Kerber finally stops Stephens; Osaka, Tsitsipas fall

Angelique Kerber had not won a set in her last
five matches against Sloane Stephens. 2017
photo by Paul Bauman

   In a matchup of former U.S. Open champions, No. 16 seed Angelique Kerber defeated Sloane Stephens 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 today in the third round of the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

   Kerber, a 33-year-old left-hander from Germany, reeled off the last three games. She broke for 4-3 and for the match on errors by Stephens, a 28-year-old product of Fresno, Calif.

   Kerber, who won the 2016 U.S. Open and the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, had not won a set in her last five matches against Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion. They met for the first time since 2018 and the first time ever in a Grand Slam tournament.

   Kerber, who was two points from losing in the first round against Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine, is set to face Leylah Fernandez of Canada on Sunday for a quarterfinal berth. Fernandez, an 18-year-old left-hander, stunned No. 3 seed Naomi Osaka, the defending and two-time champion, 5-7, 7-6 (2), 6-4.

   Osaka, 23, of Japan announced afterward that she will take an indefinite break from tennis. 

   "When I win, I don't feel happy," Osaka, who withdrew from her second-round match in the French Open and skipped Wimbledon because of mental health issues, told a Japanese reporter. "I feel more like a relief. And then when I lose, I feel very sad. I don't think that's normal."

    An 18-year-old also knocked out the men's No. 3 seed as Carlos Alcaraz of Spain edged Stefanos Tsitsipas, the French Open runner-up in June, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 0-6, 7-6 (5) in 4 hours, 7 minutes.

   In a late third-round match, No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus dismissed No. 26 seed Danielle Collins of St. Petersburg, Fla., 6-3, 6-3.

   Sabalenka reached the final of the 2019 Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif., losing to Zheng Saisai, and Collins won the Mubadala title last month, defeating Daria Kasatkina. 

   Men's doubles — No. 4 seeds Rajeev Ram, a volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley from Carmel, Ind., and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain dispatched John Millman of Australia and Thiago Monteiro of Brazil 6-3, 6-4 in the second round.

   In the first round:

   — Wild cards Steve Johnson of Redondo Beach in the Los Angeles region and Sam Querrey, a 33-year-old San Francisco native, edged Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Matwe Middelkoop of the Netherlands 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (3).

   — Denmark's Frederik Nielsen and Canada's Vasek Pospisil, former Wimbledon men's doubles champions with different partners, beat Marcos Giron of Thousand Oaks in the L.A. area and Andre Goransson (Cal, 2014-17) of Sweden 6-3, 7-6 (3).

   — Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and Andres Molteni of Argentina eliminated Robin Haase of the Netherlands and Mackenzie McDonald, a 26-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.

   Women's doubles — No. 3 seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara (a Bay Area native) of Japan beat Eri Hozumi of Japan and Alicja Rosolska of Poland 7-6 (5), 6-2 in the second round.

   Mixed doubles — Giuliana Olmos, a product of Fremont in the Bay Area who represents Mexico, and Arevalo defeated Asia Muhammad of Las Vegas and Jackson Withrow of Omaha, Neb., 7-6 (5), 6-3.

   — Alternates Yastremska and Max Purcell of Australia topped Sania Mirza of India and Ram 6-3, 3-6 [10-7]. Mirza and Ram have won a combined five Grand Slam mixed doubles crowns but none together.

Barty, Pliskova gain final after years of Wimbledon woes

Ashleigh Barty defeated 2018 champion Angelique Kerber 6-3, 7-6 (3) today
at Wimbledon. 2019 photo by Harjanto Sumali

Karolina Pliskova faced only one break point in her 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 victory over
Aryna Sabalenka. 2015 photo by Mal Taam 

   For all their success in other Grand Slam tournaments, neither Ashleigh Barty nor Karolina Pliskova had advanced past the fourth round at Wimbledon before this week.

   So much for that gap in their résumés, as the current and former world No. 1s today advanced to Saturday's final (6 a.m. PDT on ESPN).

   The top-ranked Barty outplayed No. 25 seed Angelique Kerber, the champion at Wimbledon in 2018 and Stanford in 2015, 6-3, 7-6 (3) to end the German's winning streak at 10 matches. 

   The eighth-seeded Pliskova, who climbed to No. 1 in 2017, topped second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 for her first victory in three meetings.

   Both Pliskova, a 29-year-old Czech, and Sabalenka, 23, of Belarus have reached the final of San Francisco Bay Area tournaments. Kerber outlasted Pliskova at Stanford, and Zheng Saisai upset Sabalenka in San Jose in 2019.

   Barty, 25, became the first Australian woman to reach the Wimbledon singles final since Evonne Goolagong won the 1980 title. Barty wore a dress with a scalloped hem like the one Goolagong wore while earning her first Wimbledon title 50 years ago.

   Both Barty, who still hasn't advanced past the fourth round of the U.S. Open, and Pliskova, who hadn't gone past the round of 16 in a major since the 2019 Australian Open, will play in their second Grand Slam final. Barty routed Marketa Vondrousova, a 19-year-old Czech, in the 2019 French Open. Pliskova again lost to Kerber 6-4 in the third set in the 2016 U.S. Open.

   Barty is 5-2 with a three-match winning streak against Pliskova, but they are 1-1 on grass. Their last grass-court meeting game five years ago in the Nottingham quarterfinals, with Pliskova prevailing 7-6 (2), 7-6 (7).

   Second-ranked Naomi Osaka (personal time) and third-ranked Simona Halep (calf injury), the reigning Wimbledon champion, withdrew from this year's tournament. Osaka has never advanced past the third round at the All England Club.

   In today's first semifinal, Barty trailed 0-3 (one service break) and 3-5 in the second set but then reeled off 11 consecutive points. Only 5-foot-5 (1.65 meters), she belted eight aces in the match to none for Kerber, a 33-year-old left-hander, and won 88 percent of the points on her first serve (36 of 42).

   The 13th-ranked Pliskova double-faulted facing set point in the first set, the only break point against her in the match. She broke serve in the opening game of the third set and held on for the victory. The 6-foot (1.83-meter) Sabalenka blasted 18 aces, and the 6-foot-1 (1.85-meter) Pliskova had 14.

   In the men's doubles semifinals, No. 1 seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic of Croatia defeated No. 6 seeds Rajeev Ram, a 37-year-old volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley from Carmel, Ind., and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5).

   Mektic and Pavic, who improved to 4-0 against Ram and Salisbury this year, are set to meet No. 4 seeds Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina on Saturday.

   Granollers, the singles runner-up in the 2018 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger, and Zeballos beat unseeded Simone Bolelli of Italy and Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (3).

   Granollers, 35, is 0-3 in Grand Slam men's doubles finals. This is the first time he has advanced past the doubles quarterfinals at Wimbledon.

   In the second-round junior matches:

   —Unseeded Linda Klimovicova of the Czech Republic surprised No. 7 seed Alexandra Yepifanova, an incoming freshman at Stanford from Lake Worth, Fla., 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

   —Victor Lilov of Raleigh, N.C., and Peter Benjamin Privara of Slovakia ousted No. 6 seeds Bruno Kuzuhara of Coconut Creek, Fla., and Ethan Quinn of Fresno, Calif., 7-6 (4), 6-2.

Ex-Stanford finalists advance to Wimbledon semis

Former world No. 1 Angelique Kerber extended her win-
ning streak to 10 matches today. 2015 photo by Mal Taam

   Six years ago, Angelique Kerber edged Karolina Pliskova to win the now-defunct Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.

   Both former world No. 1s reached the Wimbledon semifinals today. So did Aryna Sabalenka, the runner-up in the 2019 Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic at San Jose State University, a half-hour drive from  Stanford.

   Kerber, the No. 25 seed and 2018 Wimbledon champion, dismissed No. 19 seed Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-3 to extend her winning streak to 10 matches. Kerber, a 33-year-old left-hander, won the Bad Homburg Open on home soil in Germany the week before Wimbledon.

   Pliskova, seeded No. 8, beat unseeded Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland 6-2, 6-2. Pliskova, 29, now has reached the semis or better in every Grand Slam tournament. She advanced to the final of the 2016 U.S. Open, losing to Kerber 6-4 in the third set.

   Sabalenka, seeded No. 2, overpowered Tunisia's Ons Jabeur, seeded No. 21, 6-4, 6-3. The 23-year-old Sabalenka, formerly coached by Dmitry Tursunov, had never reached a major quarterfinal until this week.

Karolina Pliskova, also a former world No. 1, now has
reached the semifinals or better in every Grand Slam
tournament. 2015 photo by Mal Taam

   In Saturday's semifinals, Sabalenka will face Pliskova, and Kerber will take on top-ranked Ashleigh Barty of Australia. Barty, 25, dispatched unseeded compatriot Ajla Tomljanovic, a finalist in the 2017 Sacramento (Calif.) Challenger, 6-1, 6-3.

   Kerber, who seeks her fourth Grand Slam singles title, is 2-2 against Barty, the 2019 French Open champion. This will be their first meeting on grass and in a major. 

   Sabalenka leads Pliskova 2-0 in their head-to-head series. Both matches occurred in 2018, and both were close. Sabalenka prevailed 7-6 in the third set on grass in the Eastbourne quarterfinals and 7-5 in the third set in the second round on hardcourts in Cincinnati.

   Also today, No. 14 seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland defeated No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia 2-6, 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the completion of a fourth-round match. Entering Wimbledon, the 24-year-old Hurkacz had never advanced past the third round of a Grand Slam tournament.

   Most other matches were postponed by rain.

Pera ousts 2016 champion Kerber in Australian Open

Angelique Kerber, shown at Stanford in 2015 en route to the title, lost
to Bernarda Pera 6-0, 6-4 today in the first round of the Australian
Open. Photo by Mal Taam 

   Bernarda Pera of the United States dismissed No. 23 seed and 2016 champion Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-0, 6-4 in a first-round matchup of left-handers today in the first round of the Australian Open in Melbourne.

   Kerber, who won the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, had no aces, committed seven double faults and won only 25 percent of the points on her second serve (six of 24).

   Third seed and 2019 champion Naomi Osaka, 10th seed and seven-time champion Serena Williams and two-time finalist Venus Williams, unseeded at 40, won in straight sets. 

   Osaka, who has won three Grand Slam singles titles, made her WTA main-draw debut at Stanford in 2014. As a 16-year-old qualifier, she saved a match point and ousted 2011 U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur in the first round before losing to eighth-seeded Andrea Petkovic.

   Serena Williams is making her 11th attempt to tie Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles. Williams won the Bank of the West Classic in 2011, 2012 and 2014, defeating Kerber in the latter final.

   Venus Williams made her professional debut indoors in Oakland at 14 years old in 1994. She reached the Stanford final eight times, winning in 2000 and 2002, before the tournament moved down the road to San Jose, Calif., in 2018.

   Third-seeded Dominic Thiem, who won his first major title in the U.S. Open last September and reached last year's Australian Open final, beat Mikhail Kukushkin, a Russia native who plays for Kazakhstan, 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-3. 

   Kukushkin advanced to the final of the 2014 Aptos, Calif., Challenger, losing to 2006 Australian Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis. 

Musetti, 18, stuns Stan in first round of Italian Open

Stan Wawrinka, 35, had two operations
on his left knee in August 2017. File
photo by Paul Bauman 

   Lorenzo Musetti's first tour-level victory was a big one.

   The 18-year-old Italian qualifier stunned 10th-seeded Stan Wawrinka, a three-time Grand Slam singles champion, 6-0, 7-6 (2) today in the opening round of the Italian Open in Rome.

   "When I was young, I used to come see champions like Rafa, Federer, Wawrinka," the 249th-ranked Musetti told reporters. " ... I think it's a dream that comes true. I'm still not believing what I did tonight."

   Musetti had played only one tour-level match, losing to then-No. 14 Andrey Rublev 6-4, 6-4 in the first round at Dubai in February as a qualifier.

   Musetti, formerly ranked No. 1 in the juniors, won the 2019 Australian Open boys singles title by edging American Emilio Nava 14-12 in a third-set tiebreaker.

   Unlike Italy's eight top-100 men, Musetti has a one-handed backhand.

   "This kid's backhand is incredible!" commentator and former world No. 1 Jim Courier crowed during Tennis Channel's broadcast.

   Wawrinka, 35, won a Challenger in Prague last month. He reached the Italian Open final in 2008 (losing to Novak Djokovic) and semifinals in 2015 and underwent two operations on his left knee in August 2017.

   Musetti is scheduled to face Kei Nishikori, 30, of Japan on Thursday. Nishikori, the 2014 U.S. Open runner-up to Marin Cilic, defeated Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-4, 7-6 (3) on Monday for his first win since Flushing Meadows in 2019. He had right elbow surgery last October.

   Another qualifier, Pedro Martinez of Spain, beat Sam Querrey, a 32-year-old San Francisco native, 6-3, 7-6 (3) today. Querrey, the Italian Open doubles champion in 2011 and runner-up in 2010 with John Isner, is 0-3 since advancing to the third round of the Australian Open in January.

   In a women's matchup of Grand Slam singles champions, ninth-seeded Garbine Muguruza of Spain outplayed Sloane Stephens, a 27-year-old Fresno, Calif., product, 6-3, 6-3. 

   Muguruza won the French Open in 2016 and Wimbledon in 2017. Stephens captured the U.S. Open in 2017 and reached the Roland Garros final in 2018, losing to Simona Halep.

   Muguruza will play 16-year-old U.S. sensation Coco Gauff, who defeated Ons Jabeur of Tunisia 6-4, 6-3. Gauff rebounded from two consecutive opening-round losses in New York, including the U.S. Open, to win her first tour-level main-draw match on clay. 

   Jabeur, the 2011 French Open girls singles champion, reached her first Grand Slam women's quarterfinal in the Australian Open in January.

   Wawrinka wasn't the only three-time Grand Slam singles champ who lost in the first round. Angelique Kerber, seeded 15th, fell to Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-1 in 68 minutes. 

   Siniakova, formerly ranked No. 1 in doubles, ended a five-match losing streak at the WTA main-draw level dating to Dubai in February and defeated Kerber, the champion of the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, for the first time in four career meetings.

   Clay is Kerber's worst surface, which is odd because defense is her biggest strength. She has won every Grand Slam tournament except the French Open, in which she is a two-time quarterfinalist.

Djokovic defaulted for hitting line judge with ball

With Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer absent, Novak Djokovic
had been heavily favored to win his fourth U.S. Open title.
File photo by Paul Bauman

   As if the U.S. Open wasn't strange enough already, it became even more bizarre today.

   In a stunning development, top-ranked Novak Djokovic was defaulted from his fourth-round match in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., for accidentally hitting a line judge in the throat with a ball.

   After losing his serve to trail 20th-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain 5-6 in the first set at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Djokovic flicked a ball underhand in anger toward the wall behind his baseline as he started to walk to his chair.

   The ball struck the line judge, who fell to the court. Djokovic immediately put his hand up in apology and walked to the woman, who gasped for air and moaned repeatedly while sitting on the court before walking off unassisted. She reportedly was OK. 

   After 10 or 15 minutes, during which officials conferred on the court and Djokovic pleaded his case in the virtually empty stadium, he was defaulted for ball abuse. The 33-year-old Serb shook hands with the 29-year-old Carreno Busta, a U.S. Open semifinalist in 2017, and left the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center without talking to the media.

   Fans are not permitted at the tournament because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

   "This whole situation has left me really sad and empty," Djokovic wrote on Instragram after his earliest exit from a Grand Slam tournament since a fourth-round loss in the 2018 Australian Open,. "I checked on the lines person and the tournament told me that thank God she is feeling OK. I'm extremely sorry to have caused her such stress. So unintended. So wrong. I'm not disclosing her name to respect her privacy.

   "As for the disqualification, I need to go back within and work on my disappointment and turn this all into a lesson for my growth and evolution as a player and human being. I apologize to the @usopen tournament and everyone associated for my behavior. I'm very grateful to my team and family for being my rock support, and my fans for always being there with me. Thank you and I'm so sorry."

   The 2020 Official Grand Slam Rule Book defines ball abuse as "intentionally hitting a ball out of the enclosure of the court, hitting a ball dangerously or recklessly within the court or hitting a ball with negligent disregard of the consequences."

   "Players have been defaulted for less," said ESPN commentator Darren Cahill, who coaches reigning Wimbledon champion Simona Halep, reached a career-high No. 22 in 1989 and won one of his two ATP singles titles in San Francisco in 1991. "The tournament made the right decision. The ranking of a player cannot come into account. It's tough for the tournament and tough for Novak."

   Cahill's colleague and fellow Australian, former doubles world No. 1 Rennae Stubbs, declared, "This will be remembered by Djokovic and journalists for the rest of his career."

   Djokovic was on edge even before the incident. He furiously swatted a ball against a sign on the side of the court earlier in the set and hurt his left shoulder breaking a fall with his arm while serving at 5-5, 0-15.

   "He has many great qualities as a person, but he's not in control of (his emotions)," said ESPN commentator Patrick McEnroe, a former U.S. Davis Cup captain who reached career highs of No. 28 in singles and No. 3 in doubles. "He has (smacked balls in anger) many times in his career. When you do that, you're playing with fire, and he played with fire one time too many."

   Djokovic, who has earned $143.9 million in prize money, also will forfeit $250,000 for reaching the round of 16 and faces a fine of up to the same amount. He fell to 26-1 this year and 29-1 since November.

   Ironies abound surrounding Djokovic's default.

   Two years ago at Arthur Ashe Stadium, heavily favored Serena Williams was penalized a game for her third code violation in a 6-2, 6-4 loss to 20-year-old Naomi Osaka in a chaotic U.S. Open final. 

   In the 2009 U.S. Open semifinals, Williams was assessed a point penalty for threatening a line judge who had called a foot fault against her. The penalty came on match point, giving Kim Clijsters a 6-4, 7-5 victory.

   Ashe, an International Tennis Hall of Famer, was known for his composure and grace on and off the court. He died of AIDS at 49 in 1993 after receiving a tainted blood transfusion during heart bypass surgery.

   Twelfth-seeded Denis Shapovalov, a 21-year-old rising star from Canada, beat seventh-seeded David Goffin of Belgium 6-7 (0), 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in tonight's first featured match at Arthur Ashe Stadium to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal. Shapovalov was defaulted from a Davis Cup match in 2017 after hitting chair umpire Arnaud Gabas in the eye with a ball at age 17. Gabas had surgery for a broken eye socket.

   Pressure has been mounting on Djokovic for months. He came under fire in April after revealing that he opposes vaccinations and in June after several players, including himself, participated in a charity tournament in Serbia organized by Djokovic and subsequently tested positive for coronavirus. Fans packed the stands, and social distancing was not observed.

    Djokovic also resigned as president of the ATP Player Council last week and announced the formation of a new players association. 

    In the absence of defending champion Rafael Nadal (coronavirus concerns) and five-time winner Roger Federer (two arthroscopic knee surgeries this year), Djokovic had been heavily favored to win his fourth U.S. Open title. Djokovic has amassed 17 Grand Slam singles championships, third in history behind Federer (20) and Nadal (19).

   With Djokovic's departure, a new Grand Slam men's champion will be crowned next Sunday (1 p.m. PDT on ESPN) for the first time since Marin Cilic won the 2014 U.S. Open.

   Two remaining players, both in the bottom half of the draw, have played in major finals. Second-seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria lost to Nadal in the 2018 and 2019 French Open finals and to Djokovic in the Australian Open title match in January. His best result at Flushing Meadows is a quarterfinal appearance in 2018. Third-seeded Daniil Medvedev of Russia fell to Nadal in a five-set epic in last year's U.S. Open final.

   Cahill, McEnroe and colleague Brad Gilbert pick Medvedev to become the first man other than the Big Five of Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka to win a Slam since Cilic.

   Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, who shocked Federer to claim the 2009 U.S. Open, is the only other player besides the Big Five to capture a major since 2005.

   This is also the first Grand Slam tournament since the 2004 French Open in which neither Federer, Nadal nor Djokovic has reached the quarterfinals.

   Much as Williams' histrionics overshadowed Osaka's breakthrough, Djokovic's default eclipsed two American women reaching the quarterfinals in the top half of the draw.

   Unseeded Shelby Rogers saved four match points in a 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-6 (6) victory over sixth-seeded Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion. Rogers also advanced to the French Open quarterfinals in 2016 before having knee surgery in 2018.

   Rogers, 27, is scheduled to meet the fourth-seeded Osaka, a 6-3, 6-4 winner over 14th-seeded Anett Kontaveit of Estonia, on Tuesday. Osaka, 22, never faced a break point against Kontaveit and converted her sixth match point.

   Rogers has never lost a set in three career matches against Osaka, but their last meeting was in 2017 and two of the encounters were on clay.

   Jennifer Brady, seeded 28th, outslugged 17th-seeded Angelique Kerber, who won the second of her three Grand Slam singles crowns in the 2016 U.S. Open, 6-1, 6-4 to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

   Brady excelled in Northern California Challengers. She won the singles and doubles titles in Redding ($25,000) in 2014 at age 19 and reached the quarterfinals as the top seed in Sacramento ($60,000) in 2017, losing to defending champion Sofia Kenin.

   Brady, who won her first WTA title three weeks ago in Lexington, Ky., is set to face 23rd-seeded Yulia Putintseva, a Moscow native who plays for Kazakhstan. The 5-foot-4 (1.63-meter) Putintseva, a  two-time French Open quarterfinalist, topped eighth-seeded Petra Martic of Croatia 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

   The 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) Brady, 25, has never won a set in two career matches against Putintseva, both in 2018 and one on clay in the French Open.

   "This is a different Jennifer Brady than two years ago," Stubbs asserted. "She absolutely can win this tournament if she truly believes in herself."

Lucky loser stuns defending champ at Wimbledon

Lauren Davis, playing in Stockton (Calif.)
last October, ousted fifth seed and defend-
ing champion Angelique Kerber 2-6, 6-2,
6-1 today in the second round at Wimble-
don. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Lauren Davis is making the most of her second chance.
   Kristie Ahn, a Stanford graduate, upset fellow American Davis in the final round of Wimbledon qualifying last Thursday, but Davis also advanced to the main draw when some of the wild cards weren't used.
   Davis, one of the smallest players in professional tennis at 5-foot-2 (1.57 meters), shocked fifth seed and defending champion Angelique Kerber 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 today to reach the third round at Wimbledon, matching Davis' best result there.
   "(It's) definitely been incredible," Davis, 25, told reporters. "I was super disappointed having lost last round of qualies. I found out less than two hours later that I got into main. I was ecstatic about that. It's honestly a dream being here. I played qualies (at Roehampton) last year, so I wasn't able to come here. But, yeah, it feels amazing."
   Kerber, the champion of the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, had 13 winners and 31 unforced errors.
   Davis, ranked No. 96 after reaching a career-high No. 26 in May 2017, is scheduled to play 30th seed and former top-10 player Carla Suarez Navarro, a 5-foot-4 (1.62-meter) Spaniard, on Saturday.
   Suarez Navarro, who won the Stanford doubles title in 2014 with compatriot Garbine Muguruza, defeated France's Pauline Parmentier 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4). Parmentier eliminated Maria Sharapova, who won her first Grand Slam title at 17 at Wimbledon in 2014.
   The only other women's seed to lose today was No. 25 Amanda Anisimova. The 17-year-old American, who won her first pro title in the 2017 Sacramento Challenger, fell to Magda Linette of Poland 6-4, 7-5.
   Eleventh-seeded Serena Williams, a part-time Silicon Valley resident seeking her eighth Wimbledon and record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles crown, outlasted Kaja Juvan, an 18-year-old Slovenian, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.
   Advancing in straight sets were top-ranked Ashleigh Barty, two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and ninth-seeded Sloane Stephens. Barty and Stephens, a 26-year-old Fresno product, needed less than an hour each.
   Meanwhile, six men's seeds lost.
   Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin, the runner-up to Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in the 2014 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger, toppled ninth-seeded John Isner, who reached the Wimbledon semifinals last year for his best Grand Slam result to date, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in 3 hours, 6 minutes.
   Isner, 6-foot-10 (2.08 meters), made his pro debut in a $15,000 Futures tournament in the Sacramento suburb of Shingle Springs in 2007 and won the title.
   Baghdatis, the runner-up to Roger Federer in the 2006 Australian Open who reached a career-high No. 8 later that year, retired from pro tennis at 34 after losing to Matteo Berrettini of Italy 6-1, 7-6 (4), 6-3.
   Joao Sousa of Portugal eliminated 13th-seeded Marin Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion and 2017 Wimbledon runner-up, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
   Great Britain's Daniel Evans, the Aptos champion in 2016 and runner-up in 2013, beat 18th-seeded Nicoloz Basilashvili of Georgia 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (2).
   American Tennys Sandgren outlasted 20th-seeded Gilles Simon 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 8-6 in 3 hours, 48 minutes after losing to the Frenchman 7-5, 6-1 last week in the first round at Eastbourne. Sandgren reached the singles final in the 2017 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger, losing to Cameron Norrie of Great Britain, and won the doubles title in the 2012 Sacramento Challenger with former University of Tennessee teammate Rhyne Williams.
   Two other former Aptos champions upset seeds. Steve Johnson (2012) of Redondo Beach in the Los Angeles area knocked off 25th-seeded Alex De Minaur of Australia 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in 3 hours, 21 minutes. Also, John Millman (2015) of Australia dismissed 31st-seeded Laslo Djere of Serbia 6-3, 6-2, 6-1.
   Sam Querrey, a 31-year-old San Francisco native, routed Andrey Rublev, a 21-year-old Russian, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 in 1 hour, 36 minutes.
   Third-seeded Rafael Nadal, the Wimbledon champion in 2008 and 2010, subdued Nick Kyrgios 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) in 3 hours, 4 minutes to avenge losses to the mercurial Australian in the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2014, their first meeting, and second round at Acapulco in March, their last encounter. Nadal, 33, improved to 4-3 overall against Kyrgios, 24.
   Federer, the second seed and an eight-time Wimbledon champion, beat Jay Clarke, a 20-year-old British wild card, 6-1, 7-6 (3), 6-2.
   In the first round of doubles, seventh-seeded Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan topped Denys Molchanov of Ukraine and Igor Zelenay of Slovakia 7-6 (3), 6-4, 6-4. The 41-year-old Bryan twins (Stanford, 1997-98) seek their fourth Wimbledon title together and first since 2013. Mike Bryan also won last year's crown with Jack Sock while Bob Bryan was sidelined with a hip injury that required replacement surgery.
   Sixteenth-seeded Raquel Atawo, a Fresno native and former Cal star, and Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine held off Mandy Minella of Luxembourg and Heather Watson of Great Britain 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.

Kerber, Venus fall in French; NCAA champs crowned

Angelique Kerber, playing at Stanford in 2015, lost in the first round
of the French Open for the third time in four years. Photo by Mal Taam

   Angelique Kerber and Venus Williams, who combined for three titles and seven runner-up finishes in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, lost on the first day of the French Open.
   Kerber, seeded fifth, fell to 18-year-old Russian Anastasia Potapova, the 2016 Wimbledon girls singles champion making her French Open women's debut, 6-4, 6-2 today in the first match of the tournament on Court Philippe Chatrier.
   "My phone is exploding now," Potapova, ranked 81st, told reporters. "I really appreciate it. It's nice to hear congratulations from great people.
   "I was trying to keep some focus on me, on how I'm playing, how I'm running. I wasn't trying to think a lot about the court, about the first round, about Kerber, because of course she's a great player. But, you know, I'm here to play my best. That's what I did.
   "I was really looking forward for this match because I like Kerber's game a lot. She's actually one of my idols, and when I was young looked at her game and how she was playing. When you step on the court and play your idol, you're just got to show your best."
   Kerber, the Bank of the West champion in 2015 and runner-up in 2014, lost in the first round of the French Open for the third time in four years. The 31-year-old left-hander has won each of the other Grand Slam tournaments once each but never advanced past the quarterfinals at Roland Garros.
   Williams, the 2002 French Open runner-up who will turn 39 on June 17, exited in the first round at Roland Garros for the second consecutive year. This time, Williams fell to ninth-seeded Elina Svitolina, a two-time French Open quarterfinalist from Ukraine, 6-3, 6-3.
   Williams won the Bank of the West Classic in 2000 and 2002 and reached the final in 1998, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2009 and 2016. The tournament was replaced by the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose beginning last year.
   Seventh-seeded Sloane Stephens, last year's French Open runner-up to Simona Halep, beat Misaki Doi of Japan 6-3, 7-6 (4). Stephens, a 26-year-old Fresno product and the 2017 U.S. Open champion, will play 75th-ranked Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain.
   Sorribes Tormo, 22, defeated Alison Van Uytvanck, a French Open quarterfinalist in 2015 who won the $50,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger in 2016, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2.
   Third-seeded Roger Federer, the 2009 French Open champion, dismissed Lorenzo Sonego, a 24-year-old Italian, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4. It was Federer's first match at Roland Garros since 2015 and Sonego's main-draw debut there.
   Federer made his Northern California debut in March 2018 in San Jose.
   NCAA Championships -- Saturday's men's and women's singles finals in the NCAA Championships in Orlando, Fla., featured international players.
   Fourth-seeded Paul Jubb, a South Carolina junior from England, beat top-seeded Nuno Borges, a Mississippi State senior from Portugal, 6-3, 7-6 (2). Also, top-seeded Estela Perez-Somarriba, a junior from Spain, outplayed second-seeded Katarina Jokic, a Georgia sophomore from Bosnia, 6-7 (1), 6-2, 6-3.
   UCLA swept the men's and women's doubles titles. Second-seeded Maxime Cressy and Keegan Smith beat unseeded Patrick Kaukovalta and Mazen Osama of Alabama 6-3, 6-4 for the men's crown. Third-seeded Gabby Andrews and Ayan Broomfield edged unseeded Kate Fahey and Brienne Minor of Michigan 5-7, 7-6 (6) [11-9]. Minor won the NCAA singles title in 2017.

Collins crushes Kerber; Federer, Stephens fall

Danielle Collins, playing at Indian Wells last March, demolished second-seeded
Angelique Kerber 6-0, 6-2 today in the fourth round of the Australian Open.
Photo by Mal Taam

   Danielle Collins didn't just beat Angelique Kerber.
   She crushed her.
   Collins, a 25-year-old American, dismissed the second-seeded Kerber 6-0, 6-2 in 56 minutes today in the Australian Open in Melbourne to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
   Collins overwhelmed Kerber, who won the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford and 2016 Australian Open for the first of her three major singles titles, with blistering groundstrokes.
   Collins slugged 29 winners to Kerber's six. Both players committed 17 unforced errors.
   "I had a solid warmup, and I was feeling great," Collins, from Tampa, Fla., said in an on-court interview. "My coaches gave me a great game plan, and I executed it well.
   "They said, 'You're physically stronger than her, and you can rally with her. It's up to you.' I was feeling my shots today, so I decided to put the pedal to the metal and put pressure on her."
   Collins, a two-time NCAA singles champion from the University of Virginia, had never won a main-draw match in a Grand Slam tournament until this week. She reached the semifinals in last year's inaugural Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose and the quarterfinals in the 2017 Sacramento Challenger.
   Collins will take on resurgent Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia. The unseeded Pavlyuchenkova, who played for the Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis in 2006 at 15, beat fifth-seeded Sloane Stephens, a 25-year-old Fresno product, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3.
   Another former Australian Open champion, Maria Sharapova, also lost. Ashleigh Barty, seeded 15th, eliminated Sharapova, the 30th seed and 2008 titlist, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 to become the first Australian to reach the quarters in Melbourne since Jelena Dokic in 2009.
   Sharapova was coming off a three-set victory over defending champion Caroline Wozniacki.
   Barty will play Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion who breezed past 17-year-old American Amanda Anisimova 6-2, 6-1 in 59 minutes. Anisimova won her first professional title in the 2017 Sacramento Challenger at 15.
   On the men's side, 14th-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas, 20, ousted third seed and two-time defending champion Roger Federer 6-7 (11), 7-6 (3), 7-5, 7-6 (5) to become the first Greek to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament. Tsitsipas saved four set points in the second set.
   Federer, who has won a record 20 Grand Slam singles titles, failed to reach the quarterfinals for the second consecutive Slam and the semifinals for the fourth major in a row.
   Unseeded American Frances Tiafoe, playing on his 21st birthday, beat 20th seed and friend Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 7-5, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (1), 7-5 to gain his first major quarterfinal.
   Tiafoe, the son of immigrants from Sierra Leone, celebrated by taking off his shirt, slapping his right biceps again, getting down on his knees, lowering his head and slapping the court. He had to compose himself before speaking in an on-court interview.
   "I told my parents 10 years ago that I was going to be a pro to change their lives and my life," said Tiafoe, who will earn at least $330,000 (U.S.). "Now I'm in the quarters of a Slam. It's unbelievable."
   Tiafoe, who won the $100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger in 2016 and ousted fifth-seeded Kevin Anderson in the second round of the Australian Open, will take on Rafael Nadal, the second seed and 2009 Australian Open champion who outclassed unseeded Tomas Berdych 6-0, 6-1, 7-6 (4).
   In doubles, fourth-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan and ninth-seeded Raquel Atawo and Katarina Srebotnik advanced to the men's and women's quarterfinals, respectively.
   The 40-year-old Bryans (Stanford, 1997-98) defeated Spaniards Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia Lopez 6-3, 7-6 (4).
   Atawo (Cal, 2001-04), a 36-year-old Sacramento resident, and Srebotnik, a 37-year-old Slovenian, topped Romanians Irina Bara and Monica Niculescu 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

Three of top six women's seeds fall in U.S. Open

No. 4 seed Angelique Kerber lost to No. 29 Dominika Cibulkova
today in a matchup of former champions of the Bank of the West
Classic at Stanford. 2015 photo by Mal Taam

   Three of the top six women's seeds and five of the top 13 lost today in the third round of the U.S. Open, decimating the bottom half of the draw.
   Falling in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., were No. 4 Angelique Kerber, No. 5 Petra Kvitova, No. 6 Caroline Garcia, No. 10 Jelena Ostapenko and No. 13 Kiki Bertens.
   With No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki and No. 11 Daria Kasatkina having lost in the second round, the highest remaining seed in the bottom half is No. 14 Madison Keys, last year's runner-up to Sloane Stephens and champion of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
   Only three top-10 seeds are left: No. 3 Stephens, No. 7 Elina Svitolina and No. 8 Karolina Pliskova. Stephens grew up in Fresno and still has relatives there.
   No. 17 Serena Williams, who's trying to equal Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles, also remains alive in the top half of the draw.
   The men's No. 4 seed, Alexander Zverev, also lost today, but the other top six seeds -- No. 1 Rafael Nadal, No. 2 Roger Federer, No. 3 Juan Martin del Potro, No. 5 Kevin Anderson and No. 6 Novak Djokovic -- have survived.
   No. 7 Marin Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion, overcame Alex de Minaur, 19, of Australia 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 in a three-hour, 59-minute battle punctuated by breathtaking rallies. The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter), 196-pound (89-kilogram) Cilic, seven inches (17.8 centimeters) taller and 44 pounds (20 kilograms) heavier than de Minaur, converted his eighth match point at 2:23 a.m. Sunday (EDT).
   No. 29 seed Dominika Cibulkova ousted Kerber, who won Wimbledon this year and the U.S. Open two years ago, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in a matchup of former Bank of the West Classic champions.
   No. 26 Aryna Sabalenka stayed red-hot with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion. Sabalenka, coached by Northern California product Dmitry Tursunov, won the Connecticut Open last week and reached the Cincinnati semifinals the previous week. She will face No. 20 Naomi Osaka, who blitzed Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-0, 6-0 in 50 minutes.
   No. 30 Carla Suarez Navarro edged Garcia 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (4) to set up a match against No. 22 Mara Sharapova, who defeated Ostapenko 6-3, 6-2. Sharapova, 31, has won five Grand Slam singles titles, including a career Grand Slam, and Ostapenko, 21, has claimed one.
   Marketa Vondrousova, a 19-year-old Czech, surprised Bertens, who beat four top-seven players en route to the Cincinnati title, 7-6 (4), 2-6, 7-6 (1).
   In a men's all-German encounter, 34-year-old Philipp Kohlschreiber eliminated the 21-year-old Zverev, now being coached by Ivan Lendl, 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-1, 6-3.
   Federer, seeking his first U.S. Open title since winning his fifth straight 10 years ago, dispatched No. 30 seed Nick Kyrgios 6-4, 6-1, 7-5.
   Federer will meet Australia's John Millman, who beat Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 to reach the fourth round of a major for the first time.
   Millman won the 2015 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger, and Kukushkin advanced to the 2014 Aptos final, losing to former top-10 player Marcos Baghdatis.
   No. 21 seed Kei Nishikori, the 2014 U.S. Open runner-up to Cilic, topped No. 13 Diego Schwartzman, a quarterfinalist at Flushing Meadows last year, 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 6-1.
   In the second-round doubles matches:
   --No. 3 seeds and reigning Wimbledon champions Mike Bryan (Stanford, 1997-98) and Jack Sock beat Mackenzie McDonald, a 23-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan 6-1, 7-5.
   --No. 14 seeds Raquel Atawo of Sacramento and Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany defeated Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and Latisha Chan of Chinese Taipei 4-1, retired.
   Atawo and Groenefeld will face No. 2 seeds Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic of France. Babos and Mladenovic won the Australian Open this year and reached the 2014 Wimbledon final.

Djokovic, Kerber head Wimbledon honor roll

NOVAK DJOKOVIC
Photo by Paul Bauman

ANGELIQUE KERBER
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Results of all Wimbledon finals:
   Men's singles -- Novak Djokovic (12), Serbia, def. Kevin Anderson (8), South Africa, 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (3).
   Women's singles -- Angelique Kerber (11), Germany, def. Serena Williams (25), United States, 6-3, 6-3.
   Men's doubles -- Mike Bryan and Jack Sock (7), United States, def. Raven Klaasen, South Africa, and Michael Venus (13), New Zealand, 6-3, 6-7 (7), 6-3, 5-7, 7-5.
   Women's doubles -- Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova (3), Czech Republic, def. Nicole Melichar, United States, and Kveta Peschke, Czech Republic, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.
   Mixed doubles -- Alexander Peya, Austria, and Nicole Melichar (11), United States, def. Jamie Murray, Great Britain, and Victoria Azarenka, Belarus, 7-6 (1), 6-3.
   Boys singles -- Chun Hsin Tseng, Taiwan, def. Jack Draper, Great Britain, 6-1, 6-7 (2), 6-4.
   Girls singles -- Iga Swiatek, Poland, def. Leonie Kung, Switzerland, 6-4, 6-2.
   Boys doubles -- Yanki Erel, Turkey, and Otto Virtanen, Finland, def. Nicolas Mejia, Colombia, and Ondrej Styler (6), Czech Republic.
   Girls doubles -- Xinyu Wang and Xiyu Wang (1), China, def. Caty McNally and Whitney Osuigwe (2), United States, 6-2, 6-1.

Kerber dominates Serena for first Wimbledon crown

Angelique Kerber rejoices after winning the 2015 Bank of the
West Classic at Stanford. Photo by Mal Taam

   Serena Williams must wait at least one more Grand Slam tournament to tie Margaret Court's record of 24 major singles titles.
   Angelique Kerber, meanwhile, moved within one title of a career Grand Slam.
   Considering this was only Williams' fourth singles tournament since delivering her first child, Kerber's victory in today's Wimbledon final wasn't shocking. But the one-sided outcome -- 6-3, 6-3 in 65 minutes -- was.
   "Serena was off-balance, off-kilter today," analyst Chris Evert said on ESPN's broadcast. "Kerber really pushed her around and absorbed her power. Serena knows she didn't play her best. It just wasn't there today."
   The 11th-seeded Kerber played outstanding defense as usual, keeping the ball in play until the 25th-seeded Williams made an error. Kerber finished with 11 winners and only five errors to Williams' 23 and 24, respectively.
   "The statistics speak for themselves," Evert said. "Angie made only five unforced errors and took advantage of an error-prone Serena. Maybe we expected too much for Serena to play seven matches in only her fourth tournament back."
   The grass surface favored Williams, the more powerful, offensive player.
   "The surface is not conducive to (Kerber's) game," Evert asserted. "I think that makes the win more satisfying for her."
   Kerber needs only the French Open title to complete a career Grand Slam. She reached three major finals in 2016, beating Williams in the Australian Open and Karolina Pliskova in the U.S. Open and losing to Williams at Wimbledon.
   Kerber inevitably suffered a letdown last year, failing to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal.
   "I think without 2017, I couldn't win this tournament," the 30-year-old left-hander told reporters. "I think I learned a lot from last year, with all the expectations, all the things I go through. I learned so many things about myself, about the things around, how to deal with this, how to make my day schedule.
   "I try to enjoy every single moment now, also to find that motivation after 2016, which was amazing. I thought to have such a year again is impossible. But now I just try to improve my game, thinking not too much about the results, trying to be a better tennis player, a better person, yeah, trying to enjoy my tennis again."
   Kerber joined Venus Williams as the only players to beat Serena Williams twice in a Grand Slam final and became the first German woman to win Wimbledon since her idol, Steffi Graf, triumphed for the seventh time in 1996.

Serena Williams prepares to serve at Indian
Wells in 2016. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Williams played in her first Grand Slam final since beating Venus in the 2017 Australian Open.
   "It was a great opportunity for me," said Serena, who will turn 37 in September. "I didn't know a couple of months ago where I was, where I would be, how I would do, how I would be able to come back. It was such a long way to see light at the end of the road, kind of.
   "So I think these two weeks have really showed me that, OK, I can compete. Obviously, I can compete for the long run in a Grand Slam. I can come out and be a contender to win Grand Slams."
   Williams and Kerber combined to win the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford four times in five years. Williams defeated Kerber in 2014 for her third title in the tournament, and Kerber beat Pliskova for the 2015 crown.
   The Bank of the West Classic ended a 21-year run at Stanford in 2017, but Williams plans to play in its replacement, the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic at San Jose State. Kerber, however, is not entered in the July 30-Aug. 5 tournament.
   Although Williams failed to tie Court's record, Mike Bryan (Stanford, 1997-98) equaled John Newcombe's mark of 17 Grand Slam men's doubles titles.
   No. 7 seeds Bryan and Jack Sock of the United States topped No. 13 Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Michael Venus of New Zealand 6-3, 6-7 (7), 6-3, 5-7, 7-5.
   It was Bryan's first major title without his twin brother Bob, who's out with a hip injury, and first since the 2014 U.S. Open. By reaching the semifinals, Mike Bryan assured that he will become the oldest man to be ranked No. 1. At 40 years, 78 days, he will break the record of Daniel Nestor, who was 40 years, 5 days old when he was last No. 1 on Sept. 9, 2012.
   Sock also earned the Wimbledon men's doubles crown with Vasek Pospisil of Canada in 2014. In Northern California Challengers, Sock reached the doubles final in Sacramento in 2011 and won the Tiburon singles title in 2012.
   No. 3 seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic won their second consecutive Grand Slam title, beating No. 12 Nicole Melichar of Stuart, Fla., and Kveta Peschke, a 43-year-old Czech, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.
   No. 12 seed Novak Djokovic and No. 8 Kevin Anderson will meet for the men's singles championship on Sunday at 6 a.m. California time (ESPN).
   Djokovic completed a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (9), 3-6, 10-8 victory over No. 2 Rafael Nadal in a 5-hour, 15-minute match suspended by curfew after three sets on Friday.
   Djokovic is 5-1 against Anderson with a five-match winning streak. In their last meeting, Djokovic prevailed 6-7 (6), 6-7 (6), 6-1, 6-4, 7-5 in the round of 16 at Wimbledon in 2015 en route to the title.

Serena, Kerber cruise into Wimbledon final

Serena Williams can tie Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand
Slam singles titles. 2015 photo by Paul Bauman

   Because none of the top 10 women's seeds reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals, surprise finalists will meet on Saturday, right?
   Well, no.
   Actually, the title match will have a familiar feel with Serena Williams facing Angelique Kerber in a matchup of former world No. 1s. Each player lost only six games in today's semifinals.
   Williams, seeded No. 25, dispatched No. 13 Julia Goerges, playing in her first major semifinal, 6-2, 6-4. No. 11 Kerber dismissed No. 12 Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-3.
   Williams, who will turn 37 in September, and Kerber, a 30-year-old left-hander, reached their first Grand Slam final since winning the 2017 Australian Open and 2016 U.S. Open, respectively.
   Williams is playing only her fourth singles tournament since having her first child on Sept. 1. She can tie Margaret Court's record of 24 major singles titles.
   Kerber inevitably suffered a letdown last year, failing to reach the quarterfinals in a Grand Slam tournament, after advancing to three major finals in 2016 and winning two.

Angelique Kerber seeks her
third major singles crown.
2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   Williams is 6-2 against Kerber, with the last three matches coming in finals. Williams won 7-5, 6-3 at Wimbledon in 2016 in their most recent encounter, Kerber prevailed 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in that year's Australian Open for her first major crown, and Williams triumphed 7-6 (1), 6-3 in the 2014 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
   Williams plans to compete in the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic, which replaces the Bank of the West, on July 30-Aug. 5 at San Jose State. Kerber, however, is not entered in the tournament.
   In the men's doubles semifinals, No. 7 seeds Mike Bryan (Stanford 1997-98) and Jack Sock held off No. 5 Dominic Inglot of Great Britain and Franko Skugor of Croatia 6-3, 6-1, 6-7 (11), 6-7 (4), 6-4.
   Bryan seeks his first Grand Slam men's doubles title since the 2014 U.S. Open and his fourth at Wimbledon. He is playing without his 40-year-old twin Bob (Stanford, 1997-98), who's sidelined with a hip injury, at the All England Club this year for the first time.
   Mike Bryan will return to No. 1 in doubles on Monday, when he will be 40 years, 78 days old. He will become the oldest man to achieve that distinction, breaking the record of Daniel Nestor, who was 40 years, 5 days old when he was last No. 1 on Sept. 9, 2012.
   Sock hopes to win his second Wimbledon men's doubles title. He and Vasek Pospisil of Canada took the 2014 crown.
   Mike Bryan and Sock will play No. 13 seeds Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Michael Venus of New Zealand. Klaasen and Venus beat unseeded Frederik Nielsen of Denmark and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
   In 2012, Nielsen and Jonathan Marray of Great Britain became the only wild cards to win the Wimbledon men's doubles title. Nielsen also captured the 2015 Tiburon and Fairfield Challenger crowns in Northern California with Johan Brunstrom of Sweden.
   Salisbury and countryman Brydan Klein won the doubles title in Stockton last fall.
   The Wimbledon men's singles semifinals are set for Friday. No. 8 seed Kevin Anderson, 6-foot-8 (2.03 meters), will meet No. 9 John Isner, 6-foot-10 (2.08 meters), at 5 a.m. California time, followed by No. 2 Rafael Nadal against No. 12 Novak Djokovic. ESPN will televise the matches.

Muguruza routs Sharapova; Halep advances

   Garbine Muguruza is making a strong case to win her second French Open singles title.
   Maria Sharapova, meanwhile, took a step back in her comeback from a 15-month doping suspension.
   In a surprisingly one-sided match, the third-seeded Muguruza dominated the 28th-seeded Sharapova 6-2, 6-1 in 70 minutes today to reach the semifinals in Paris.
   Both players drilled 10 winners, but Sharapova committed 27 unforced errors to Muguruza's 15.
   Muguruza, 24, has not lost a set in her five matches at Roland Garros. Sharapova, 31, returned from her suspension in April 2017 and withdrew from Miami in March with a left forearm injury.
   Sharapova played at Roland Garros this year for the first time since reaching the fourth round in 2015. She won the title in 2012 and 2014.
   Muguruza, who captured the first of her two Grand Slam singles titles in the 2016 French Open, is scheduled to play top-ranked Simona Halep on Thursday not before 6 a.m. PDT (Tennis Channel). Muguruza can return to No. 1 with a victory.
   Halep, who lost to upstart Jelena Ostapenko in last year's final after leading by a set and 3-0, beat 12th-seeded Angelique Kerber, who won the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-2.
   Muguruza is 4-1 against Halep, including a victory by walkover in the Doha semifinals in February. But Halep won their only meeting on clay, in the second round at Stuttgart in 2015.
   Following that match, Americans and close friends Sloane Stephens, seeded 10th, and Madison Keys, seeded 13th, will meet (Tennis Channel) in a rematch of last year's U.S. Open final, won by Stephens 6-3, 6-0. Stephens, 25, has not lost a set in two career matches, both on hard courts, against Keys, 23.
   Keys and Sharapova have entered the inaugural Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic, July 30-Aug. 5 at San Jose State. The tournament replaces the Bank of the West Classic, which Keys won last August, after 21 years at Stanford.
   The last two French Open men's quarterfinals were suspended by rain and are scheduled to resume on Thursday at 3 a.m. PDT (Tennis Channel).
   No. 11 seed Diego Schwartzman leads No. 1 and 10-time champion Rafael Nadal 6-4, 3-5. The match between former U.S. Open champions Marin Cilic, seeded No. 3, and Juan Martin Del Potro, seeded No. 5, is tied 6-6 (5-5).
   Schwartzman, 25, of Argentina ended Nadal's French Open winning streak at 37 sets. Nadal had both of his wrists taped during the match.
   In the women's doubles quarterfinals, unseeded Eri Hozumi and Makoto Ninomiya of Japan shocked top-seeded Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic of France 7-6 (4), 6-3.
   Mladenovic and countrywoman Caroline Garcia won the 2016 French Open.

Ex-Cal star, Bryans out; Halep wins thriller

   Ben McLachlan's stunning doubles run ended in heartbreaking fashion, and the Bryan brothers' Grand Slam title drought continued in the Australian Open.

   The unseeded team of McLachlan, a former Cal All-American, and Jan-Lennard Struff lost to seventh-seeded Oliver Marach of Austria and Mate Pavic of Croatia 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4) today in the semifinals in Melbourne.
   Marach, 37, and Pavic, a 24-year-old left-hander, improved to 13-0 this year, including titles at Doha and Auckland.

   McLachlan, a 25-year-old New Zealand native who plays for his mother's native Japan, and Struff, a 27-year-old German, were playing in their first tournament together. McLachlan, in fact, made his Grand Slam debut in the tournament. Struff had never advanced past the second round of doubles in nine appearances in majors.
   Marach and Pavic will meet 11th-seeded Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, a Colombian pair who beat sixth seeds and six-time Australian Open champions Bob and Mike Bryan 7-6 (1), 7-5.
   The 39-year-old Bryan twins (Stanford, 1997-98) have won a record 16 Grand Slam men's doubles titles but none since the 2014 U.S. Open.
   Meanwhile, the women's singles final (Saturday at 12:30 a.m. PST on ESPN) will produce a first-time Grand Slam champion.
   Top-ranked Simona Halep saved two match points in a scintillating 6-3, 4-6, 9-7 victory over No. 21 seed Angelique Kerber, who won the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford. Earlier, No. 21 seed Caroline Wozniacki beat unseeded Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-3, 7-6 (2).
   Wozniacki, 27, can regain the top ranking for the first time since 2010 with a victory over Halep, 26. Wozniacki leads the head-to-head series 4-2 with wins in the last three meetings.
   Both players are 0-2 in Grand Slam finals. Wozniacki lost in the 2009 and 2014 U.S. Open. Halep fell in the 2014 and 2017 French Open.
   In a late men's singles semifinal, sixth-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia eliminated unseeded Kyle Edmund of Great Britain 6-2, 7-6 (4), 6-2. Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion and runner-up to Roger Federer at Wimbledon last year, will play either Federer, the second seed and defending champion, or unseeded Hyeon Chung of South Korea on Sunday at 12:30 a.m. PST. Federer and Chung will meet on Friday at the same time. ESPN will televise both matches. 
   All McLachlan and Struff did in the tournament was oust ninth seeds and 2016 French Open champions Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez (no relation) in the second round, 2016 U.S. Open runners-up Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the third round, and top seeds and 2017 Wimbledon champions Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo in the quarterfinals. The latter victory went to 7-6 (5) in the third set.
   Marach and Pavic know all about losing heartbreakers. Playing in their only previous Grand Slam final last year at Wimbledon, they fell to Kubot and Melo 13-11 in the fifth set.
   Cabal, 31, seeks his second berth in a Grand Slam men's doubles final and Farah, a 31-year-old Montreal native and former USC All-American, his first.
   Cabal and Eduardo Schwank of Argentina lost to Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Daniel Nestor of Canada in the 2011 French Open final. Cabal won his only Grand Slam mixed doubles title in last year's Australian Open with American Abigail Spears.
   Farah has reached two major mixed doubles finals, losing at Wimbledon in 2016 and the French Open last year with Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany.

Kerber dominates Keys; Chung beats Sandgren

   The match shaped up as a battle between resurgent Angelique Kerber and rising Madison Keys.
   Instead, the 21st-seeded Kerber demolished the 17th-seeded Keys 6-1, 6-2 in 51 minutes today in the Australian Open quarterfinals in Melbourne.
   "It was more Kerber playing so well than Keys playing badly," Tennis Channel commentator Martina Navratilova said of the matchup between the Bank of the West Classic champions at Stanford in 2015 (Kerber) and last year (Keys).
   Kerber, a 5-foot-8 (1.73-meter) German left-hander who turned 30 last week, admittedly played spectacular defense, as usual. But the 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) Keys, an American who will turn 23 on Feb. 17, had no aces and four double faults and made numerous errors, especially backhands down the line into the net.
   The match was reminiscent of last year's U.S. Open final, in which Fresno product Sloane Stephens whipped Keys 6-3, 6-0 in 61 minutes in the first major title match for both players.
   Kerber improved to 10-0 this year, including a run to the Sydney title. After winning her first two Grand Slam titles, the Australian Open and U.S. Open, and rising to No. 1 in 2016, she failed to reach the quarterfinals of a major in 2017 (losing in the first round in Melbourne and at Wimbledon) and ended the year at No. 21.
   Kerber will play top-seeded Simona Halep, a 6-3, 6-2 winner over sixth-seeded Karolina Pliskova, on Wednesday PST. Kerber is 4-4 against Halep with four wins in the last five meetings.
   In a men's quarterfinal between unseeded players, Hyeon Chung, 21, of South Korea defeated Tennys Sandgren, 26, of Gallatin, Tenn., in the Nashville area 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-3 at Rod Laver Arena.
   Chung. who needed six match points, will face either second seed and defending champion Roger Federer or 10th-seeded Tomas Berdych (Wednesday at 12:30 a.m. PST on ESPN2). Chung is 0-0 against Federer and 0-2 against Berdych.
   Sandgren will add $352,398 (U.S.) to his career prize money of $488,735 and soar to about No. 52 in the rankings.
   Both Chung and Sandgren eliminated rusty former Australian Open champions in straight sets during the tournament.
   Chung toppled six-time champ Novak Djokovic, seeded 14th after taking six months off to rest his sore right elbow, to become the first Korean to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal. Afterward, Djokovic said the 58th-ranked Chung has top-10 potential.
   Sandgren, ranked 97th, knocked off 2014 champ Stan Wawrinka, playing in his first tournament since undergoing knee surgery five months ago, in the second round.
   Sandgren, the runner-up in the $100,000 Tiburon Challenger in the San Francisco Bay Area last fall, was 0-2 in Grand Slam matches and was 2-8 in tour-level matches entering the Australian Open.
   Chung and Sandgren met for the first time two weeks ago in Auckland, with Chung prevailing 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in the first round. Sandgren said the match gave him confidence that he can compete at the top level.
   Oracle Challenger Series in Newport Beach, Calif. -- Qualifier Dennis Novikov, a 24-year-old San Jose product, ousted top-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the first round.
   The 6-foot-4 (1.93-meter), 200-pound (91-kilogram) Novikov, ranked No. 238, slugged 15 aces past Nishikori, the 2014 U.S. Open runner-up who was playing in his first match since August because of a right wrist injury.

In virtual Stanford replay, Kerber tops Pliskova for title

Angelique Kerber, shown last year, will rise one notch
to No. 1 in the world, replacing Serena Williams, on
Monday. Photo by Mal Taam

   When Angelique Kerber defeated Karolina Pliskova for the title in the Bank of Classic at Stanford only 13 months ago, neither had played in a Grand Slam final.
   Pliskova was ranked No. 11, three places higher than her opponent, entering the match. But Kerber had reached two Grand Slam semifinals, while Pliskova had never advanced past the third round in 13 majors.
   Now look at them.
   In a virtual replay of the Stanford final, Kerber topped Pliskova 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 on a brutally hot, muggy Saturday to win the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   Kerber, who overcame a 3-1 deficit in the final set, will rise one spot in the rankings and replace Serena Williams at No. 1 on Monday.
   Kerber, who pocketed $3.5 million, told reporters that winning the U.S. Open "means a lot to me. When I was a kid, I was always dreaming to one day be the No. 1 player in the world, to win Grand Slams. I mean, all the dreams came true this year."
   It was Kerber's third Grand Slam final, all this year, and second major title. She stunned Williams to win the Australian Open in January and lost to her in the Wimbledon final in July. Kerber also won the silver medal in singles in the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro last month.
   The 10th-seeded Pliskova, 24, of the Czech Republic upset a hobbled Williams in the U.S. Open semis to reach her first Grand Slam final. That guaranteed Kerber would end Williams' streak of 186 weeks at No. 1, which began in February 2013 and tied Steffi Graf's record.
   Kerber, a 28-year-old left-hander, became the first German woman to win the U.S. Open and ascend to No. 1 since her her idol and mentor, Graf. The 47-year-old legend wished Kerber good luck via a text message before Saturday's match.
   Kerber defeated Pliskova 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in the Stanford final. There were 18 service breaks in that match, compared with six on Saturday. Pliskova, however, overwhelmed Kerber 6-3, 6-1 in the Cincinnati final three weeks ago.
   The 5-foot-8 (1.73-meter) Kerber is best known for her outstanding defense. With the help of coaches, she has become more aggressive and more positive.
   The turning point in Kerber's career came in the first round of this year's Australian Open. She escaped a match point in a second-set tiebreaker when a shot by unseeded Misaki Doi of Japan hit the tape and fell back on Doi's side of the net.
   Pliskova, 6-foot-1 (1.86 meters), relies on her powerful serve. She will jump from No. 11 in the world to No. 6.
   Entering the U.S. Open, Pliskova still had not moved past the third round of a Grand Slam tournament in 17 appearances. No longer is she an underachiever.

Serena stunned again in U.S. Open semis

Karolina Pliskova, shown in last year's Bank of the West Classic at Stanford,
shocked Serena Williams on Thursday in the semifinals of the U.S. Open.
Photo by Mal Taam

   Last year, it was nerves.
   This year, it was a knee injury.
   Serena Williams was stunned in the U.S. Open semifinals for the second straight year, falling lethargically to 10th-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 7-6 (5) on Thursday in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   The 34-year-old Williams double-faulted six times, including on match point, and committed 31 unforced errors.
   Her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, told reporters: "She didn't show up. She didn't play. She was so slow. She couldn't move."
  Williams had a similar problem last year in the U.S. Open semis but for a different reason. Two match wins away from the first calendar-year Grand Slam since Steffi Graf's in 1988, Williams lost to 43rd-ranked Roberta Vinci of Italy in one of the biggest upsets in sports history.
   Williams also was trying to tie Graf for second place with 22 career Grand Slam singles titles, two behind Margaret Court. Williams, a three-time champion of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, finally accomplished the feat at Wimbledon this year on her fourth attempt.
   Not only was Williams denied No. 23 on Thursday, she remained tied with Chris Evert for the Open-era record of six U.S. Open titles, and Williams' 3 1/2-year reign at No. 1 in the world rankings will end on Monday.
   Angelique Kerber will rise one spot to No. 1, ending Williams' monopoly after 186 weeks, which equals Graf's record.
   Kerber dispatched unseeded Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-3 to reach her third Grand Slam final of the year and of her career. The 28-year-old German left-hander stunned Williams in the Australian Open and lost to her at Wimbledon.
   The final will be a rematch of last year's Bank of the West final, won by Kerber 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.
   Kerber is 4-3 overall against the 6-foot-1 (1.86-meter) Pliskova, who leads the WTA tour in aces this year. But Pliskova won the last meeting 6-3, 6-1 in the Cincinnati final on Aug. 21.
   Pliskova had never advanced past the third round in 17 previous appearances in majors. Including Cincinnati, she has won 11 straight matches.
   Pliskova, 24, became only the fourth player to beat both Williams sisters in the same Slam. She survived a match point in her fourth-round victory over Venus.
   In the first round of the men's collegiate invitational, No. 3 seed Tom Fawcett of Stanford beat Konrad Zieba of Northwestern 3-6, 6-3, 6-0. The 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) Fawcett will meet No. 1 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, who has helped Virginia win the last two NCAA titles, today in the quarterfinals of the eight-player tournament.

Kerber dominates Bellis, 17, in U.S. Open

CiCi Bellis, shown in the first round of the U.S. Open,
lost to No. 2 seed Angelique Kerber 6-1, 6-1 late Friday
night in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Photo by Paul Bauman

   CiCi Bellis' first match in Arthur Ashe Stadium was brief.

   No. 2 seed Angelique Kerber, the reigning Australian Open champion, drubbed the 17-year-old qualifier from Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area 6-1, 6-1 in 55 minutes late Friday night in the third round of the U.S. Open.

   Bellis had defeated Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland and Shelby Rogers of Charleston, S.C., to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

   As an amateur, Bellis can accept only expense money from the $140,000 she would have earned in singles and $7,570.50 for losing in the first round of doubles with Julia Boserup of Newport Beach in the Los Angeles area.

   Bellis will jump from No. 158 in the world to about No. 123 when the next rankings are released on Sept. 12. She has verbally committed to Stanford, a five-minute drive from her house, for the fall of 2017 but has said she will turn pro instead if she cracks the top 100.

   Kerber, who won last year's Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, will face No. 14 seed Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion, in the fourth round on Sunday.

   No. 8 Madison Keys of Boca Raton, Fla., edged Naomi Osaka of Japan 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (3) after trailing 1-5 in the third set.

   On the men's side, No. 26 Jack Sock of Kansas City, Kan., surprised No. 7 Marin Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. But No. 20 John Isner lost to 21-year-old Kyle Edmund of Great Britain 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5).

   Sock will meet No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, and Edmund will take on No. 1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic. 

   Djokovic hasn't played much this week. After left-hander Jiri Vesely withdrew from their second-round match with a left forearm injury, Mikhail Youzhny retired from their third-round encounter with a hamstring strain after trailing 2-4.    Bob and Mike Bryan, the No. 3 seeds and five-time men's doubles champions, defeated Jonathan Erlich of Israel and Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico 6-4, 6-4 in the second round. 

   But California natives Steve Johnson (Orange) and Sam Querrey (San Francisco) lost to Italians Fabio Fognini and Andreas Seppi 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-3.

   In the first round of women's doubles, No. 9 Raquel Atawo (formerly Kops-Jones) of San Jose and Abigail Spears of Colorado Springs, Colo., fell to Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands and Heather Watson of Great Britain 6-2, 7-5.

   Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia and former Stanford All-American Scott Lipsky of Irvine in the Los Angeles region upset No. 8 seeds Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic and Marcin Matkowski of Poland 7-5, 6-7 (3) [11-9] in the opening round of mixed doubles.

   Two Northern California teenagers, Keenan Mayo (16) and Katie Volynets (14), lost to Italian seeds in the first round of junior qualifying.

   Mayo, from Roseville in the Sacramento area, fell to No. 14 Andrea Guerrieri 6-4, 6-0. Volynets, from Walnut Creek in the Bay Area, succumbed to No. 15 Lucrezia Stefanini 6-1, 6-2.