French Open Day 4 highlights: Murray survives again

Andy Murray survived a five-setter for the second straight
match in the French Open. 2015 photo by Paul Bauman

   Five highlights from Day 4 of the French Open:
   1. Second-seeded Andy Murray survived a five-setter for the second straight match, beating 22-year-old French wild card Mathias Bourgue 6-2, 2-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the second round.
   "He was excellent," Murray said after the 3-hour, 34-minute match. "He was the one dictating a lot of the points, making me run a lot right to the end, even when I had a big lead in the fifth set. He's going to have a fantastic future for sure."
   Murray won the first of his 36 tour-level titles in the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose at 18 in 2006 and repeated in 2007. Those were his only appearances in the tournament.
   2. Ivo Karlovic, 37, of Croatia became the oldest man to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament since Jimmy Connors advanced to the U.S. Open semifinals 25 years ago.
   The 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) Karlovic, seeded 27th, edged wild card Jordan Thompson of Australia 6-7 (2), 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-7 (4), 12-10 in 4 hours, 31 minutes.
   Karlovic will face Murray in the third round. If Karlovic pulls off an upset, he could play 6-foot-10 (2.08-meter) John Isner, seeded 15th, in the round of 16.
   Karlovic leads Isner 3-2 in the head-to-head series, winning the last meeting 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) in the first round on a hardcourt in Acapulco in 2014.
   3. Gilles Simon's victory lasted one more minute than Karlovic's.
   Simon, a Frenchman seeded 16th, needed seven match points to outlast Guido Pella of Argentina 4-6, 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4), 6-4. Pella, a 26-year-old left-hander, served for the match at 6-5 in the fourth set.
   4. Speaking of marathons, 25th-seeded Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania topped CoCo Vandeweghe of the United States 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 10-8 in 3 hours, 38 minutes. It was the longest WTA match this year.
   Vandeweghe reached the final of the 2012 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford as a lucky loser, falling to Serena Williams 7-5, 6-3. Vandeweghe held a set point in the first set.
   5. Third-seeded Stan Wawrinka, the defending champion, and second-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska won in straight sets.

Northern California results

Men's doubles

First round  

   Brian Baker, United States, and Marcus Daniell, New Zealand, def. Marcos Baghdatis, Cyprus, and Dmitry Tursunov, Russia native who trains in Sacramento suburb of Granite Bay, 6-3, 6-2.

Women's doubles

First round

   Raquel Atawo, San Jose resident and 2003 NCAA doubles champion from Cal, and Abigail Spears (8), United States, def. Johanna Konta, Great Britain, and Maria Sanchez, born and raised in Modesto, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4.

Blake's singles career ends with loss to Karlovic

James Blake, who won the Sacramento Challenger last year,
fell  Ivo Karlovic in the first round of the U.S. Open after
leading two sets to none. 2012 photo by Paul Bauman

   Other than a seed, Ivo Karlovic was the last guy James Blake wanted to play in his farewell tournament.
   Blake often has felt helpless against the 6-foot-10 (2.08-meter) Karlovic's thunderous serve.
   "He's never fun to play," Blake said last year during the Sacramento Challenger, which he won in Karlovic's absence, after losing to the Croat in the 2011 final. "He takes the racket out of your hands. Any guy who can make it all about them and not about you is not fun to play. But he's a good guy ... "       
   Sure enough, Karlovic ended Blake's singles career tonight with an ace. Blake challenged the call, but the video replay showed that Karlovic's serve barely caught the outside line. That gave qualifier Karlovic a 6-7 (2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (2) victory in the first round of the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   Many fans in Louis Armstrong Stadium stayed until the 3-hour, 24-minute match ended at 12:06 a.m. EDT Thursday as they tried to will Blake, who was born in nearby Yonkers, N.Y., and grew up in Fairfield, Conn., to victory.
   It was reminiscent of Blake's 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (6) loss to Andre Agassi in the quarterfinals of the 2005 U.S. Open. Almost all of the 20,000 fans in attendance at Arthur Ashe Stadium stayed until the scintillating match, perhaps the greatest in the tournament's history, ended at 1:09 a.m.    
   Tonight's match also was the first between two men 33 or older since Thomas Johansson of Sweden outlasted fellow 33-year-old Vince Spadea of the United States in five sets in the first round at Wimbledon five years ago. Karlovic is 34 and Blake 33.
   "I don't know when it's going to hit me," Blake, who announced Monday that he would retire after the U.S. Open, said in a post-match interview on the court.  "I don't think I'll be sleeping too much tonight."
   With his eyes reddening and his voice catching, Blake added: "It's hitting me now that I'll never do this again (in singles). I need to appreciate every one of you for being here."
   ESPN analyst and International Tennis Hall of Famer Chris Evert, incisive as always, then put Blake's loss in perspective.
   "The fact that he was up two sets to none and lost is one of the reasons he's retiring," Evert said. "When he needed (the killer instinct), it wasn't there. When that happens, it's time to say goodbye."
   Blake also lost to Karlovic after leading two sets to none in the 2009 Davis Cup quarterfinals on clay in Porec, Croatia.
   This time, Karlovic blasted 36 aces, converted 63 percent of his first serves -- many approaching 140 mph (225 kph) -- and won 84 percent of the points on his first serve. Karlovic, who improved to 7-3 lifetime against Blake, owns the third-fastest serve in history at 156 mph (251 kph).

   Karlovic and Blake are well known in the San Francisco area in addition to Sacramento. Karlovic lost to Andy Murray 6-7 (3), 6-4, 7-6 (2) in the 2007 final at San Jose. Blake played in San Jose for 10 years, reaching the singles semifinals in 2003 and 2009 and winning the doubles title in 2004 with friend and countryman Mardy Fish.
   Blake will try to prolong his career on Thursday when he and 20-year-old Jack Sock, the United States' top prospect, meet second-seeded Alexander Peya of Austria and Bruno Soares of Brazil in the first round of men's doubles.
   "He's a great player," Blake said of Sock after beating the just-turned 19-year-old in the quarterfinals of the 2011 Sacramento Challenger. "He has a lot of talent. He would have beaten the pants off me at 19."
   Blake played at Harvard for two years, turned pro in 1999 and reached a career-high No. 4 in 2006. He played in three Grand Slam quarterfinals, including losses to Agassi and Roger Federer in the U.S. Open, and on one Davis Cup championship team (2007).   Blake overcame major physical challenges to reach those heights. He was diagnosed with severe scoliosis (curvature of the spine) at 13 and wore a full-length back brace for 18 hours a day, though not while playing tennis, for five years.
   While practicing at the 2004 Italian Open in Rome, Blake hit his head on a net post as he raced for a drop shot and broke his neck. Had he not turned his head at the last moment, doctors said he could have been paralyzed.
   Instead, Blake missed only two months. But days before he returned to the circuit, his father died of stomach cancer. Blake promptly developed shingles, a viral infection often caused by extreme stress.
   Blake's head swelled, the left side of his face was paralyzed, he became dizzy, and his vision was affected. He came back to the tour six weeks later but played in only two tournaments the rest of the year.
   "I was on the right path, but I got injured," Blake, who was named the ATP Comeback Player of the Year in 2005, said in Sacramento two years ago. "(The bouts of adversity) gave me great perspective on my career and life in general. Spending time with my family and friends gave me peace on the court, knowing that people appreciate me as more than just a tennis player."
   Blake's 2007 book, "Breaking Back: How I lost Everything and Won Back My Life," reached No. 15 on the New York Times' bestseller list. The following year, he was named the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year for his fundraising efforts on behalf of cancer research.
   Two players with Northern California ties competed in the first round of women's doubles in the U.S. Open today.
   Megan Moulton-Levy, an American who played for the Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis last month, and Katalin Marosi of Hungary defeated Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania and Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-6 (4).
   Shelby Rogers of Charleston, S.C., and Maria Sanchez, a Modesto product, lost to Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands and Johanna Larsson of Sweden 7-5, 6-4.   

Natomas champ Blake to retire after U.S. Open

James Blake poses with Brad Gilbert after winning the $100,000
RelyAid Natomas Challenger in Sacramento last October.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   James Blake won't play in the $100,000 Natomas Challenger in Sacramento next month.
   Or anywhere else after the U.S. Open.
   Blake, 33, tearfully announced today that he will retire after the year's last Grand Slam tournament.
   "No real surprise here. This is my last tournament," Blake, one of the sport's true gentlemen, said at a news conference on the first day of the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. "I always wanted to end my career at the U.S. Open."
   Blake, who was born in nearby Yonkers, N.Y., and grew up in Fairfield, Conn., has played in the last two Natomas Challenger finals. He lost to 6-foot-10 (2.08-meter) Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in 2011 and defeated Mischa Zverev, a Moscow native who plays for Germany, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 last year.
   To Blake's chagrin, he is scheduled to play Karlovic, a qualifier, in the first round of the U.S. Open on Tuesday or Wednesday.
   "He's never fun to play," Blake said last year in Sacramento. "He takes the racket out of your hands. Any guy who can make it all about them and not about you is not fun to play. But he's a good guy ... " 
   Karlovic, 34, owns the third-fastest serve in history at 156 mph (251 kph) and is 6-3 lifetime against Blake. They will meet for the first time since the 2011 Natomas final, in which Karlovic fired 23 aces, faced only one break point and won all 20 points on his serve in the last set, including 12 aces.
   Blake is also well-known in the San Francisco area. He played in the San Jose stop on the ATP World Tour for 10 years, reaching the singles semifinals in 2003 and 2009 and winning the doubles title in 2004 with friend and countryman Mardy Fish.
   After playing at Harvard for two years, Blake turned pro in 1999 and reached a career-high No. 4 in 2006. He has played in three Grand Slam quarterfinals, including losses to Andre Agassi and Roger Federer in the U.S. Open, and on one Davis Cup championship team (2007).
   Blake's 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (6) loss to Agassi in the 2005 U.S. Open quarters is considered perhaps the greatest match in the tournament's history. Almost all of the 20,000 fans in attendance stayed until the pulsating match ended at 1:09 a.m.
   The announcement by the 100th-ranked Blake comes a year after his friend and former Davis Cup teammate, Andy Roddick, retired at 30 after the U.S. Open and 12 days after Marion Bartoli, a tremendous ambassador like Blake, left the sport at 28. Next could be Venus Williams and Francesca Schiavone, both 33, and Fish, 31 -- three more gems. Williams and Fish have ongoing health issues.
   Blake also has had serious physical problems.
   He was diagnosed with severe scoliosis (curvature of the spine) at 13 and wore a full-length back brace for 18 hours a day, though not while playing tennis, for five years.
   Blake also broke his neck in 2004 while practicing at the Italian Open in Rome. He slipped on a wet clay court while racing to return a drop shot and struck the net post. Had he not turned his head at the last moment, doctors said he could have been paralyzed.
   Blake missed only two months. But days before he returned to the circuit, his father died of stomach cancer. Blake promptly developed shingles, a viral infection often caused by extreme stress. His head swelled, the left side of his face was paralyzed, he became dizzy, and his vision was affected. Blake came back to the tour six weeks later but played in only two tournaments the rest of the year.
   "I was on the right path, but I got injured," Blake, who was named the ATP Comeback Player of the Year in 2005, said in Sacramento in 2011. "(The bouts of adversity) gave me great perspective on my career and life in general. Spending time with my family and friends gave me peace on the court, knowing that people appreciate me as more than just a tennis player."
   Blake's 2007 book, "Breaking Back: How I lost Everything and Won Back My Life," reached No. 15 on the New York Times' bestseller list. The following year, he was named the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year for his fundraising efforts on behalf of cancer research.
   Blake has his own family now. He said today that "despite the tears, I'm actually really happy about this" because he can spend more time with his wife and their 1-year-old daughter. He also expressed an interest in serving as captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team and working as a television commentator.
   Blake would be outstanding at either one. Or both. 

Karlovic hospitalized with viral meningitis

   Ivo Karlovic, a 6-foot-10 (2.08-meter) Croat who has had considerable success in Northern California, recently was hospitalized in his adopted home of Miami with viral meningitis.
   Viral meningitis is an infection of the covering of the brain and spinal cord, according to the web site of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is usually spread through fecal contamination or through respiratory secretions of an infected person.
   The disease is characterized by a sudden onset of fever, headache and stiff neck and often is accompanied by nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light and altered mental status. There is no specific treatment. Most patients recover on their own in seven to 10 days. Bacterial meningitis, however, can be fatal.
   Karlovic has maintained his sense of humor through the ordeal, tweeting on Tuesday, "What i learned today: dilaudid is 5 times stronger than morphine. And its gooooood."
   In one of the best finals in SAP Open history, the hard-serving Karlovic fell to versatile Andy Murray 6-7 (3), 6-4, 7-6 (2) in 2007 in San Jose. Karlovic also won the $100,000 Sacramento and Tiburon Challengers in consecutive weeks in 2011 during his comeback from Achilles' tendon-related surgery.
   Karlovic, 34, is the tallest player ever to rank in the top 100. Ranked as high as No. 14 in 2008, he has fallen to No. 134.
   Karlovic helped Croatia win its only championship in Davis Cup history in 2005 and reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2009. He pounded a record 156-mph (251-kph) serve in 2011 before Samuel Groth of Australia broke it with a 163-mph (263-kph) rocket last year.
   Karlovic last played in the Sarasota (Fla.) Challenger on clay in mid-April, losing in the first round. He has a Jamaican wife, Alsi, and a daughter, Jada, who will be 2 in September.
   ATP World Tour -- The unseeded team of Dmitry Tursunov, a Russian based in the Sacramento suburb of Folsom, and Jarkko Nieminen of Finland ousted third-seeded Julian Knowle of Austria and Filip Polasek of Slovakia 6-1, 6-4 to reach the final of the BMW in Munich.
   Nieminen and Tursunov had knocked off top-seeded Alexander Peya of Austria and Bruno Soares of Brazil 6-4, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.
   In Sunday's final, Nieminen and Tursunov will play either Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus and Eric Butorac of Rochester, Minn., or Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah. Both teams are unseeded.
   Tursunov, who lost in the second round of singles to fifth-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, seeks his sixth career doubles title and first since 2010.
   Big Sky Conference -- Sacramento State's Rebeca Delgado was named the women's MVP, and the Hornets' Mark Marksoo was selected as the co-men's MVP with Joseph Cohen of Eastern Washington.
   Delgado (16-10), a senior from Mexico, led Sac State to its 12th straight Big Sky tournament championship last weekend. She is the 11th straight woman from the Hornets to be named the MVP.
   Marksoo (16-3), a sophomore from Estonia, led Sac State to its fifth Big Sky tourney title in a row. He is the sixth Hornets man in seven years to earn the MVP award.
   Other Sac State players honored were:
   --Olivia Boija and Jennifer Nguyen, women's first team.
   --Katharina Knoebl, women's honorable mention.
   --Sean Kolar, men's first team.
   --Aliaksandr Malko, men's second team.
   --Roy Brandys and Tom Miller, men's honorable mention.    

Top-seeded Becker defaults in Tiburon

   Top-seeded Benjamin Becker defaulted from his second-round match against Jack Sock on Thursday in the $100,000 First Republic Bank Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger.
   Becker had aggravated a torn groin muscle suffered four weeks ago while playing for Germany in a Davis Cup doubles match. He lost in the first round of last week's $100,000 RelyAid Natomas Challenger in Sacramento to Daniel Kosakowski, a 20-year-old wild card, but said he had no pain.
   Meanwhile, second-seeded James Blake suffered a blow in his quest to pull off a Sacramento-Tiburon double, which 6-foot-10 Ivo Karlovic accomplished last year. Blake's scheduled second-round match against Kosakowski at the Tiburon Peninsula Club was postponed by rain until today at 11 a.m. The winner will play Mischa Zverev, a Moscow native who plays for Germany, at 4 p.m. or later.
   Surviving both matches in one day against two players who reached the semifinals or better last week would be difficult for Blake, the oldest player in the singles draw at almost 33. Blake edged the 25-year-old Zverev 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 in the Sacramento final.
   Becker and Blake are the only top-100 players in the singles draw at No. 84 and No. 87, respectively.
   The Blake-Kosakowski winner will give the United States seven of the eight quarterfinalists. Sock (20 years old) will face Rhyne Williams (21) in a matchup of unseeded players at 11 a.m., followed by eighth-seeded Bobby Reynolds (30) against wild card Bradley Klahn (22). Seventh-seeded Denis Kudla (20) will meet unseeded Johnson (22) after the Blake-Kosakowski match.     
   Kudla qualified for the SAP Open on the ATP World Tour in San Jose, 64 miles south of Tiburon at the other end of the San Francisco Bay Area, in February and extended No. 2 seed Andy Roddick to 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the second round. Roddick twisted his right ankle late in the second set.
   Karlovic is back on the ATP World Tour after his ranking dropped last year because of Achilles' tendon-related surgery.

Sacramento finalists lose early in Vienna

   It was a bad day for the finalists of the recent $100,000 Sacramento Challenger.
   Champion Ivo Karlovic and runner-up James Blake lost Tuesday in the first round of the $905,000 Erste Bank Open in Vienna.
   The 6-foot-10 Karlovic, 32, retired with a back injury after losing the first set 7-6 (4) to qualifier Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia. Karlovic was playing in his first tournament since winning Sacramento and the $100,000 Tiburon Challenger back to back.
   Blake, 31, fell to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 in their first meeting in six years.
   Tursunov advances -- Eighth-seeded Dmitry Tursunov, a Moscow native living in Folsom, improved to 4-0 against qualifier Teymuraz Gabashvili, a Georgia native who plays for Russia, with a 7-5, 6-3 victory in the first round of the $663,750 St. Petersburg (Russia) Open.
   Tursunov, a semifinalist in St. Petersburg last year, will face Potito Starace of Italy for the first time in five years in the second round. Starace, 30, is 2-0 against Tursunov, but both matches were on clay.
   King, Shvedova blog -- Vania King of the Sacramento Capitals and Yaroslava Shvedova are blogging daily from Istanbul, where they'll compete in doubles this week in the WTA Championships. Here's the link to their latest post:
www.wtatennis.com/blog/20111025/vania-slavas-istanbul-blog-tuesday_2257191_2494282
   Ilyushin triumphs -- Artem Ilyushin, a senior at Mississippi State from Granite Bay, upset his doubles partner, seventh-seeded Gilad Ben Zvi of Israel, 7-5, 7-5 in the first round of the $10,000 Player's Choice Open in Birmingham, Ala.

   Ben Zvi and Ilyushin, meanwhile, knocked off second-seeded Haydn Lewis of Barbados and Marvin Rolle of the Bahamas 6-4, 3-6, 10-3 tiebreak in the first round of doubles.

Karlovic completes NorCal sweep; new rankings

   There was no stopping Ivo Karlovic and his blistering serve in Northern California.
   The 6-foot-10 Croat outlasted Sam Querrey, a 6-6 San Francisco native, 6-7 (2), 6-1, 6-4 Sunday to win the $100,000 First Republic Bank Tiburon Challenger at the Tiburon Peninsula Club. Karlovic also won the $100,000 Sacramento Challenger the previous week.
   Both Karlovic, 32, and Querrey, 24, are former top-20 players coming back from injuries.
   Karlovic, who reached a career-high No. 14 in 2008, missed the last half of 2010 after undergoing Achilles' tendon-related surgery. Querrey, who climbed to a career-high No. 17 in January, sat out for three months after having arthroscopic elbow surgery in June.
   The difference in Sunday's final was that Karlovic, seeded second, saved all seven break points against him, whereas Querrey, seeded third, lost three of the six break points he faced.
   The other statistics were essentially even between two of the most dominating servers in tennis.
   Karlovic had 14 aces to Querrey's 12 and converted 70 percent of his first serves to his opponent's 64. Both players won 81 percent of the points on their first serves and committed  three double faults. Karlovic won 97 total points and Querrey 93.
    In the doubles final, Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione of Australia also completed a Northern California sweep with a 6-1, 5-7, 10-6 tiebreak victory over Steve Johnson of Orange and Querrey.
   WTA tour -- Vania King of the Sacramento Capitals and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan clinched the fourth and final spot in the doubles field of the WTA Championships, Oct. 25-30 in Istanbul, Turkey.
   King and Shvedova, the U.S. Open runners-up, join Wimbledon champions Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik, U.S. Open titlists Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond and Australian Open winners Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta.
   New rankings -- 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.
   Scott Lipsky, 2002 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford -- No. 26 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Mark Knowles, Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis (2001-07, 2009-11) -- No. 44 in doubles (-1), unranked in singles.
   Dmitry Tursunov, Folsom resident -- No. 40 in singles (+1), No. 151 in doubles (+17).
   Sam Querrey, San Francisco native -- No. 114 in singles (+6), No. 31 in doubles (+3).
   David Martin, 2002 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford -- No. 108 in doubles (-14), No. 702 in singles (+5).
   John Paul Fruttero, Cal All-American in 2001 and 2002 -- Career-high No. 133 in doubles (no change), 1,246 in singles (-+3).
   Conor Niland, 2006 Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Year and two-time All-American at Cal -- No. 203 in singles (-10), unranked in doubles. 
   Jimmy Wang, Folsom resident -- No. 380 in singles (+2), No. 553 in doubles (+115).
   Dusan Vemic, Capitals (2010-11) -- No. 501 in doubles (+2), No. 1,534 in singles (-3).
   Kiryl Harbatsiuk, three-time Big Sky Conference MVP (2009-11) at Sacramento State -- No. 764 in singles (-33), No. 1,259 in doubles (-3).

Women

   Vania King, Capitals (2010-11) -- No. 9 in doubles (no change), No. 79 in singles (+4).
   Raquel Kops-Jones, 2003 NCAA doubles champion from Cal -- No. 37 in doubles (+5), unranked in singles.
   Yasmin Schnack, Elk Grove resident, Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis (2011) -- No. 212 in doubles (-2), No. 406 in singles (-20).
   Maria Sanchez, Modesto resident -- No. 378 in doubles (-2), No. 695 in singles (+2).

Karlovic, Querrey to meet in Tiburon final

   One week ago, Sam Querrey and Ivo Karlovic met in the semifinals of the $100,000 Sacramento Challenger.
   On Sunday, they'll play for the title in the $100,000 First Republic Bank Tiburon Challenger at the Tiburon Peninsula Club.
   The third-seeded Querrey, a 6-foot-6 native of nearby San Francisco, knocked out top-seeded Ryan Sweeting of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 6-4, 6-3 in Saturday's first semifinal. The second-seeded Karlovic, a 6-10 Croat, downed eighth-seeded Bjorn Phau, 5-9 of Germany, 7-5, 7-5.
   Karlovic outlasted Querrey 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-4 in Sacramento in their first meeting in three years and went on to win the title. Querrey, though, leads the head-to-head series 3-2.
   The 32-year-old Karlovic is the hardest server in tennis, and Querrey, 24, isn't far behind.
   Karlovic pounded a 156-mph serve in March to break Andy Roddick's record of 155. Karlovic also set a Davis Cup record with 78 aces two years ago in a five-set loss to Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic that lasted 5 hours, 59 minutes.
   Querrey, meanwhile, fired 10 consecutive aces in a quarterfinal victory over James Blake in Indianapolis four years ago.
   WTA tour in Osaka, Japan -- Top-seeded Vania King of the Sacramento Capitals and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan lost to fourth-seeded Kimiko Date-Krumm, 41, and Zhang Shuai of China 7-5, 3-6, 11-9 tiebreak in the final of the $220,000 HP Japan Women's Open.
   Earlier, King and Shvedova completed a rain-suspended 6-0, 6-2 victory over third-seeded Raquel Kops-Jones, a former Cal star from Fresno, and Abigail Spears of San Diego.
   Even at 41, Date-Krumm isn't close to the record for oldest player to win a title on the WTA tour. Martina Navratilova was two months shy of her 50th birthday when she won in Montreal with Nadia Petrova in 2006.

$100,000 FIRST REPUBLIC BANK TIBURON CHALLENGER

At Tiburon Peninsula Club

Singles semifinals

   Sam Querrey (3), Las Vegas, def. Ryan Sweeting (1), Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 6-4, 6-3. Ivo Karlovic (2), Croatia, def. Bjorn Phau (8), Germany, 7-5, 7-5.

Doubles semifinals

   Steve Johnson, Orange, and Sam Querrey, Las Vegas, def. Alex Kuznetsov, Tampa, Fla., and Ryan Sweeting, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 6-3, 7-5.

Today's schedule

Stadium Court

(Beginning at noon)

   Karlovic (2) vs. Querrey (3), Johnson and Querrey vs. Ball and Guccione not before 2 p.m.

With less drama, Karlovic tops Fischer again

   This time, Ivo Karlovic didn't have to save any match points.
   Not that there wasn't some suspense.
   The second-seeded Karlovic, a 6-foot-10 Croat, defeated unseeded Martin Fischer, a 5-11 Austrian, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 Friday in the quarterfinals of the $100,000 First Republic Bank Tiburon Challenger at the Tiburon Peninsula Club.
   The third set was closer than the score indicated. Serving at 5-3, Karlovic saved three break points before triumphing on his third match point.
   Had Fischer converted one of the break points, he would have served to even the match at 5-5. Easier said than done against Karlovic, who unleashed a 156-mph serve in March to break Andy Roddick's record of 155.
   Last week in Sacramento, Karlovic survived two match points against him in the first round against Fischer and proceeded to win the title.
   Karlovic will play eighth-seeded Bjorn Phau, perhaps the fastest player in men's tennis, Saturday in a matchup of 32-year-olds in the Tiburon semifinals. Phau, a 5-9 German, eliminated unseeded Laurynas Grigelis, a 20-year-old Lithuanian, 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.
   Karlovic and Phau apparently play each other every five years. The head-to-head series is tied 1-1, with Phau winning 7-6 (5), 7-5 on a hardcourt in the Bronx, N.Y., in 2001 and Karlovic prevailing 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8) on clay in Munich in 2006.
   In the other semifinal, top-seeded Ryan Sweeting of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., will face third-seeded Sam Querrey of Las Vegas in a matchup of 24-year-olds. Sweeting topped fifth-seeded Vasek Pospisil of Canada 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, and Querrey dispatched unseeded Alex Kuznetsov of Tampa, Fla., 6-1, 6-4.
   Sweeting, a 6-5 native of the Bahamas, is 2-1 lifetime against Querrey, a 6-6 native of San Francisco (across the bay from Tiburon). They have met twice this year, with Sweeting winning on a hardcourt in Delray Beach, Fla., in February and on clay in Houston in April. He went on to win the Houston crown for his only ATP World Tour title.
   WTA tour in Osaka, Japan -- Top-seeded Vania King of the Sacramento Capitals and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan led third-seeded Raquel Kops-Jones, a former Cal star from Fresno, and Abigail Spears of San Diego 6-0, 2-1 when rain suspended play early Saturday morning PDT in the doubles semifinals at the HP Japan Women's Open. King and Shvedova won the first eight games.

$100,000 FIRST REPUBLIC BANK TIBURON CHALLENGER

 At Tiburon Peninsula Club

 Singles quarterfinals

   Ryan Sweeting (1), Fort Lauderdale, Fla., def. Vasek Pospisil (5), Canada, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1. Ivo Karlovic (2), Croatia, def. Martin Fischer, Austria, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. Bjorn Phau (8), Germany, def. Laurynas Grigelis, Lithuania, 6-3, 6-2. Sam Querrey (3), Las Vegas, def. Alex Kuznetsov, Tampa, Fla., 6-1, 6-4.

Doubles semifinals

   Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione, Australia, def. Vasek Pospisil, Canada, and Bobby Reynolds, Acworth, Ga., 6-4, 6-3.

Saturday's schedule

Stadium Court

(Beginning at 11 a.m.)

   Sweeting (1) vs. Querrey (3), Phau (8) vs. Karlovic (2) not before 1 p.m., Kuznetsov and Sweeting vs. Johnson and Querrey.

       

Top seed Sweeting ends skid, advances in Tiburon

   TIBURON -- The best year of Ryan Sweeting's career has taken a toll on him.
   After losing three straight matches and five of six in tennis' major leagues, the top-seeded Sweeting defeated wild card and fellow American Steve Johnson 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 Wednesday in the first round of the $100,000 First Republic Bank Tiburon Challenger at the Tiburon Peninsula Club.
   "I'm trying to find energy for the last run of the year," said Sweeting, the 2005 U.S. Open boys champion. "I'm trying to give it one last push. It's been a long year. I had good results early in the year, but the 10-month season is always tough for me. It's been a tough few months."
   Sweeting, who combines power and quickness at 6-foot-5, steadily rose in the world rankings from No. 249 at the end of 2007 to a career-high No. 64 one month ago. He's now No. 70.
   Sweeting achieved a significant result in each of the first four months of this year in tennis' big leagues. As a qualifier, he reached the second round of the Australian Open in January, the quarterfinals at Delray Beach (Fla.) in February and the third round at Indian Wells in March. Then Sweeting won his first career ATP World Tour title in April on clay in Houston.
   "I got physically a lot fitter and stronger," explained Sweeting, a 24-year-old native of the Bahamas who moved to Fort Lauderdale, Fla, at 12 and still lives there. "I really focused on that in the offseason. I had a lot of confidence after the Australian Open, which is the name of the game."
   Rafael Nadal has been a nemesis, beating Sweeting in straight sets in the Australian Open and Indian Wells and in the first round of Wimbledon.
   Tiburon is only Sweeting's second Challenger, equivalent to Triple-A baseball, since he reached the semifinals in Sarasota, Fla., in late April. He has not advanced past the second round since Sarasota.
   But Sweeting wore down Johnson, the reigning NCAA singles champion from USC. Sweeting lost his serve twice late in the first set, double-faulting three times at 4-5, but recovered.
   "I was up a break in the first set and playing well, but then my serve went away, and I threw in a few double faults," Sweeting said. "He served well in the first set, but then I think his legs went away. He started missing first serves, and I was more aggressive on his second serve. I tried to stay more aggressive in the last two sets."
   Johnson, a senior, is taking this semester off to play professional tournaments as an amateur. He plans to return to USC in the spring in an attempt to join Stanford's Paul Goldstein (1995-98) as the only men to play on four national championship teams and earn All-America honors all four years.
   Martin Fischer of Austria, meanwhile, defeated seventh-seeded Wayne Odesnik of Weston, Fla., 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-1 in the second round to earn another crack at Ivo Karlovic of Croatia.
   Odesnik, the 2007 Sacramento Challenger champion who served a one-year suspension last year for bringing human growth hormone into Australia, was treated for a right thigh injury at 2-5 in the second set.
   The second-seeded Karlovic, 6-10, advanced with a 7-6 (2), 6-2 victory over Robert Farah of Colombia. Farah, a former teammate of Johnson's at USC, hurt his back reaching for a two-handed backhand early in the tiebreaker and took a medical timeout between sets.
   Karlovic saved two match points against Fischer in the first round of last week's Sacramento Challenger and went on to win the title.
   Also Wednesday, sixth-seeded Izak Van der Merwe of South Africa fell to Alex Kuznetsov of Tampa, Fla., 6-4, 4-6, 7-5. Kuznetsov reached the semifinals in Sacramento for the second time.
   ATP World Tour in Shanghai -- Folsom resident Dmitry Tursunov defaulted his second-round singles match against second-seeded Andy Murray in the $3.24 million Shanghai Rolex Masters with a thigh injury.
   Tursunov is scheduled to play in the second round of doubles with Tommy Robredo of Spain against sixth-seeded Poles Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Markowski, the runners-up in the U.S. Open last month.
   Top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan reached the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Marcel Granollers of Spain and Viktor Troicki of Serbia.
   WTA tour in Osaka, Japan --Vania King of the Sacramento Capitals in World TeamTennis defeated fellow American Jill Craybas 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 in the first round of the HP Japan Women's Open.
   King is scheduled to meet second-seeded Marion Bartoli of France in the second round. King recorded her first victory over a top-10 player three weeks ago when she stunned Bartoli in the second round at Seoul, South Korea.
   In doubles, top-seeded King and Yaroslava Shvedova beat Americans Lindsay Lee-Waters and Megan Moulton-Levy 7-5, 6-4 in the first round.
   If King and Shvedova defeat Eleni Daniilidou of Greece and Mandy Minella of Luxembourg, they'll play third-seeded Raquel Kops-Jones, a former Cal All-American from Fresno, and Abigail Spears in the semifinals.
   ITF Men's Circuit in Austin, Texas -- Granite Bay resident Artem Ilyushin, a senior at Mississippi State, and Daniel Chu of Canada lost to fourth-seeded Jesse Levine of Boca Raton, Fla., and Peter Polansky of Canada 6-7 (7), 6-2, 10-8 tiebreak in the first round of doubles at the $15,000 Austin Hill Country Classic.

$100,000 FIRST REPUBLIC BANK TIBURON CHALLENGER

At Tiburon Peninsula Club

First-round singles

   Alejandro Gonzalez, Colombia, def. Jack Sock, Overland Park, Kan., 4-6, 6-0, 6-3. Bjorn Phau (8), Germany, def. Greg Jones, Australia, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1. Alex Bogdanovic, Great Britain, def. Chris Guccione, Australia, 7-6 (1), 6-3. Alex Kuznetsov, Tampa, Fla., def. Izak Van der Merwe (6), South Africa, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5. Amer Delic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, def. Artem Sitak, New Zealand, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Uladzimir Ignatik, Belarus, def. Pierre-Ludovic Duclos, Canada, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3. Ryan Sweeting (1), Fort Lauderdale, Fla., def. Steve Johnson, Orange, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. Sam Querrey (3), Las Vegas, def. Fritz Wolmarans, South Africa, 6-4, 6-4.

Second-round singles

   Ivo Karlovic (2), Croatia, def. Robert Farah, Colombia, 7-6 (2), 6-2. Martin Fischer, Austria, def. Wayne Odesnik (7), Weston, Fla., 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-1.

Thursday's schedule

Stadium Court 

(Beginning at 11 a.m.)  

   Sweeting (1) vs. Bogdanovic, Querrey (3) vs. Delic not before 1 p.m., Cabal and Farah (1) vs. Kuznetsov and Sweeting, Johnson  and Querrey vs. Battistone and Wettengel not before 4:30 p.m.

Court 1

(Beginning at 11 a.m.)

   Ignatik vs. Kuznetsov, Grigelis vs. Reynolds (4), Pospisil and Reynolds vs. Huey and Van Der Merwe (2) not before 4 p.m.

Court 4

(Beginning at noon)

   Borvanov vs. Pospisil (5), Phau (8) vs. Gonzalez, Ball and Guccione vs. Grigelis and Ignatik not before 4 p.m.

After almost flunking out, Karlovic aces big test

   He came within an eyelash of losing in the first round, struggled with his serve in the semifinals and met a player formerly ranked No. 4 in the world in the final.
   But Ivo Karlovic overcame everything the $100,000 RelyAid Natomas Racquet Club Challenger threw at him. It helps when you're 6-foot-11, well-coordinated and mentally tough.
   In a tantalizing matchup of power vs. speed, the second-seeded Karlovic edged top-seeded James Blake 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 Sunday in Sacramento for his first title in three years.
   Karlovic, a 32-year-old Croat, attributed his drought to "injuries and ups and downs." Ranked a career-high No. 14 in 2008, he missed the last six months of 2010 because of Achilles' tendon-related surgery and plunged to No. 239 in March.
   "Now everything is good. I've been playing since January," said Karlovic, who rose from No. 76 to No. 61 with the Sacramento title.
   Karlovic, the tallest player ever to be ranked in the top 100 and owner of the world's fastest serve (156 mph), also is enjoying life off the court. He took a month off after the U.S. Open to stay home in Miami while his Jamaican wife, Alsi, gave birth to the couple's first child, a daughter named Jada.
   "It's the best thing that can happen in life," Karlovic said.
   In his first match after his layoff, Karlovic saved two match points in a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (8) victory over Martin Fischer of Austria. On the first match point, Fischer ripped what appeared to be a winning first-service return deep to Karlovic's backhand. But Karlovic, showing surprising quickness, slugged a cross-court shot, and Fischer netted an ill-advised backhand drop shot. 
   In the quarterfinals, Karlovic survived in two tough sets against Thiemo de Bakker, the 2006 Wimbledon junior champion who reached No. 40 in the world last year. Then Karlovic converted only 56 percent of his first serves in a 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-4 victory over former top-20 player Sam Querrey.  
   Karlovic found his rhythm in the final, increasing his first-service percentage to 71. He improved to 6-3 lifetime against Blake, a 31-year-old Tampa, Fla., resident who missed three months last year because of knee tendinitis. Six of the previous meetings came on the ATP World Tour (the major leagues of tennis), one occurred in the French Open, and one took place in the Davis Cup.
   Adding to the ATP-like atmosphere Sunday were an announced sellout crowd of 725, the largest in the tournament's seven-year history, and the presence of Brad Gilbert, the renowned coach, commentator and author who served as the master of ceremonies.
   The match was even closer than the score indicated. When Blake stepped to the line to serve at 4-5 in the third set, each player had won 14 games and broken the other once. 
   But Blake double-faulted to trail 0-30, and Karlovic's backhand return of a first serve handcuffed the approaching Blake to make it 0-40. Blake then hit a cross-court forehand that appeared to be long, but the ball was ruled in, and Karlovic netted a forehand for 15-40. It was only a brief reprieve for Blake, though. On the next point, he sprayed a backhand wide to end the match.
   Karlovic fired 23 aces overall, faced only one break point in the match and — brace yourself — won all 20 points on his serve in the last set, including 12 aces. Several times in the match, after watching another Karlovic missile whiz past him out of reach, Blake flailed weakly at an imaginary ball as if to say, "This is hopeless."
   Facing Karlovic's serve is "not fun," said Blake, who improved from No. 75 to No. 67 by reaching the final. "His serve is part of it, but the rest of his game was in form today. He returned well and put a lot of pressure on me. There's nothing you can do about the serve."
   Nicholas Monroe and Jack Sock know the feeling. The American wild cards lost to hard-serving Australian left-handers Carsten Ball, 6-foot-6, and Chris Guccione, 6-7, in the doubles final, 7-6 (3), 1-6, 10-5 tiebreak.
   Ball, 24, and Guccione, 26, reached the quarterfinals of the 2009 U.S. Open and have represented Australia in the Davis Cup. Ball, a Newport Beach native and resident, plays for Australia because his father, former top-25 doubles player Syd, is from Down Under.
   Monroe, 29, and Sock, 19, played in their first tournament together but have known each other for years in the Kansas City, Mo., area.
   Sock turned pro in July and won the U.S. Open mixed doubles title with Melanie Oudin last month. Monroe, who's listed at 5-10 but appears smaller, lost in doubles final at Natomas for the second consecutive year. He played with Donald Young in 2010. Young, the 2008 Sacramento Challenger singles champion, is playing in Asia on the ATP World Tour.
   Intercollegiate Tennis Association in Pacific Palisades -- Stanford's Mallory Burdette and Nicole Gibbs defeated Florida's Sophie Oyen and Allie Will 6-2, 7-6 (2) to win the doubles title in the Women's All-American Championships.

Karlovic, Blake advance to Sacramento final

   Ivo Karlovic was disappointed in his serve.
   Sam Querrey was disgusted with his.
   Within minutes of edging Querrey 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-4 Saturday in the semifinals of the $100,000 RelyAid Natomas Racquet Club Challenger in Sacramento, Karlovic was practicing his serve on a side court.
   "Today my serve didn't work at all," lamented the second-seeded Karlovic, a 6-foot-10 veteran who holds the record for the fastest serve (156 mph). "I had a really low (first-serve) percentage, but I was able to make it up with my baseline game and fighting."
   Karlovic, who converted 56 percent of his first deliveries, recorded the only service break of the third set in the last game. Querrey committed his second double fault of the match to trail 30-40, then missed a first serve. The second serve allowed Karlovic to get into the point, and he capitalized by ripping a runaround forehand passing shot down the line for the victory.
   The normally mild-mannered Querrey was incensed after the match, played before an announced capacity crowd of 650 that included Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and coach Dennis Green of the Sacramento Mountain Lions in the United Football League.
   "My second serve sucked the whole week,"  snapped the third-seeded Querrey, a 6-6 native of San Francisco who lives in Las Vegas. "Pathetic ... "
   Karlovic, whose wife gave birth to the couple's first child on Sept. 15, is playing in his first tournament since the U.S. Open one month ago. He agreed that his layoff affected the timing on his serve Saturday.
   Querrey, meanwhile, was competing in his second tournament since undergoing arthroscopic elbow surgery in June. But he didn't use that as an excuse for his serving woes.
   "I just need to go for it more," he said. "I'm too conservative on my serve and forehand."
   Karlovic will meet top-seeded James Blake of Tampa, Fla., for the title after today's 12:30 p.m. doubles final pitting American wild cards Nicholas Monroe and Jack Sock against Australians Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione.
  Blake outclassed unseeded Alex Kuznetsov of Tampa 6-2, 7-5 in the other semifinal. Kuznetsov, a Ukraine native who moved to the United States at 3, also reached the semifinals of the Sacramento Challenger five years ago at 19. The tournament was held at the Sutter Lawn Tennis Club at the time.
   At first glance, Blake and Karlovic couldn't be more different. Blake is nine inches shorter and an African-American. Karlovic is a white Croat.
   On further inspection, however, they are remarkably similar.
   Both were born in 1979 (Karlovic, 32, is exactly 10 months older). Both have reached the top 15 in the world, Blake peaking at No. 4 in 2006 and Karlovic at No. 14 in 2008.
   Both have played on Davis Cup championship teams, Karlovic helping Croatia win in 2005 for its only title and Blake helping the United States end its longest title drought (12 years).
   Both endured long injury layoffs last year, Blake for three months with knee tendinitis and Karlovic for six months after Achilles' tendon-related surgery.        
   Their current rankings? Blake is No. 75, Karlovic No. 76.  
   Karlovic leads the head-to-head series 5-3 overall and 3-2 on hardcourts. In their last meeting, Karlovic won 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1 on a hardcourt in the quarterfinals at Delray Beach, Fla., in February 2010.
   "I didn't watch him in the last year or two, but I know he was injured like me," said Karlovic, who saved two match points in the first round of the Natomas Challenger against Martin Fischer of Austria. "He can play really well. It will be an interesting match."
   ATP Challenger Tour in Tiburon -- Kiryl Harbatsiuk, a former Sacramento State star from Belarus, lost to Blake Strode of Cary, N.C., 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the first round of qualifying for the $100,000 First Republic Bank Tiburon Challenger.
   Strode, the Chico Futures runner-up in June, has deferred his acceptance to Harvard Law School several times to play professional tennis.
    ITF Women's Circuit in Kansas City, Mo. -- Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove and Amanda Fink of Calabasas lost to Jamie Hampton of Auburn, Ala., and Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia 7-5, 2-6, 10-8 tiebreak in the doubles semifinals of the $50,000 Women's Tennis Classic.
   Intercollegiate Tennis Association in Pacific Palisades -- Jacqueline Cako of Arizona State knocked off  Jana Juricova, the top seed and reigning NCAA champion from Cal, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (1) in the quarterfinals of the Women's All-American Championships.
   Stanford's Stacey Tan, the NCAA runner-up, and Nicole Gibbs, an NCAA semifinalist, lost in the first round of doubles. The Cardinal's Mallory Burdette, who won the NCAA doubles title with Hilary Barte in May, and Gibbs will play Florida's Sophie Oyen and Allie Will in the finall.
   Intercollegiate Tennis Association in Tulsa, Okla. -- Cal's Nick Andrews (Folsom), Carlos Cueto and Ben McLachlan and Stanford's Ryan Thacher lost in the first round of the Men's All-American Championships.
   In doubles, fifth-seeded Andrews and Christoffer Konigsfeldt and qualifiers Cueto and McLachlan also fell n the first round.
  
RELYAID NATOMAS CHALLENGER
At Natomas Racquet Club
Singles semifinals
   Ivo Karlovic (2), Croatia, def. Sam Querrey (3), Las Vegas, 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-4. James Blake (1), Tampa, Fla., def. Alex Kuznetsov, Tampa, Fla., 6-2, 7-5.
Sunday’s schedule
(Beginning at 12:30 p.m.)
Center Court
   Monroe and Sock vs. Ball and Guccione. Blake (1) vs. Karlovic (2).

Blake is head and shoulders above Sock

   A sprained ankle and sore hip were the least of Jack Sock's problems Friday.
   Much more damaging was his inexperience against a cagey veteran.
   Top-seeded James Blake, who will turn 32 in December, dismantled Sock, a wild card who turned 19 two weeks ago, 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the $100,000 RelyAid Natomas Racquet Club Challenger in Sacramento.
   An announced capacity crowd of 650, the largest in the tournament's seven-year history, watched the matchup of players representing the United States' past and future on a gorgeous afternoon following several days of cold, rainy weather.
   Blake will face fellow Tampa, Fla., resident Alex Kuznetsov in today's second semifinal. The unseeded Kuznetsov, who also reached the Sacramento semifinals five years ago at 19, beat fourth-seeded Bobby Reynolds of Acworth, Ga., 7-6 (0), 6-3.
   Blake is 2-0 lifetime against Kuznetsov, a Ukraine native who moved to the United States at 3, with both matches coming in 2007.
   In today's first semifinal at noon, second-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia will meet third-seeded Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native living in Las Vegas. Don't look for a lot of long rallies in this one. Karlovic, 6-foot-10, and Querrey, 6-6, are two of the hardest servers in tennis.
   Querrey, who turned 24 Friday, leads the series 3-1 (3-0 on hardcourt). All of the matches came in 2007 and 2008.  
   Blake, ranked a career-high No. 4 in the world in 2006, missed three months last year with knee tendinitis and plunged to No. 173 in March. He has rebounded to No. 75.
   Sock, from Overland Park, Kan., turned pro in July and won the U.S. Open mixed doubles title with Melanie Oudin last month. Last year, he became the first American since Andy Roddick in 2000 to win the U.S. Open junior boys title. This summer, he became the first player since Donald Young in 2006 to win two consecutive USTA Boys 18 National Championships.
   "He's a great player," Blake said of Sock. "He has a lot of talent. He would have beaten the pants off me at 19. He has a lot to learn, for sure, but he's already done a lot at 19. I can see him being a completely different player next year at this time."
   Sock rolled his ankle running down a drop shot Wednesday but said it was 95 percent of normal Friday. He also hurt his hip running for a ball early in the first set Friday but said the pain subsided during the match and that the injury didn't affect the outcome.
   Sock has the firepower to play with Blake, but mentally there's no comparison. Blake, unlike Sock, has learned how to control his emotions on the court and maintain his concentration.
   With Blake serving at 5-4 in the first set, Sock earned his only break point of the match but failed to convert.
   "He probably felt he should have gotten into a tiebreaker," Blake said. "He got a little negative after that, and I used it to my advantage."
   After Sock lost his serve to open the second set, he swatted a ball halfway to Yolo County and received a warning from the chair umpire for ball abuse. In contrast, the most emotion Blake showed when he missed a shot was muttering "James ... "
   When Sock later double-faulted on break point to trail 4-1, the match was essentially over.
   "I started well and overall wasn't bad," Sock said. "But these guys have been out here a long time. You can't have loose points and games, or it'll cost you the match, and that's what happened."
   Sock finished with seven double-faults, which mystified him.
   "I've been serving well all week," said Sock, who will play in Sunday's doubles final with Nicholas Monroe of Chapel Hill, N.C. "One of (Blake's) better shots is his backhand return. When it's on, he can do whatever he wants with it. I thought I'd take some chances, and they didn't go in today."
   ATP, WTA tours in Beijing -- Two teams with Northern California ties lost in doubles semifinals of the China Open.
   Bob and Mike Bryan, the No. 1 men's seeds and former Stanford All-Americans, lost to third-seeded Michael Llodra of France and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia 3-6, 7-6 (4), 10-3.
   Vania King of the Sacramento Capitals and Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova, seeded fourth in women's doubles, fell to No. 1 seeds and reigning Wimbledon champions Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia 6-4, 6-4.
    
RELYAID NATOMAS MEN’S CHALLENGER
At Natomas Racquet Club
Singles quarterfinals
   James Blake (1), Tampa, Fla., def. Jack Sock, Lincoln, Neb., 6-4, 6-2. Alex Kuznetsov, Tampa, Fla., def. Bobby Reynolds (4), Acworth, Ga., 7-6 (0), 6-3. Sam Querrey (3), Las Vegas, def. Uladzimir Ignatik, Belarus, 7-5, 7-6 (9). Ivo Karlovic (2), Croatia, def. Thiemo de Bakker, Netherlands, 6-4, 7-6 (2).
Doubles semifinals
   Nicholas Monroe, Chapel Hill, N.C., and Jack Sock, Overland Park, Kan., def. Travis Rettenmaier, Los Angeles, and Simon Stadler, Germany, 6-4, 6-4. Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione, Australia, def. Vasek Pospisil, Canada, and Bobby Reynolds, Acworth, Ga., 6-2, 6-4.
Today’s schedule
(Beginning at noon)
Center Court
   Querrey (3) vs. Karlovic (2), Blake (1) vs. Kuznetsov.

Blake, 31, to face Sock, 19, in match for the ages

   It will be the past vs. the future in American men's tennis at the $100,000 RelyAid Natomas Racquet Club Challenger.
   Top-seeded James Blake, who turns 32 in December, will face wild card Jack Sock, who turned 19 two weeks ago, today at noon in the quarterfinals of the Sacramento tournament.
   "I could have babysat one of these guys," Blake quipped Thursday after beating Chris Guccione, a 6-foot-7 left-hander from Australia, 6-4, 6-4. "Now I'm the old guy.  It's fun to see the new generation. I remember when I started in these tournaments. It's exciting.
   "He can swing for the fence. He has nothing to lose. I've been in that situation."
   Second-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia and third-seeded Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native living in Las Vegas, also advanced. But sixth-seeded Izak Van der Merwe of South Africa lost to Alex Kuznetsov of Richboro, Pa., and Tampa, Fla., 6-4, 6-2, and seventh-seeded Bjorn Phau of Germany fell to Uladzimir Ignatik of Belarus 6-4, 7-6 (4). 
   Karlovic, the tallest player in the tournament at 6-foot-10, dispatched the shortest, 5-8 Victor Estrella of the Dominican Republic, 6-3, 6-2. They played doubles together in the tournament, losing in the first round to wild cards Nicholas Monroe of Chapel Hill, N.C., and Sock 6-4, 4-6, 15-13.
   Kuznetsov reached the semifinals of the Sacramento Challenger five years ago at 19 years old.
   The United States is guaranteed to have a player in the final, as all four remaining players in the top half of the draw -- Blake, Sock, Kuznetsov and fourth-seeded Bobby Reynolds -- are American.
   The 6-6 Querrey, who fired 19 aces in his 6-7 (4), 7-6 (1), 6-3 victory over veteran left-hander Denis Gremelmayr of Germany, is the only American left in the bottom half. Joining Querrey are Karlovic, Ignatik and 2006 Wimbledon junior boys champion Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands.
   Ironically, given their ages, Blake is healthier than Sock entering their first career meeting.
   Blake, ranked a career-high No. 4 in 2006, missed three months last year with chronic tendinitis in his right knee and plummeted to No. 173 in March. But he has rebounded to No. 74 and showed no ill effects against the hard-serving Guccione.
   Sock, meanwhile, sprained his left ankle early in the third set of his second-round victory over Roman Borvanov of Moldova on Wednesday. But Sock won in doubles later that day and again Thursday.
   "I don't worry about the other guy," said Blake, who splits his time between his training base in Tampa and his childhood home of Fairfield, Conn. "If you start playing differently because he's hurt, it's going to affect you negatively. I'm not changing my game."
   Sock, a native of Lincoln, Neb., living in Overland Park, Kan., already has an impressive resume. Six weeks after turning pro in July, he won the U.S. Open mixed doubles title with Melanie Oudin. Last year, he became the first American since Andy Roddick in 2000 to win the U.S. Open junior boys title. This year, Sock became the first player since Donald Young in 2005-06 to win the USTA Boys 18 National Championships two years in a row.
   "He has a ton of talent," said Blake, who has practiced with Sock. "He'll be a great player."
   Ripping his returns, Blake broke Guccione's serve once in each set. Meanwhile, Blake never faced a break point on his own serve, winning 15 of 16 points on his second delivery against the 2010 Sacramento quarterfinalist.
   "It's tough playing Guccione," said Blake, who nevertheless improved to 3-0 lifetime against the red-headed Aussie. "He controls everything when he serves. You have to take chances on his serve.
   "My biggest concern was taking care of  my serve, and I did that really well. He only got to deuce twice.
   "I got a little lucky on his serve. I took advantage of some opportunities and got a couple of breaks. That's all you can ask for."
   ATP World Tour -- No. 1 seeds and former Stanford All-Americans Bob and Mike Bryan breezed to a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic and Florian Mayer of Germany in the doubles quarterfinals at the China Open in Beijing.
   The Bryan twins, trying to bounce back from losing in the first round of a Grand Slam for the first time in 10 years, have lost only seven games in two matches in Beijing. They fell to Karlovic and Frank Moser of Germany at the U.S. Open last month. Karlovic and Moser then lost in the second round to Italians Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini.
   WTA tour -- Fourth-seeded Vania King of the Capitals and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan defeated eighth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia and Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-0, 7-5 in the doubles quarterfinals at Beijing.
   King and Shvedova are trying to rebound from a 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) loss to Americans Lizel Huber and Lisa Raymond  in the U.S. Open final.
   ITF Women's Circuit -- Unseeded Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove and Amanda Fink of Calabasas received a walkover from fourth-seeded Alexandra Mueller of Abington, Pa., and Asia Muhammed of Las Vegas in the quarterfinals of the $50,000 Women's Pro Tennis Classic in Kansas City, Mo.

RELYAID NATOMAS CHALLENGER
At Natomas Racquet Club
Second-round singles

   James Blake (1), Tampa, Fla., def. Chris Guccione, Australia, 6-4, 6-4. Alex Kuznetsov, Tampa, Fla., def. Izak Van der Merwe (6), South Africa, 6-4, 6-2. Thiemo de Bakker, Netherlands, def. Pierre-Ludovic Duclos, Canada, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. Ivo Karlovic (2), Croatia, def. Victor Estrella, Dominican Republic, 6-3, 6-2. Uladzimir Ignatik, Belarus, def. Bjorn Phau (7), Germany, 6-4, 7-6 (4). Sam Querrey (3), Las Vegas, def. Denis Gremelmayr, Germany, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (1), 6-3.
Doubles quarterfinals
   Vasek Pospisil, Canada, and Bobby Reynolds, United States, def. Frederik Nielsen, Denmark, and Travis Parrott (3), Portland, Ore., 7-6 (7), 7-6 (5). Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione, Australia, def. Sanchai Ratiwatana and Sonchat Ratiwatana, Thailand, 7-6 (5), 6-4. Nicholas Monroe, Chapel Hill, N.C., and Jack Sock, Lincoln, Neb., def. John Paul Fruttero, San Jose, and Raven Klaasen, South Africa, 6-3, 3-6, 10-8 tiebreak. Travis Rettenmaier, Los Angeles, and Simon Stadler, Germany, def. Jordan Kerr, Australia, and David Martin (4), Huntington Beach, 6-3, 4-6, 11-9 tiebreak.

Friday's schedule

(Beginning at noon)

Center Court

   Blake (1) vs. Sock, Ignatik vs. Querrey (3), Monroe and Sock vs. Rettenmaier and Stadler.

Court 1

   Reynolds (4) vs. Kuznetsov, De Bakker vs. Karlovic (2), Pospisil and Reynolds vs. Ball and Guccione.

Karlovic wins thriller; Blake, Querrey, Sock advance

   At 6-foot-10, Ivo Karlovic is known mostly for his booming serve.
   Two years ago, the Croat set a Davis Cup record with 78 aces only to lose to Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 16-14 in the fifth set in a match lasting 5 hours, 59 minutes. In March, Karlovic hit a 156-mph serve in a Davis Cup match against Germany to break Andy Roddick's record by 1 mph.
   But there's more to Karlovic's game than his serve, as he showed Tuesday in the Rely Aid Natomas Racquet Club Challenger in Sacramento.
   The oldest player in the singles draw at 32 years, 7 months and the tallest ever in the top 100 on the ATP World Tour, the No. 2 seed used his poise under intense pressure, underrated groundstrokes and -- yes -- serve to pull out a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (8) victory over dogged Martin Fischer of Austria in the first round of the $100,000 tournament.
   Karlovic overcame a 4-1 deficit (two minibreaks) in the tiebreaker and later saved two match points against the 5-11 Fischer, who displayed an outstanding return of serve in the first career meeting between the players.
   On the first match point, Fischer ripped what appeared to be a winning return of Karlovic's first serve to the corner. Karlovic not only reached the ball, he pounded a cross-court backhand. The 25-year-old Fischer -- who improved his year-end ranking every year from 2004 through 2010 but has fallen from No. 133 to No. 185 this year -- then netted an ill-advised backhand drop shot for 6-6.
   On the second match point, Karlovic followed a strong first serve with a forehand putaway volley for 8-8. A service winner gave him his second match point, and Fischer hit a backhand long to end the 2-hour, 7-minute match.
   Karlovic converted his last eight first serves in the tiebreaker, including three aces and one service winner, after missing his opening one. He finished with 22 aces to Fischer's three.
   Karlovic won't out-rally many players, but he has surprisingly good mobility for someone so tall and powerful, reliable groundstrokes.
   "If you look at my serve, of course my other strokes look worse," said Karlovic, a classic gentle giant off the court. "But they're not as bad as people think. That's mostly the perspective of people who aren't pro tennis players. Pro tennis players know it's not only the serve."
   The past, present and future of American men's tennis also advanced.
   Top-seeded James Blake, 31, defeated Amer Delic of Bosnia and Herzegovina 6-4, 7-5. It was the second straight year that Delic, the 2003 NCAA singles champion from Illinois and 2006 doubles runner-up in Sacramento, faced the No. 1 seed in the first round of the tournament. He fell to Tobias Kamke of Germany 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 last year.
   Third-seeded Sam Querrey, who will turn 24 Friday, outlasted Laurynas Grigelis, a 20-year-old Lithuanian who won the $100,000 Aptos Challenger in July, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2.
   "I can see how he won Aptos," said Querrey, a San Francisco native who is playing in his second tournament since undergoing surgery to remove bone spurs from his right (playing) elbow in June. "He has an unbelievable backhand."
   And Jack Sock, a 19-year-old wild card who won the U.S. Open mixed doubles title with Melanie Oudin last month, ousted No. 8 seed James Ward of Great Britain 6-3, 7-6 (3).
   The only other seed to lose Tuesday was No. 5 Vasek Pospisil, a Canadian who fell to the Netherlands' Thiemo de Bakker, the 2006 Wimbledon junior boys champion, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (2), 6-3.
   Roman Borvanov of Moldova ended the winning streak of qualifier Steve Johnson, the reigning NCAA singles champion from USC, at 13 matches with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory.
   Karlovic was playing his first match since reaching the third round of the U.S. Open one month ago. His Jamaican wife, Alsi, gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Jada, on Sept. 15 in Miami, where the family lives.
   "I didn't practice a lot, and I knew (Fischer) can play good," Karlovic said. "I was struggling a lot, but in the end, I played good."
   Karlovic enjoyed considerable success before undergoing surgery in July 2010 to remove part of a bone impinging his left Achilles' tendon and missing the last half of the year.
   He helped Croatia win its only championship in Davis Cup history in 2005, reached the 2007 SAP Open final in San Jose before losing to Andy Murray 6-7 (3), 6-4, 7-6 (2), climbed to a career-high No. 14 in 2008 and advanced to the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2009.
  Oh, and he led all players in aces from 2007 through 2009.
  With Karlovic, who has fallen to No. 76, it always comes back to the serve.
   Natomas notes -- Give Querrey credit for looking on the bright side.
   Regarding his string of physical problems -- falling through a glass table two years ago at a tournament in Bangkok, his elbow surgery and his subsequent umbilical infection -- he said, "At least I'm meeting my insurance deductible." ...
   After the first round, Querrey is the only American left in the bottom half of the singles draw. Tim Smyczek, the only other one when the tournament started, lost to qualifier Pierre-Ludovic Duclos 6-2, 7-5. Four Americans remain in the top half: Blake, Sock, fourth-seeded Bobby Reynolds and Alex Kuznetsov. ...
    In a matchup of former Loomis Futures champions, Victor Estrella of the Dominican Republic beat qualifier Michael Venus of New Zealand 6-2, 6-4. Estrella, only 5-8, will meet his doubles partner, Karlovic, in the second round. ...
   Trivia question: Who was de Bakker's female counterpart as Wimbledon junior champion five years ago? Answer: Caroline Wozniacki, now the top-ranked woman in the world. De Bakker is No. 207. ...
   Izak Van der Merwe, the defending champion in doubles with fellow South African Rik de Voest, and Treat Conrad Huey of the Philippines lost to Australians Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione 2-6, 7-6 (6), 10-4 tiebreak Monday in the opening round. De Voest is playing on the ATP World tour in Beijing this week.   
  ATP World Tour -- Dmitry Tursunov, a Moscow native living in Folsom, upset sixth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 7-6 (6), 6-7 (3), 7-5 in the first round of the $1,214,500 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo. Tipsarevic, who reached the U.S. Open quarterfinals last month, won his first ATP World Tour title last week in the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur.
   Former Stanford All-Americans Bob and Mike Bryan, seeded first, beat Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic and Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-2, 6-2 in the first round of the $2.1 million China Open in Beijing. 
   WTA tour -- Raquel Kops-Jones, a former Cal All-American from Fresno, and Abigail Spears of San Diego reached the doubles quarterfinals in the China Open with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over sixth-seeded Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic.
   ITF Women's Circuit -- Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove and Amanda Fink defeated Madison Brengle and Gail Brodsky 6-2, 6-3 in an All-American match in the first round of doubles at the $50,000 Women's Pro Tennis Classic in Kansas City, Mo.
   In another All-American match, Maria Sanchez of Modesto and Whitney Jones lost to fourth-seeded Alexandra Mueller and Asia Muhammed 6-2, 6-2.

RELY AID NATOMAS CHALLENGER
At Natomas Racquet Club
First-round singles
   James Blake (1), United States, def. Amer Delic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 6-4, 7-5. Ivo Karlovic (2), Croatia, def. Martin Fischer, Austria, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (8). Sam Querrey (3), United States, def. Laurynas Grigelis, Lithuania,  6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2. Thiemo de Bakker, Netherlands, def. Vasek Pospisil (5), Canada, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (2), 6-3. Izak Van der Merwe (6), South Africa, def. Blake Strode, United States, 6-3, 6-4. Bjorn Phau (7), Germany, def. Robert Farah, Colombia, 6-1, 6-4. Jack Sock, United States, def. James Ward (8), Great Britain,  6-3, 7-6 (3). Chris Guccione, Australia, def. Juan Sebastian Cabal, Colombia, 6-3, 6-4. Roman Borvanov, Moldova, def. Steve Johnson, United States, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. Frederik Nielsen, Denmark, def. Nick Monroe, United States, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4. Alex Kuznetsov, United States, def. Simon Greul, Germany, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Uladzimir Ignatik, Belarus, def. Fritz Wolmarans, South Africa, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Denis Gremelmayr, Germany, def. Jamie Baker, Great Britain, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. Pierre-Ludovic Duclos, Canada, def. Tim Smyczek, United States, 6-2, 7-5. Victor Estrella, Dominican Republic, def. Michael Venus, New Zealand, 6-2, 6-4.
Final-round doubles qualifying
   Pierre-Ludovic Duclos, Canada, and Adam Hubble, Australia, def. Laurynas Grigelis, Lithuania, and Uladzimir Ignatik, Belarus, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 12-10 tiebreak.
Wednesday's schedule
Center Court
(Beginning at 10 a.m.)
   Reynolds (4) vs. Nielsen, Borvanov vs. Sock, Kuznetsov vs. Van der Merwe (6), Kerr and Martin (4) vs. Hossain and Martinez not before 3 p.m., Blake (1) vs. Guccione.
Court 1
(Beginning at 11 a.m.)
   Ratiwatana and Ratiwatana vs. Grigelis and Ignatik, Cabal and Farah (1) vs. Fruttero and Klaasen, Pospisil and Reynolds vs. Johnson and Querrey, Duclos and Hubble vs. Nielsen and Parrott, Estrella and Karlovic vs. Monroe and Sock.

Gonzalez withdraws; Sacramento results, schedule

   The $100,000 Rely Aid Natomas Racquet Club Challenger lost a former top-five player Monday.
   But the Sacramento tournament still has one more, plus two competitors who have cracked the top 20.
   Fernando Gonzalez withdrew from the Natomas Challenger because of a sinus infection, spokesman Glenn Davis said.
   The 31-year-old Chilean climbed to No. 5 in the world after reaching the 2007 Australian Open final. He underwent right hip surgery one year ago tomorrow, though, and has plunged to No. 300.
   The top three seeds -- No. 1 James Blake, No. 2 Ivo Karlovic and No. 3 Sam Querrey -- are scheduled to play Tuesday (see schedule below). Blake reached No. 4 in 2006, Karlovic No. 14 in 2008 and Querrey No. 17 in January. All are coming back from injuries.    

$100,000 RELY AID NATOMAS CHALLENGER
At Natomas Racquet Club
Final-round singles qualifying
   Steve Johnson, United States, def. Carsten Ball (5), Australia, 6-4, 6-4. Michael Venus, New Zealand, def. Simon Stadler (6), Germany, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Blake Strode, United States, def. Jamie Baker (3), Great Britain, 6-0, 6-2. Pierre-Ludovic Duclos (4), Canada, def. Alex Bogdanovic (7), Great Britain, 7-6 (7), 6-2.
First-round singles
   Bobby Reynolds (4), United States, def. Carlos Salamanca, Colombia, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5. Alex Kuznetsov, United States, leads Simon Greul, Germany, 4-6, 6-4, 4-3 (postponed by rain).
First-round doubles
   Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione, Australia, def. Treat Conrad Huey, Philippines, and Izak Van Der Merwe (2), South Africa, 2-6, 7-6 (6), 10-4 tiebreak. Travis Rettenmaier, United States, and Simon Stadler, Germany, def. Denis Gremelmayr, Germany, and Bjorn Phau, Germany, 6-3, 3-6, 10-8 tiebreak.
Tuesday’s schedule
(Beginning at 10 a.m.)
Center Court
   Smyczek vs. Duclos, Greul vs. Kuznetsov (to finish), Sock vs. Ward (8), Blake (1) vs. Delic not before 4:30 p.m.
Court 1
   Nielsen vs. Monroe, Grigelis vs. Querrey (3), Fischer vs. Karlovic (2), Grigelis and Ignatik vs. Duclos and Hubble (final-round qualifying).
Court 2
   Strode vs. Van der Merwe (6), Ignatik vs. Wolmarans, Phau (7) vs. Farah, Guccione vs. Cabal.
Court 3
   Borvanov vs. Johnson, Pospisil (5) vs. De Bakker, Gremelmayr vs. Baker, Venus vs. Estrella.

Four former top-20 players to play in Sacramento

   Officially, it's the Rely Aid Natomas Racquet Club Challenger.
   Perhaps a better name would be the Comeback Classic.
   Four former top-20 players trying to work their way back up the rankings after major injuries are entered in the $100,000 tourmament that starts Monday in Sacramento. They consist of the top three seeds -- No. 1 James Blake, No. 2 Ivo Karlovic and No. 3 Sam Querrey -- and unseeded Fernando Gonzalez. Querrey and Gonzalez accepted wild cards.
   Blake, ranked a career-high No. 4 in 2006, missed most of the clay-court season last year because of a knee injury and plunged to No. 173 in March. The 31-year-old resident of Tampa, Fla., has fought his way back to No. 74.
   The 6-foot-10 Karlovic, who reached No. 14 in 2008, has followed a similar path. The 32-year-old Croatian missed the last six months of 2010 with an Achilles' injury and plummeted to No. 239 in March. He has climbed back to No. 77.
    Querrey, ranked a career-high No. 17 in January, missed three months this summer after operations for bone spurs in his elbow and an umbilical infection. The San Francisco native, who turns 24 on Friday, has fallen to No. 119.
   Gonzalez, who reached the 2007 Australian Open final to attain a career-high ranking of No. 5, underwent hip surgery last October. The 31-year-old Chilean has dropped to No. 300.
    Natomas qualifying -- The top two seeds lost in the first round of Natomas qualifying Saturday.
   No. 1 Raven Klaasen of South Africa fell to Steve Johnson of Orange 6-1, 6-2. Johnson is coming off two consecutive titles in $10,000 tournaments in Southern California. The reigning NCAA singles champion from USC plans to return for his senior season and a shot at four NCAA team championships.
   No. 2 Alejandro Gonzalez of Colombia lost to Michael Venus of New Zealand 6-4, 6-2. Venus won a $15,000 tournament in Loomis, near Sacramento, last year.
   Former Sacramento State star Kiryl Harbatsiuk of Belarus beat his doubles partner, Boris Nicola Bakalov of Bulgaria, 2-6, 6-2, 6-1. In a matchup of Sacramento-area wild cards, junior player Brandon Sutter defeated Eric Roberson 6-3, 6-2.
   ATP World Tour in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -- Second-seeded Eric Butorac of Rochester, Minn., and Jean-Julien Rojer of Netherlands Antilles edged fourth-seeded Scott Lipsky of Huntington Beach and Rajeev Ram of Carmel, Ind., 6-3, 6-7 (5), 10-6 in the doubles semifinals of the $850,000 Malaysian Open.
   Lipsky won the doubles title in the inaugural Sacramento Challenger in 2005 with former Stanford teammate David Martin. Ram reached the Sacramento singles final in 2006 and doubles final (with John Isner) in 2008.

King eliminated in Seoul quarterfinals

   Vania King could not sustain her momentum in the Hansol Korea Open.
   After shocking 10th-ranked Marion Bartoli for her first career victory over a top-10 player, the Sacramento Capital lost to unseeded Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 Friday in the quarterfinals of the $220,000 tournament in Seoul, South Korea.
   It was King's first loss to Zakopalova in four career meetings. Both players are 5-foot-5. The 29-year-old Zakopalova is ranked No. 43, and the 22-year-old King is No. 98.
   Zakopalova will meet sixth-seeded Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain in one semifinal, and fifth-seeded Polona Hercog of Slovenia will play unseeded Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan in the other.
   Tiburon Challenger -- The field for the $100,000 First Republic Bank Tiburon Challenger, Oct. 10-16 at the Tiburon Peninsula Club, is much the same as for the $100,000 Natomas/USTA Challenger in Sacramento the previous week.
   The primary difference is San Francisco native Sam Querrey playing in Tiburon instead of James Blake. Entered in both tournaments are Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, Ivo Karlovic of Croatia, Robby Ginepri of Kennesaw, Ga., and Jack Sock of Lincoln, Neb.
   Blake and Gonzalez, both 31, are former top-five players. Karlovic, 32, and Ginepri, 28, reached the top 15. All four are coming back from serious injuries. Sock, 18, won the mixed doubles title in the recent U.S. Open with Melanie Oudin.
   Costa Mesa Futures -- Kiryl Harbatsiuk, a former Sacramento State standout from Belarus, lost to John-Patrick Smith of Australia 7-5, 6-4 in the second round of the $10,000 Costa Mesa Tennis Classic.
   Both players completed their collegiate eligibility in May. Smith, who starred at Tennessee, became the second player in college tennis history to be named a four-time All-American in singles and doubles. He joined Rick Leach of USC (1984-87).

Blake, Gonzalez set to play in Natomas Challenger

   Although they come from different countries, James Blake and Fernando Gonzalez have much in common.
   Both are 31. Both have reached the top five in the world. Both are battling back from injuries. And both are scheduled to play in the $100,000 Natomas/USTA Challenger, Oct. 1-9 at the Natomas Racquet Club in Sacramento.
   Gonzalez, who received a wild card last week, climbed to a career-high No. 5 in the world in January 2007 after finishing as the runner-up to Roger Federer in the Australian Open. The Chilean won the singles silver medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and finished in the top 15 for the fifth consecutive year in 2009. However, he underwent right hip surgery last October and has plunged to No. 297.
   Blake, a three-time Grand Slam singles quarterfinalist, ascended to a career-high No. 4 in 2006 and played a key role on the United States' 2007 Davis Cup championship team. But the Yonkers, N.Y., native, now living in Tampa, Fla., missed 10 weeks in the spring of 2010 with a knee injury and fell to No. 173 last March. He has since climbed back to No. 73.
   Other entrants in the Natomas Challenger include former top-15 player Ivo Karlovic of Croatia, 2005 U.S. Open semifinalist Robby Ginepri of Kennesaw, Ga., and 2007 Sacramento Challenger champion Wayne Odesnik of Weston, Fla.
   Blake, Karlovic (32) and Ginepri (28) are no strangers to Northern California. All have done well in the SAP Open in San Jose.
   Blake reached the singles semifinals in 2003 and 2009 and won the doubles title in 2004 with Mardy Fish. The 6-foot-10 Karlovic came within a tiebreaker of winning the 2007 SAP Open, losing to Andy Murray.  Ginepri advanced to the semis in singles in 2008 and doubles in 2005 with Jan-Michael Gambill.
   Odesnik, 25, returned to action in January after serving a one-year suspension for possession of HGH.
   Also receiving a wild card last week was 18-year-old Jack Sock, who won the U.S. Open mixed doubles title with fellow American Melanie Oudin last week.
   Redding Women's Challenger -- Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove, a Sacramento suburb, reached the Redding singles quarterfinals for the third time in four appearances.
   The eighth seed and former UCLA All-American defeated doubles partner and ex-USC rival Maria Sanchez of Modesto 7-6 (2), 6-2 in the second round of the $25,000 Oak River Rehab Challenger at Sun Oaks Tennis and Fitness.
   Schnack, 5-10, has a good chance to reach the Redding singles semifinals for the first time when she meets unseeded Yuliana Lizarazo of Colombia today. Schnack then could face top-seeded Camila Giorgi of Italy.
   In the bottom half of the draw, second-seeded Kurumi Nara of Japan will play wild card Allie Will of Boca Raton, Fla., and third-seeded Julia Boserup of Newport Beach will take on sixth-seeded Lauren Davis of Boca Raton. The 5-foot-2 Davis, nine inches shorter than Boserup, has lost only two games in two matches.
   Schnack and Sanchez, the top seeds in doubles, beat Surina de Beer of South Africa and Olga Puchkova of Russia 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. Schnack is the defending champion with Sacramento native Christina Fusano, who retired two weeks ago.