Stephens, Tiafoe stage big upsets as Wimbledon begins

Sloane Stephens, a Fresno, Calif., product, ousted two-time Wimbledon champion
Petra Kvitova today. 2018 photo by Mal Taam

   Two players with Northern California ties, one woman and one man, scored major upsets on the first day of Wimbledon.

   In a matchup of Grand Slam singles champions, Fresno, Calif., product Sloane Stephens ousted No. 10 seed Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-4 today. Also, Frances Tiafoe, who won the 2016 Stockton, Calif., Challenger at 18, dispatched No. 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, the French Open runner-up two weeks ago, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.

   Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion now based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., had not played on grass in two years. She withdrew from Bad Homburg, Germany, last week because of a foot injury.

   Since Kvitova won her second Wimbledon title in 2014, the Czech has not advanced past the fourth round at the All England Club in five attempts.

   Stephens, a Wimbledon quarterfinalist in 2013, has tumbled from a career-high No. 3 in 2018 to No. 73. She is set to play lucky loser Kristie Ahn, a 29-year-old Stanford graduate from Englewood Cliffs, N.J., on Wednesday.

   Ahn, who has dropped from a career-high No. 87 in 2019 to No. 117, rallied from a break down twice in the third set and saved a match point in a 2-6, 7-6 (3), 8-6 victory over Heather Watson of Great Britain.

   Ahn, who advanced to the fourth round of the 2019 U.S. Open, prevailed in 3 hours, 3 minutes for her first Wimbledon main-draw victory. She and Stephens will meet for the first time at the tour level and the first time overall since 2009. Ahn has not lost a set in two minor-league matches against Stephens.

   Watson won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title in 2016 with Henri Kontinen of Finland and the doubles crown of the 2012 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford with Marina Erakovic of New Zealand.

   Tiafoe, ranked No. 57, earned his first victory over a top-five player in 12 attempts. Tsitsipas had not played on grass since losing to Thomas Fabbiano of Italy in the first round at Wimbledon two years ago.

   Two qualifiers who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area fell in the opening round.

   Mackenzie McDonald, who reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2018, lost to No. 25 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (3). 

   Katie Volynets, making her Wimbledon main-draw at 19, bowed out against Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania 6-4, 7-5.

Kvitova pulls out after freak mishap; Stephens advances

Petra Kvitova wrote that she fell during her
post-match news conference on Sunday and
hurt her ankle. File photo by Paul Bauman

   Apparently, post-match news conferences are dangerous not only mentally but physically.

   No. 11 seed Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion, withdrew from the French Open today because of an ankle injury suffered not on the court but, she said, during her media session after her first-round victory over Greet Minnen on Sunday.

   "During my post-match press requirements on Sunday I fell and hurt my ankle," Kvitova wrote in a statement posted on social media.

    No. 2 seed Naomi Osaka pulled out of the tournament on Monday amid controversy following her announcement last week that she would skip her mandatory post-match news conferences because of mental health issues. The four-time Grand Slam singles champion wrote on social media that she experiences "huge waves of anxiety" before meeting with the media and revealed that she has "suffered long bouts of depression" since the turbulent 2018 U.S. Open final.

   Meanwhile, Sloane Stephens, a 28-year-old Fresno, Calif., product who reached the 2018 French Open final who grew up in Fresno, Calif., defeated Carla Suarez Navarro, a 32-year-old Spaniard making her comeback from Hodgkin's lymphoma, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 in a first-round matchup of former top-10 players.

   Suarez Navarro, who won the doubles title in the 2014 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford with compatriot Garbiñe Muguruza, served for the match at 5-4 in the second set.

   Stephens is scheduled to face No. 9 seed Karolina Pliskova, who advanced to the French Open semifinals and climbed to No. 1 in 2017, on Thursday. Pliskova, the Bank of the West runner-up in 2015, eliminated Croatia's Donna Vekic, a semifinalist in San Jose, Calif., in 2019, 7-5, 6-4. 

   Stephens is 3-1 against Pliskova, but the Czech won their only clay-court encounter 6-2, 6-3 in the third round at altitude in Madrid in May 2018. The pair are set to meet for the first time since October 2018.

   In a first-round men's match, No. 24 seed Aslan Karatsev of Russia dispatched Jenson Brooksby, a 20-year-old qualifier from Carmichael, Calif., in the Sacramento area, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.    

   In the Australian Open in February, the 114th-ranked Karatsev became the first player in the Open Era to reach the semifinals in his Grand Slam main-draw debut, the first qualifier to advance to a major semifinal since Vladimir Voltchkov at Wimbledon in 2000 and the lowest-ranked Grand Slam semifinalist since No. 125 Goran Ivanisevic at Wimbledon in 2001.

   Brooksby, who was making his French Open main-draw debut, will improve 11 places in the world rankings to No. 152 only five months after turning pro. He was ranked No. 310 at the beginning of the year.

   Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff, the runner-up in Munich on clay five weeks ago, took out No. 7 seed Andrey Rublev 6-3, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, breaking the 23-year-old Russian's streak of three consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinals.

Swiatek, Kenin to meet in unlikely French Open final

Sofia Kenin, playing in the 2018 Berkeley (Calif.)
Challenger, reached her second Grand Slam final
of the year. She won the Australian Open as the
14th seed. Photo by Paul Bauman

   When the French Open began, there was little reason to think that Iga Swiatek or Sofia Kenin would reach the final.

   The 19-year-old Swiatek was unseeded at No. 54 in the world, and Kenin had never reached the quarterfinals in a clay-court tournament. Both lost their first match in their only tuneup tournament, the Italian Open, Swiatek to qualifier Arantxa Rus and Kenin 6-0, 6-0 to Victoria Azarenka. 

   But Swiatek (pronounced Shvee-ON-tek) and the fourth-seeded Kenin, 21, will meet for the first time as professionals on Saturday at 6 a.m. PDT (NBC). 

   Poland's Swiatek continued to roll through the draw, routing Nadia Podoroska of Argentina 6-2, 6-1 in 70 minutes. Podoroska, 23, was bidding to become the first qualifier to reach a major final.

   "I'm kind of surprised," Swiatek admitted on wtatennis.com. "I never thought before the tournament I would play so well. But I always knew that if I was going to make a final of a Grand Slam, it would be the French Open."

   Swiatek has not lost more than five games in a set in the tournament, surrendering an average of only 3.8 games in her six matches. That includes a 6-1, 6-2 thrashing of top-seeded Simona Halep, the 2018 champion, in the fourth round.

   Kenin, a Moscow-born American, topped seventh-seeded Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion and a French Open semifinalist eight years ago, 6-4, 7-5 to reach her second Grand Slam final of the year.

   Kenin, who won the Australian Open as the 14th seed, narrowly avoided her fifth three-set match of the tournament. She prevailed with her steady groundstrokes, devastating drop shot and mental toughness, converting four of five break points and saving 10 of 12 against her. 

   "I'm just really fierce," Kenin, who had been 0-2 against Kvitova, explained on Tennis Channel. "I'm just fighting for every point. They're not going to give it to me; I really have to go after it and fight for it. I feel like in the past I've always expected them to make a mistake. Now I've got a mindset that I've got to take it, take the chance, take a risk."

   Kvitova, a 30-year-old left-hander, was seeking her second Grand Slam final since suffering career-threatening cuts to her left hand in a December 2016 knife attack at her home in the Czech Republic and sitting out for more than four months. She lost to Naomi Osaka in the 2019 Australian Open title match.

   Swiatek, who will jump to a career high of at least No. 24 after the French Open, hasn't exactly come out of nowhere. After winning the 2018 Wimbledon girls singles title, she reached the fourth round of last year's French Open and this year's Australian Open and the third round of the recent U.S. Open.

   Swiatek defeated Kenin 6-4, 7-5 in the third round of the French Open girls event in 2016. Kenin proceeded to win Northern California Challengers in Sacramento that year at 17, Stockton in 2017 and Berkeley in 2018. 

   In the men's doubles semifinals, seventh-seeded Mate Pavic of Croatia and Bruno Soares of Brazil beat top-seeded Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah of Colombia 7-6 (4), 7-5.

   Farah won the 2008 NCAA doubles title with USC teammate Kaes Van't Hof and reached the singles final of the 2012 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger, losing to ex-Trojans teammate Steve Johnson.

   Pavic and Soares, seeking their second consecutive Grand Slam title, will meet eighth-seeded Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies of Germany on Saturday. Krawietz and Mies, the defending champions, outplayed ninth-seeded Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands and Nikola Mektic of Croatia 6-3, 7-5. 

   Pavic and Soares defeated Koolhof and Mektic in the U.S. Open final last month.

   In today's boys doubles quarterfinals, eighth-seeded Bruno Oliveira and Natan Rodrigues of Brazil beat unseeded Arthur Fery, a Stanford freshman, and Felix Gill of Great Britain 6-4, 3-6 [10-3].

Kenin, Tsitsipas avenge losses to reach semis in Paris

Sofia Kenin, playing in the 2018 Berkeley (Calif.) Challenger, beat
fellow American Danielle Collins 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 today in the French
Open. Kenin had been 0-3 against Collins. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Sofia Kenin and Stefanos Tsitsipas gained revenge today to reach the French Open semifinals.

   The fourth-seeded Kenin beat unseeded Danielle Collins 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 in an all-American matchup in Paris. Collins, an Australian Open semifinalist last year, suffered from an apparent stomach ailment in the third set.

   Kenin, who won her first Grand Slam title in this year's Australian Open, had never won a set against Collins in three career meetings. 

   The fifth-seeded Tsitsipas, from Greece, outclassed 13th-seeded Andrey Rublev of Russia 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 in a clash of 22-year-old rising stars. Rublev defeated Tsitsipas 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 10 days ago in the Hamburg final.

   Both Kenin, 21, and Collins, 26, have excelled in Northern California. Kenin won Challengers in Sacramento in 2016 at 17, Stockton in 2017 and Berkeley in 2018. Collins reached the final of the inaugural (2018) Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif., on the WTA Tour.

   Rublev also is no stranger to NorCal. He lost to former world No. 2 Tommy Haas in the first round of the 2015 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger at 17.

   Kenin will face seventh-seeded Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic on Thursday after the 6 a.m. (PDT) semifinal between unseeded Iga Swiatek, 19, of Poland and qualifier Nadia Podoroska of Argentina (Tennis Channel).

   Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion and a French Open semifinalist in 2012, dismissed unseeded Laura Siegemund, who won the U.S. Open doubles crown with Vera Zvonareva last month, 6-3, 6-3. 

   Kvitova, a 30-year-old left-hander, is 2-0 (1-0 on clay) against Kenin. Kvitova suffered career-threatening cuts to her left hand in a December 2016 attack at her home in the Czech Republic and missed more than four months.

   Tsitsipas, a semifinalist in last year's Australian Open, will take on top-ranked Novak Djokovic, who won the 2016 French Open to complete a career Grand Slam, on Friday. 

   Djokovic defeated 17th-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 in a rematch of their infamous fourth-round encounter in the U.S. Open last month. Djokovic was defaulted after losing his serve to trail 5-6 in the first set and accidentally hitting a line judge in the throat with a ball in anger. It's the 33-year-old Serb's only loss in 37 matches this year.

   Djokovic, who's right-handed with a two-handed backhand, played today with tape on his neck to address a nagging problem and took a medical timeout for a left-arm issue after losing the first set.

   "I definitely didn't feel great coming onto the court today," Djokovic said on atptour.com. "I don't want to take away anything from his good performance. Especially for a set and a half, he was the better player, dictating play. I was very neutral.

   "I didn't have much energy really ... in my legs or movement or game itself. It took me about a set and a half to really get comfortable and start really playing the way I should."

   Countered Carreno Busta: "Every time the (match) gets complicated, he asks for medical assistance. He has been doing this for a long time. I knew what would happen at the U.S. Open, what would happen here and what will continue to happen."

   Djokovic is 3-2 (1-0 on clay) against Tsitsipas with straight-set victories in their last two meetings, both on hardcourts.

   In the women's doubles quarterfinals, 14th-seeded Alexa Guarachi of Chile and Desirae Krawczyk of the United States eliminated seventh-seeded Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan 6-0, 6-4.

   Each player except Aoyama was born in the U.S. and played in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. Shibahara, 22, was born in Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area and starred at UCLA. 

   Guarachi and Krawczyk — former standouts at Alabama and Arizona State, respectively — were coming off a straight-set victory over top-seeded Hsieh Su-Wei of Chinese Taipei and Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic.

   Krawczyk won the doubles title in the 2017 Sacramento (Calif.) Challenger with Giuliana Olmos, a product of Fremont in the Bay Area who plays for Mexico.

   In the third round of boys singles, seventh-seeded Dominic Stephan Stricker of Switzerland beat ninth-seeded Arthur Fery, a Stanford freshman from Great Britain, 6-4, 6-3.

   Fery and compatriot Felix Gill outplayed Dev Javia of India and Li Hanwen of China 7-5, 6-2 in the second round of doubles.

Osaka wins second straight Slam, will climb to No. 1

Naomi Osaka, shown at Stanford in 2014, beat Petra Kvitova
7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-4 today to win the Australian Open. Photo by
Paul Bauman

   Players typically suffer a letdown after winning their first Grand Slam title.
   It's only natural to relax after achieving a lifelong goal, plus it takes time to adjust to the demands of fame. The slump can last months or years.
   Then there's Naomi Osaka.
   The 21-year-old Japanese phenom won her second consecutive Grand Slam title today, topping Petra Kvitova 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-4 in the Australian Open in Melbourne.
   Osaka, seeded fourth, failed to convert three championship points with Kvitova, seeded eighth, serving at 5-3 in the second set of their first career meeting. But Osaka recovered to break serve for 2-1 in the third set and held on to triumph after 2 hours, 27 minutes.
   "Sorry, public speaking isn't my strong point, so I hope I can get through this," Osaka, seeded fourth, told the crowd after receiving the trophy. "I wouldn't have wanted this to be out first match, but huge congratulations to you (Kvitova) and your team. You are amazing, and I am honored to have played you in a Grand Slam final."
   Osaka, coached by Sascha Bajin, became the first woman since Jennifer Capriati in 2001 to win her first two Grand Slam finals and the first to win two consecutive majors since Serena Williams in 2014-15.
   On Monday, Osaka will become the first Japanese player, man or woman, to climb to No. 1 and the youngest woman to do so since Caroline Wozniacki at 20 in 2010.
   Born in Japan to a Haitian father and Japanese mother, Osaka has lived in the United States since she was 3. Her 22-year-old sister, Mari, is ranked No. 324. They learned tennis from their father, Leonard Francois, who was inspired after watching the Williams sisters play in the 1999 French Open.
   Osaka made her WTA main-draw debut in the 2014 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford. As a 16-year-old qualifier in the tournament, 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.
   Kvitova, a 28-year-old left-hander, played in her first Grand Slam final since winning Wimbledon in 2014 for her second title there. She suffered career-threatening cuts to her left hand in a December 2016 knife attack at her home in the Czech Republic and missed more than four months.
   "It's crazy," said Kvitova, who will match her career high of No. 2 and would have become the oldest first-time world No. 1 with a victory. "I can't believe I have just played in the final of a Grand Slam again. It was a great final. Well done, Naomi — to her team as well. You really played well. Congratulations for being world No. 1 as well."

   Kvitova reached the quarterfinals of the 2017 Bank of the West Classic in her only Northern California appearance. The tournament moved to San Jose last year as the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic.
   In today's mixed doubles final, third-seeded Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Rajeev Ram of Carmel, Ind., beat Australian wild cards Astra Sharma and John-Patrick Smith 7-6 (3), 6-1.
   Top-ranked Novak Djokovic will face second-seeded Rafael Nadal for the men's singles title on Sunday at 12:30 a.m. California time (ESPN) in rematch of their epic 2012 Australian Open final, which Djokovic won 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5. At 5 hours, 53 minutes, it remains the longest Grand Slam title match in history.
   Djokovic is 27-25 overall and 3-4 in major finals against Nadal, The 2012 marathon is their only meeting in an Australian Open final.
   Nadal has won 17 Grand Slam singles titles, second behind Roger Federer's 20. Djokovic has captured 14, including the last two, to tie his idol, Pete Sampras, for third place.
   Six of Djokovic's crowns have come in the Australian Open, a record he shares with Roger Federer and Roy Emerson. Nadal is 1-3 in Australian Open finals, having won in 2009 and lost in 2012, 2014 and 2017.  

Kvitova, Osaka advance to Aussie final; so does Nadal

Petra Kvitova reached her first Grand Slam
final since 2014. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Petra Kvitova, who was severely injured in a 2016 knife attack, today reached her first Grand Slam final since 2014.
   Seeded eighth, Kvitova outslugged unseeded Danielle Collins of St. Petersburg, Fla., 7-6 (2), 6-0 and became the first Czech woman to advance to the Australian Open final since Jana Novotna lost to Monica Seles in 1991.
   The roof on Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne was closed at 4-4 in the first set because of 104-degree (40.0 Celsius) heat.
   Kvitova, who captured the Sydney title two weeks ago, extended her winning streak to 11 matches. She has not lost a set in six Australian Open matches.
   Collins crushed second-seeded Angelique Kerber, who won the first of her three Grand Slam singles titles in the 2016 Australian Open, 6-0, 6-2 in the fourth round.
   Kvitova, the 2011 and 2014 Wimbledon champion, suffered career-threatening cuts to her left (playing) hand in the December 2016 attack at her home in the Czech Republic.
   In her only Northern California appearance, Kvitova reached the quarterfinals of the 2017 and last Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
   Collins, a two-time NCAA singles champion from the University of Virginia, advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2017 Sacramento Challenger and the semifinals of last year's inaugural Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose.

Naomi Osaka will try to win her second consecutive
major title. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Fourth-seeded Naomi Osaka of Japan prevented an all-Czech final, beating seventh-seeded Karolina Pliskova 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.
   Pliskova ousted Serena Williams in the quarterfinals, overcoming a 5-1 deficit in the third set and saving four match points. Williams rolled her left ankle on the first match point.
   Osaka, 21, will seek her second consecutive Grand Slam singles title when she meets Kvitova for the first time on Saturday at 12:30 a.m. California time (ESPN).
   Osaka's first big win came in the 2014 Bank of the West Classic. As a 16-year-old qualifier playing her first main-draw match on the WTA tour, Osaka saved a match point and ousted 2011 U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur. Pliskova reached the Stanford final the following year, losing to Kerber.
   Second-seeded Rafael Nadal, the 2009 Australian Open champion and a three-time runner-up in Melbourne, outclassed 14th-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas, a 20-year-old Greek, 6-2, 6-4, 6-0 in a men's semifinal.
   "It felt like a different dimension of tennis completely," Tsitsipas told reporters. "He gives you no rhythm. He plays just a different game style than the rest of the players. He has this, I don't know, talent that no other player has. I've never seen a player have this. He makes you play bad."
   Nadal will face either top-ranked Novak Djokovic, a six-time Australian Open champion, or 28th-seeded Lucas Pouille of France for the title on Sunday at 12:30 a.m. (ESPN).
   In the men's doubles semifinals, fifth-seeded Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut of France outclassed unseeded Ryan Harrison of Austin, Texas, and Sam Querrey, a 31-year-old San Francisco native, 6-4, 6-2.
   Herbert and Mahut, who are trying to complete a career Grand Slam in men's doubles, will meet 12th seeds and 2017 champions Henri Kontinen of Finland and John Peers of Australia for the title.

Tsitsipas becomes first Greek to reach major semifinal

   It's hard to say what's most impressive about Stefanos Tsitsipas.
   His powerful serve? His flowing one-handed backhand? His poise? His soulfulness?
   The 20-year-old phenom avoided a letdown after ousting Roger Federer, beating 22nd-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2) today to reach the Australian Open semifinals in Melbourne.
   "I'm just living the dream, living what I've been working hard for," Tsitsipas, seeded 14th, said in an on-court interview. "I feel a bit emotional but not too much because I really worked hard to get here, the semis of a Grand Slam."
   Tsitsipas blasted 22 aces and won 84 percent of the points on his first serve (62 of 74). He became the first Greek and youngest man since Novak Djokovic in the 2007 U.S. Open to reach a Grand Slam semifinal.
   Tsitsipas will face second-seeded Rafael Nadal, who dismantled unseeded Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. Tiafoe, who turned 21 on Sunday, won the $100,000 Stockton Challenger in 2016 at age 18.
   Danielle Collins also backed up a big upset to reach her first major semifinal. In a matchup of unseeded players, the 25-year-old American defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 2-6, 7-5, 6-1.
   Collins was coming off a 6-0, 6-2 victory over second-seeded Angelique Kerber, who won the first of her three Grand Slam singles titles in the 2016 Australian Open.
   Pavlyuchenkova played for the Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis in 2006 at age 15.
   Collins will play eighth-seeded Petra Kvitova, who eliminated 15th-seeded Ashleigh Barty of Australia 6-1, 6-4 to reach her first major semifinal since winning her second Wimbledon title in 2014. Kvitova suffered career-threatening cuts to her left (playing) hand in a knife attack at her home in the Czech Republic in December 2016.
   Kvitova's victory ensures that Simona Halep will be deposed as the world No. 1, wtatennis.com reported. Either Kvitova, Naomi Osaka, Elina Svitolina or Karolina Pliskova will replace Halep. Only Pliskova has been ranked No. 1.
   In the women's doubles quarters, second seeds and defending champions Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic of France beat ninth-seeded Raquel Atawo (Cal, 2001-04) of Sacramento and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia 6-4, 7-5.

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.

Roundup: Fed Cup, $80K Las Vegas, ITA Fall Nationals

Petra Kvitova will miss the opening day of the
Fed Cup with a fever. File photo by Paul Bauman

   The Czech Republic, which already had lost No. 8 Karolina Pliskova, also will be without No. 7 Petra Kvitova on Saturday in the Fed Cup final against the defending champion United States in Prague.
   Two days after Pliskova withdrew with calf and wrist injuries, the Czechs announced that Kvitova will miss at least the first day with a fever.
   Kvitova, 28, hopes to play in Sunday's reverse singles. The left-hander won Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014 before suffering severe injuries to her left hand in a December 2016 knife attack and undergoing surgery.
   The Czechs remain heavy favorites against the United States, which is missing four of its top five singles players. Absent are No. 6 Sloane Stephens, No. 16 Serena Williams, No. 17 Madison Keys and No. 40 Venus Williams.
   No. 33 Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic will face No. 52 Sofia Kenin in the opening rubber, followed by No. 31 Katerina Siniakova against No. 63 Alison Riske, a member of last year's team that beat host Belarus in the Fed Cup final.
   The top-ranked player on the U.S. team, No. 36 Danielle Collins, apparently will sit out Saturday. Three of the United States' four players -- Kenin, Collins and doubles No. 15 Nicole Melichar, a Czech native -- have never competed in the Fed Cup.
   Pliskova reached the final of the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, losing to Angelique Kerber, and Siniakova was the doubles runner-up at Stanford in 2014 at age 18 with Paula Kania of Poland. The tournament moved to San Jose under a new sponsor this year.
   Collins advanced to the semifinals of the inaugural Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose in August.
   Kenin, who will turn 20 on Wednesday, has won a Northern California Challenger in each of the past three years, including the $60,000 Berkeley Tennis Club Challenge in July.
   Riske reached the 2016 semifinals and 2015 quarterfinals at Stanford.
   The United States leads all nations with 18 Fed Cup titles. The Czech Republic is next with 10, including five in the last seven years.
   Tennis Channel will televise the best-of-five-match series on an indoor hardcourt beginning at 5 a.m. PST on Saturday.
   USTA Pro Circuit -- Nicole Gibbs and Giuliana Olmos, 25-year-old former Pacific-12 Conference stars with strong Northern California ties, are scheduled to meet for the first time in the semifinals of the $80,000 Red Rock Pro Open in Las Vegas.
   The eighth-seeded Gibbs, who won three NCAA titles (two in singles and one in doubles) at Stanford, beat fellow Los Angeles-area resident Danielle Lao 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-3.
   Olmos, a qualifier and former USC All-American, was born in Austria, grew up in Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area and plays for Mexico. She eliminated third-seeded Fanni Stollar of Hungary 6-4, 6-2 to reach her first semifinal in a tournament larger than $15,000.
   In the other semifinal, top seed and former world No. 7 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland will meet sixth-seeded Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic.
   Second-seeded Asia Muhammad of Las Vegas and Maria Sanchez, a Modesto product, will play unseeded Americans Sophie Chang and Alexandra Mueller in Sunday's doubles final.
   College -- Jacob Brumm and Yuta Kikuchi of Cal defeated Brian Berdusco and Johannes Ingildsen of Florida 7-5, 6-4 in a matchup of unseeded teams in the quarterfinals of the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships in Surprise, Ariz.
   In the women's doubles quarterfinals, second-seeded Makenna Jones and Cameron Morra of North Carolina beat Cal's Anna Bright and Jasie Dunk 6-1, 6-4.

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.

Kvitova, Sharapova fall in first round at Wimbledon

PETRA KVITOVA
2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   Petra Kvitova and Maria Sharapova, who have combined for three Wimbledon singles titles, lost on Tuesday in the first round at the All England Club.
   The eighth-seeded Kvitova, who won the 2011 and 2014 crowns, fell to Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.
   Kvitova, who needed extensive surgery on her left (playing) hand after a December 2016 knife attack, has not reached a Grand Slam semifinal in four years or advanced to the second week of a major this year.
   "I probably wanted it too much again," Kvitova, who was crushed by local favorite CiCi Bellis 6-2, 6-0 in the Stanford quarterfinals last August, admitted to reporters. "I just made a joke that probably I'm going to skip the Grand Slams for the next years. I will see how everything is going."
   The 24th-seeded Sharapova, who won Wimbledon at age 17 in 2004, succumbed to qualifier and fellow Russian Vitalia Diatchenko 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-4 in 3 hours, 8 minutes. Sharapova, playing at Wimbledon for the first time since 2015, twice led by a service break in the third set.
   "She swung away," said Sharapova, who's scheduled to play in the inaugural Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic, July 30-Aug. 5 at San Jose State. "She played extremely aggressive. I was playing a little bit too defensively. She was there to win it, and she did."
   No. 1 seed Simona Halep, coming off her first Grand Slam title in the French Open, and No. 3 Garbine Muguruza, the defending champion, won in straight sets.

MARIA SHARAPOVA
2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   Also advancing were U.S. teenagers Sofia Kenin (19) and Claire Liu (18), both of whom are entered in the $60,000 Berkeley Tennis Club Challenge on July 17-22.
   The 76th-ranked Kenin tentatively will be seeded first in Berkeley. She won Northern California Challengers in Sacramento in 2016 and Stockton last July.
   Liu, who last year became the first Wimbledon girls champion from the United States since Chanda Rubin in 1992, topped Croatia's Ana Konjuh, a quarterfinalist in the 2016 U.S. Open at age 18, 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-3.
   The men's field also featured two big upsets on Tuesday.
   No. 7 seed Dominic Thiem, who reached his first Grand Slam final in the recent French Open, retired due to back pain with 33-year-old Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus leading 6-4, 7-5, 2-0. Baghdatis advanced to the final in the 2006 Australian Open, losing to Roger Federer, and won the  $100,000 Comerica Bank Challenger in Aptos, Calif., in 2014.
   No. 10 seed David Goffin fell to Australia's Matthew Ebden, the runner-up in the 2013 Napa Challenger, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
   No. 2 Rafael Nadal, No. 4 Alexander Zverev, No. 5 Juan Martin Del Potro and No. 12 Novak Djokovic coasted to straight-set victories.
   Qualifier Bradley Klahn (Stanford, 2009-12), continuing his comeback from a second back operation, defeated Yuichi Sugita of Japan 2-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-2.
   Klahn, a 27-year-old left-hander from Poway in the San Diego area, is scheduled to face No. 21 seed Kyle Edmund, 23, of Great Britain on Thursday. They have split two matches, both on hard courts in 2014 Challengers.

Anisimova, 16, shocks Kvitova at Indian Wells

Amanda Anisimova, playing in the Sacramento Challenger
last July, became the first 16-year-old to reach the fourth
round at Indian Wells since Viktoriya Kutuzova of Ukraine
in 2005. Photo by Rob Vomund

   Wild card Amanada Anisimova, who won the $60,000 Sacramento Challenger at 15 last July, ousted ninth-seeded Petra Kvitova 6-2, 6-4 today in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.
   Anisimova, from Aventura, Fla., became the first 16-year-old to reach the fourth round at Indian Wells since wild card Viktoriya Kutuzova of Ukraine in 2005.
   Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion, had her winning streak ended at 14 matches. After receiving a first-round bye, the 28-year-old Czech left-hander outlasted Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-4 in 3 hours, 17 minutes, the longest match on the WTA tour this year.
   Anisimova became the third young American woman to pull off a big upset at Indian Wells this year. In the second round, 22-year-old qualifier Sachia Vickery knocked off third-seeded Garbine Muguruza, a two-time Grand Slam champion, and 24-year-old wild card Danielle Collins eliminated 15th-seeded Madison Keys, last year's U.S. Open runner-up to Sloane Stephens and Bank of the West Classic champion at Stanford.
   Caroline Dolehide, 19, almost joined the list, falling to top seed and 2015 BNP champion Simona Halep 1-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2.
   Stephens, a Fresno product seeded 13th, beat wild card Victoria Azarenka, the 2012 and 2016 BNP champion, 6-1, 7-5 in a second-round match that had been postponed by rain. Azarenka, who remains alive in doubles, had not played a tournament since Wimbledon last July because of a custody battle over her 1-year-old son, Leo.
   On the men's side, qualifier Taro Daniel of Japan ousted 10th seed and five-time champion Novak Djokovic 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-1 in the second round. Djokovic had minor surgery on his right elbow after losing to 21-year-old Hyeon Chung of South Korea in the fourth round of the Australian Open in January.
   No. 18 seed Sam Querrey, a 30-year-old San Francisco native, topped Mischa Zverev of Germany 6-4, 7-5. After two rounds, Querrey, No. 8 Jack Sock and 20-year-old Taylor Fritz are the only remaining Americans in men's singles.
   Anisimova, who won the U.S. Open girls singles title last September, is scheduled to play fifth-seeded Karolina Pliskova on Tuesday for a quarterfinal berth.
   Anisimova was born in Freehold Township, N.J., to Russians Konstantin Anisimov and Olga Anisimova. Amanda speaks Russian at home but as of last fall had never been to her parents' homeland.

Bellis, 18, crushes Kvitova in Stanford quarters

CiCi Bellis exults after demolishing two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova
6-2, 6-0 tonight in the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
Photo by Mal Taam

   It was one thing for CiCi Bellis to beat Petra Kvitova tonight in the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
   But 6-2, 6-0 in 62 minutes?
   We're talking about a two-time Wimbledon champion, not some obscure qualifier.
   Yes, Kvitova returned to the tour in May after suffering career-threatening cuts to her left (playing) hand in a knife attack at her home in the Czech Republic in December.
   But it's not as if the 27-year-old left-hander has been playing badly (a second-round loss to No. 95 Madison Brengle at Wimbledon notwithstanding).
   Kvitova won Birmingham on grass in the second tournament of her comeback and dispatched Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-2, 6-2 in the second round at Stanford on Thursday.
   Tonight, the second-seeded Kvitova had only one ace, double-faulted six times and committed 26 unforced errors to Bellis' nine.
   "I think this is definitely one of the biggest wins of my career,” the 18-year-old Bellis, who grew up a five-minute drive from Stanford in Atherton, told reporters. “I’m just really happy with how I played, and really excited I was able to get through it.
   “I don’t think Kvitova played her best tennis, but on my side I feel like just played a real unbelieveable match.”
    Kvitova is ranked No. 14 after reaching a career-high No. 2 in 2011. At 6 feet (1.83 meters), she towers over the 5-foot-7 (1.70-meter) Bellis.
   Bellis, the youngest player in the top 50 at No. 44, beat a top-20 player for the fourth time. She stunned No. 13 Dominika Cibulkova in the first round of the 2014 U.S. Open at age 15, knocked off No. 6 Agnieszka Radwanska in the third round at Dubai in February and upended No. 18 Kiki Bertens in the second round of the French Open in May.
   Cibulkova and Radwanska have reached one Grand Slam final each, but this was Bellis' first victory over a major champion. That does not include her win over Jelena Ostapenko in the first round of last year's Bank of the West Classic. Ostapenko won the French Open two days after her 20th birthday in June.
   Bellis also advanced to the semifinals of a WTA Premier Level tournament for the first time. Seeded eighth, she will face No. 6 seed and 24th-ranked CoCo Vandeweghe, 6-foot-1 (1.85 meters) from Rancho Santa Fe in the San Diego area, for the first time on Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPN2).
   Vandeweghe, the runner-up to Serena Williams as a lucky loser five years ago at Stanford, downed No. 4 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 6-2, 6-3.
   Hey, if CiCi can beat Kiki, she might beat CoCo, the oldest Stanford semifinalist at 25.
   In the other semifinal, top seed and reigning Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza of Spain will play third-seeded Madison Keys of Boca Raton, Fla., at 7 p.m. (ESPN2). Keys, 22, is 2-0 against Muguruza, 23.
   Muguruza, ranked fourth, outclassed No. 5 seed Ana Konjuh, a 19-year-old Croatian ranked 20th, 6-1, 6-3. Muguruza has lost only six games in her two Stanford matches. The top four seeds received first-round byes.
   Keys, a right-hander who had left wrist surgery last November and returned to the tour in March, eliminated seventh-seeded Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-4, 6-3.
   Here are the Bank of the West singles and doubles draws and Saturday's schedule.
   Here are the qualifying draw in the men's $100,000 Nordic Naturals Challenger in Aptos, Calif., and Saturday's schedule. Aptos, situated on the Pacific Ocean, is a one-hour drive south of Stanford.

Bellis, 18, to face Kvitova in Stanford quarterfinals

   For the second consecutive year, CiCi Bellis will face a former Wimbledon champion in the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
   The eighth-seeded Bellis will take on second-seeded Petra Kvitova for the first time tonight at 7 (ESPN3) after losing to Venus Williams 6-4, 6-1 last year.
   Williams owns five Wimbledon crowns (2000, 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2008) and Kvitova two (2011 and 2014).
   Both Williams and Kvitova are 6-foot (1.82 meters) or taller, and both have had physical issues off the court.
   Williams was diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome, an energy-sapping autoimmune disease, in 2011. Kvitova suffered career-threatening cuts on her left (playing) hand while fending off a knife attack at her home in the Czech Republic in December. She returned to the circuit in May.
   Williams, a 37-year-old right-hander, lost to Johanna Konta in last year's final. Neither player returned this year.
   Kvitova, 27, debuted in the Bank of the West Classic with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine in the second round on Thursday. The top four seeds received first-round byes.
   The 18-year-old Bellis, who grew up a five-minute drive from Stanford in Atherton, defeated qualifier Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay 7-6 (3), 6-2.
   Bellis, the youngest player in the top 50 at No. 44, evened her record against the 5-foot-4 (1.63-meter) Cepede Royg at 1-1. Cepede Royg won 6-4, 6-0 in the first round of qualifying for the 2015 French Open.
   All eight singles seeds reached the Bank of the West quarterfinals, the first time that has happened in a WTA tournament since Philadelphia in 2004.
   In the other quarterfinal in the bottom half of the draw, fourth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia will meet sixth-seeded CoCo Vandeweghe of Rancho Santa Fe in the San Diego area at about 2 p.m.
   Vandeweghe, the runner-up to Serena Williams at Stanford five years ago as a lucky loser, overpowered former Stanford star Nicole Gibbs of Santa Monica in the Los Angeles region 6-0, 6-2.
   Pavlyuchenkova also debuted in the Bank of the West Classic. She downed American Alison Riske, a semifinalist last year and quarterfinalist two years ago at Stanford, 6-4, 6-0.
   In the top half of the draw, top seed and reigning Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza will play fifth-seeded Ana Konjuh, a 19-year-old Croatian ranked 20th, at noon.
   Third-seeded Madison Keys of Boca Raton, Fla, will face seventh-seeded Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine at about 4 p.m.
   Here are the Bank of the West singles and doubles draws and today's schedule.

Kvitova receives wild card for Stanford

   Call it the Comeback Open.
   Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova has received a wild card for the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, tournament officials announced Thursday.
   Kvitova, a 27-year-old left-hander from the Czech Republic, will join five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova and two-time major winner Victoria Azarenka in the tournament, Monday through Aug. 6 at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
   Sharapova (doping suspension) returned to the tour in April, Kvitova (knife attack) in May and Azarenka (childbirth) in June.
   Azarenka defeated Sharapova 6-4, 6-1 to win the 2010 Bank of the West Classic. Kvitova will play in the tournament for the first time.
   Sharapova and Azarenka are former world No. 1s. Kvitova has been as high as No. 2.
   On Wednesday, Bank of the West officials announced that Claire Liu, 17, of Thousand Oaks in the Los Angeles area received a wild card. Liu, the No. 1 junior in the world, won the Wimbledon girls title two weeks ago.

Qualifier Gibbs gains fourth round at Indian Wells

Ex-Stanford star Nicole Gibbs, beating No. 23 seed Madison Keys on Friday,
dispatched Yaroslava Shvedova 6-0, 6-4 on Sunday in the third round of the
BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. Photo by Mal Taam/www.malt.photo

   Working with a new coach has worked wonders for Nicole Gibbs.
   The 23-year-old qualifier and former Stanford star dispatched Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-0, 6-4 on Sunday in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.
   Gibbs improved to 17-4, including qualifying matches, this year. She has lost only 11 games in the tournament, winning two sets at love.
   In Gibbs' only previous appearance in the BNP Paribas Open, she lost in the first round last year as a wild card. Roger Smith has tutored Gibbs since the U.S. Open.
   "He's helping me to see the game differently," the 5-foot-6 (1.68 meters) Gibbs, who stunned No. 23 seed Madison Keys on Friday, said on bnpparibasopen.com. "I'm not crediting myself with that. He just knows the game so well. Sees it so well. Gives me unbelievable game plans. We have just been working really hard on making me more of an all-court player and a little bit less defensive."
   But Smith offers more than strategy.
   "We make a good team," added Gibbs, who will soar from No. 95 to a career high of at least No. 75 after Indian Wells. "He's a really supportive person, just really, really positive. He kind of complements my personality really well. We get along really well, which hasn't always been the case with my coaches in the past. I can be really stubborn. I can be a little difficult sometimes. He's been really great in that sense."
   Gibbs, who won three two NCAA singles titles and one in doubles in her three seasons at Stanford (2011-13), will play eighth-seeded Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic on Tuesday for a quarterfinal berth.
   Kvitova, a 6-foot (1.82-meter) left-hander and two-time Wimbledon singles champion, defeated Gibbs in straight sets in both of their previous meetings. Most recently, Kvitova won 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of last year's U.S. Open.
   "I do feel like I've gotten to see what her level is like," said Gibbs, who reached the third round of the 2014 U.S. Open. "Both matches have definitely been in her favor but competitive, so I'm just looking to hopefully get a read on her serving early in the match. Let's see if I can make it into a slightly better match this time around."
   On the men's side, No. 31 seed and San Francisco native Sam Querrey beat Thiemo De Bakker of the Netherlands 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the second round.
   Querrey has won one title (Delray Beach) and reached two semifinals in his last three tournaments. He'll take on seventh-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France on Tuesday.
   Tsonga is 3-1 against Querrey, including a 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-7 (4), 6-3, 14-12 victory in the second round at Wimbledon in 2014.
   In a matchup of Aptos (Calif.) Challenger champions, No. 30 seed Steve Johnson  (2012) of Redondo Beach in the Los Angeles area defeated John Millman (2015) of Australia 6-4, 6-2.
   Meanwhile, the top seeds in men's and women's doubles lost.
   Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands and Horia Tecau of Romania fell to Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski of Poland 7-6 (6), 3-6 [10-6] in the first round.
   Defending champions Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Sania Mirza of India exited against Vania King, a former Sacramento Capital in World TeamTennis from Long Beach, and Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia 7-6 (7), 6-4.
   Also losing were No. 2 men's seeds Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Marcelo Melo of Brazil to Juan Martin Del Potro and Leonardo Mayer, both of Argentina, 6-3, 6-2.

Former Sacramento doubles champ ousts Kvitova

Daria Gavrilova, left, and Storm Sanders pose with their trophies
after winning the doubles title in the 2014 Sacramento Challenger.
Photo by Rob Vomund

   In her first tournament back after reconstruct- ive ACL surgery, Daria Gavrilova won the doubles title in the 2014 Sacramento Challenger with fellow Australian Storm Sanders.
   Gavrilova hasn't slowed down since.
   The 21-year-old Moscow native upset sixth-seeded Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion, 6-4, 6-4 today in the second round of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
   It was Gavrilova's fourth victory over a top-10 player in the past 12 months. She knocked off Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic, both formerly ranked No. 1 in the world, and Lucie Safarova in 2015.
   Gavrilova, the 2010 U.S. Open girls champion, did not play singles in Sacramento in 2014. She was named the 2015 WTA Newcomer of the Year after skyrocketing from No. 233 to No. 36 in the year-end rankings.
   As if Kvitova hasn't had enough trouble in the Australian Open -- the 6-foot (1.82-meter) left-hander lost in the third round or earlier in Melbourne for the fourth straight time after making a semifinal run in 2012 -- she had played only one set this year entering the tournament because of a gastrointestinal illness.
   Meanwhile, Gavrilova teamed with Nick Kyrgios two weeks ago in Perth to give Australia its first Hopman Cup title since 1999.
   "Coming into this match, I was pretty confident that I could beat Petra," Gavrilova said on ausopen.com. "I knew that she didn't have enough matches before. She didn't even play anything before (the Australian) Open. So I thought it was a good chance tonight."
   Gavrilova, 5-foot-5 (1.68 meters), will play another 6-footer, 28th-seeded Kristina Mladenovic of France, in the third round.
   Mladenovic, who advanced with a 6-1, 7-6 (4) victory over ex-Stanford All-American Nicole Gibbs, reached the fourth round of the U.S. Open last September.

Mama mia -- two Italian women reach U.S. Open semis

Flavia Pennetta, shown in March, joined fellow
Italian Roberta Vinci in the U.S. Open semifinals.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Serena Williams is trying to make history in the U.S. Open.
   Italy already has.
   For the first time in the Open era, which began in 1968, two Italian women have reached the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament. 
   No. 26 seed Flavia Pennetta joined unseeded Roberta Vinci in the U.S. Open semis, outlasting No. 5 Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 4-6 6-4, 6-2 today in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion recovering from mononucleosis, wilted in the 88-degree heat and 61 percent humidity after leading 6-4, 3-1 in the 2-hour, 23-minute match.
   No. 2 seed Simona Halep is the only women's semifinalist under 30. The Romanian, who will turn 24 on Sept. 27, defeated No. 20 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in a match suspended by rain early in the third set. Halep played with her left thigh wrapped.
   In Thursday's semis, Halep will meet the 33-year-old Pennetta, and No. 1 Williams, who will turn 34 on Sept. 26, will play the 32-year-old Vinci.
   Pennetta is 3-1 against Halep, but Halep won the last meeting 6-3, 7-5 in the round of 16 at Miami in April. Williams, seeking the first calendar-year Grand Slam since Steffi Graf in 1988, has never lost a set in four matches against Vinci, who owns a career Grand Slam in doubles.
   On the men's side, No. 2 Roger Federer and No. 5 Stan Wawrinka advanced to an all-Swiss semifinal.
   Federer, a five-time U.S. Open champion (2004-08), dismantled No. 12 Richard Gasquet of France 6-3, 6-3, 6-1. Federer, 34, is the only men's semifinalist who has not lost a set in the tournament.
   Wawrinka beat No. 15 Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 to end a four-match losing streak to the South African. The 6-foot-8 (2.03-meter) Anderson was coming off a victory over No. 3 Andy Murray.
   Federer is 16-3 against Wawrinka. They have split their two matches this year, both on clay.
   The other men's semifinal was set on Tuesday. No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who won the 2011 U.S. Open, will face No. 9 Marin Cilic, the defending champion from Croatia. Djokovic, from Serbia, is 13-0 against Cilic.
   Northern California connection -- Americans Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native living in Las Vegas, defeated Leonardo Mayer of Argentina and Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-3, 6-4 in the men's doubles quarterfinals.
   Johnson and Querrey will meet eighth-seeded Jamie Murray, Andy's older brother, and John Peers in the semifinals. Murray and Peers, the runners-up at Wimbledon two months ago, advanced on Tuesday by edging fourth-seeded Marcin Matkowski of Poland and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
   Querrey and Bethanie Mattek-Sands of Phoenix reached the mixed doubles final, defeating Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-3. Querrey and Mattek-Sands will play fourth-seeded Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Leander Paes of India on Friday.
   Wild cards Vasil Kirkov of Tampa, Fla., and Sam Riffice of Roseville in the Sacramento area reached the boys doubles quarterfinals with a 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory over Tim Sandkaulen of Germany and Mate Valkusz of Hungary. Both Kirkov and Riffice are 16.

Wimbledon Day 6 recap: Jankovic stuns Kvitova

Jelena Jankovic rallied to beat defending champion
Petra Kvitova. 2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   Upset of the day -- No. 28 seed Jelena "Weird Al" Jankovic of Serbia rallied to beat No. 2 Petra "Fied Forest" Kvitova, the defending champion from the Czech Republic, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the third round. Kvitova, who also won the title in 2011, led 4-2 in the second set. She had lost only three games in her previous two matches after withdrawing from Eastbourne the week before Wimbledon with an undisclosed illness. The 30-year-old Jankovic, who reached No. 1 in the world in 2008, has never been past the fourth round at Wimbledon. She had won only one match at the All England Club in the last four years. See my story on this year's Indian Wells finals, in which Jankovic lost to Simona Halep.
   Match of the day -- Canada's Vasek "Anything Is" Pospisil, the reigning men's doubles champion with American Jack Sock, topped James "Montgomery" Ward of Great Britain 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 8-6.
   Notable -- "Cheech" Marin Cilic, the ninth seed and reigning U.S. Open champion, outlasted No. 17 John "Wayne" Isner 7-6 (4), 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-7 (4), 12-10 in the completion of a match suspended by darkness.
   Dustin "Hoffman" Brown, who upset "San" Rafael Nadal in the second round, lost to No. 22 Victor "Leon" Troicki 6-4, 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3. It's the fourth straight year in which a man ranked No. 100 or worse has beaten Nadal at Wimbledon and fallen in the next round. 
   No. 15 Timea "Ted" Bacsinszky, a French Open semifinalist last month, dismissed No. 18 Sabine Lisicki "Day," the Wimbledon runner-up two years ago, 6-3, 6-2. 
   Men's seeded winners -- No. 2 Roger Federer "Express," No. 3 Andy "Bill" Murray, No. 6 Tomas "Free As A" Berdych, No. 9 Cilic, No. 12 Gilles "Paul" Simon, No. 20 Roberto "Clemente" Bautista Agut, No. 22 Victory "Leon" Troicki, No. 23 Ivo "Longoria" Karlovic.
   Men's seeded losers -- No. 13 Jo-Wilfried "Sing A" Tsonga, No. 17 Isner, No. 18 Gael "Sayers" Monfils, No. 25 Andreas Seppi "Blatter."
   Women's seeded winners -- No. 5 "Sweet" Caroline Wozniacki, No. 13 Agnieszka "Moorehead" Radwanska, No. 15 Bacsinszky, No. 20 Garbine Muguruza "Bader Ginsburg," No. 21 Madison "Where The Hell Are My" Keys.
   Women's seeded losers -- No. 2 Kvitova, No. 10 Angelique "Jolie" Kerber, No. 18 Lisicki, No. 31 Camila Giorgi "Girl."
   Stars and stripes -- The United States has four women -- Serena "Vanessa" Williams, Venus "And Mars" Williams, Keys and CoCo "Chanel" Vandeweghe -- and one man -- wild card Denis "The Menace" Kudla -- in the round of 16. The Williams sisters will meet in a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since 2009 on Monday at 5 a.m. PDT (ESPN). Kudla figures to lose to Cilic.
   Fast facts -- Sam "Adams" Groth of Australia hammered a 147-mph (237-kph) serve, the second-fastest in Wimbledon history, in his 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2 loss to Federer. The 6-foot-4 (1.93-meter), 215-pound (97-kilogram) Groth holds the unofficial record for the world's fastest serve with a  163.4-mph (263-kph) rocket in a 2012 Challenger in Busan, South Korea.
   You might say the women's draw is a little top-heavy. Remaining players in the top half have combined for 34 Grand Slam singles titles (Serena Williams 20, Venus Williams seven, Maria "Shriver" Sharapova five and Victoria "Station" Azarenka two). Remaining players in the bottom half have won none. 
   Northern California connection -- Anabel Medina Garrigues and Jarmila Gajdosova, both of whom are scheduled to play for the Sacramento-based California Dream in World TeamTennis after Wimbledon, reached the third round of women's doubles with different partners. Medina Garrigues is seeded 16th with fellow Spaniard Arantxa Parra Santonja.
   Another member of the Dream, Aisam Qureshi of Pakistan, lost in men's doubles.
   In the second round of mixed doubles, top-seeded Mike Bryan and Bethanie Mattek-Sands won, but fourth-seeded Bob Bryan and Caroline Garcia fell to Nenad Zimonjic and Gajdosova 3-6, 6-3, 9-7. The 37-year-old Bryan twins are scheduled to play three of the Dream's 14 regular-season matches.
   Also in mixed doubles, 10th-seeded Raven Klaasen and Raquel Kops-Jones, a San Jose resident and former Cal standout, advanced by walkover.
   Michaela Gordon, 15, of Saratoga beat Rebeka Masarova of Russia 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-2 in the first round of junior girls singles. 
   Quote -- Jankovic: "I cannot stop smiling. ... I was very brave at the end. You know, here I am. Unbelievable."
   Monday's top matches (beginning at 5 a.m. PDT on ESPN) -- Centre Court: Serena Williams (1) vs. Venus Williams (16), Murray (3) vs. Karlovic (23), Federer (2) vs. Bautista Agut (20).
   Court 1: Sharapova (4) vs. Zarina "Williams" Diyas, Stan "The Man" Wawrinka (4) vs. David "Gerry" Goffin (16), Novak "It's No" Djokovic (1) vs. Kevin Anderson "Cooper" (14).

French Open Day 9: Defending champ Sharapova out

No. 2 seed and defending champion Maria Sharapova,
suffering from a cold, lost to No. 13 Lucie Safarova
in the fourth round. 2014 photo by Paul Bauman 

   Upset of the day -- Maria Sharapova's streak of three French Open finals ended as the No. 2 seed and defending champion fell to No. 13 Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 7-6 (3), 6-4 in the fourth round.
   Sharapova, who also won the title in 2012, coughed because of a cold throughout the tournament. Safarova, a 28-year-old left-hander, reached the Wimbledon semifinals last year. 
   Match of the day -- For the third match in a row, top-seeded Serena Williams won after dropping the first set. The 33-year-old star came within one game of losing in her 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over fellow American Sloane Stephens. After trailing 6-1, 5-4, Williams won nine of the last 12 games.
   Notable -- No. 23 seed Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland ousted No. 4 Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion from the Czech Republic, 2-6, 6-0, 6-3.
   Besides two-time French Open champ Williams, the only top-10 seed left in the women's draw is No. 7 Ana Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open winner and a former world No. 1. Williams and Ivanovic could meet in the final.
   No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic will face No. 6 Rafael Nadal on Wednesday in the quarterfinals. It will be a rematch of last year's final, won by Nadal in four sets. 
    Fourth-round men's results -- Djokovic def. No. 20 Richard Gasquet 6-1, 6-2, 6-3; No. 2 Roger Federer def. No. 13 Gael Monfils 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1; No. 3 Andy Murray def. Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2; Nadal def. Jack Sock 6-3, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2; No. 7 David Ferrer def. No. 9 Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-2, 6-4.
   Other fourth-round women's results -- No. 17 Sara Errani def. Julia Goerges 6-2, 6-2; No. 21 Garbine Muguruza def. No. 28 Flavia Pennetta 6-3, 6-4; Alison Van Uytvanck def. Andreea Mitu 6-1, 6-3.   
   Men's quarterfinal matchups -- No. 1 Djokovic vs. No. 6 Nadal, No. 3 Murray vs. No. 7 Ferrer, No. 5 Kei Nishikori vs. No. 14 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 2 Federer vs. No. 8 Stan Wawrinka.
   Women's quarterfinal matchups -- No. 1 Williams vs. No. 17 Errani, No. 23 Bacsinszky vs. Van Uytvanck, No. 7 Ivanovic vs. No. 19 Elina Svitolina, No. 13 Safarova vs. No. 21 Muguruza.
   Stars and stripes -- Williams is the only American left in singles, men's or women's.
   In the first round of junior girls singles, No. 4 CiCi Bellis triumphed, but No. 11 Sofia Kenin lost. On the boys side, No. 6 Michael Mmoh and No. 13 Tommy Paul advanced, but No. 9 William Blumberg fell.
   Northern California connection -- Bellis, 16, lives in Atherton.
   The fourth-seeded team of Michaela Gordon, 15, of Saratoga and Charlotte Robillard-Millette of Canada won in the opening round of junior girls doubles.
   Fast fact -- Williams is 10-0 in three-set matches this year.
   Quote -- Sharapova on her illness: "I don't like to talk about it, and I don't think it really makes a difference."
   Today on Court Philippe Chatrier (starting at 5 a.m. PDT, Tennis Channel 5-10 a.m., ESPN2 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.) -- No. 7 Ivanovic vs. No. 19 Svitolina, No. 5 Nishikori vs. No. 14 Tsonga.
   Today on Court Suzanne Lenglen (starting at 5 a.m. PDT, Tennis Channel 5-10 a.m., ESPN2 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.) -- No. 13 Safarova vs. No. 21 Muguruza, No. 2 Federer vs. No. 8 Wawrinka.