Djokovic reaches ATP semis; McDonald falls in Florida

Novak Djokovic, playing at Indian Wells in 2017, avenged a loss to Alexander
Zverev in the title match of the 2018 ATP Finals. Photo by Mal Taam

   Top-ranked Novak Djokovic beat fifth-seeded Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6 (4) today to reach the semifinals of the Nitto ATP Finals in London.

   Djokovic, a five-time champion, avenged a loss to Zverev, a 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) German, in the 2018 final of the indoor hardcourt tournament.

   Djokovic finished 2-1 and Zverev 1-2 in the four-man Group Tokyo 1970. The ATP Finals began 50 years ago in Tokyo.

   Both players have come under fire recently. Djokovic was defaulted from the U.S. Open in September for flicking a ball in anger and accidentally hitting a line judge in the throat. Zverev has denied accusations of domestic abuse by his former girlfriend Olga Sharypova.

   In Saturday's semifinals, Djokovic is scheduled to face third-seeded Dominic Thiem at 6 a.m. PST (Tennis Channel), and second-seeded Rafael Nadal is set to take on fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev not before noon. 

   In a doubles semifinal, second-seeded Rajeev Ram, a 36-year-old volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley from Carmel, Ind., and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain will meet seventh-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France at 10 a.m.

   ATP Challenger Tour — Unseeded Brandon Nakashima, 19, of San Diego eliminated eighth-seeded Mackenzie McDonald, a 25-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, 6-3, 7-6 (8) on another windy day in the quarterfinals of the $52,080 Orlando (Fla.) Open.

   Nakashima, who ousted top-seeded Thiago Monteiro of Brazil 6-4, 6-3 in the second round, won seven straight games from 1-3 in the opening set of his first career match against McDonald, playing on his adopted home courts at the USTA National Campus. 

   In the second set, Nakashima saved a set point serving at 5-6 with a backhand passing shot down the line and later converted his fourth match point.

   McDonald won the first of his two Challenger singles titles in Fairfield, Calif., 38 miles (61.2 kilometers) northeast of Piedmont, in 2017. Nakashima reached his first Challenger semifinal last fall in Fairfield.

   Nakashima is scheduled to meet unseeded Mitchell Krueger of Dallas on Saturday after the 8 a.m. PST semifinal between fourth-seeded Prajnesh Gunneswaran of India and unseeded Christopher Eubanks of Atlanta. Both matches will be streamed live.

   Krueger, 26, defeated qualifier Alexander Ritschard of Switzerland 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-1. Krueger, a quarterfinalist in the $100,000 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger in 2015 and 2016, topped Nakashima 7-6 (7), 7-5 in the first round of qualifying for the 2018 Indian Wells Challenger in their only previous meeting.

   Gunneswaran, a 31-year-old left-hander who reached last week's final in Cary, N.C., routed sixth-seeded Dmitry Popko, a Russia native who plays for Kazakhstan, 6-0, 6-3. 

   The 6-foot-7 (2.01-meter) Eubanks, 24, subdued second-seeded Denis Kudla, an Arlington, Va., resident who won the Cary title, 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-3 in 3 hours, 5 minutes.

   Eubanks, who trailed by a service break in the second set, blasted 17 aces, committed 10 double faults and saved 16 of 18 break points against him.

   Gunneswaran and Eubanks will meet for the first time. They reached the semifinals of $100,000 tournaments in Tiburon (2017) and Aptos (2018), respectively, in Northern California. 

   ITF Women's Circuit — Second-seeded Maiar Sherif Ahmed Abdelaziz (Fresno State, 2015-16) of Egypt beat Lara Selden, a 21-year-old qualifier from Belgium, 7-5, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the $25,000 Open Gran Canaria on clay in Las Palmas de Gran Carania, off the coast of northwestern Africa.

   Sherif, who won a $100,000 clay-court tournament in Charleston, S.C., as a qualifier two weeks ago, extended her winning streak to 10 matches. She will play another 21-year-old, Jule Niemeier of Germany.

   In the other semifinal, top-seeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia will meet sixth-seeded Richel Hogenkamp of the Netherlands.

   Kanepi, 35, has reached the quarterfinals of the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open twice each and been ranked as high as No. 15 in 2012. Hogenkamp, 28, climbed to a career-high No. 94 in 2017.

Stanford grad Klahn reaches 100K S.F. quarters

Bradley Klahn, volleying in last year's San Francisco Open, improved to 5-0
against fellow American Mitchell Krueger today. Photo by Mal Taam

   It came as no surprise that today's match between Americans Bradley Klahn and Mitchell Krueger went to three sets.   Or that Klahn prevailed.
   The fifth-seeded Klahn, a 2012 Stanford graduate in economics, outlasted Krueger 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals of the $100,000 Kunal Patel San Francisco indoors at the Bay Club SF Tennis Center.
   Klahn, a 27-year-old left-hander rebounding from his second back operation, hammered 12 aces to Krueger's four. Both players committed four double faults.
   Klahn improved to 5-0 against Krueger, 24, but each of the last four meetings has gone to three sets. Furthermore, Klahn beat Krueger 6-4 in the third set for the second time in three weeks.
   Klahn will face former Dominik Koepfer, a 23-year-old German left-hander, on Friday. Koepfer, a former All-American at Tulane in New Orleans, upset fourth-seeded Denis Kudla, a 2017 quarterfinalist from Arlington, Va., and Tampa, Fla., 7-6 (3), 6-3.
   Klahn defeated Koepfer 7-5, 6-1 on outdoor clay in the second round of the $75,000 Tallahassee (Fla.) Challenger last April in their only previous meeting.
   In another quarterfinal, third-seeded Michael Mmoh, a semifinalist last year at 19, will play 18-year-old Serb Miomir Kecmanovic for the first time. Both players train in Bradenton, Fla.
   Two San Francisco Bay Area products, Dennis Novikov and second-seeded Mackenzie McDonald, will seek quarterfinals berths on Thursday at 2 p.m. and approximately 8:30 p.m., respectively.
   Here are the updated singles and doubles draws and Thursday's schedule.
   College rankings -- The Stanford men jumped from No. 10 to No. 5 after beating then-No. 5 USC 6-1 on Friday and then-No. 6 UCLA 4-3 on Sunday, both at Stanford.

Mmoh, 18, leads parade of upsets in 100K Tiburon

Qualifier Michael Mmoh, shown Wednesday, stunned
second-seeded Bjorn Fratangelo 6-0, 7-5 to reach his
first Challenger semifinal. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Four of the top five seeds played Friday in the quarterfinals of the $100,000 Wells Fargo Bank Tiburon Challenger.
   Only No. 3 Tim Smyczek, the defending champion, survived.
   Michael Mmoh, an 18-year-old qualifier from Bradenton, Fla., stunned No. 2 Bjorn Fratangelo of Boca Raton, Fla., 6-0, 7-5 at the Tiburon Peninsula Club in the San Francisco Bay Area to reach his first Challenger semifinal.
   Mackenzie McDonald, a 21-year-old wild card who grew up in nearby Piedmont, outlasted No. 4 Frances Tiafoe, 18, of Boca Raton 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5 to gain the Tiburon semifinals for the second consecutive year.
   And Darian King of Barbados ousted No. 5 Dennis Novikov of Milpitas in the Bay Area 7-5, 6-2.
   Smyczek (pronounced Smee-check) of Tampa, Fla., beat Mitchell Krueger of Boca Raton 6-2, 6-4.
   Mmoh, the son of former journeyman professional Tony Mmoh from Nigeria, survived three match points in his first-round victory over American Tennys Sandgren. Mmoh led 4-6, 7-6 (5), 2-0 when Sandgren retired with a lower back injury.
   Sandgren, 25, served for the match at 5-4 in the second set but double-faulted three times in the long game, including once on match point.
   In today's semifinals, King will face McDonald at about 1 p.m. (live stream), followed by Smyczek against Mmoh. King and Smyczek are each 1-0 against their opponents.
   King defeated McDonald 6-4, 7-5 in 2014 on an outdoor hardcourt in a $15,000 Futures tournament in Mexico. Smyczek topped Mmoh 7-6 (2), 2-6, 7-5 in the first round of qualifying at Indian Wells in March.
   Here are the Tiburon singles and doubles draws and today's schedule. Also, here are the Stockton singles qualifying draw and today's schedule. The $100,000 tournament is being held at the Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center at the University of the Pacific.

Fairfield top seed dominates suspended match

Top seed Tim Smyczek volleys against Mitchell
Krueger in the Fairfield (Calif.) Challenger. Smy-
czek won all five games in 19 minutes to finish
a suspended match. Photo by Paul Bauman

   FAIRFIELD, Calif. -- If anyone deserves the benefit of the doubt regarding sportsmanship, it's Tim Smyczek.
   In the first round of the Fairfield $50,000 Men's Pro Challenger, the top-seeded Smyczek (pronounced SMEE-check) trailed fellow American Mitchell Krueger by a service break early in the third set on Tuesday evening.
   Smyczek asked for play to be suspended at 6:41 p.m. because the lights at In Shape: Fairfield Rancho Solano were inadequate, and USTA supervisor Keith Crossland agreed.
   "It wasn't a tactic or anything," the 5-foot-9 (1.75-meter) Smyczek said today after completing a 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3 victory over Krueger. "I have a little trouble playing under the lights to begin with. I don't have very good eyes. The lights just aren't up to regulations, so the later it got, the harder it was to see the ball. The chair umpires told me the same thing -- they were having trouble seeing the ball. It was a bit lucky for me that it came at a time when I was down a break.
   "Frankly, we probably should have visited the idea of stopping after the second set, but I was on a bit of a roll and didn't even think of it. It was definitely not a tactic. It did work out in my favor, though."
   Smyczek gained worldwide fame in January for his sportsmanlike gesture late in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-7 (2), 6-4, 7-5 loss to Rafael Nadal, who was suffering from nausea and dizziness, in the second round of the Australian Open.
   With Nadal serving at 6-5, 30-0, a fan yelled as Nadal tossed the ball on his first delivery and distracted him. The serve sailed long, but Smyczek allowed Nadal to take another first serve.
   In today's featured match, 17-year-old U.S. phenom Frances Tiafoe eliminated eighth-seeded James McGee of Ireland 6-3, 7-5. The 6-foot-2 (1.88-meter) Tiafoe won 32 of 34 points (94 percent) on his first serve.
   After a McGee serve was called an ace on game point for 4-4 in the second set, the volatile Tiafoe slammed his racket on the court, complained vociferously and asked to see Crossland. Chair umpire Christian Preston refused to summon Crossland and told Tiafoe to play, and Tiafoe calmed down for the rest of the match. 

Krueger said Smyczek "definitely stepped
it up from (Tuesday) night." Photo by
Paul Bauman

   Tiafoe won the prestigious Orange Bowl at 15 in 2013 to become the youngest champion in the tournament's 67-year history. He learned to play at the Junior Tennis Champions Center, a facility in College Park, Md., where his father, an immigrant from Sierra Leone in Africa, worked as a custodian.
   Two Fairfield quarterfinals were set today.
   In the top half of the draw, No. 4 seed Blaz Rola of Slovenia will face No. 5 Jared Donaldson, 19, of Irvine, Calif. Rola, a 6-foot-4 (1.93-meter) left-hander, won the 2013 NCAA singles title as a junior at Ohio State and then turned pro.
   In the bottom half, Tiafoe will play Darian King of Barbados. King upset second-seeded Ryan Harrison of Austin, Texas, in the first round. 
   Krueger, who at 21 is six years younger than Smyczek, led 7-6 (5), 2-6, 3-1 when play was suspended on Tuesday. Smyczek reeled off five straight games in 19 minutes, winning 20 of 25 points, to complete the match.    
   "It was the type of (finish) I was hoping for," said the 100th-ranked Smyczek, a Milwaukee product who trains in Tampa, Fla. "I came out ready to go from the first point. I made sure I had a full sweat going before I got out there. I was taking care of my side of the net from the first point."
   Krueger, meanwhile, repeatedly made errors.
   "He did a good job of maybe changing up his game plan, and I came out a little flat," said the 230th-ranked Krueger, who grew up near Fort Worth, Texas, in Aledo and trains in Boca Raton, Fla. "But credit to him. He definitely stepped it up from (Tuesday) night in the five games we played today.
   "He was definitely a lot more aggressive but not giving me a lot of free points. He was still being really solid. I still had my chances, but I gave the break back to him in my first service game. Then it's back even. It's tough. I never really got myself going."

Frances Tiafoe, a 17-year-old U.S. phenom, beat eighth-seeded
James McGee of Ireland 6-3, 7-5. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Krueger did not blame Smyczek for asking Crossland to suspend the match on Tuesday evening.
   "I would have gladly kept playing, but the lights were definitely not great," Krueger said. "It's 100 percent (Smyczek's) right to voice his opinion, and it's up to the supervisor to make the decision.
   "It's not like (Smyczek) did it on purpose. It's completely within the rules. My argument was if we started the third set, you know it's going to run into this problem, and we might as well finish."
   Given that the lights at the club did not meet Challenger regulations, would it have been better to suspend the match after two sets?
   "Yes, in retrospect it might have been," Crossland said, "but the general philosophy I carry is if players are willing to play, I'm willing to let them play. It's a very delicate decision about whether you go stop a match when players prefer to continue to play versus going out there, as I did four games into the third set, and then stop."
   The featured match began at 4:30 p.m., Crossland said, "so sponsors and people who work during the day have the opportunity to come out and watch. It didn't work out as well as it could have."
   The featured match subsequently was moved to 4 p.m. Smyczek will meet another 17-year-old U.S. sensation, Taylor Fritz, on Thursday at that time.
   Fritz, the world's top-ranked junior, dispatched qualifier Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland 6-2, 6-3 on Tuesday in the first round. He turned pro in August before the U.S. Open, captured the boys singles title at Flushing Meadows and won his first Challenger title last week in Sacramento in only his second attempt.
   "I haven't gotten to see him play much," said Smyczek, whose strengths are consistency, quickness and mental toughness. "I don't know a whole lot about him, but obviously he's playing very well. He won last week, and he won relatively easy in the first round (in Fairfield).
   "It'll be tough. I'll probably do a little homework and see what I'm up against, but it's kind of the same thing as always -- just taking care of my side of the court. I feel like if I focus on the things I do well, the results take care of themselves."
   Sacramento doubles champions Blaz Kavcic and Grega Zemlja of Slovenia lost in the first round to top-seeded Carsten Ball of Australia and Dustin Brown of Germany 6-2, 6-1. Kavcic and Zemlja beat Brown and countryman Daniel Brands 6-1, 3-6 [10-3] in the Sacramento final.    

FAIRFIELD $50,000 MEN'S PRO CHALLENGER
At In Shape: Fairfield Rancho Solano

First-round singles

   Tim Smyczek (1), United States, def. Mitchell Krueger, United States, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3.

Second-round singles

   Jared Donaldson (5), United States, def. Frank Dancevic, Canada, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.
   Blaz Rola (4), Slovenia, def. Liam Broady, Great Britain, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
   Frances Tiafoe, United States, def. James McGee (8), Ireland, 6-3, 7-5.
   Darian King, Barbados, def. Peter Polansky, Canada, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.

First-round doubles

   Carsten Ball, Australia, and Dustin Brown (1), Germany, def. Blaz Kavcic and Grega Zemlja, Slovenia, 6-2, 6-1.
   Johan Brunstom, Sweden, and Frederik Nielsen (2), Denmark, def. Jason Jung, Taiwan, and Connor Smith, United States, 6-4, 6-2.
   Dean O'Brien and Ruan Roelofse (3), South Africa, def. Ariel Behar, Uruguay, and Ruben Gonzales, Philippines, 4-6, 6-3 [10-6].
   Frank Dancevic, Canada, and Henri Laaksonen, Switzerland, def. Jean-Yves Aubone and Taylor Fritz, United States, 6-4, 6-2.
   Mitchell Krueger and Tennys Sandgren (4), United States, def. Nicolas Barrientos, Colombia, and Darian King, Barbados, 7-5, 6-4.

Thursday's schedule

Stadium Court

(Starting at 11 a.m.)

   Dustin Brown (3), Germany, vs. Tommy Paul, United States.

   Daniel Brands (7), Germany, vs. Alex Kuznetsov, United States.

(Not before 4 p.m.)

   Tim Smyczek (1), United States, vs. Taylor Fritz, United States.

Court 1

(Starting at 11 a.m.)

   Mitchell Krueger and Tennys Sandgren, United States, vs. Philip Bester and Peter Polansky, Canada.

   Blaz Kavcic (8), Slovenia, vs. Jason Jung, Taiwan.

(Not before 2 p.m.)

   Johan Brunstrom, Sweden, and Frederik Nielsen (2), Denmark, vs. Sekou Bangoura, United States, and Jose Statham, New Zealand.

(Not before 3 p.m.)

   Carsten Ball, Australia, and Dustin Brown (1), Germany, vs. Frank Dancevic, Canada, and Henri Laaksonen, Switzerland.

Smyczek, Fairfield top seed, trails in suspended match

Mitchell Krueger, playing last week in Sacramento, leads top
seed Tim Smyczek 7-6 (5), 2-6, 3-1 in the first round of the
$50,000 Fairfield (Calif.) Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   The second seed is gone, and the top seed is in trouble.
   In an all-American battle, Mitchell Krueger led No. 1 Tim Smyczek 7-6 (5), 2-6, 3-1 today in the first round of the Fairfield (Calif.) $50,000 Men's Pro Challenger at In Shape: Fairfield Rancho Solano when play was suspended by inadequate lighting.
   The match is scheduled to be completed Wednesday.
   Darian King of Barbados ousted the No. 2 seed in the first round for the second straight week on Monday. He upset Ryan Harrison 6-4, 7-5 after surprising Kyle Edmund of Great Britain last week in the $100,000 Sacramento Challenger.
   The other four seeds in action today -- No. 3 Dustin Brown of Germany, No. 5 Jared Donaldson of Irvine, Calif., No. 6 Blaz Kavic of Slovenia and No. 7 Daniel Brands of Germany -- coasted into the second round. None lost more than five games.
   Kavcic, coming off the Sacramento doubles title with countryman Grega Zemlja, dismissed 16-year-old Connor Hance of Torrance, Calif., 6-0, 6-1 in 36 minutes.

Smyczek, shown last week in Sacramento, will try
to avoid joining No. 2 seed Ryan Harrison on the
sideline. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Hance played Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf's son in a 2004 Genworth Financial television commercial co-starring Taylor Dent, now Donaldson's coach.
   Also advancing easily today was 17-year-old Taylor Fritz, who beat Donaldson in the Sacramento final for his first Challenger title. Fritz, the world's top-ranked junior, will face the winner of the Smyczek-Krueger match on Thursday.
   In a matchup of 18-year-olds, wild card Tommy Paul of Boca Raton, Fla., defeated Quentin Halys of France 6-4, 7-6 (5).
   Paul this year joined John McEnroe (1977) and Bjorn Fratangelo (2011) as the only Americans to win the French Open boys singles title.
   Halys reached the U.S. Open boys final last year and the semifinals of the $100,000 Tiburon Challenger two weeks ago.
   Fairfield, located 48 miles (77 kilometers) north of San Francisco, replaced the $50,000 Napa Challenger on the calendar. Napa tournament director Chris Arns said recently that he was unable to secure enough sponsorship to hold the Challenger for the third year.       

FAIRFIELD $50,000 MEN'S PRO CHALLENGER
At In Shape: Fairfield Rancho Solano

First-round singles

   Blaz Kavcic (6), Slovenia, def. Connor Hance, United States, 6-0, 6-1.
   Dustin Brown (3), Germany, def. Connor Smith, United States, 6-0, 7-5.
   Taylor Fritz, United States, def. Henri Laaksonen, Switzerland, 6-2, 6-3.

   Peter Polansky, Canada, def. Tennys Sandgren, United States, 6-4, 6-1.
   Jared Donaldson (5), United States, def. Philip Bester, Canada, 6-2, 6-3.
   Alex Kuznetsov, United States, def. Nicolas Barrientos, Colombia, 6-4, 7-6 (6).
   Daniel Brands (7), Germany, def. Sem Verbeek, Netherlands, 6-4, 6-0.
   Liam Broady, Great Britain. def. Grega Zemlja, Slovenia, 6-4, 6-1.
   Tommy Paul, United States, def. Quentin Halys, France, 6-4, 7-6 (5).
   Jason Jung, Taiwan. def. Sekou Bangoura, United States, 6-4, 7-6 (3).

   Mitchell Krueger, United States, leads Tim Smyczek (1), United States, 7-6 (5), 2-6, 3-1, suspended by darkness. 

First-round doubles

   Philip Bester and Peter Polansky, Canada, def. Marcos Giron and Tommy Paul, United States, 6-3, 6-2.

Wednesday's schedule

Stadium Court

(Starting at 11 a.m.)

   Jared Donaldson (5), United States, vs. Frank Dancevic, Canada.
   Tim Smyczek (1), United States, vs. Mitchell Krueger, United States (completion of suspended match).
   Blaz Rola (4), Slovenia, vs. Liam Broady, Great Britain.
   James McGee (8), Ireland, vs. Frances Tiafoe, United States.

Court 1

(Starting at 11 a.m.)

   Darian King, Barbados, vs. Peter Polansky, Canada.
   Carsten Ball, Australia, and Dustin Brown (1), Germany, vs. Blaz Kavcic and Grega Zemlja, Slovenia.

(Not before 2 p.m.)

   Johan Brunstom, Sweden, and Frederik Nielsen (2), Denmark, vs. Jason Jung, Taiwan, and Connor Smith, United States (may be moved to Stadium Court).

(Not before 3 p.m.)

   Dean O'Brien and Ruan Roelofse (3), South Africa, vs. Ariel Behar, Uruguay, and Ruben Gonzales, Philippines.

Court 3

(Starting at 2 p.m.)

   Frank Dancevic, Canada, and Henri Laaksonen, Switzerland, vs. Jean-Yves Aubone and Taylor Fritz, United States.
   Mitchell Krueger and Tennys Sandgren (4), United States, vs. Nicolas Barrientos, Colombia, and Darian King, Barbados.

Almost an Aggie once, Krueger scores Tiburon upset

Mitchell Krueger beat fellow American Jared Donaldson
6-3, 7-6 (3) today to reach the quarterfinals of the $100,000
Wells Fargo Tiburon Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   TIBURON, Calif. -- Mitchell Krueger was all set to attend Texas A&M.
   Krueger, from Aledo, Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, had grown up with many of the Aggies. Also, his father, Myron, played at Texas A&M, and his sister, Mandi, was studying business as a senior there.
   So Mitchell signed a letter of intent with the Aggies in November 2011. But the following year, Krueger reached the boys semifinals at the French Open and Wimbledon.
   Goodbye, Texas A&M.
   "I was a pretty good junior in the world and able to get some sponsors like Nike and my racket company (Tecnifibre)," Krueger explained after upsetting eighth-seeded Jared Donaldson 6-3, 7-6 (3) today in the second round of the $100,000 Wells Fargo Tiburon Challenger. "The USTA has a coach (Stanford Boster) I've been fortunate to have for the last three years. From my perspective, the window for being a professional tennis player isn't that big, and you can always go back to school."
   Donaldson, an 18-year-old pro, saved three match points serving at 5-6 in the second set of a hard-hitting battle against Krueger, 21, at the Tiburon Peninsula Club. 
   Krueger will face another 18-year-old, Quentin Halys of France, in Friday's quarterfinals. Halys, last year's U.S. Open boys runner-up, defeated Brydan Klein of Great Britain 7-6 (2), 6-2. Klein had ousted No. 2 seed and countryman Kyle Edmund in the first round.
   Halys overcame a nasty fall on a damp section of the court near the back fence early in the match. Rain had delayed the start of play by 3 1/2 hours.
   Krueger has improved from No. 361 in the world at the beginning of the year to No. 240. He has reached one semifinal (Lexington, Ky.) and four other quarterfinals on the Challenger circuit in 2015.

Donaldson saved three match points before falling
to Krueger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Donaldson has punishing, flat groundstrokes, especially on the forehand side, but Krueger managed to keep the ball in play long enough to induce errors.  
   Krueger led 2-0 and 3-1 in the first set against Donaldson and maintained his momentum to win the set. He lost his serve in the first game of the second set after leading 40-15 but broke back for 3-3. Both players held serve from there -- although Donaldson almost faltered at 5-6 -- to force a tiebreaker.
   After Donaldson scored a minibreak for 2-2, Krueger won five of the next six points for the match as Donaldson struggled with his first serve and backhand.
   Donaldson mocked Krueger during their first career meeting for allegedly getting too excited after winning big points, and Krueger mocked Donaldson right back. Krueger, though, shrugged off the friction afterward.
   "That's just two competitive guys trying to win the match," he said. "We're friends off the court. There's no bad blood or anything."
   Krueger, meanwhile, is happy with his decision to turn pro out of high school.
   "I'm really happy," he said. "I've been doing well. It takes a while to get yourself going, but I've made improvements every year. I just have to keep improving."     
   Notes -- For the second straight match, top-seeded Denis Kudla rallied to win after dropping the first set. The 23-year-old resident of Arlington, Va., and Tampa, Fla., defeated qualifier Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. Kudla, the only American man to reach the second week at Wimbledon this year, came within two points of losing to American Connor Smith in the first round. ...
   Wild cards Deiton Baughman, 19, of Carson and Mackenzie McDonald, 20, of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area shocked second-seeded Dean O'Brien and Ruan Roelofse of South Africa 4-6, 6-3 [10-4] in the first round of doubles. ...
   The rain forced four doubles matches to be postponed until Thursday. All four scheduled matches in singles and two in doubles were completed.

$100,000 WELLS FARGO TIBURON CHALLENGER

At Tiburon Peninsula Club

Second-round singles

   Blaz Rola (7), Slovenia, def. Dimitar Kutrovsky, Bulgaria, 6-3, 6-1.

   Denis Kudla (1), United States, def. Henri Laaksonen, Switzerland, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.

   Quentin Halys, France, def. Brydan Klein, Great Britain, 7-6 (2), 6-2. 

   Mitchell Krueger, United States, def. Jared Donaldson (8), United States, 6-3, 7-6 (3). 

First-round doubles

   Johan Brunstrom, Sweden, and Frederik Nielsen (1), Denmark, def. Ariel Behar, Uruguay, and Ruben Gonzales, Philippines, 6-2, 6-2.

   Deiton Baughman, United States, and Mackenzie McDonald, Piedmont, def. Dean O'Brien and Ruan Roelofse (2), South Africa, 4-6, 6-3 [10-4]. 

Thursday's schedule

Center Court

(Starting at 11 a.m.)

   Ryan Harrison, United States, vs. Marek Michalicka, Czech Republic.

   Bjorn Fratangelo (6), United States, vs. Alex Kuznetsov, United States. 

(Not before 3 p.m.)

   Tim Smyczek (3), United States, vs. Dennis Nevolo, United States. 

(Not before 4:30 p.m.)

   Johan Brunstom, Sweden, and Frederik Nielsen (1), Denmark, vs. Adrien Bossel, Switzerland, and Quentin Halys, France, or Brydan Klein, Great Britain, and Jose Statham, New Zealand.

Court 1

(Starting at 11 a.m.)

   Sekou Bangoura, United States, vs. Mackenzie McDonald, Piedmont.

(Not before noon)

   Dennis Novikov, Milpitas, and Julio Peralta, Chile, vs. Chase Buchanan, United States, and Blaz Rola, Slovenia.

   Philip Bester and Peter Polansky, Canada, vs. Mitchell Krueger and Connor Smith, United States.
   Carsten Ball and Matt Reid (4), Australia, vs. Sekou Bangoura, United States, and Marek Michalicka, Czech Republic.

Court 4

(Starting at 11 a.m.)

   Adrien Bossel, Switzerland, and Quentin Halys, France, vs. Brydan Klein, Great Britain, and Jose Statham, New Zealand.

(Not before noon)

   Dustin Brown, Germany, and Denis Kudla, United States, vs. Andre Goransson, Cal/Sweden, and Florian Lakat, Cal/France. 

(Not before 3:30 p.m.)

   Dennis Novikov, Milpitas, and Julio Peralta, Chile, or Chase Buchanan, United States, and Blaz Rola, Slovenia, vs. Dustin Brown, Germany, and Denis Kudla, United States, or Andre Goransson, Cal/Sweden, and Florian Lakat, Cal/France.