott Lipsky and reached this year's Australian Open women's doubles final with Ashleigh Barty, then 16. It was the first time since 1977 that two Aussie women played in the Australian Open title match. 
   See below for the full updated Gold River Challenger acceptance list.
   U.S. Open National Playoffs -- Andrew Ball, Giuliana Olmos and the mixed doubles team of Eric Roberson and Yasmin Schnack won titles in Salinas in Northern California Sectional Qualifying for the U.S. Open National Playoffs.
   All advanced to the U.S. Open National Playoffs Championship in New Haven, Conn. Winners of the men's and women's singles events, Aug. 16-19, will receive wild cards in the U.S. Open qualifying tournament scheduled for Aug. 20-23. The champions of the mixed doubles event, Aug. 21-24, will earn a berth in the mixed doubles main draw of the U.S. Open, Aug. 26-Sept. 9.
   Ball, a Palo Alto resident who will be a freshman at Harvard in the fall, defeated Joshua Pompan of Salinas 6-3, 6-1 in the sectional final. Fremont's Olmos, who recently finished her sophomore year at USC, held off Lejla Hodzic of Santa Clara 6-1, 6-4 for the title.
   Roberson and Schnack, both from the Sacramento area, routed Conor Berg and Hadley Berg of Greenbrae 6-2, 6-1 in the final. Schnack played on UCLA's NCAA championship team in 2008 as a sophomore and retired from professional tennis last year. Roberson played at Boise State.

$50,000 FSP GOLD RIVER WOMEN'S CHALLENGER

July 1-6 at Gold River Racquet Club

Updated acceptance list (subject to change)

(With world rankings as of June 10)

1	Michelle LARCHER DE BRITO (POR)	130
2	Casey DELLACQUA (AUS)	139
3	Chanel SIMMONDS (RSA)	166
4	Julie COIN (FRA)	176
5	Madison BRENGLE (USA)	219
6	Petra RAMPRE (SLO)	225
7	Ivana LISJAK (CRO)	236
8	Heidi EL TABAKH (CAN)	280
9	Jarmila GAJDOSOVA (AUS)	281
10	Storm SANDERS (AUS)	282
11	Victoria DUVAL (USA)	303
12	Allie KIICK (USA)	306
13	Sanaz MARAND (USA)	324
14	Jelena PANDZIC (CRO)	329
15	So-Ra LEE (KOR)	336
16	Allie WILL (USA)	337
17	Naomi BROADY (GBR)	345
18	Mai MINOKOSHI (JPN)	347
19	Asia MUHAMMED (USA)	356
20	Mayo HIBI (JPN)	375
21	Ashley WEINHOLD (USA)	394
22	Jan ABAZA (USA)	396
23	Sally PEERS (AUS)	413

Ex-Capital King withdraws from Gold River Challenger

   Well, that didn't take long.
   Two days after the initial acceptance list for the $50,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger was released, Vania King withdrew Sunday.
   King had topped all players on the list with a world ranking of No. 117 before improving to No. 113 this week. The 24-year-old Long Beach product played all or part of the past three seasons for the Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis. But she will return to the Springfield Lasers this season after being named the 2009 WTT Female MVP as a member of the Missouri-based team. 
   The top three entries for the Gold River Challenger, July 1-6 at the Gold River Racquet Club in the Sacramento area, are now No. 129 Julia Glushko of Israel, No. 131 Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal and No. 135 Jessica Pegula of Boca Raton, Fla.
   Glushko, 23, won three qualifying matches to advance to the main draw of the recent French Open. She then lost to 71st-ranked Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor of Spain in the first round.
   Larcher de Brito played one season for the Capitals, helping them win the last of their record six WTT titles in 2007. At 14, she was the youngest player in league history until Madison Keys surpassed her by 19 days two years later as a 14-year-old with the Philadelphia Freedoms. Keys, who also lives in Boca Raton, is now ranked a career-high 53rd.
   Pegula, whose billionaire father owns the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League, reached the final of last year's inaugural Gold River Challenger at age 18. She lost to Modesto native Maria Sanchez, who is not entered this year but could receive a wild card.

Sacramento finally lands women's pro tournament

   A women's professional tournament finally is coming to the Sacramento area.
   The $50,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger is scheduled for May 27-June 3 at the Gold River Racquet Club. Since pro tennis returned to Sacramento in 2005 after 33 years, the area has hosted many men's Challengers and Futures -- comparable to Triple-A and Class-A baseball, respectively -- but none for women.
   The Gold River Challenger, the only $50,000 women's tournament in California, replaces Carson on the calendar. Last year's champions were top-seeded Camila Giorgi, an Italian ranked No. 197 in the world at the time, in singles and fourth-seeded Alexandra Mueller of Abington, Pa., and Asia Muhammed of Las Vegas in doubles. Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove in the Sacramento area reached the singles quarterfinals and the doubles final (with since-retired Christina Fusano, a Sacramento native).
   Muhammed, who will turn 21 on April 4, and Schnack, 23, will be teammates on the Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis in July.
   Schnack plans to play at Gold River and probably will be joined by Maria Sanchez of Modesto, said tournament director Kelly Wilson. Schnack and Sanchez -- former rivals as UCLA and USC All-Americans, respectively -- play doubles together on the Challenger circuit.
   The Capitals played home matches at Gold River for 15 years, leaving for Sunrise Mall in 2002 because of complaints from homeowners about traffic, noise and lights. The team returned to Sunrise Mall last season after four years at the Galleria in Roseville.
   New rankings -- Doubles specialist John Paul Fruttero, a former Cal All-American, cracked the top 100 for the first time at age 30. Fruttero, who lives in San Jose, rose six spots to No. 99 by winning the $50,000 Challenger in Pingguo, China, with Raven Klaasen of South Africa.
   Following are this week's world rankings of professional players with Northern California ties (change from last week in parentheses):

Men

   Bob Bryan, 1998 NCAA doubles champion from Stanford -- No. 1 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Mike Bryan, 1998 NCAA doubles champion from Stanford -- No. 1 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Mardy Fish, Sacramento Capitals (2012) of World TeamTennis -- No. 8 in singles (no change), No. 105 in doubles (-1).
   John Paul Fruttero, Cal All-American in 2001 and 2002 -- Career-high No. 99 in doubles (+6), unranked in singles.
   Kiryl Harbatsiuk, three-time Big Sky Conference MVP (2009-11) at Sacramento State -- No. 768 in singles (-2), No. 1,249 in doubles (+2).
   Mark Knowles, Capitals (2001-07, 2009-12) -- No. 72 in doubles (-11), unranked in singles.
   Scott Lipsky, 2002 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford -- No. 35 in doubles (+2), unranked in singles.
   David Martin, 2002 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford -- No. 152 in doubles (+4), No. 762 in singles (-5).
   Conor Niland, 2006 Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Year and two-time All-American at Cal -- No. 313 in singles (+5), unranked in doubles.
   Sam Querrey, San Francisco native -- No. 102 in singles (-17), No. 28 in doubles (+7).
   Jean-Julien Rojer, Capitals (2012) -- No. 38 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Dmitry Tursunov, Folsom resident -- No. 65 in singles (-4), No. 224 in doubles (-2).
   Jimmy Wang, Folsom resident -- No. 188 in singles (+21), No. 386 in doubles (+29).

Women

   Raquel Kops-Jones, 2003 NCAA doubles champion from Cal -- Career-high No. 28 in doubles (no change), No. 712 in singles (+2).
   Asia Muhammed, Capitals (2012) -- No. 182 in doubles (+4), No. 381 in singles (+6).
   Maria Sanchez, Modesto resident -- Career-high No. 187 in doubles (+4), career-high No. 383 in singles (+97).

   Yasmin Schnack, Elk Grove resident, Capitals (2011-12) -- Career-high No. 169 in doubles (no change), career-high No. 372 in singles (+5).
   Coco Vandeweghe, Capitals (2009, 2012) -- No. 169 in singles (-10), No. 415 in doubles (+4).

King, Shvedova take Cincinnati doubles title

   Vania King of the Sacramento Capitals and Yaroslava Shvedova picked a good time to win their first women's doubles title of the year.
   In their last tournament before defending their U.S. Open crown, the third seeds edged unseeded Natalie Grandin and Vladimira Uhlirova 6-4, 3-6, 11-9 tiebreak Sunday in the $2.05 million Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.
   Grandin, a South African who played as an early-season substitute for the Capitals in their World TeamTennis championship season of 2007, and Uhlirova, a Czech, came within two points of winning while leading 8-7 in the match tiebreaker. 
   King, a Long Beach product living in Boynton Beach, Fla., won her 13th WTA doubles title and Kazakhstan's Shvedova her fifth. They captured their third career title together, but first outside of a Grand Slam, since pairing up in June 2010. King and Shvedova took the Wimbledon crown last year in their third tournament together.
   Grandin and Uhlirova fell to 0-5 in WTA doubles finals. Still, they knocked off top-seeded Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik, fourth-seeded Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova and seventh-seeded Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka en route to the final.
   Peschke and Srebotnik are the reigning Wimbledon champions and world No. 1s, and Hlavackova Hradecka are the current French Open champs.
   The U.S. Open is scheduled for Aug. 29 through Sept. 11.
   Schnack falls short -- Second-seeded Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove lost to unseeded Robin Anderson of Matawan, N.J., 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 in the final of the U.S. Open National Playoffs in New Haven, Conn.
   Anderson, an incoming UCLA freshman, advanced to the U.S. Open qualifying tournament, Tuesday through Friday in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   Schnack, who graduated from UCLA last year, will turn her attention to mixed doubles with Sacramento's Eric Roberson in the U.S. Open National Playoffs beginning Wednesday in New Haven. Also entered are the team of Christina Fusano, a Sacramento native and ex-Cal star living in nearby Plymouth, and  David Martin, a former Stanford All-American. The winners of the 16-team event earn a berth in the main draw of mixed doubles at the U.S. Open.
   Stryhas, Meliuk earn titles -- In an all-Rio del Oro Racquet Club final, top-seeded Anton Stryhas routed second-seeded Aliaksandr Malko 6-2, 6-1 to win the men's open singles title in the Spare Time Adult Tennis Championships at the Gold River Racquet Club.
   Maryia Meliuk emerged from round-robin play to win the women's open singles crown.
   Second-seeded Jordan Boyls and Kevin Vieria and top-seeded Gergana Avramova-Hunt and Joyce Martinez won the men's and women's open doubles titles, respectively.