Kenin, 17, clinches U.S. Open Wild Card Challenge

Sofia Kenin displays her trophy after winning last
week's Sacramento Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Seventeen-year-old Sofia Kenin clinched the U.S. Open Wild Card Challenge on Saturday when Jamie Loeb lost in the semifinals of the $50,000 Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships.
   The American with the most singles points in two of the three tournaments participating in the Challenge -- Stockton, Sacramento and Lexington in consecutive weeks -- earns a wild card into the main draw of the U.S. Open.
   The year's final Grand Slam tournament is scheduled for Aug. 29-Sept. 11 in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   Kenin finished with 81 points, 80 for winning last week's $50,000 Sacramento Challenger and one point for losing in the first round in Lexington.
   Grace Min, the runner-up in Sacramento, placed second with 49 points. Loeb, who fell to Arina Rodionova of Australia 7-6 (1), 6-1 on Saturday, was third with 44 points.
   Kenin will play in the main draw of the U.S. Open for the second consecutive year. She earned an automatic wild card by winning last year's USTA Girls 18 National Championships in San Diego and lost to then-No. 96 Mariana Duque-Marino of Colombia 6-3, 6-1 in the first round.
   Kenin again is entered in the Girls 18 Nationals, Aug. 6-14 in San Diego. If she repeats and receives that wild card for the U.S. Open, Min will get the other one.    

Top seed Van Uytvanck quits Kentucky match

Alison Van Uytvanck plays in the semifinals of the $50,000
Stockton Challenger two weeks ago. She went on the win the
title. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Jamie Loeb's path to the title in the $50,000 Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships and a wild card into the U.S. Open got easier on Friday.
   Top-seeded Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium retired from her quarterfinal against Arina Rodionova of Australia with an ankle injury. Rodionova led 4-2 in the first set at the time in Lexington.
   Van Uytvanck, a French Open quarterfinalist last year who underwent ankle surgery this past spring, won the $50,000 Stockton Challenger two weeks ago.
   In today's semifinals, Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands will face Jovana Jaksic of Serbia at 2 p.m. PDT, and Loeb of Ossining, N.Y., will meet Rodionova not before 4 p.m. Both matches will be streamed live at usta.com.
   Loeb must win the title to beat out Sofia Kenin of Boca Raton, Fla., in the U.S. Open Wild Card Challenge. Kenin, 17, won last week's $50,000 Sacramento Challenger.
   In the Kentucky doubles semifinals, unseeded Americans Sophie Chang and Alexandra Mueller knocked off top-seeded An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium and Modesto product Maria Sanchez 6-3, 6-4.

Ex-Stanford star Ahn falls in 50K Lexington

Kristie Ahn, shown in last week's Sacramento
Challenger, lost to qualifier Greet Minnen on
Thursday in the Lexington (Ky.) Challenger.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Qualifier Greet Minnen of Belgium defeated ex-Stanford star Kristie Ahn 6-2, 6-3 on Thursday in the second round of the $50,000 Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships in Lexington.
   Ahn, 24, reached the quarterfinals of last week's $50,000 Sacramento Challenger.
   Minnen will play Jamie Loeb of Ossining, N.Y., in today's quarterfinals. Loeb, the lone remaining American in singles, upset fourth-seeded Lin Zhu of China 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.
   Lexington is the last of three tournaments in the U.S. Open Wild Card Challenge. The American who earns the most points in two of the three tourneys -- Stockton, Sacramento and Lexington -- will receive a wild card into the main draw at Flushing Meadows, Aug. 20-Sept. 11.
  Seventeen-year-old Sofia Kenin, the Sacramento champion, will receive the wild card unless Loeb wins the Lexington title to pass Kenin in the standings.
   In the doubles quarterfinals, top-seeded An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium and Maria Sanchez of Los Angeles advanced by walkover. Sanchez, 26, was born and raised in Modesto.
   Sanaz Marand and Melanie Oudin of the United States beat CiCi Bellis, 17, of Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area and Loeb 7-6 (6), 6-1.

17-year-olds Bellis, Kenin fall to seeds in 50K Kentucky

CiCi Bellis, shown at last week's Bank of the West Classic,
lost to Belgium's Alison Van Uytvanck, a French Open
quarterfinalist last year, for the second time in three weeks.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Two 17-year-old Americans who starred in Northern California pro tournaments last week drew tough opponents in the $50,000 Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships and paid the price today.
   CiCi Bellis, who reached her first WTA tour quarterfinal in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, fell to top-seeded Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium 4-6, 7-5 6-1 in Lexington, Ky. Bellis lives in Atherton, a five-minute drive from Stanford.
   Van Uytvanck, a French Open quarterfinalist last year who's rebounding from ankle surgery, also defeated Bellis in the semifinals of the $50,000 Stockton Challenger two weeks ago en route to the title.
   Sofia Kenin, who won last week's $50,000 Sacramento Challenger, lost to fifth-seeded Hiroko Kuwata of Japan 5-7, 6-4, 6-0.
   Also falling in the first round in Lexington were sixth-seeded Grace Min of Boca Raton, Fla., and eighth-seeded Anastasia Pivovarova of Russia -- the runners-up in Sacramento and Stockton, respectively -- and Modesto product Maria Sanchez.
   However, former Stanford standout Kristie Ahn beat Stockton semifinalist Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. Larcher de Brito reached the third round at Wimbledon as a qualifier in 2013, beating Maria Sharapova, and 2014 and underwent wrist surgery last year.
   In the first round of doubles in Lexington, Bellis and Jamie Loeb of Ossining, N.Y., ousted second-seeded Ashley Weinhold and Caitlin Whoriskey of the United States 6-4, 0-6 [10-7]. Weinhold and Whoriskey won their second straight Sacramento Challenger title on Sunday, beating Loeb and Chanel Simmonds of South Africa.
   Top-seeded An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium and Sanchez beat Freya Christie and Laura Robson of Great Britain 7-6 (3), 6-3. Mestach advanced to the singles final of last year's Stockton and Sacramento Challengers.