Evans wins Aptos; Brooksby falls in USTA 16s final

   This time, Daniel Evans took the title.

   Three years after holding a championship point and losing in the $100,000 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger, the top-seeded Evans defeated qualifier Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-4 today to win the tournament at the Seascape Sports Club.

   It was the first meeting between the British players.

   Evans, 26, jumped 20 places in the rankings to a career-high No. 60. He is second in Great Britain behind No. 2 Andy Murray. Both players helped their nation win its first Davis Cup title in 79 years in 2015.

   Norrie, a 20-year-old left-hander, soared 125 spots to No. 298. He reached the NCAA singles semifinals in Tulsa, Okla., in May as a Texas Christian sophomore.

   Evans lost to former Stanford star Bradley Klahn in the 2013 Aptos final after also losing a championship point the previous week in the $100,000 Vancouver Challenger.

   Klahn, a left-hander who will turn 26 on Saturday, has been sidelined for 18 months after undergoing his second operation for a herniated disc in his back.

   Evans won his third Challenger title of the year and fifth overall. He reached the third round at Wimbledon this summer, losing in straight sets to Roger Federer, but has yet to win an ATP World Tour title.

   Norrie, a native of Johannesburg, South Africa, was playing in his first Challenger final. He has won three Futures crowns, including Tulsa and Wichita back-to-back in late June and early July.

   South Africans Nicolaas Scholtz and Tucker Vorster won the Aptos doubles title, edging 21-year-old Mackenzie McDonald of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area and former Cal star Ben McLachlan of New Zealand 6-7 (5), 6-3 [10-8]. 

   USTA junior nationals --  No. 1 seed Lukas Greif of Evansville, Ind., routed No. 10 Jenson Brooksby, a 15-year-old resident of Carmichael in the Sacramento area, 6-0, 6-3 to win the boys 16 title in the USTA National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich.

   Greif also overwhelmed Brooksby 6-1, 6-1 in the final of last month’s USTA National Clay Court Championships in Delray Beach, Fla.

   Brooksby won the USTA National boys 12 title three years ago in Little Rock, Ark.

Brooksby routed in boys 16 final at USTA Clay Courts

No. 14 seed Jenson Brooksby, above, lost to No. 7
Lukas Greif 6-1, 6-1. 2015 photo by Paul Bauman

   On Saturday, Jenson Brooksby routed his opponent to reach the boys 16 final in the USTA National Clay Court Championships.
   Today, though, the 15-year-old resident of Carmichael in the Sacramento area suffered the opposite fate.
   No. 7 seed Lukas Greif of Evansville, Ind., dominated No. 14 Brooksby 6-1, 6-1 in Delray Beach, Fla.
   In the semifinals, Brooksby demolished JanMagnus Johnson of Naples, Fla., 6-1, 6-0.
   Brooksby also was the runner-up in the 14s last year, falling to William Grant of Santa Barbara.
   Brooksby won the 12s in the 2013 USTA National Championships in Little Rock, Ark.
   In boys 16 doubles this week, Brooksby and Stevie Gould of Corte Madera in the San Francisco Bay Area reached the round of 16 before losing to Axel Nefve of Hinsdale, Ill., and William Woodall of Washington, D.C., 6-2, 6-3.