Norrie overcomes wind, King for second straight title

Cameron Norrie, left, defeated Darian King 6-1, 6-3 today to win
the $100,000 Stockton Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   STOCKTON, Calif. — When Cameron Norrie was asked Friday what his greatest strength is, he mentioned his two-handed backhand and mental toughness.
   The latter was critical today as the wind, which plagued the $100,000 Stockton Challenger early in the week, returned with a vengeance.
   Making the best of the situation, the eighth-seeded Norrie routed sixth-seeded Darian King 6-1, 6-3 in 68 minutes at the University of the Pacific's Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center for his second title in two weeks.
   "I feel like I'm a rock mentally," trumpeted Norrie, a 22-year-old left-hander from Great Britain. "I knew it would be tough in the wind, and I don't want to complain about it, so I think I used it to my advantage. It definitely does favor the person that's mentally tougher."
   Norrie, who pocketed $14,400, won his third Challenger singles title since turning pro in May after his junior year at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. He has played in three consecutive finals, winning 14 of 15 matches, since losing to eventual semifinalist Pablo Carreno Busta in the second round of the U.S. Open as a qualifier.
   But Norrie, the champion in last week's $100,000 Tiburon Challenger, will not try to match Sam Querrey's 2014 feat of sweeping the three-week Northern California swing. Norrie withdrew from next week's $100,000 Fairfield Challenger at Solano Community College with a left shoulder strain.
   Today, Norrie won the first five games and the last four.
   "I think I played very smart at the start," said Norrie, who improved to 2-0 against King. "I played pretty safe, and I was winning a lot of the longer rallies. I used my drop shot pretty well today into the wind. He was standing pretty far back, so it was pretty effective for me. I'm playing great tennis."
   Norrie showed no signs of frustration during the match. King, in contrast, at various times muttered to himself, shook his head, put his hands on his hips, threw up his arms, almost slammed his racket on the court and, on a changeover, struck his racket bag with his racket. Of course, it's a lot easier to stay composed when you're winning.
   "It was my first time playing a left-hander the whole week," moianed the 25-year-old King of Barbados, a small Caribbean island nation with a population of only 292,000. "Obviously, he handled (the wind) much better. Obviously, it's tough playing a left-hander in these conditions.
   "I had better chances in the second set. He was coming to the net and made some great passing shots at the right time, and I messed up a volley or two because of the conditions. That's how tennis goes. It's mental, and you have to try to adapt to all the circumstances."

Joe Salisbury, left, and Brydan Klein won the Stockton
doubles title. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Norrie, who was born in South Africa and grew up in New Zealand, will jump 25 more places to No. 111 in Monday's updated rankings. But he's not concerned about cracking the top 100 for the first time and gaining direct entry into the Australian Open in January.
   "No, not at all," he said. "I'm just trying to get better every day. I don't really have any ranking goals. Me and my coach, Facu (Facundo Lugones), are just going to keep working every day. If I get top 100, if I get top 60, it doesn't really make a difference as long as I'm getting better."
   King, who collected $8,480, will improve from No. 207 to No. 181. He reached a career-high No. 106 last year in May and later won Tiburon.
   Norrie completed a British sweep of the Stockton titles. In the doubles final, fourth-seeded Brydan Klein and Joe Salisbury beat qualifiers Denis Kudla of Arlington, Va., and Tampa, Fla., and Mikelis Libietis of Latvia 6-2, 6-4. Klein, a 27-year-old Australia native who plays for Great Britain, and Salisbury, 25, split $6,200.
   Here are the completed Stockton singles and doubles draws.
   Here are the Fairfield singles qualifying draw, singles and doubles main draws and Monday's schedule.

Belgian ousts top seed Fratangelo in 100K Stockton

Joris De Loore of Belgium serves during his three-set
victory over top-seeded Bjorn Fratangelo today in the
$100,000 Stockton Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   STOCKTON, Calif. -- On a day filled with upsets, Joris De Loore pulled off the biggest one.
   The 23-year-old Belgian outlasted No. 1 seed Bjorn Fratangelo of Boca Raton, Fla.,
3-6, 6-3, 7-5 today in the first round of the $100,000 Stockton Challenger at the new Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center at the University of the Pacific.
   Also falling were No. 4 Santiago Giraldo of Colombia, No. 7 Dennis Novikov of Milpitas in the San Francisco Bay Area and
No. 8 Quentin Halys of France.
   The finalists in last week's $100,000 Tiburon Challenger, champion Darian King of Barbados and 18-year-old Michael Mmoh of Bradenton, Fla., won easily and could meet in the quarterfinals.
   The victory over Fratangelo, ranked No. 112 in the world, was De Loore's third big upset in the past five months. He stunned No. 75 Dusan Lajovic of Serbia in the quarterfinals of the Mestre (Italy) Challenger on outdoor clay in May and No. 79 Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil in the Davis Cup World Group playoffs on an indoor hardcourt in Ostend, Belgium, last month.
   The 6-foot-3 (1.90-meter) De Loore avenged a 6-2, 7-5 loss to Fratangelo, a former French Open junior champion named after Bjorn Borg, in the second round in Tiburon.
   Fratangelo, 6 feet (1.83 meters), effectively used drop shots in addition to penetrating groundstrokes. In the end, it wasn't enough.
   "Trying to expose his movement was definitely a strategy like it was last week." said Fratangelo, a 23-year-old native of Pittsburgh. "With the court being a bit faster, he was able to get on top of me a bit more. He hit some big balls and big serves, so credit to him for that."
   De Loore served for the match at 5-4 in the third set but double-faulted on break point. With Fratangelo served to send the match to a decisive tiebreaker but was broken at 15 when he netted a backhand.
   De Loore had his right (serving) shoulder treated in the second set and played with tape around his upper right forearm.
   "I have some problems with the arm and shoulder, but I'm going to the physio every day, so I hope in two days it will be fine again," De Loore said after showering and changing into a T-shirt that read "Fear no one, respect all."
   When asked if he had an impingement, De Loore said: "I have no idea. That's his job, to find out what it is."
   De Loore next will face 2014 Wimbledon junior champion Noah Rubin of Long Island. Rubin, a product of the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in New York, overcame Guilherme Clezar of Brazil 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
   De Loore reached No. 4 in the world in the juniors but missed much of 2014 and 2015 with elbow and knee injuries that required surgery.
   "It's not over, but I can manage to play, " said De Loore, who has soared from No. 381 at the beginning of the year to No. 187.
   Giraldo, who won the 2009 Sacramento Challenger, lost to Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Giraldo has tumbled from a career-high No. 28 in the world in 2014 to No. 127.
   Novikov, a 22-year-old former UCLA standout, and Halys, 19, fell to qualifiers. Novikov succumbed to Salvatore Caruso of Italy 6-2, 6-3, and Halys bowed out to Brydan Klein of Great Britain 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.
   Another Bay Area product, Mackenzie McDonald, dispatched wild card Sem Verbeek, a former Pacific star from the Netherlands, 6-2, 6-2. McDonald, 21, turned pro in June after sweeping the NCAA singles and doubles titles as a UCLA junior.

No. 2 seed Edmund falls in Tiburon; top seed survives

Kyle Edmund, serving in the Aptos Challenger in August, lost
to British countryman Brydan Klein in the first round of the
$100,000 Tiburon Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   No. 2 seed Kyle Edmund of Great Britain lost in the first round of the $100,000 Wells Fargo Tiburon Challenger today, and No. 1 Denis Kudla came within two points of joining him on the sideline.
   Edmund, 20, fell to countryman Brydan Klein 6-4, 6-1 at the Tiburon Peninsula Club. Kudla then defeated fellow American Connor Smith 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-0. Smith, 24, served for the match at 5-3 in the second set.
   Kudla, a 23-year-old resident of Arlington, Va., and Tampa, Fla., was playing in his first match since losing to former top-10 player Jurgen Melzer, a 34-year-old Austrian, in the first round of the U.S. Open four weeks ago.
   In July, Kudla became the only American man to reach the second week of Wimbledon. He lost to 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic in the fourth round. 
   Also falling on Monday was 2013 Tiburon champion Peter Polansky. The 27-year-old Canadian bowed out to Bulgarian Dimitar Kutrovsky, a former University of Texas All-American who uses two hands on both sides, 6-4, 6-3.
  Quentin Halys, an 18-year-old Frenchman, dismissed Tennys Sandgren, 24, of Wesley Chapel, Fla., 6-3, 6-1. Last year in the juniors, Halys advanced to the U.S. Open singles final and won the French Open doubles title with countryman Benjamin Bonzi.
   Sandgren, who played for the Sacramento-based California Dream of World TeamTennis in July, reached the Tiburon quarterfinals two years ago. He underwent hip surgery last year and missed more than six months.
   Tom Fawcett, a 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) sophomore at Stanford, lost to fifth-seeded Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland 6-4, 6-2 in the final round of qualifying.

$100,000 WELLS FARGO TIBURON CHALLENGER

At Tiburon Peninsula Club

Final-round qualifying

   Henri Laaksonen (5), Switzerland, def. Tom Fawcett, United States, 6-4, 6-2.
   Dennis Nevolo, United States, def. Marcos Giron (7), United States, 7-6 (3), 5-7, 7-5.
   Sekou Bangoura, United States, def. Andre Dome, United States, 6-3, 6-3.
   Nicolas Meister, United States, def. Jose Statham, New Zealand, 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-4.

First-round singles

   Jared Donaldson (8), United States, def. Darian King, Barbados, 6-1, 6-4.
   Brydan Klein, Great Britain, def. Kyle Edmund (2), Great Britain, 6-4, 6-1. 
   Denis Kudla (1), United States, def. Connor Smith, United States, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-0.
   Quentin Halys, France, def. Tennys Sandgren, United States, 6-3, 6-1.
   Dimitar Kutrovsky, Bulgaria, def. Peter Polansky, Canada, 6-4, 6-3. 

Final-round doubles qualifying

   Adrien Bossel, Switzerland, and Quentin Halys, France, def. John Paul Fruttero, United States, and Ben McLachlan, New Zealand, 4-6, 6-3 [10-7].   

First-round doubles

   Sekou Bangoura, United States, and Marek Michalicka, Czech Republic, def. Andre Dome and Eric Johnson, United States, 6-4, 6-4.

Tuesday's schedule

Center Court

(Starting at 10 a.m.)

   Bjorn Fratangelo (6), United States, vs. Chase Buchanan, United States.

   Tim Smyczek (3), United States, vs. James McGee, Ireland.

   Ryan Harrison (5), United States, vs. Deiton Baughman, United States.

(Not before 4 p.m.)

   Dustin Brown (4), Germany, vs. Sekou Bangoura, United States.

Court 1

(Starting at 10 a.m.)

   Mitchell Krueger, United States, vs. Philip Bester, Canada.

   Blaz Rola (7), Slovenia, vs. Frances Taifoe, United States.

   Dennis Novikov, United States, vs. Marek Michalicka, Czech Republic.

(Not before 3 p.m.)

   Carsten Ball and Matt Reid (4), Australia, vs. Tennys Sandgren and Tim Smyczek, United States.

Court 4

(Starting at 10 a.m.)

   Adrien Bossel, Switzerland, vs. Dennis Nevolo, United States.

   Alex Kuznetsov, United States, vs. Nicolas Meister, United States.

   Frederik Nielsen, Denmark, vs. Mackenzie McDonald, United States.

   Henri Laaksonen, Switzerland, vs. Andre Goransson, Sweden.