Stanford dominates Pac-12 All-Century Team

Stanford's Patty Fendick-McCain, a Sacramento native, was named
the Pac-12 Women's Player of the Century by a panel of coaches,
players, administrators and journalists. File photo courtesy of
Stanford University

   Stanford earned four of the six top honors and Cal one in the Pac-12 All-Century (1915-2015) Men's and Women's Tennis Teams released Tuesday.
   Stanford's Patty Fendick-McCain, a native of Sacramento, was named the Women's Player of the Century.
   Also picked as the century's best were Stanford's Dick Gould (men's coach), Frank Brennan (women's coach) and Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan (men's doubles team), Cal's Amanda Augustus and Amy Jensen (women's doubles team) and USC's Steve Johnson (men's player).
   The men's and women's teams, each consisting of 12 players, were voted on by a panel of 20 coaches, players, administrators and journalists. On the men's side, USC topped all schools with six selections, followed by Stanford (four) and UCLA (two). For the women, Stanford led with seven picks, followed by Cal (two), UCLA (two) and USC (one).
   Fendick-McCain won NCAA singles titles in 1986 and 1987, played on three NCAA championship teams (1984, 1986 and 1987) and was selected in 2006 as the NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Most Outstanding Student-Athlete of the sport's first 25 years. She also was named the MVP of the NCAA's All-Decade Team for the 1980s.
   As a pro, Fendick-McCain reached career highs of No. 4 in the world in doubles and No. 19 in singles. She won 25 WTA titles in doubles, including the 1991 Australian Open with Mary Joe Fernandez, and three in singles.
   Gould won a record 17 NCAA team titles (seven more than second-place George Toley of USC) and coached 10 NCAA singles champions and seven NCAA doubles champs as the Stanford men's coach for 38 years (1966-2004). For 35 years, every four-year member earned at least one NCAA championship ring.
   Gould coached 50 All-Americans and compiled an overall record of 776-148 (.840). Nine of his players reached the top 15 in the world in singles, and 14 climbed to the top 10 in doubles. Of the 14, seven ascended to No. 1.
   Brennan led the Cardinal women to a record 10 NCAA team championships, including six in a row (1986-91), and 13 straight Pac-12 titles (1988-2000).
   Brennan coached nine NCAA singles champions and 40 All-Americans. He had an overall mark of 510-50 (.911) in 21 seasons (1979-2000).
   The Bryan twins won the 1998 NCAA doubles title in their second and last season at Stanford. They have won 16 Grand Slam men's doubles titles and 110 overall and were the world's No. 1 team for 438 weeks. All are records.
   Augustus, now the coach of Cal's top-ranked women's team, and Jensen won the 1998 and 1999 NCAA doubles titles.
   Johnson led USC to four NCAA team titles (2009-12), won two NCAA singles crowns (2011-12) and ended his college career with 72 consecutive singles victories. He is ranked No. 32 in the world and third in the United States.
   Originally the Pac-8, the conference expanded to 10 teams in 1978 and 12 in 2011.

Men's Player of the Century

Steve Johnson, USC, 2009-12

Men's Players of the Century

John McEnroe, Stanford, 1978
Jimmy Connors, UCLA, 1971
Arthur Ashe, UCLA, 1963-65
Steve Johnson, USC, 2009-12
Stan Smith, USC, 1966-68
Dennis Ralston, USC, 1962-64
Bob Bryan, Stanford, 1997-98
Rafael Osuna, USC, 1961-63
Alex Olmedo, USC, 1956-58
Alex O'Brien, Stanford, 1989-92
Bob Lutz, USC, 1967-69
Alex Mayer, Stanford, 1971-73

Men's Doubles Team of the Century

Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, Stanford, 1997-98

Men's Coach of the Century

Dick Gould, Stanford, 1966-2004

Women's Player of the Century

Patty Fendick-McCain, Stanford, 1984-87

Women's Players of the Century

Patty Fendick-McCain, Stanford, 1984-87
Nicole Gibbs, Stanford, 2011-13
Amber Liu, Stanford, 2003-06
Laura Granville, Stanford, 2000-01
Sandra Birch, Stanford, 1998-2001
Barbara Hallquist DeGroot, USC, 1976-79
Kathy Jordan, Stanford, 1978-79
Jana Juricova, Cal, 2009-12
Linda Gates, Stanford, 1982-85
Robin Anderson, UCLA, 2012-15
Amy Jensen, Cal, 1996-2000
Keri Phebus, UCLA, 1993-96

Women's Doubles Team of the Century

Amanda Augustus and Amy Jensen, Cal, 1998-99

Women's Coach of the Century

Frank Brennan, Stanford, 1979-2000

French Open Day 1: Johnson ousts seed in five sets

Steve Johnson beat 26th-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez
in five sets in the first round of the French Open.
2013 photo by Paul Bauman

   Match of the day -- Steve Johnson of Redondo Beach in the Los Angeles area ousted 26th-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (1), 3-6, 6-3.
   Upset of the day -- No. 24 Peng Shuai, a semifinalist at last year's U.S. Open, retired with a back injury while trailing Polona Hercog of Slovenia 6-0, 2-0.
   Notable -- No. 5 Kei Nishikori and No. 8 Stan Wawrinka, both of whom fell in the opening round last year, won in straight sets.
   Men's seeded winners -- No. 2 Roger Federer, No. 5 Kei Nishikori, No. 8 Stan Wawrinka, No. 14 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 19 Roberto Bautista Agut, No. 22 Philipp Kohlschreiber, No. 24 Ernests Gulbis.
   Men's seeded losers -- No. 25 Ivo Karlovic, No. 26 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
   Women's seeded winners -- No. 3 Simona Halep, No. 7 Ana Ivanovic, No. 9 Ekaterina Makarova, No. 13 Lucie Safarova, No. 21 Garbine Muguruza, No. 28 Flavia Pennetta.
   Women's seeded losers -- No. 24 Peng Shuai, No. 31 Caroline Garcia.
   Stars and stripes -- Americans went 1-2. In addition to Johnson's victory, 19-year-old wild card Louisa Chirico lost to ninth-seeded Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 6-4, 6-2, and 5-foot-2 (1.57-meter) Lauren Davis fell to Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
   Fast fact -- Six-foot-11 (2.11-meter) Ivo Karlovic, 36, of Croatia lost in the first round at Roland Garros for the fifth time in his last six appearances. He fell to Cyprus' Marcos Baghdatis, the 2006 Australian Open runner-up, 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-4.
   Northern California connection -- Two Aptos Challenger champions won: Johnson (2012) and Baghdatis (2014).
   Quote -- Federer, on a spectator who got on Center Court to snap selfies with him: "That should never happen on the Philippe Chatrier Court. I'm not happy about it. Obviously not (for) one second (am I) happy about it."

Ex-USC star Johnson rolls to Aptos title

Ex-USC star Steve Johnson, shown against Dmitry
Tursunov in the second round, dominated Aptos
the way he did college tennis. Photo by Paul Bauman

   What does Steve Johnson think this is, college?
   The former USC star dominated the $100,000 Comerica Bank Challenger in Aptos, Calif., the way he did college tennis.
   Playing in his first Challenger singles final, Johnson cruised past ex-Trojan teammate Robert Farah 6-3, 6-3 Sunday at the Seascape Sports Club.They have practiced together many times, but this was their first official match against each other.
   Johnson, a 22-year-old wild card from Orange, Calif., did not lose a set during the week. His closest match actually came in the first round, 6-3, 7-5 against 6-foot-5 left-hander Carlos Salamanca of Colombia.
   Johnson then got a break when Russian Dmitry Tursunov, a former top-20 player who owns a townhouse in the Sacramento suburb of Folsom, retired from their second-round matchup at 4-6, 0-0 with a groin injury. 
   With the title, Johnson soared 141 spots in the world rankings to No. 237 after only one month as a professional. The unseeded Farah, 25, of Colombia jumped 36 places to No. 169.
   Johnson was the Michael Phelps of college tennis, ending his USC career in May with 72 consecutive singles victories, four NCAA team titles and two NCAA singles crowns (2011 and 2012).
   Third-seeded John Peers of Australia and Rik de Voest of South Africa won the doubles title in their first tournament together. They edged second-seeded Chris Guccione of Australia and Frank Moser of Germany 6-7 (5), 6-1, 10-4 tiebreak.
   Guccione, a 6-foot-7 left-hander, was bidding for his fourth consecutive Aptos doubles crown. The other three came with ex-partner Carsten Ball, a Southern California native who plays for Australia. Ball did not enter Aptos this year. Guccione also won the 2009 singles title.
   De Voest, 32, won the singles title of the inaugural Sacramento Challenger in 2005 and took the doubles crown there in 2010 with countryman Izak Van der Merwe. Ball and Guccione captured the doubles title in last year's Sacramento Challenger. 

TV SCHEDULE  

(All times PDT)

   Today -- Montreal (women), final, ESPN2, 7-9 p.m. (delay).

CALENDAR

   Aug. 27-Sept. 9 -- U.S. OPEN, Flushing Meadows, N.Y., www.usopen.org.
   Sept. 9-16 -- $25,000 USTA Oak River Rehab Challenger, Sun Oaks Tennis & Fitness, 3452 Argyle Road, Redding, Calif., 96002, www.sunoakschallenger.com, (530) 227-3498.
   Sept. 14 -- World TeamTennis, Western Conference finals, Sacramento Capitals vs. Orange County Breakers, 3:30 p.m. PDT, Charleston, S.C.
   Sept. 15 -- WTT, Eastern Conference finals, Washington Kastles vs. New York Sportimes, 3:30 p.m. PDT, Charleston, S.C.
   Sept. 16 -- WTT Finals, Western Conference champion vs. Eastern Conference champion, 12:30 p.m. PDT, Charleston, S.C.
   Sept. 29-Oct. 7 -- Natomas Men's $100,000 Challenger, Natomas Racquet Club, 2450 Natomas Park Drive, Sacramento, Calif., 95833, www.natomaschallenger.com, (916) 649-0909.
   Oct. 6-14 -- First Republic Bank Men's $100,000 Challenger, Tiburon Peninsula Club, 1600 Mar West St., Tiburon, Calif., 94920, www.tiburon challenger.com, (415) 789-7900.

Stanford's Gibbs ousts NCAA defending champ

   If Nicole Gibbs wins the NCAA women's singles title, she will have earned it.
   The Stanford sophomore, seeded third, cleared one major hurdle Saturday in Athens, Ga., when she eliminated sixth seed and defending champion Jana Juricova of Cal 6-2, 7-5 in the quarterfinals.
   Next for Gibbs is No. 1 seed Allie Will, who has led Florida to two consecutive national championships. The match is scheduled for 9 a.m. PDT today (video streaming at www.georgiadogs.com). And that's just to get to the final.
   Similarly, unseeded Bradley Klahn of Stanford and top-seeded Steve Johnson of USC will meet today at 10:30 a.m. in the men's semifinals. It will be a matchup of the last two NCAA champions. Johnson, a senior from Orange in the Los Angeles area and the defending champ, has won 70 consecutive matches. Klahn, a senior left-hander from the San Diego suburb of Poway, is the last player to beat him. He accomplished  the feat on Jan. 17, 2011).
   Gibbs, a product of Santa Monica in the Los Angeles area, avenged a 6-7 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (2) loss to Juricova in last year's NCAA semifinals at Stanford and improved to 3-0 this season against her Bay Area rival.
   This will be the first time in three years that Juricova, a senior from Slovakia, has not appeared in the NCAA singles final. She lost to Georgia's Chelsey Gullickson in the 2010 title match in Athens.
   Juricova also won the 2009 NCAA doubles title with Mari Andersson but lost in Saturday's doubles quarterfinals with Zsofi Susanyi.
   Will, a senior from Boca Raton, Fla., beat Gibbs 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 on Feb. 12 at Stanford in their only meeting this season.
   Susanyi, a freshman from Hungary, will play fifth-seeded Mallory Burdette of Stanford in today's other women's singles semifinal. Burdette, a junior from nearby Jackson, Ga., ousted second-seeded Beatrice Capra of Duke 6-3, 6-2. Capra, a freshman from Ellicott City, Md., reached the third round of the 2010 U.S. Open as an 18-year-old wild card.
   Burdette is 2-0 this season against Susanyi, who downed Sabrina Santamaria of USC 6-2, 7-6 (4). Burdette prevailed 6-2, 6-4 and 7-6 (4), 6-2.
   The second-seeded pair of Burdette and Gibbs also advanced to the doubles semifinals.
   Johnson is 2-0 against Klahn this season, winning 6-3, 6-4 and 6-4, 6-3. Klahn had surgery for a herniated disc during the offseason.
   The other men's semifinal pits third-seeded Eric Quigley of Kentucky against No. 9-16 seed Blaz Rola of Ohio State. Rola upset second-seeded Mitchell Frank, a Virginia freshman, 7-6 (5), 6-1.
   Klahn and Ryan Thacher, last year's doubles runners-up, lost in the quarterfinals. Seeded fourth, they fell to Costin Paval and Dane Webb of Oklahoma 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-3.
   See below for Saturday's singles and doubles results of Stanford and Cal players in the NCAA Championships.
   ATP World Tour in Nice, France -- Top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan, the 1998 NCAA doubles champions from Stanford, defeated unseeded Oliver Marach of Austria and Filip Polasek of Slovakia 7-6 (5), 6-3 to win the Open de Nice Cote d'Azur.
   It was the Bryans' third title of the year and 78th overall. They also triumphed in Sydney in January and Monte Carlo last month.
   Women's Challenger in Gold River -- Tatsiana Kapshai, an ex-Sacramento State star, and Kelly Wilson, a former top-200 player in the world who teaches at the host Gold River Racquet Club, highlight today's first round of qualifying in the $50,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger.
   Kapshai, a native of Minsk, Belarus, just completed her eligibility after winning three straight Big Sky Conference MVP awards. She will face Tori Trylovich (Oak Ridge High School in El Dorado Hills, a Sacramento suburb) in the third match on the Stadium Court.
   Wilson, 38, will take on top-seeded Nadia Echeverria Alam, a 17-year-old American, in the third match on Court 1. Kapshai, Trylovich and Wilson are wild cards.
   Play begins on all courts at 10 a.m.

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

In Athens, Ga.

Quarterfinals

Men's singles

   Steve Johnson (1), USC, def. Alex Domijan, Virginia, 6-0, 5-7, 6-1. Bradley Klahn, Stanford, def. Nik Scholtz (9-16), Mississippi, 6-1, 6-3. Eric Quigley (3), Kentucky, def. Henrique Cunha (5), Duke, 6-4, 6-3. Blaz Rola (9-16), Ohio State, def. Mitchell Frank (2), Virginia, 7-6 (5), 6-1.

Men's doubles

   Chase Buchanan and Blaz Rola (1), Ohio State, def. Panav Jha and Eric Quigley (5-8), Kentucky, 6-3, 6-4. Costin Paval and Dane Webb, Oklahoma, def. Bradley Klahn and Ryan Thacher (4), Stanford, 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-3. Chris Thiemann and Marcel Thiemann, Mississippi, def. Antoine Baroz and Alexis Heugas, Virginia Commonwealth, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4). Raony Carvalho and Gonzalo Escobar, Texas Tech, def. Steve Johnson and Roberto Quiroz (2), USC, 6-2, 3-2, ret.

Women's singles

   Allie Will (1), Florida, def. Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar (7), Texas A&M, 6-3, 6-3. Nicole Gibbs (3), Stanford, def. Jana Juricova (6), Cal, 6-2, 7-5. Zsofi Susanyi (9-16), Cal, def. Sabrina Santamaria, USC, 6-2, 7-6 (4). Mallory Burdette (5), Stanford, def. Beatrice Capra (2), Duke, 6-3, 6-2.

Women's doubles

   Courtney Dolehide and Pamela Montez, UCLA, def. Ema Burgic and Nina Secerbegovic, Baylor, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. Nadja Gilchrist and Chelsey Gullickson, Georgia, def. Jana Juricova and Zsofi Susanyi, Cal, 6-1, 6-2. Natalie Pluskota and Kata Szekely, Tennessee, def. Lauren Embree and Joanna Mather, Florida, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (3). Mallory Burdette and Nicole Gibbs (2), Stanford, def. Lorraine Guillermo and Khunpak Issara, Pepperdine, 6-1, 6-3.

TV SCHEDULE

(All Times PDT)

   Today -- French Open, early rounds, ESPN2, 2-7 a.m. (live); Tennis Channel,

7 a.m.-noon (live); NBC, 9 a.m.-noon (live); Tennis Channel, 4-7 p.m. (French Open Tonight). 
   Monday-Friday -- French Open, early rounds, ESPN2, 2-7 a.m. (live); Tennis Channel, 7 a.m.-4 p.m. (live), 4-7 p.m. (French Open Tonight).

CALENDAR

   Through Monday -- NCAA Division I Singles and Doubles Championships, men and women, Athens, Ga., www.georgiadogs.com.
   Today-June 3 -- $50,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger, Gold River Racquet Club, 2201 Gold Rush Drive, Gold River, www.goldriverchallenger.com. Qualifying today (all day beginning at 10 a.m.) and Monday. Main-draw sessions begin at 10 a.m. Tuesday, noon and 6:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, and noon on June 2 (semifinals) and June 3 (finals).
   TODAY-JUNE 10 -- FRENCH OPEN, www.rolandgarros.com.
   Saturday-June 10 -- $15,000 Sacramento Men's Futures, Park Terrace Swim & Tennis Club, 5500 Parkfield Court, Sacramento, www.parkterraceprotennis.org.
   June 9-10, 16-18 -- NorCal 18 Junior Sectional Championships, Sacramento State, www.norcal.usta.com.
   June 9-17 -- $15,000 Chico Men's Futures, Chico Racquet Club & Resort, 1629 Manzanita Ave.
Chico, www.chicoracquetclub.com.
   JUNE 25-JULY 8 -- WIMBLEDON, www.wimbledon.com.
   July 7-15 -- WTA, Bank of the West Classic, Stanford, www.bankofthewestclassic.com.
   July 9 -- World TeamTennis, Sacramento Capitals' season opener at Boston, 4 p.m., www.saccaps.com.

   July 12 -- World TeamTennis, Capitals' home opener (with Mardy Fish) vs. Kansas City, Sunrise Marketplace Stadium, Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, 7:35 p.m., www.saccaps.com.