Defending champ Kenin exits; McDonald upsets Coric

Defending champion Sofia Kenin lost to Kaia Kanepi 6-3, 6-2 in the
second round of the Australian Open. 2018 photo by Paul Bauman

   Sofia Kenin not only lost today in the Australian Open, the defending champion went down meekly.

   Kaia Kanepi of Estonia dismissed the fourth-seeded Kenin, from Pembroke Pines, Fla., 6-3, 6-2 in 64 minutes in the second round in Melbourne.

   The 5-foot-11 (1.80-meter) Kanepi, 35, clubbed 10 aces, committed only two double faults and won 80 percent of the points on her first serve (28 of 35). The 5-foot-7 (1.70-meter) Kenin, 22, had 10 winners and 22 unforced errors.

   Kanepi has reached the quarterfinals of the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open twice each but has never advanced past the third round of the Australian Open. Kenin won Northern California Challengers in 2016 at age 17, 2017 and 2018.

   Mackenzie McDonald, a 25-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, surprised 22nd-seeded Borna Coric of Croatia 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. Coric, 24, reached his first Grand Slam quarterfinal in the U.S. Open last September.

   McDonald, now based in Orlando, Fla., is scheduled to play Lloyd Harris, 23, of South Africa on Friday (PST). Harris, who won the 2018 Stockton, Calif., Challenger, topped wild card Alexei Popyrin, a 21-year-old Australian, 6-2, 1-6, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3.

   McDonald defeated Harris 6-7 (4), 7-6 (8), 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the 2018 Seoul Challenger en route to the title in their only previous meeting.

   On the women's side, Kaja Juvan, a 20-year-old Slovenian, defeated fellow qualifier Mayar Sherif (Fresno State, 2015-16) of Egypt 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3. Sherif became the first woman from her country to win a main-draw match in a Grand Slam tournament when she beat qualifier Chloe Paquet of France 7-5, 7-5 in the opening round.

   In the first round of men's doubles, fifth seeds and defending champions Rajeev Ram, a volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley, and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain beat Jonny O'Mara of Great Britain and Artem Sitak, a Russia native who plays for New Zealand, 6-4, 6-4.

   In a women's doubles opener, Sharon Fichman of Canada and Giuliana Olmos, a product of Fremont in the Bay Area who plays for Mexico, ousted fifth-seeded Hao-Ching Chan and Latisha Chan of Chinese Taipei 1-6, 7-6 (1), 6-2.

   ATP Challenger Tour — Top-seeded Andre Goransson (Cal, 2011-14) of Sweden and David Pel of the Netherlands eliminated Sadio Doumbia and Hugo Gaston of France 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the first round of the €88,520 ($107,357) Cherbourg, France, Challenger.

   ITF Women's Circuit — Zoe Kruger of South Africa outlasted Carol Zhao (Stanford, 2014-16) of Canada 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday in the opening round of the $25,000 Ilana Kloss International in Potchefstroom, South Africa.

Medvedev tops Thiem for title; Sherif falls in final

   Daniil Medvedev won the biggest title of his career today, defeating Dominic Thiem 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 in the Nitto ATP Finals in London.

   The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Medvedev, a 24-year-old Russian, also beat five-time champion Novak Djokovic and second-ranked Rafael Nadal during the week. Medvedev, seeded fourth, became the first player to sweep the top three players in the world rankings in the season finale, according to atptour.com.

   Medvedev, who went 0-3 in his ATP Finals debut last year, also became the fifth consecutive first-time champion in the indoor hardcourt tournament. He followed Stefanos Tsitsipas last year, Alexander Zverev in 2018, Grigor Dimitrov in 2017 and Andy Murray in 2016.

   Medvedev made $1.564 million, and Thiem took home $861,000.

   In the doubles final, fifth-seeded Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands and Nikola Mektic of Croatia topped seventh-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 6-2, 3-6 [10-5] for their first title together.

   Koolhof and Mektic, who joined forces at Adelaide in January, split $254,500. They reached the U.S. Open final, losing to Mate Pavic of Croatia and Bruno Soares of Brazil.

   ITF Women's Circuit — Top-seeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia rolled to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over second-seeded Maiar Sherif Ahmed Abdelaziz (Fresno State, 2015-16) of Egypt to win the $25,000 Open Gran Canaria on clay in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, off the coast of northwestern Africa.

   Since losing in the second round of the French Open, Kanepi has won 15 of 16 matches, all in $25,000 tournaments, with three titles. The 35-year-old veteran has reached the quarterfinals of the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open twice each and been ranked as high as No. 15 in 2012.

   Sherif, 24, lost for the first time in 12 matches. She won a $100,000 clay-court tournament in Charleston, S.C., as a qualifier two weeks ago.

   ATP Challenger Tour — Unseeded Brandon Nakashima, 19, of San Diego beat fourth-seeded Prajnesh Gunneswaran of India 6-3, 6-4 in the $52,080 Orlando (Fla.) Open for his first Challenger title.

   Nakashima, who will soar 37 places to a career-high No. 165 on Monday, saved all eight break points against him and did not lose a set in the hardcourt tournament. He ousted top-seeded Thiago Monteiro in the second round and eighth-seeded Mackenzie McDonald, a San Francisco Bay Area product, in the quarterfinals.

   Gunneswaran, a 31-year-old left-hander, lost a Challenger final for the second consecutive week. He fell to Denis Kudla last Sunday in Cary, N.C.

   Nakashima reached his first Challenger semifinal in Fairfield, Calif., last fall, and Gunneswaran advanced to the semis of the 2017 Tiburon, Calif., Challenger. Both were $100,000 tournaments.

   In the final round of qualifying for the $52,080 Lima Challenger on clay, fifth-seeded Thiago Agustin Tirante, 19, of Argentina beat top-seeded Collin Altamirano, 24, of Sacramento, Calif., 6-4, 6-4. Altamirano, who received a first-round bye, played his first match since March.

Djokovic reaches ATP semis; McDonald falls in Florida

Novak Djokovic, playing at Indian Wells in 2017, avenged a loss to Alexander
Zverev in the title match of the 2018 ATP Finals. Photo by Mal Taam

   Top-ranked Novak Djokovic beat fifth-seeded Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6 (4) today to reach the semifinals of the Nitto ATP Finals in London.

   Djokovic, a five-time champion, avenged a loss to Zverev, a 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) German, in the 2018 final of the indoor hardcourt tournament.

   Djokovic finished 2-1 and Zverev 1-2 in the four-man Group Tokyo 1970. The ATP Finals began 50 years ago in Tokyo.

   Both players have come under fire recently. Djokovic was defaulted from the U.S. Open in September for flicking a ball in anger and accidentally hitting a line judge in the throat. Zverev has denied accusations of domestic abuse by his former girlfriend Olga Sharypova.

   In Saturday's semifinals, Djokovic is scheduled to face third-seeded Dominic Thiem at 6 a.m. PST (Tennis Channel), and second-seeded Rafael Nadal is set to take on fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev not before noon. 

   In a doubles semifinal, second-seeded Rajeev Ram, a 36-year-old volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley from Carmel, Ind., and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain will meet seventh-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France at 10 a.m.

   ATP Challenger Tour — Unseeded Brandon Nakashima, 19, of San Diego eliminated eighth-seeded Mackenzie McDonald, a 25-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, 6-3, 7-6 (8) on another windy day in the quarterfinals of the $52,080 Orlando (Fla.) Open.

   Nakashima, who ousted top-seeded Thiago Monteiro of Brazil 6-4, 6-3 in the second round, won seven straight games from 1-3 in the opening set of his first career match against McDonald, playing on his adopted home courts at the USTA National Campus. 

   In the second set, Nakashima saved a set point serving at 5-6 with a backhand passing shot down the line and later converted his fourth match point.

   McDonald won the first of his two Challenger singles titles in Fairfield, Calif., 38 miles (61.2 kilometers) northeast of Piedmont, in 2017. Nakashima reached his first Challenger semifinal last fall in Fairfield.

   Nakashima is scheduled to meet unseeded Mitchell Krueger of Dallas on Saturday after the 8 a.m. PST semifinal between fourth-seeded Prajnesh Gunneswaran of India and unseeded Christopher Eubanks of Atlanta. Both matches will be streamed live.

   Krueger, 26, defeated qualifier Alexander Ritschard of Switzerland 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-1. Krueger, a quarterfinalist in the $100,000 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger in 2015 and 2016, topped Nakashima 7-6 (7), 7-5 in the first round of qualifying for the 2018 Indian Wells Challenger in their only previous meeting.

   Gunneswaran, a 31-year-old left-hander who reached last week's final in Cary, N.C., routed sixth-seeded Dmitry Popko, a Russia native who plays for Kazakhstan, 6-0, 6-3. 

   The 6-foot-7 (2.01-meter) Eubanks, 24, subdued second-seeded Denis Kudla, an Arlington, Va., resident who won the Cary title, 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-3 in 3 hours, 5 minutes.

   Eubanks, who trailed by a service break in the second set, blasted 17 aces, committed 10 double faults and saved 16 of 18 break points against him.

   Gunneswaran and Eubanks will meet for the first time. They reached the semifinals of $100,000 tournaments in Tiburon (2017) and Aptos (2018), respectively, in Northern California. 

   ITF Women's Circuit — Second-seeded Maiar Sherif Ahmed Abdelaziz (Fresno State, 2015-16) of Egypt beat Lara Selden, a 21-year-old qualifier from Belgium, 7-5, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the $25,000 Open Gran Canaria on clay in Las Palmas de Gran Carania, off the coast of northwestern Africa.

   Sherif, who won a $100,000 clay-court tournament in Charleston, S.C., as a qualifier two weeks ago, extended her winning streak to 10 matches. She will play another 21-year-old, Jule Niemeier of Germany.

   In the other semifinal, top-seeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia will meet sixth-seeded Richel Hogenkamp of the Netherlands.

   Kanepi, 35, has reached the quarterfinals of the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open twice each and been ranked as high as No. 15 in 2012. Hogenkamp, 28, climbed to a career-high No. 94 in 2017.

U.S. Open Day 4 highlights: No. 8 Ivanovic, Bellis fall

Karolina Pliskova, shown in last month's Bank of
the West Classic at Stanford, upset eighth-seeded
Ana Ivanovic in the second round of the U.S. Open.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Upset of the day -- Karolina Pliskova, a 22-year-old Czech who stands 6-foot-1 (1.86 meters), knocked off eighth-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia 7-5, 6-4 in the second round.
   Ivanovic ascended to No. 1 in the world after winning the 2008 French Open for her only Grand Slam title. After dropping out of the top 20, she has rebounded this year. Ivanovic upset Serena Williams to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in January and returned to the top 10 for the first time since 2009 on Aug. 4.
   Pliskova, ranked 42nd, advanced to the third round of a major for the first time. She lost to Williams 7-5, 6-2 in the second round of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford last month.
   Northern California connection --  CiCi Bellis, a 15-year-old wild card from Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area, lost to Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan 6-3, 0-6, 6-2. Diyas, 20, reached the fourth round of Wimbledon this summer.
   Bellis had stunned 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia in the first round to become the youngest player to win a match in the U.S. Open since Anna Kournikova, also 15, in 1996.
   Wild card Nicole Gibbs, a two-time NCAA singles champion from Stanford, surprised 23rd-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3.

Ana Ivanovic returned to the top 10 for the first
time since 2009 on Aug. 4. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native and former Sacramento Capital in World TeamTennis, outclassed 28th-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 to set up a third-round matchup with top-ranked Novak Djokovic.  
   In the first round of men's doubles, former Stanford stars Scott Lipsky and Bradley Klahn won separately, but Querrey and Steve Johnson lost to fourth-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Marcelo Melo of Brazil 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (5).
   Lipsky and fellow American Rajeev Ram edged 16th-seeded Jamie Murray of Great Britain and John Peers of Australia 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4). Murray is Andy's older brother. 
   Klahn and Smyzcek outlasted Austin Krajicek of Bradenton, Fla., and John-Patrick Smith of Australia 2-6, 7-5, 6-4.
   Match of the day -- Estonia's Kaia Kanepi, a five-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist, saved two match points in a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8) victory over 24th-seeded Sam Stosur, the 2011 U.S. Open champion. 
   Men's seeded winners -- Djokovic, No. 5 Milos Raonic, No. 8 Andy Murray, No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 10 Kei Nishikori, No. 13 John Isner, No. 16 Tommy Robredo, No. 22 Philipp Kohlschreiber and No. 23 Leonardo Mayer.
   Men's seeded losers -- Garcia-Lopez and No. 31 Fernando Verdasco.
   Women's seeded winners -- No. 1 Williams, No. 3 Petra Kvitova, No. 7 Eugenie Bouchard, No. 11 Flavia Pennetta, No. 15 Carla Suarez Navarro, No. 16 Victoria Azarenka, No. 17 Ekaterina Makarova, No. 29 Casey Dellacqua and No. 30 Barbora Zahlavova Strycova.
   Women's seeded losers -- Ivanovic, Pavyluchenkova, Stosur and No. 27 Madison Keys.
   Notable -- Victor Estrella Burgos, a Dominican playing in the U.S. Open for the first time at 34, defated Borna Coric, 17, of Croatia 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Estrella Burgos, only 5-foot-8 (1.73 meters), won a $15,000 Futures tournament in the Sacramento suburb of Loomis in 2008.
   U.S. report -- The men went 2-0 in singles, but the women went 3-6 (including one all-American match). Four U.S. women lost to seeds.
   Through two rounds, four U.S. ladies remain: Williams, No. 19 Venus Williams, Uzbekistan native Varvara Lepchenko and Gibbs. With half of the men's second round to be played, the only Americans left are Isner, Querrey and wild card Tim Smyczek (pronounced SMEE-check).
   Fast facts -- Isner will face Kohlschreiber in the third round of the U.S. Open for the third straight year. Kohlschreiber won in five sets in 2012 and in four sets last year.
   Vania King, who lost to Serena Williams 6-1, 6-0, sang "America the Beautiful" in Arthur Ashe Stadium before a U.S. Open night session in 2006.
   King and Pavlyuchenkova also are former Capitals.
   Quote -- Bellis, after her loss: “This whole experience has been unbelievable, like mind-blowing. It's been crazy. It's been the best couple days of my life.”