Blake, Zverev reach Sacramento Challenger final

Second-seeded James Blake held off unseeded Bobby
Reynolds 6-2, 7-6 (3) in a semifinal matchup of Americans
in their 30s. Photos by Paul Bauman

   SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- James Blake won't have to face 6-foot-10 Ivo Karlovic's booming serve this time.
   But Mischa Zverev is no picnic, either.
   Blake and Zverev, veterans of the elite ATP World Tour who have rebounded from injuries, reached the final of the $100,000 RelyAid Natomas Challenger with straight-set victories Saturday at the Natomas Racquet Club.
   The second-seeded Blake held off unseeded Bobby Reynolds 6-2, 7-6 (3) in a matchup of Americans in their 30s. Blake, the oldest player in the singles draw at almost 33, won the first three points of the tiebreaker. Reynolds, who turned 30 in July, took the next three before surrendering the last four, including two on double faults (one on match point).
   The unseeded Zverev, a 25-year-old Moscow-born German, dismissed Daniel Kosakowski, a 20-year-old wild card from Downey in the Los Angeles area, 6-2, 6-2. The final game of the first set lasted 30 points and about 20 minutes. Zverev saved seven break points and finally held serve on his sixth game point.
   Zverev ended Kosakowski's winning streak at 13 matches, including a first-round upset of top-seeded Benjamin Becker and titles in two $10,000 Futures tournaments in consecutive weeks.

Unseeded Mischa Zverev ended 20-year-old wild card
Daniel Kosakowski's winning streak at 13 matches.

   Kosakowski, who was playing in his first Challenger semifinal, turned pro in June 2011 after winning a $15,000 Futures tournament 10 minutes down the freeway from Natomas at the Park Terrace Swim & Tennis Club in south Sacramento.
   Blake lost to Karlovic 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in last year's Natomas final. Karlovic fired 23 aces in the match, faced only one break point and won all 20 points on his serve in the last set, including 12 aces.
   Karlovic played in the Japan Open in Tokyo on the ATP World Tour this week, falling to top-seeded Andy Murray in the first round. Blake shed no tears over Karlovic's absence.
   "He's never fun to play," Blake said earlier this week. "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, and I hope he does well overseas."
   Blake, ranked 97th after reaching a career-high No. 4 in 2006, combines blazing speed and explosive shotmaking. Zverev, who's 168th after climbing to a career-best No. 45 in 2009, has an excellent all-around game. The left-hander is one of the few serve-and-volleyers left in professional tennis and a steady baseline player.
   Both players are fit after long battles with injuries. Blake was plagued by tendinitis in his right knee last year and early this year. Zverev broke his right wrist in 2009 and two ribs in 2010 in falls on the court and developed a hernia later in 2010.          
   They often practice together at Saddlebrook Resort in Tampa, Fla., but have met only once in an official match. Zverev won 6-3, 6-3 in the second round of the Guadeloupe Challenger on a hardcourt in March.
    "Maybe he wasn't playing his best, but that week I just played incredible tennis up to the final," said Zverev, who won all four of his matches in straight sets before losing to David Goffin of Belgium 6-2, 6-2 in the final. "That was one of those weeks where you just close your eyes and everything goes well.
   "It doesn't mean anything. (Today) is going to be a different day. I don't think it's going to be that easy again."
   Blake agreed.
   "I definitely think I've improved since then," he said. "I'm moving a lot better. Back then, my knee was still bothering me. I wasn't able to move the way I know I need to to get in position to be aggressive.
   "He was really dictating play that match, so this time I need to be the one dictating. I need to be the one being a little more aggressive and taking it to him and not letting him set up and take his rips."
   The Blake-Zverev match will follow the All-American doubles final. Devin Britton and Austin Krajicek, a distant relative of 1996 Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek, will take on former University of Tennessee teammates Tennys Sandgren and Rhyne Williams at 1 p.m. Both teams are unseeded.         

$100,000 RELYAID NATOMAS CHALLENGER - SACRAMENTO, CA, USA
SEPT. 29 - OCT. 7, 2012

RESULTS - SATURDAY, OCT. 6, 2012
Singles - Semifinals
[2] [WC] J Blake (USA) d B Reynolds (USA) 62 76(3)
M Zverev (GER) d [WC] D Kosakowski (USA) 62 62
Doubles - Semifinals
[WC] T Sandgren (USA) / R Williams (USA) d A Kuznetsov (USA) / M Zverev (GER) 64 64

ORDER OF PLAY - SUNDAY, OCT. 7, 2012
STADIUM start 1:00 pm
[WC] T Sandgren (USA) / R Williams (USA) vs D Britton (USA) / A Krajicek (USA)
M Zverev (GER) vs [2] [WC] J Blake (USA)

Pilot Zverev hopes his career is taking off again

Germany's Mischa Zverev, a private pilot, beat Tennys
Sandgren 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the $100,000
RelyAid Natomas Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After encountering much turbulence during the past three years, Mischa Zverev is cruising this week at the $100,000 RelyAid Natomas Challenger.
   Zverev, who received a pilot's license in August, soared past 21-year-old American Tennys Sandgren  6-2, 6-4 Friday in a quarterfinal matchup of unseeded players at the Natomas Racquet Club.
    On Thursday evening, the 25-year-old Moscow-born German rented a plane at Sacramento Executive Airport with two guests and stopped in Placerville, Rancho Murieta and Cameron Park before returning to Sacramento.
   "Wherever I go, I try to rent a plane and fly around a little bit," Zverev, who speaks English like a native, said enthusiastically. "That's a really nice airport in Placerville. It's right on top of a hill, and it drops right in front of the runway and right behind it, so you feel like you take off into the horizon. There are no trees, nothing in front of you.
   "Right after you pass the runway, you go down a little bit because there's a huge drop, and then you take off. It reminded me of the James Bond movie ("The Spy Who Loved Me"). I'm planning on doing something again tonight, like go to Napa Valley and get some wine for my girlfriend."
   Zverev — a veteran of the ATP World Tour, the major leagues of men's tennis — will face Daniel Kosakowski in Saturday's first semifinal at noon.
   Kosakowski, a 20-year-old wild card from Downey in the Los Angeles area, downed fifth-seeded Matteo Viola of Italy 6-4, 6-4 for his 13th consecutive victory and 15th in his last 16 matches. Kosakowski's streak includes a win over Germany's Benjamin Becker, the top seed at No. 85 in the world, in the first round at Natomas and two Futures titles.
   Kosakowski is ranked far lower than Zverev, No. 304 to No. 168, but won their only previous meeting 3-6, 6-4, 3-0, retired on clay in Houston last April. 
   The second semifinal features two Americans in their 30s, second-seeded James Blake and unseeded Bobby Reynolds.
   Blake, 32, edged 22-year-old wild card Bradley Klahn of Poway in the San Diego area 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4), and Reynolds, 30, outlasted unseeded Luca Vanni of Italy 5-7, 6-2, 6-3. Klahn, a left-hander who won the 2010 NCAA singles title as a Stanford sophomore and graduated this year, served for each set.
   Blake is ranked No. 97 after reaching a career-high No. 4 in 2006. He dominated Reynolds, who's No. 162 after peaking at No. 63 in 2009, 6-3, 6-1 in the final of last year's Winnetka (Ill.) Challenger in their only other meeting.
   Zverev moved to Germany with his family at 4 because his father, who played Davis Cup for the Soviet Union from 1982 to 1987, received an attractive coaching offer there.
   Mischa isn't overpowering, although he's listed at 6-foot-3. But he's a rarity on two counts: he's left-handed, and he serves-and-volleys. He also has consistent, pinpoint groundstrokes.
   Zverev climbed to a career-high No. 45 in 2009 before injuries struck. He broke his right wrist when he fell while hitting an overhead in Shanghai in late 2009, broke two ribs falling on his elbow or racket on a wet clay court in Munich in the summer of 2010 and developed a hernia at the end of 2010.   
   "Basically, I could not serve or play without pain for almost a year," said Zverev, who's staying with Sergei Bubka of Ukraine at Dmitry Tursunov's Folsom townhouse while the fellow Moscow native plays in Tokyo. "I would play a match, and I would have to rest for three days. Or I would play two sets, and the third set I could not move anymore.
   "I had times where after the match I could not take off my own shoes. I had to call my coach or trainer to help me out. It was pretty bad at some points, but luckily I think that's over now, knock on wood."
   And maybe Zverev will reach new heights.  

$100,000 RELYAID NATOMAS CHALLENGER - SACRAMENTO, CA, USA
SEPT. 29 - OCT. 7, 2012

RESULTS - FRIDAY, OCT. 5, 2012
Singles - Quarterfinals
[2] [WC] J Blake (USA) d [WC] B Klahn (USA) 76(5) 76(4)
[WC] D Kosakowski (USA) d [5] M Viola (ITA) 64 64
M Zverev (GER) d T Sandgren (USA) 62 64
B Reynolds (USA) d L Vanni (ITA) 57 62 63

Doubles - Semifinals
D Britton (USA) / A Krajicek (USA) d S Groth (AUS) / C Guccione (AUS) 76(2) 26 10-8
Doubles - Quarterfinals
[WC] T Sandgren (USA) / R Williams (USA) d W Odesnik (USA) / L Vanni (ITA) 63 61

ORDER OF PLAY - SATURDAY, OCT. 6, 2012
STADIUM start noon
[WC] D Kosakowski (USA) vs M Zverev (GER) 
B Reynolds (USA) vs [2] [WC] J Blake (USA) 
[WC] T Sandgren (USA) / R Williams (USA) vs A Kuznetsov (USA) / M Zverev(GER)

Ex-Stanford star to face Blake in Sac quarterfinals

Wild card Bradley Klahn, the 2010 NCAA singles champion from Stanford,
winds up to slug a forehand against qualifier Greg Jones of Australia on
Thursday in the $100,000 Sacramento Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Bradley Klahn is happy just to be playing tennis, let alone facing James Blake on Friday in the quarterfinals of the $100,000 RelyAid Natomas Challenger.
   Almost one year ago, the former NCAA singles champion from Stanford underwent surgery for a herniated disc. He missed 5 1/2 months and returned with a greater appreciation for his sport.
      "One of the biggest things about going through back surgery, or any surgery, is that I'm very fortunate to play tennis," the 22-year-old wild card from the San Diego suburb of Poway said after beating qualifier Greg Jones of Australia 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 Thursday at the Natomas Racquet Club. "There's a lot of people out there who never get the opportunity, and I'm very grateful to be able to play professionally and travel to a lot of great places.
   "It certainly hasn't come without a lot of hard work, but I guess I've been trying to enjoy it a little bit more and soak it in a little bit more because at this time last year, I was in a lot of pain. I had my surgery in mid-October last year, and you never really know if you're going to get back to the same level. I'm very happy that my back has held up."
   The second-seeded Blake, who dispatched fellow 32-year-old and inaugural (2005) Sacramento champion Rik de Voest of South Africa 6-4, 6-4, endured an even more harrowing experience. He broke his neck in 2004 while practicing in Rome.
   Blake slipped on a wet clay court while racing to return a drop shot and struck the net post. Had he not moved his head at the last moment, doctors said he could have been paralyzed. Two months later, he lost his father to cancer and developed zoster (shingles), a viral disease often caused by stress.
   But in the following three years, Blake was named the ATP Comeback Player of the Year, reached a career-high No. 4 in the world and helped the United States end its longest Davis Cup title drought, 12 years.
   Blake and Klahn have practiced together but never met in a match.
   "He's extremely fast and a very offensive player," said Klahn, who qualified for the recent U.S. Open and beat former top-10 player Jurgen Melzer in the first round before losing to No. 14 Richard Gasquet of France in straight sets. "You really have to be focused and diligent and just be ready for another ball to come back and ready for it to come back fast because he's going to get over there, and he's going to take his cuts. He's going to hit his winners by you. He attacks, just like (Jones) today."  
   Klahn, who won the 2010 NCAA title and graduated this year in economics, rallied from a set and a break down against Jones, the boys singles runner-up in the 2007 French Open.
   "He's a good player," Klahn, a diminutive left-hander with a devastating forehand, said after evening his career record to 1-1 against the 6-foot-3 Jones. "He hits the ball big, attacks well and has a good serve. The real key was I thought I started making him play more on his service games. In the first set, I didn't get many returns in. I started getting a better read on it, and that helped me out."
   Another young American wild card, Daniel Kosakowski, outlasted fellow Los Angeles-area resident Michael McClune 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2. McClune twisted his right ankle at 6-4, 5-5 but saved three break points in the game to hold serve and was two points from winning three times with Kosakowski serving at 5-6.
   But the 20-year-old Kosakowski, who had ousted top-seeded Benjamin Becker in the first round, prevailed for his 12th straight victory (including two Futures titles in consecutive weeks) and 14th in his last 15 matches.
   Only two singles seeds, Blake and No. 5 Matteo Viola of Italy, reached the quarterfinals, and no seeded teams advanced to the doubles semifinals. American Wayne Odesnik, the 2007 Sacramento singles champion, and Luca Vanni of Italy stunned No. 1 Jordan Kerr of Australia and Andreas Siljestrom of Sweden 6-3, 6-4 Thursday. Vanni also remains alive in singles. 

$100,000 RELYAID NATOMAS CHALLENGER - SACRAMENTO, CA, USA
SEPT. 29 - OCT. 7, 2012

RESULTS - OCT. 4, 2012 
Singles - Second Round
[2] [WC] J Blake (USA) d R De Voest (RSA) 64 64
[5] M Viola (ITA) d R Farah (COL) 63 60
[WC] D Kosakowski (USA) d M McClune (USA) 46 76(5) 62
[WC] B Klahn (USA) d [Q] G Jones (AUS) 36 64 63

Doubles - Quarterfinals
A Kuznetsov (USA) / M Zverev (GER) d [3] B Reynolds (USA) / I Van der Merwe(RSA) 75 57 10-3
D Britton (USA) / A Krajicek (USA) d A Courtney (USA) / P Raja (IND) 76(4) 67(5) 10-5
First Round
W Odesnik (USA) / L Vanni (ITA) d [1] J Kerr (AUS) / A Siljestrom (SWE) 63 64

ORDER OF PLAY - FRIDAY, OCT. 5, 2012
STADIUM start 12:00 noon
T Sandgren (USA) vs M Zverev (GER) 
S Groth (AUS) / C Guccione (AUS) vs D Britton (USA) / A Krajicek (USA) 
Not Before 4:00 PM
[WC] B Klahn (USA) vs [2] [WC] J Blake (USA)

COURT 1 start 12:00 noon
B Reynolds (USA) vs L Vanni (ITA) 
[WC] D Kosakowski (USA) vs [5] M Viola (ITA) 
W Odesnik (USA) / L Vanni (ITA) vs [WC] T Sandgren (USA) / R Williams (USA)

Top seed Becker ousted in Sacramento Challenger

Daniel Kosakowski, a 20-year-old wild card, upset No. 1 seed
Benjamin Becker, below, 7-5, 6-3 Tuesday in the first round
of the $100,000 RelyAid Natomas Challenger in Sacramento.
Photos by Paul Bauman

   SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- On paper, it was a stunning upset.
   Daniel Kosakowski, a 20-year-old wild card who turned pro last year in Sacramento, ousted Benjamin Becker, a 31-year-old veteran seeded first, 7-5, 6-3 Tuesday in the first round of the $100,000 RelyAid Natomas Challenger at the Natomas Racquet Club.
   Becker is ranked No. 85 in the world after reaching a career-high No. 38 five years ago. Kosakowski, meanwhile, is No. 304.
   Most glaring of all, Becker has won 97 matches on the ATP World Tour, the major leagues of men's professional tennis, to Kosakowski's one.
   But considering recent history, Kosakowski's victory wasn't all that surprising on a day featuring the exits of three more seeds, the world's fastest server, a former Sacramento champion and several U.S. prospects. Kosakowski's triumph might have even been predictable. He has been on fire while Becker has been recovering from his latest injury.

   Kosakowski, a Los Angeles-area native whose parents are Polish, has won 11 straight matches and 13 of his last 14. He reached the final round of qualifying at the U.S. Open in August, beating 82nd-ranked Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia in the second round. Becker was the second top-100 win of Kosakowski's career.
   Last month, Kosakowski won $10,000 Futures tournaments in the Los Angeles suburbs of Claremont and Costa Mesa in consecutive weeks.
   "I was working on a lot of things in the summer, and things are starting to click now," said Kosakowski, who turned pro after winning the $15,000 Futures tournament in Sacramento in June 2011. "I got a lot of confidence from the Open. I know what I'm doing on the court and executing my game plan."
   Kosakowski, who won 24 of 25 points on his first serve against Becker and displayed a sensational one-handed backhand, added that he worked on his "serve and trying to be more aggressive with the backhand, trying not to give up too many freebies or short balls."     

Second-seeded James Blake, 32, wore down 19-year-old
qualifier Taro Daniel of Japan 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 in a match featur-
ing the oldest and youngest players in the singles draw.

   Becker, meanwhile, tore a groin muscle three weeks ago playing in a Davis Cup doubles match for his native Germany. He lost with Philipp Petzschner, but host Germany beat Australia 3-2 on clay to qualify for the elite World Group next year.
  "When I came here, I didn't know if I could play," said Becker, a right-hander with a two-handed backhand who underwent two operations on his left elbow last year and missed seven months. "I'm happy I didn't have any pain today, but I'm not happy with the way I played. I expected not to play my best, obviously. That's how it goes when you have a tough first round.
   "I saw he won a few tournaments (recently)," added Becker, who's best known for ending Andre Agassi's career in the third round of the 2006 U.S. Open. "He had a lot of confidence, and he could see that my confidence was not very high. I'm trying to get it back and hopefully have a better week next week (in the Tiburon Challenger in the San Francisco Bay Area)."
   Despite their age difference and nationalities, Becker and Kosakowski have a few things in common. Both are undersized former college stars.
   Becker, who's listed at 5-foot-10 and 158 pounds, is one of the few pros who played for four years in college. As a junior at Baylor in Waco, Texas, he won the 2004 NCAA singles crown and helped the Bears capture their only NCAA team title.
   Kosakowski said he's 6-foot and 180, but he appears smaller. He turned pro after one year at UCLA, where he was named first-team All-Pacific-10 Conference and the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year.
   After the first round of the Natomas Challenger, the only seeds left are No. 2 James Blake of Tampa, Fla., and No. 5 Matteo Viola of Italy. No. 3 Ryan Sweeting, the 2005 U.S. Open boys champion, withdrew with food poisoning, and No. 8 Denis Kudla, a 20-year-old American born in Ukraine, lost to qualifier Greg Jones of Australia 6-3, 6-0.
   Blake, a 32-year-old wild card and last year's runner-up to 6-foot-10 Ivo Karlovic, wore down 19-year-old qualifier Taro Daniel of Japan 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 on a 99-degree day in a match featuring the oldest and youngest players in the singles draw.
   "I got my legs moving a little better in the second and third sets, and I think his legs kind of went out on him  in the third set," said Blake, ranked No. 97 after reaching a career-high No. 4 in 2006. "He's already played three matches here.
   "I'm not a spring chicken anymore. Sometimes it takes a little longer to warm up. Those things are going to happen sometimes, but I'm happy I got through it."
   Blake, plagued by tendinitis in his right knee last year and earlier this year, pronounced himself fit but said he's taking his career "one match at a time at this point." He hopes to play all next year, "but you never know. One more bad injury, and that can change real quick."
   Eight years ago, Blake broke his neck while practicing in Rome. He slipped on a wet clay court while racing to return a drop shot and struck the net post. Had he not moved his head at the last moment, doctors said he could have been paralyzed.
   Viola dismissed Samuel Groth of Australia 6-2, 6-3. Groth, who blasted a 163-mph (263-kph) serve in a Challenger tournament in South Korea in May, converted only 20 percent of his first serves in the first set and 39 percent overall.
   "I felt really flat on court," said Groth, who has battled a head cold for two days. "I probably had my worst serving day for a year, and I was pretty slow in my movement. I don't think there was actually too much I did well out there. Matteo doesn't give you much, and I knew I was going to have to play a lot better than I did today, that's for sure."
   Bradley Klahn, a San Diego-area resident, and John Millman of Australia had big years in 2010. Klahn won the NCAA singles title as a Stanford sophomore, and John Millman captured the Sacramento Challenger. They met for the first time Tuesday, with wild card Klahn prevailing 7-6 (0), 6-4.
   The day ended with two 30-something veterans knocking out young Americans.
   Rik de Voest, a 32-year-old South African who won the 2005 (inaugural) Sacramento Challenger at the Sutter Lawn Tennis Club, outlasted 21-year-old Rhyne Williams of Knoxville, Tenn., 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-4 in 3 hours, 13 minutes.
   Williams, who turned pro shortly after reaching the NCAA singles final in 2011 as a Tennessee sophomore, served for the match at 5-4 in the second set and led 4-1 (one service break) in the third set.
   Bobby Reynolds, 30, of Acworth, Ga., outslugged Jack Sock, 20, of Lincoln, Neb., 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4) in a matchup of 2011 Sacramento Challenger quarterfinalists. Sock, last year's doubles runner-up with Nicholas Monroe, already is out of this year's tournament. He and Phillip Simmonds of Reston, Va., narrowly lost in  the first round of doubles to Groth and Chris Guccione, the defending champion with Carsten Ball, on Monday.
   
RELYAID NATOMAS CHALLENGER - SACRAMENTO, CA, USA

$ 100,000
SEPT. 29 - OCT. 7, 2012

RESULTS - TUESDAY, OCT. 2, 2012Singles - First Round
[WC] D Kosakowski (USA) d [1] B Becker (GER) 75 63
[2] [WC] J Blake (USA) d [Q] T Daniel (JPN) 46 63 61
M Reid (AUS) d [LL] F Wolmarans (RSA) 64 64
[5] M Viola (ITA) d S Groth (AUS) 62 63
[Q] G Jones (AUS) d [8] D Kudla (USA) 63 60
M McClune (USA) d [Q] P Simmonds (USA) 16 63 61
R Farah (COL) d A Bogdanovic (GBR) 61 62
B Reynolds (USA) d J Sock (USA) 76(6) 76(4)
L Vanni (ITA) d [Q] L Gregorc (SLO) 46 64 76(3)
[WC] B Klahn (USA) d J Millman (AUS) 76(0) 64
R De Voest (RSA) d R Williams (USA) 57 76(3) 64
Doubles - First Round
[4] A Daescu (ROU) / A Hubble (AUS) d [LL] L Gregorc (SLO) / A Pavic (CRO) 63 64
A Kuznetsov (USA) / M Zverev (GER) d S Ianni (ITA) / M Viola (ITA) 63 64

ORDER OF PLAY - WEDNESDAY, OCT. 3, 2012
STADIUM start 11:00 am
D Kudla (USA) / T Smyczek (USA) vs A Courtney (USA) / P Raja (IND)
Not Before 12:30 PM
A El Mihdawy (USA) vs B Reynolds (USA)
S Groth (AUS) / C Guccione (AUS) vs [4] A Daescu (ROU) / A Hubble (AUS)
Not Before 4:00 PM
L Vanni (ITA) vs A Kuznetsov (USA)
COURT 1 start 11:00 am
M Reid (AUS) vs T Sandgren (USA)
M Zverev (GER) vs I Van der Merwe (RSA)
Not Before 3:30 PM
[3] B Reynolds (USA) / I Van der Merwe (RSA) vs [Q] J Dadamo (USA) / B Klahn (USA) - After suitable rest

Young shocks Monfils to reach first ATP final

   Unseeded Donald Young of Atlanta stunned second-seeded Gael Monfils of France 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) early Saturday in the $587,000 PTT Thailand Open in Bangkok to reach his first career ATP World Tour final.
   Young, ranked a career-high 55th in the world, will crack the top 50 regardless of how he does against top-seeded Andy Murray of Great Britain. The fourth-ranked Murray advanced with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 victory over third-seeded Gilles Simon of France. Monfils is ranked ninth.
   Young, who won the 2008 Sacramento Challenger, is 1-1 lifetime against Murray. Both matches have come this year. Young won 7-6 (4), 6-3 in the first round at Indian Wells in March, and Murray coasted 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 in the round of 16 at the recent U.S. Open.
   Both players have won the Aptos Challenger, Murray in 2005 and Young in 2007.      
   NorCal players fall -- It was a rough day for Northern California players.     Maria Sanchez of Modesto lost twice, in a rout and a heartbreaker, Friday; Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove also fell in the heartbreaker; and former Sacramento State star Kiryl Harbatsiuk lost to a 137-pound player.
   Unseeded Alexa Glatch of Newport Beach routed Sanchez, a wild card, 6-1, 6-1 in the quarterfinals of the $50,000 Lexus of Las Vegas Open. Then the third-seeded team of Glatch and Mashona Washington of Houston edged the unseeded Sanchez and Schnack 3-6, 7-5, 10-8 tiebreak in the doubles semifinals.
   Meanwhile, qualifier Sanam Singh of India defeated the unseeded Harbatsiuk, from Belarus, 7-5, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the $10,000 USTA Futures of Laguna Niguel. Both players ended their four-year college careers in May. Singh starred at Virginia, reaching the NCAA semifinals in 2009.
   Natomas Men's Challenger in Sacramento -- Top-seeded Raven Klaasen of South Africa will meet reigning NCAA champion Steve Johnson of USC today in the first round of qualifying for the $100,000 Rely Aid Natomas Racquet Club Challenger.
  Klaasen, ranked a career-high No. 216, and Johnson, coming off two consecutive Futures singles titles in Southern California, are scheduled to play the fourth match on Center Court. Play begins at 10 a.m.
  The other qualifying seeds, in order, are Alejandro Gonzalez of Colombia, Jamie Baker of Great Britain, Pierre-Ludovic Duclos of Canada, Carsten Ball of Australia, Simon Stadler of Germany, Alex Bogdanovic of Great Britain and Daniel Kosakowski of Downey.
   Kosakowski, UCLA's top player as a freshman last season, turned pro after winning the $15,000 Park Terrace Pro Tennis tournament in Sacramento in June.

Harvard Law School can wait

   CHICO – Philip Bester’s future is on the court. Blake Strode’s is in one.

   The top-seeded Bester bested the sixth-seeded Strode 6-4, 6-2 in the wind Sunday to win the $15,000 Balbutin’s Chico Pharmacy Tennis Classic at the Chico Racquet Club & Resort.

   Don’t feel bad for Strode, though. He has an acceptance to Harvard Law School waiting for him if he gives up professional tennis in the next three years.

   Bester, meanwhile, continued his rise in the world rankings with his fifth career Futures singles title but first this year. Ranked No. 244 entering the tournament, he rose to a career-high No. 229 and could crack the top 200 soon.

   Bester and Strode are both slim, 6-foot-2 right-handers with powerful serves and forehands. They are also close in age at 22 and 23, respectively.

   That’s where the similarities end, though. Bester is a white Canadian from Vancouver, Strode a black American from St. Louis.

   Bester attended the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Fla., for four years as a teenager, reached the French Open junior boys final at 17 and turned pro at the same age.

   Strode stayed home to attend Pattonville High School, graduated from the University of Arkansas in economics and Spanish in 2009 and reached the singles semifinals of the NCAA championships the same month.

   Finally, Bester has a one-handed backhand, whereas Strode uses two hands on that wing.

   Bester’s impressive array of shots also includes a crisp volley. The mental side, however, has taken longer to develop than his shots.

   “I’ve become mentally tougher,” said Bester, who has improved his year-end ranking from No. 809 to No. 510 to No. 278 in the past three years. “I’ve learned to close out games when I need to. I’ve learned to just play the game of tennis smarter and not always go out on the court and feel like I have to win. It’s been a big mental battle, and I feel I’ve gotten much stronger mentally.”

   Bester’s experience was the difference Sunday as he coped with the wind better than Strode. Aside from several aborted service tosses, Bester appeared largely unaffected. Strode, however, repeatedly mis-hit the ball and grew increasingly agitated, overhitting his forehand several times in the second set. 

   “I knew the conditions were going to be tough,” Bester said, “and I’ve learned from experience that when it’s windy, instead of getting frustrated, (it’s better to) try to use it to my advantage.

   “I know the ball is going to be moving just as much on his side of the net as it is on mine, so it was important for me to hit to bigger targets than usual to give myself a bigger margin for error and make (fewer) unforced errors than my opponent.”

   Strode, ranked No. 543 entering the tournament, had his nine-match Futures winning streak stopped after ending Daniel Kosakowski’s run at eight matches in the semifinals. Strode, coming off a Futures title in Tampa, Fla. last month, said he “just made too many mistakes” against Bester.

   “I was struggling with the ball moving around a little bit in this wind, and he was being really consistent,” continued Strode, whose father, Lester, is the bullpen coach for the Chicago Cubs. “He was playing smart, using a lot of slices and kind of letting the conditions do some of the work.

   “That’s what you have to play through sometimes, and I didn’t do a good job of playing solid on a lot of the bigger points. … With him and the conditions, it was a double whammy – hard to deal with.”

   Strode won the first six points of the match, but it was downhill from there. After both players held serve for 1-1, Strode trailed the rest of the way.

   When Bester broke serve twice to lead 4-1, it appeared he would breeze – so to speak – in the first set. But then he lost his serve for the only time in the match. Strode fought back to 4-5 before Bester held serve for the set.

   Strode lost his serve in the first game of the second set on a mis-hit backhand and was broken again, with the help of two consecutive loose forehands from 40-15, to trail 2-5. Bester converted his second match point when a Strode backhand sailed long.

   Strode said he still plans to attend Harvard Law School before his annual deferrals expire. Bester also hopes graduation is in his future – to the ATP Tour, the major leagues of tennis.

   “I knew from the beginning (pro tennis) was going to take a lot of hard work, that it’s not just going to come to me,” he said. “It’s not easy traveling and being away from home and going from place to place every week, but it’s a part of it, and I’m very thankful I have the opportunity to do this for a living.

   “I really want to take it in as much as possible and do everything I can so that one day I look back and don’t have any regrets.”