Date-Krumm, 44, rallies to shock Lisicki at Stanford

Kimiko Date-Krumm, 44, stunned Sabine Lisicki, the Wimbledon runner-up
two years ago, after trailing 6-1, 4-1 (two service breaks). Photo by Mal Taam

   STANFORD, Calif. -- The legend of Kimiko Date-Krumm continues to grow.
   The 44-year-old Japanese qualifier overcame a huge deficit to shock Sabine Lisicki, the 2013 Wimbledon runner-up from Germany, 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 late tonight in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
   Date-Krumm trailed the 25-year-old Lisicki 6-1, 4-1 (two service breaks) but fought back to serve for the match. Date-Krumm earned three match points at 40-0, but Lisicki saved the first two. On the third, a Date-Krumm forehand smacked the tape and plopped over the net for a winner.
   "In the beginning, it was not easy to adjust to her power," said the 5-foot-4 (1.63-meter), 117-pound (53-kilogram) Date-Krumm, who coincidentally is married to a German race car driver. "I just tried my best and focused on the ball."
   Lisicki, 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters), owns two women's serving records. She fired a 131-mph (210.8-kph) missile in a first-round loss to Ana Ivanovic in last year's Bank of the West Classic and blasted 27 aces in a match in Birmingham, England, seven weeks ago.
   Lisicki, ranked 24th, had been 3-0 against Date-Krumm. In their first meeting since 2011, Lisicki had eight aces and six double faults tonight to Date-Krumm's none and three, respectively.
   Date-Krumm reached the semifinals of the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon in the mid-1990s and climbed to a career-high No. 4 in the world 20 years ago. Burned out, she retired at 26 years old for 11 1/2 years. Here's my 2011 story on Date-Krumm.
   Injuries dropped Date-Krumm's ranking below 200 in June, relegating her to tennis' minor leagues. She advanced to the semifinals in Stockton and the quarterfinals in Sacramento last month, raising her ranking to No. 173 entering Stanford.
   Date-Krumm will play fourth-seeded Karolina Pliskova, a 6-foot-1 (1.86-meter) Czech who received a first-round bye, in the Bank of the West for the second straight year on Thursday. Pliskova won 6-1, 6-3 in the opening round in 2014 to even her career record against Date-Krumm at 1-1..
   Earlier tonight, Angelique Kerber faced a dangerous first-round match.

Fifth-seeded Angelique Kerber, last year's runner-up,
dismissed Daria Gavrilova 6-1, 6-3 in 65 minutes. The
match was expected to be closer. Photo by Mal Taam

   Yes, the 2014 Bank of the West runner-up was 2-0 against her opponent, Daria Gavrilova. But in their last meeting, Kerber prevailed in a tough three-setter in the second round at Sydney in January.
   Futhermore, this was Kerber's first match in one month. She lost to eventual finalist Garbine Muguruza in the third round at Wimbledon.
   Wary of the pitfalls, the fifth-seeded Kerber dismissed Gavrilova 6-1, 6-3 in 65 minutes.
   "I played against her twice before, and it was always tough, so I knew that I should play very well to beat her," said Kerber, who also beat Gavrilova 6-3, 7-5 in the second round at Brisbane the week before Sydney. "And it's always tough to play a match after such a long time. I'm actually very happy about my performance tonight."
   Kerber, a 27-year-old left-hander from Germany, seeks her fourth title of the year after winning Charleston on outdoor clay, Stuttgart on indoor clay and Birmingham on grass. Ranked as high as No. 5 in October 2012, she has fallen to No. 14.
   It didn't hurt Kerber's chances of winning Stanford when defending champion Serena Williams withdrew Friday with a right elbow injury.
   Gavrilova won the U.S. Open girls title in 2010 and attained a junior ranking of No. 1 in the world that year. She tore her right ACL in November 2013, underwent surgery and missed the first half of 2014. In her first tournament back, the 5-foot-5 (1.66-meter) Gavrilova won the doubles title in the Sacramento Challenger with Storm Sanders of Australia.

Daria Gavrilova, shown Tuesday night,  beat second-ranked
Maria Sharapova in Miami in March and reached the Rome
semifinals as a qualifier in May. Photo by Mal Taam

   Gavrilova, who beat second-ranked Maria Sharapova in Miami in March and reached the Rome semifinals as a qualifier in May, has climbed to No. 41.
   The 21-year-old Moscow native is awaiting Australian citizenship. Until then, she represents Russia in WTA tournaments and Australia in Grand Slam events.

   Kerber will meet 17-year-old Ana Konjuh of Croatia on Thursday in the second round. Konjuh, who beat Saisai Zheng of China 6-3, 6-4, became the WTA's youngest titlist in nine years when she won Nottingham on grass in June.
   During the day session, eighth-seeded Elina Svitolina, 20, defeated qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko, who will turn 29 on Saturday, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 in a 2-hour, 31-minute battle of Ukrainians. Svitolina, who reached the French Open quarterfinals in June, trailed 5-3 in the third set.

   Bondarenko took a year and a half off the tour, beginning in 2012, to give birth to daughter Karin and spend time with her new family. Karin and her father, Denis Volodko, were in the stands on Tuesday, according to tennisnow.com.

   Svitolina will face local favorite Nicole Gibbs, a 22-year-old qualifier, in Wednesday night's late match. Gibbs won the 2012 and 2013 NCAA singles titles before turning pro out of Stanford.

   Varvara Lepchenko, a Bank of the West semifinalist last year, edged Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4). Lepchenko, a 29-year-old native of Uzbekistan, became a U.S. citizen in 2011.

   CiCi Bellis, 16, of neighboring Atherton ended her first Bank of the West Classic with an opening-round doubles loss. Second-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja of Spain defeated wild cards Bellis and Jacqueline Cako, a 23-year-old former All-American at Arizona State, 6-4, 7-6 (4). 

   It was Medina Garrigues' first WTA match since she was named the Co-Female MVP of World TeamTennis for the California Dream. The Sacramento-based team lost to the host Austin Aces in the Western Conference Championship on Thursday in its inaugural season.

   Cako (pronounced CAY-ko) asked Bellis to play doubles after her original partner, Sachia Vickery of Miramar, Fla., suffered an injury in a first-round qualifying loss. Vickery reached the singles quarterfinals in last year's Bank of the West Classic as a 19-year-old qualifier.
   Bellis, who made headlines by stunning 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova in the first round of last year's U.S. Open, lost to qualifier Misaki Doi, 24, of Japan 6-3, 7-6 (3) on Monday in the opening round of singles at Stanford.  

BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC

At Stanford

First-round singles

   Varvara Lepchenko, United States, def. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, Croatia, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4).
   Ana Konjuh, Croatia, def. Saisai Zheng, China, 6-3, 6-4.
   Elina Svitolina (8), Ukraine, def. Kateryna Bondarenko, Ukraine, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
   Ajla Tomljanovic, Croatia, def. Vitalia Diatchenko, Russia, 3-6, 6-0, 6-0.
   Angelique Kerber (5), Germany, def. Daria Gavrilova, Russia, 6-1, 6-3.
   Kimiko Date-Krumm, Japan, def. Sabine Lisicki, Germany, 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2. 

First-round doubles 

   Anbel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja (2), Spain, def. CiCi Bellis and Jacqueline Cako, United States, 6-4, 7-6 (4).
   Gabriela Dabrowski, Canada, and Alicja Rosolska (3), Poland, def. Aleksandra Krunic, Serbia, and Andrea Petkovic, Germany, 4-6, 7-6 (4) [12-10].
   Yi-Fan Xu and Saisai Zheng, China, def. Klaudia Jans-Ignacik, Poland, and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, Croatia, 6-4, 3-6 [10-4].

Wednesday's schedule

Stadium Court

(Starting at 11 a.m.)

   Andrea Petkovic (6), Germany, vs. Mona Barthel, Germany.

(Not before 1 p.m.)

   Carla Suarez Navarro (3), Spain, vs. Alison Riske, United States.
   Raquel Kops-Jones and Maria Sanchez (4), United States, vs. Mona Barthel and Sabine Lisicki, Germany.

(Not before 7 p.m.)

   Madison Keys (7), United States, vs. Ajla Tomljanovic, Croatia.
   Elina Svitolina (8), Ukraine, vs. Nicole Gibbs, United States.

Court 6

(Starting at 2 p.m.)

   Chin-Wei Chan, Taiwan, and Darija Jurak, Croatia, vs. Vitalia Diatchenko, Russia, and Anna Tatishvili, United States.

Bellis, 16, to make hometown tournament debut

Wild card CiCi Bellis, shown in the recent Sacramento Challenger,
will play qualifier Misaki Doi of Japan today in the first round of
the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford. Bellis lives in neighbor-
ing Atherton. Photo by Paul Bauman

   CiCi Bellis has waited most of her young life for this day.
   The 16-year-old wild card will make her Bank of the West Classic debut today at 11 a.m. against qualifier Misaki Doi of Japan in the first round at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
   Bellis, who lives in neighboring Atherton, said recently that she attended the Bank of the West Classic as a spectator every year since she was 5 or 6 years old.
   After winning the USTA national 12-and-under title in 2011, Bellis did the coin flip for the second-round match between Maria Sharapova and Daniela Hantuchova.
   Playing in the Bank of the West "means everything to me," Bellis said two weeks ago at the $50,000 Sacramento Challenger. "Every year I've gone, I've been thinking about how long it'll take for me to be able to play in that tournament, and I never thought it would be this soon.
   "It's basically in my back yard. I played there so many times when I was younger in clinics and practices. It's one of my favorite places to play, and it's such a beautiful campus, so I think it's going to be amazing to play there."
   At 15 last year, Bellis stunned 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova, the 2014 Australian Open runner-up, in the first round of the U.S. Open and ended the season as the youngest No. 1 junior in the world since 2006.
   Doi, a 24-year-old left-hander, is ranked No. 104 to Bellis' No. 157. Bellis, 5-foot-6 (1.68 meters) and 110 pounds (50 kilograms), is three inches (7.6 centimeters) taller than Doi but 11 pounds (five kilograms) lighter. This will be their first meeting.
   Doi or Bellis will face second-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, the runner-up at Wimbledon in 2012 and Stanford in 2013, on Wednesday night. The top four seeds receive a first-round bye.
   Following Bellis' match today, qualifier Nicole Gibbs, a 22-year-old former Stanford star, will play Caroline Garcia of France. Gibbs won NCAA singles titles in 2012 and 2013 and the doubles crown in 2012 with Mallory Burdette.
   At 7 p.m., seventh-seeded Madison Keys of Boca Raton, Fla., will face Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia. The 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) Keys, who turned 20 in February, has reached the Australian Open semifinals and Wimbledon quarterfinals this year.
   Krunic, only 5-foot-4 (1.63 meters), turned 22 in March. As a qualifier in last year's U.S. Open, she shocked Keys and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova to gain the fourth round.
   In tonight's last match, Mona Barthel of Germany will meet Canadian wild card Carol Zhao, who advanced to the NCAA singles final in May as a Stanford sophomore.
   Kimiko Date-Krumm, 44, of Japan advanced to the main draw with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada.
   Date-Krumm, who climbed to a career-high No. 4 in the world 20 years ago but retired at 26 for 12 years, will face 2013 Wimbledon runner-up Sabine Lisicki of Germany late Tuesday night in the first round.
   Lisicki set women's records with a 131-mph (210.8-kph) serve in last year's Bank of the West Classic and 27 aces in a June match in Birmingham, England.

BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC

At Stanford

Final-round qualifying

   Misaki Doi (1), Japan, def. Julia Boserup, United States, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
   Kateryna Bondarenko (2), Ukraine, def. Petra Martic (6), Croatia, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
   Kimiko Date-Krumm, Japan, def. Gabriela Dabrowski, Canada, 6-4, 6-1.
   Nicole Gibbs (5), United States, def. Anna Tatishvili, United States, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Today's schedule

Stadium Court

(Starting at 11 a.m.)

   Misaki Doi, Japan, vs. CiCi Bellis, United States.

(Not before 1 p.m.)

   Caroline Garcia, France, vs. Nicole Gibbs, United States.
   Andrea Petkovic (6), Germany, vs. Carina Witthoeft, Germany.

(Not before 7 p.m.)

   Madison Keys (7), United States, vs. Aleksandra Krunic, Serbia.
   Mona Barthel, Germany, vs. Carol Zhao, Canada.

Court 6
(Starting at 11 a.m.)

   Alison Riske, United States, vs. Tatjana Maria, Germany.

(Not before 12:30 p.m.)

   Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan, Taiwan, vs. Kimiko Date-Krumm, Japan, and Mandy Minella, Luxembourg.
   Asia Muhammad, United States, and Ajla Tomljanovic, Croatia, vs. Maria Irigoyen, Argentina, and Paula Kania, Poland.
   Kateryna Bondarenko, Ukraine, and Tatjana Maria, Germany, vs. Eva Hrdinova, Czech Republic, and Petra Martic, Croatia.   

Bellis, 16, to play in Bank of the West at Stanford

CiCi Bellis, then 15, addresses the media after stunning 12th-seeded Dominika
Cibulkova, the 2014 Australian Open runner-up, last August in the first round
of the U.S. Open. Photo courtesy of USTA.

   Growing up practically around the corner in Atherton, CiCi Bellis attended the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford annually.
   "That's (CiCi's) favorite tournament," Lori Bellis, CiCi's mother, said in an exclusive interview with NorCal Tennis Czar three years ago (see profile of CiCi here). "We go to qualifying. We go every night (during the main draw) and stay until the doubles is over at midnight."
   As a tiny but promising 12-year-old player, CiCi was involved in the coin flip for the second-round match between Maria Sharapova and Daniela Hantuchova in the Bank of the West Classic.
   Four years later, Bellis accepted a wild card to play in the tournament for the first time, officials announced on Wednesday.
   Joining Bellis in the Aug. 3-9 tournament at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium will be three of the top 10 players in the world and eight of the top 20.
   Heading the field are No. 1 Serena Williams, the defending and three-time champion; No. 9 Carla Suarez Navarro, who won last year's doubles title with fellow Spaniard Garbine Muguruza; and No. 10 Angelique Kerber, last year's singles runner-up from Germany. 
   Also entered are No. 11 Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, No. 14 Andrea Petkovic of Germany, No. 17 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, No. 18 Sabine Lisicki of Germany, No. 20 Muguruza and No. 21 Madison Keys. 
   Lisicki set records with a 131-mph (210.8-kph) serve in last year's Bank of the West Classic and 27 aces in her second-round victory in last week's Aegon Classic in Birmingham, England.
   Keys, now 20, reached the semifinals of the Australian Open in January.
   Bellis last year at 15 became the youngest player to win the USTA Girls 18 National Hardcourt Championships since Lindsay Davenport in 1991.
   That gave Bellis a berth in the women's draw at the U.S. Open, where she stunned No. 12 seed and 2014 Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova in the first round. Bellis thereby became the youngest player to win a main-draw match in Flushing Meadows since Anna Kournikova, also 15, in 1996.
   Bellis ended last year as the top-ranked junior in the world. Still an amateur, she has won three Challenger (minor-league) singles titles and climbed to No. 168 in the women's world rankings.
   Tickets for the Bank of the West Classic are available at bankofthewestclassic.com or 866- WTA-TIXS (866-982-8497).

BANK OF THE WEST ACCEPTANCE LIST

1. Serena Williams (USA)
2. Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP)
3. Angelique Kerber (GER)
4. Karolina Pliskova (CZE)
5. Andrea Petkovic (GER)
6. Elina Svitolina (UKR)
7. Sabine Lisicki (GER)
8. Garbine Muguruza (ESP)
9. Madison Keys (USA)
10. Caroline Garcia (FRA)
11. Varvara Lepchenko (USA)
12. Daria Gavrilova (RUS)
13. Alison Riske (USA)
14. Mona Barthel (GER)
15. Carina Witthoeft (GER)
16. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (CRO)
17. Ana Konjuh (CRO)
18. Saisai Zheng (CHN)
19. Katerina Siniakova (CZE)
20. Vitalia Diatchenko (RUS)

Serena withdraws; Raonic saves 3 MPs, upsets Nadal

Serena Williams addresses the media after withdrawing
from the BNP Paribas Open. Photo by Paul Bauman

   INDIAN WELLS -- It couldn't happen again.
   But it did.
   A Williams sister withdrew shortly before her semifinal in the BNP Paribas Open.
   Serena Williams, who had boycotted the tournament for 14 years, pulled out of tonight's match against Simona Halep with inflammation and pain in her right knee.
   Halep, seeded third, will meet resurgent Jelena Jankovic, seeded 18th, in Sunday's final. Jankovic, a former world No. 1 and the 2010 BNP champion, beat 24th-seeded Sabine Lisicki 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
   Halep, 23, is 3-1 against Jankovic, 30, with three straight wins. In addition, Jankovic is recovering from a torn leg muscle.
   Earlier today, sixth-seeded Milos Raonic saved three match points in a 4-6, 7-6 (10), 7-5 victory over third-seeded Rafael Nadal, a three-time BNP champion, in the quarterfinals. That prevented the first "Big Four" semifinals since the 2012 Australian Open.
   Williams' withdrawal was the third premature exit in the BNP Paribas Open in two days. On Thursday, qualifier Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine retired with an ankle injury with Jankovic leading 6-1, 4-1, and 32nd-seeded Bernard Tomic of Australia pulled out of his quarterfinal against top-ranked Novak Djokovic with a back problem and infected wisdom tooth.     
   Williams, 33, said she felt pain in practice two days ago and received an injection before her scheduled match, but it didn't help.
   "I have never done an injection before," a cordial, upbeat Williams told reporters. "I think if this was any other event, I probably wouldn't have considered it. I wanted to give 200 percent. It just wasn't meant to be this year."  
   Williams rated her pain level as "9 or 10" on a scale of 1 to 10 but said she needed only two days to recover. She added that she hasn't decided whether to defend her title in Miami, which begins next week.
   Williams addressed the fans in Stadium 1 about her injury and received mostly cheers and a few hoots. It was almost as if Williams was testing the crowd after the 1991 controversy.

Milos Raonic blasted 19 aces at up to 147 mph (236.6 kph)
in his victory over Rafael Nadal. Photo by Paul Bauman

   That year, Venus Williams withdrew 20 minutes before her scheduled semifinal against Serena with knee tendinitis. Fans were upset that they got a doubles match instead, and some suspected that Richard Williams had orchestrated the withdrawal so his daughters wouldn't have to play each other. Also, Richard Williams said fans directed racial comments at him.
   Serena, then 19, was booed loudly throughout the final against Kim Clijsters but won her second title in the tournament. Venus still hasn't returned to the BNP Paribas Open.
   The Serena-Halep semifinal was supposed to be the second match of the night session, following Jankovic-Lisicki. But because the afternoon match between Raonic and Nadal lasted almost three hours, the night session actually kicked off with a men's doubles semifinal. Williams-Halep was not replaced with another match or exhibition.
   Serena said she did not fear talking to the crowd.
   "I think both myself and the crowd have a great appreciation for each other, and I have really enjoyed my four matches here," she said.
   Regarding the irony of both sisters withdrawing from semifinals in the tournament, Williams said: "I don't make anything of it. I feel that was 14 years ago, and this is now. I did the best that I could at this event, and I really am happy to have put a lot of that behind me."
   When asked whether she will return next year, Williams said, "I think it's going to be a must."
   Raonic needed 2 hours and 58 minutes to subdue the valiant Nadal for the first time. Raonic had been 0-5 against the Spanish star, although the last meeting, in the quarters at Miami last year, went to 6-4 in the third set. Nadal won the first four encounters in straight sets.
   In Saturday's semis, the sixth-seeded Raonic will face No. 2 Roger Federer, and No. 1 Novak Djokovic will play No. 4 Andy Murray.
   Federer, who owns a record four Indian Wells titles, dismantled No. 9 Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-0. Djokovic and Murray advanced on Thursday.

Nadal, who was plagued by health problems last year, is getting
closer to top form. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Federer is 8-1 against Raonic. But, just as against Nadal, Raonic extended the victorious Federer to 6-4 in the third set in their last encounter. That occurred in the Brisbane final in January.
   Djokovic leads Murray 16-8, including a four-set victory in the Australian Open final in January. Murray, a two-time Grand Slam singles champion, is still returning to form after undergoing "minor" back surgery in September 2013.
   With Nadal standing practically in the next country to return serve on many points, the 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) Raonic blasted 19 aces at up to 147 mph (236.6 kph) and saved six of the seven break points he faced. He was broken for the only time in the tournament to trail 2-1 in the first set.
   All of the match points against Raonic came on his serve in the second-set tiebreaker. He converted his first serve on the initial two match points, winning on a forehand approach and an overhead. There wasn't much Nadal could do about either.   
   The third match point, at 10-9, was another story. Raonic missed his first serve and hit -- by his standards -- a powder-puff second delivery at 101 mph (162.5 kph). Nadal mis-hit the return into the net with a forehand.
   "That was a big mistake," conceded Nadal, 28. "That's the only (regret) during the whole match."
   The left-handed Nadal missed three months last summer with a right wrist injury and underwent an appendectomy in November. He ended a nine-month title drought in Buenos Aires on clay three weeks ago.
   "Maybe with more victories on my shoulders, (after) being outside of the competition for several months, maybe I will win that match because I will not play a return like this," Nadal said.
   "But is normal that you are a little bit more nervous in that moment than usual. It's true that I didn't compete at that level of intensity for a long time. This is a big improvement for me. I was very focused, playing with positive energy for three hours." 
   Raonic broke Nadal for the only time in the match for 6-5 in the third set on a floater that landed just inside the baseline. By the time Nadal retreated to the ball, he could only flick a backhand long.
   Raonic then served out the match. He showed little emotion during the battle or afterward.
   "That's just the way I am," said the 24-year-old Canadian, widely considered as a potential Grand Slam champion. "It's really great what I was able to do today, and I'm very happy with it, but I don't let myself get caught up, because this isn't where it ends. There is a lot more that I want to achieve this week.
   "It's always about what I need to do next to get better. It's always been like that."
   Raonic took some pleasure in ending talk of a "Big Four" semifinals.
   "I guess (it's nice), because you want to prove people wrong in that sense," said Raonic, who won the last four SAP Open titles (2011-13) in San Jose before the tournament folded. "But I can't control what people say. I just try to get in my own system, in my own bubble, and focus on things that I do have control over." 

Lisicki ousts defending champ in BNP thriller

Sabine Lisicki reacts after saving three match
points in a 6-4, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4) victory over Flavia
Pennetta in the quarterfinals at Indian Wells.
Photo by Paul Bauman

    INDIAN WELLS -- Sabine Lisicki and Flavia Pennetta seemed like unlikely candidates to produce a classic today in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open.
   Sure, Lisicki reached the 2013 Wimbledon final at 23 years old, losing to Marion Bartoli.
   And, yes, Pennetta won last year's BNP for the biggest title of her career.
   But this was their first career meeting, Lisicki was 1-6 this year entering the BNP, and she hadn't won a match in the tournament in seven years.
   Meanwhile, Pennetta had broken down in tears during her three-set victory over second-seeded Maria Sharapova in the previous round.
   Still, Lisicki and Pennetta played the match of the tournament, with Lisicki prevailing 6-4, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4) in 2 hours, 40 minutes. Pennetta saved a match point serving at 4-5 in the second set, and Lisicki survived three match points on her serve at 4-5 in the third set.
   "It was great to be part of a match like that," gushed Lisicki, a German seeded 24th.
   Pennetta, a 33-year-old Italian, expressed mixed feelings afterward.
   "I think it was a really good match," said the 15th seed. "We played really well the third set both, and was a good fight until the last point. Everything happened tonight. Match point for one, match points for the other one.
   "Sport is like this. Tennis is like this. I'm happy about the match, but of course I am upset, because when you are there, you want to win it."
   Pennetta showed no signs of the emotional turmoil that overwhelmed her after the first set of her 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Sharapova, a two-time Indian Wells champion.
   "In that match, I just pass the point where you have to (let) everything out," said Pennetta, who never specified what troubled her. "Today, I was perfect in the court and ready to do the match and ready to fight, and I think I did that." 

Lisicki prepares to hit her powerful fore-
hand. Photo by Paul Bauman

   The match in 16,100-seat Stadium 1 began slowly with numerous errors and service breaks, but it picked up dramatically when Pennetta served 4-5 in the second set. From then on, the players engaged in many breathtaking rallies featuring laser groundstrokes.
   On match point against Pennetta, she missed her first serve. Lisicki pounced on the second delivery, but Pennetta kept the ball in play and won the point with a forehand passing shot down the line after a tremendous rally. 
   The crowd grew in the third set as the afternoon match extended into the night session. When Lisicki ripped a forehand cross-court passing shot after making several incredible gets, the fans gave her a standing ovation.
   "It's always great to play in front of a full crowd," Lisicki said. "That's what I play for. That's the best thing that can happen."
   Lisicki, who set the record for the fastest women's serve (131 mph or 210.8 kph) in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford last summer, escaped the match points against her with a 117-mph (188.3-kph) service winner down the middle, a forehand cross-court passing shot set up by a strong serve, and a 111-mph (178.6-kph) service winner down the middle.
   "I just stepped up to the line and believed in my serve," Lisicki said of the three points.
   After Lisicki aced Pennetta with a slice out wide to end the thriller, she dropped to her knees and put her head in her hands. And after embracing Pennetta at the net and shaking hands with the chair umpire, Lisicki again put her head in her hands.
   Who could blame her, especially the way her year had gone?
   "I had a tough start to the season losing three close three-setters in a row," Lisicki said. "Even my preseason was good, and we had a feeling we were doing the right things off the court, working hard.
   "Somehow, it didn't pay off yet, but we kept working. I have a great team behind me. They kept telling me that I'm doing the right things and that they believed it will pay off. It's nice to see that it's starting to pay off finally."

Pennetta saved a match point while serving
at 4-5 in the second set. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Lisicki will face 18th-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia in Friday night's first semifinal. Top-ranked Serena Williams, returning to the tournament after a 14-year boycott, then will meet No. 3 Simona Halep of Romania.
   Jankovic, a former world No. 1 who won the BNP title in 2010, defeated qualifier Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-1, 4-1, retired (ankle). Tsurenko had beaten three seeds in a row, including seventh-ranked Eugenie Bouchard and No. 10 Andrea Petkovic for the first top-10 wins of her career.   
   On the men's side, half of a potential "Big Four" semifinals is set.
   Top-ranked Novak Djokovic advanced when 32nd-seeded Bernard Tomic of Australia withdrew with a lower-back injury and infected wisdom tooth. No. 4 Murray improved to 10-0 against No. 12 Feliciano Lopez with a 6-3, 6-4 victory.
   In Friday afternoon's men's quarterfinals, second-seeded Roger Federer will meet No. 9 Tomas Berdych, and No. 3 Rafael Nadal will take on No. 6 Milos Raonic.
   In tonight's men's doubles quarterfinals, eighth-seeded Jack Sock of Tampa, Fla., and Vasek Pospisil of Canada ended the two-year reign of top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan, 6-4, 6-4.
   It was a rematch of last year's Wimbledon final, also won by Sock and Pospisil. However, they fell to the Bryans one month later in the Cincinnati final. 
    The Bryans will play for the California Dream, Sacramento's new franchise in World TeamTennis, this summer.

Young and restless highlight top stories of 2014

CiCi Bellis, 15, meets the press after stunning Australian Open runner-up Dominika
Cibulkova in the first round of the U.S. Open in August. Photo courtesy of USTA

   It will be remembered as the year of youth in Northern California.
   Everywhere you looked -- in the professional, college and junior ranks -- teenagers either from NorCal or playing in the region starred in 2014. And no one shone brighter than 15-year-old CiCi Bellis of Atherton.
   Bellis became an overnight sensation in the U.S. Open, overshadowing the rest of her phenomenal year.
   Naomi Osaka, 16, of Japan pulled off a major upset in the Bank of the West Classic on the elite WTA tour at Stanford.
   Stefan Kozlov, Jared Donaldson and Michaela Gordon broke through in NorCal Challengers. Kozlov, 16, and Donaldson, who turned 18 on Oct. 9, are pros from Florida and Rhode Island, respectively. Gordon is a 15-year-old amateur from Saratoga, near San Jose.
   Unseeded Lynn Chi reached the NCAA women's singles final in May as a 19-year-old Cal sophomore.
   Sacramento's Collin Altamirano gained the final of the USTA Boys 18 National Championships for the second straight year.
   Sam Riffice, 15, of Roseville achieved a rare double. His neighbor, 14-year-old Keenan Mayo, and Katie Volynets, 12, of Walnut Creek won USTA national titles.
   Marring an otherwise glorious year were the depravity of Deepal Wannakuwatte, the demise of the Sacramento Capitals in World TeamTennis and the loss of the legends tournament in Sacramento.
   Here are the czar's top 10 stories of the year, followed by honorable mentions, in NorCal tennis: 
   1. Bellis stuns Cibulkova in U.S. Open -- Bellis shocked 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in the first round at Flushing Meadows.
   Bellis, then the second-ranked junior in the world, overcame a 3-1 deficit in the third set to become the youngest player to win a main-draw match in the U.S. Open since Anna Kournikova, also 15, in 1996.
   Cibulkova, only 5-foot-3 (1.61 meters), was the runner-up to Li Na in the Australian Open in January and won last year's Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
   Bellis' hometown of Atherton is adjacent to Stanford, and she grew up attending the tournament.

Mike, left, and Bob Bryan of the visiting Texas Wild and their
father, Sacramento Capitals coach Wayne Bryan, watch
players warm up before a World TeamTennis match in 2013.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   2. Bryans win U.S. Open for 100th career title -- Appropriately, top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan outclassed 11th-seeded Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez of Spain 6-3, 6-4 at Flushing Meadows for their 100th men's doubles title.
   The Bryans, 36-year-old identical twins and ex-Stanford stars from Southern California, extended their record to 16 Grand Slam men's doubles crowns. Five have come in the U.S. Open, tying Richard Sears and James Dwight in the 1880s. The Bryans surpassed Bob Lutz and Stan Smith for the record in the Open era, which began in 1968.
   3. Wannakuwatte sentenced -- Wannakuwatte, the Capitals' owner, was sentenced in November to 20 years in prison for orchestrating a massive Ponzi scheme. Wannakuwatte, a 64-year-old native of Sri Lanka, will be eligible for parole in 17 years.
   Wannakuwatte was arrested on Feb. 20 in Sacramento on charges of defrauding banks and individual investors in his medical supply business of more than $100 million.
   4. Bellis ends year as world's top junior -- Bellis clinched the year-end No. 1 ranking by reaching the quarterfinals of the prestigious Orange Bowl in Plantation, Fla., this month after previously top-ranked Shilin Xu of China lost in the first round.
   The second-seeded Bellis fell to 13th seed and eventual champion Sofia Kenin, 16, of Pembroke Pines, Fla., in the Orange Bowl semifinals.
   Bellis, however, won the doubles title with Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic.
   5. Bellis wins USTA 18 title -- Bellis, seeded second, drubbed fifth-seeded Tornado Alicia Black, 16, of Boca Raton, Fla., 6-3, 6-1 in San Diego to become the youngest winner of the USTA Girls 18 National Championships since Lindsay Davenport, also 15, in 1991.
   Bellis, who won 12 of the last 13 games after trailing 3-0 in the first set, earned an automatic wild card in the women's main draw of the U.S. Open.

Sabine Lisicki uncorks a record 131-mph (210.8-kph)
serve in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
Photo courtesy of Bank of the West Classic.

   6. Lisicki blasts world's fastest women's serve -- Sabine Lisicki of Germany unleashed a 131-mph (210.8-kph) rocket in a 7-6 (2), 6-1 loss to fifth-seeded Ana Ivanovic in a first-round day match in the Bank of the West Classic.
   Venus Williams, who held the previous mark of 129 mph (207.6 kph), overpowered qualifier Paula Kania of Poland 6-3, 6-2 in the featured night match at Stanford.
   7. Serena wins BOW again -- Top-seeded Serena Williams captured her third Bank of the West title, beating third-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany 7-6 (1), 6-3.
   Williams, who overcame a 5-1 deficit in the first set and two set points at 5-2, also won the tournament in 2011 and 2012. She did not return last year.
   8. Kozlov reaches Challenger final -- Kozlov, a wild card, stunned No. 2 seed Tim Smyczek of Tampa, Fla., 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1) in the semifinals of the $100,000 Sacramento Pro Circuit Challenger at the Natomas Racquet Club.
   Kozlov recorded his first victory over a top-100 player -- Smyczek (pronounced SMEE-check) was No. 99 -- and reached his first Challenger final in only his third attempt.
   Top-seeded Sam Querrey ended Kozlov's amazing run in the final, 6-3, 6-4, but predicted his young countryman eventually would crack the top 10 in the world.

Serena Williams won her third Bank of the West title, beating
Angelique Kerber. Tri Nguyen/TriNguyenPhotography.com

   9. Riffice wins back-to-back major junior titles -- Riffice joined Grigor Dimitrov as the only players to sweep the boys 16 singles titles in the Eddie Herr International Championships and the Orange Bowl. The tournaments were held back-to-back this month in Bradenton, Fla., and Plantation, Fla., respectively.
   Dimitrov, a 23-year-old Bulgarian and the boyfriend of Maria Sharapova, is ranked 11th in the world after ascending to a career-high No. 8 in August.
   10. Capitals move after 28 years, then fold -- The Capitals, the longest-running and most successful WTT franchise, announced in February that they were moving to Las Vegas. However, the team disbanded five weeks later after Wannakuwatte was charged.
   The Capitals won a record six WTT titles during their 28 years in Sacramento. Kolleen McNamee, the team's general manager, cited the lack of a permanent tennis facility as the reason for the move.
   Honorable mention -- Davenport, a former Capital, was inducted in the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
   -- Northern California was omitted from the 2015 PowerShares Series schedule after a stop in Sacramento last February. Recently retired James Blake won the four-man Champions Shootout over Hall of Famers John McEnroe, Pete Sampras and Jim Courier.

Stefan Kozlov, 16, falls onto his back to celebrate his victory
over No. 2 seed Tim Smyczek in the semifinals of the
$100,000 Sacramento Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   -- Raquel Kops-Jones, a San Jose resident and former NCAA doubles champion from Cal, reached the doubles semifinals in the Australian Open with regular partner Abigail Spears of San Diego.
   -- Osaka, a qualifier playing in her first WTA main-draw match, shocked unseeded Samantha Stosur, the 2011 U.S. Open champion, 4-6, 7-6 (7), 7-5 in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic. Stosur held a match point at 7-6 in the tiebreaker and led 5-3 in the third set.
   -- Maria Sanchez, who was born and raised in Modesto, won her first WTA title. Unseeded Sharon Fichman of Canada and Sanchez edged third-seeded Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic and Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands 2-6, 6-0 [10-4] in the doubles final of the $250,000 ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand.
   -- Querrey swept the singles titles of the Napa, Sacramento and Tiburon Challengers in consecutive weeks in late September and early October.
   -- Bellis won back-to-back $25,000 Challenger singles crowns in Rock Hill, S.D., and Florence, S.C., reached the girls doubles final in the French Open (with Vondrousova), helped the United States win the Junior Fed Cup in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and captured the girls 18 singles title in the prestigious Easter Bowl in Indian Wells.
   -- Donaldson reached the semifinals of the $50,000 Napa Challenger and quarterfinals of the Sacramento Challenger at 17.

Lindsay Davenport, a former Sacramento
Capital, was inducted in the International Tennis
Hall of Fame. 2012 photo by Paul Bauman

   -- Gordon advanced to the quarterfinals of the $25,000 Redding Challenger before losing to Alexandra Stevenson, a 1999 Wimbledon semifinalist and the daughter of basketball legend Julius Erving, in a third-set tiebreaker.
   -- Chi fell to Danielle Collins of Virginia 6-2, 7-5 in a matchup of unseeded sophomores in the NCAA women's singles final in Athens, Ga.
   -- Paul Goldstein, a Stanford alumnus and former pro who climbed to No. 58 in the world in singles and No. 40 in doubles, was named the Cardinal's third men's coach since 1967. Goldstein, who turned 38 in August, replaced John Whitlinger, who announced his retirement at age 60 after Stanford's second consecutive first-round exit from the NCAA Tournament. The Cardinal has won 17 NCAA men's team titles, second to USC's 21, but none since 2000.
   -- The injury-plagued Sacramento State women suffered their first Big Sky Conference losses in 13 years.   
   -- Jessica Willett, a junior at San Jose State, saved 11 match points in a 6-2, 0-6, 7-5 victory over Suzy Tan at No. 5 singles to clinch the Spartans' 4-2 victory over Dartmouth in San Jose.
   -- Altamirano, the fifth seed and defending champion, lost to third-seeded Noah Rubin of Rockville Centre, N.Y., 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 in the final of the USTA Boys 18 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich. Rubin had won the Wimbledon boys singles title the previous month.
   -- Riffice, Mayo and Milpitas' Andrew Ton won boys titles in the USTA National Clay Court Championships. Riffice captured the 16 doubles in Delray Beach, Fla., Mayo the 14 singles in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Ton the 14 doubles in Fort Lauderdale.
   -- The top-seeded Volynets won the USTA Girls 12 National Championships, dominating sixth-seeded Sedona Gallagher of Henderson, Nev., 6-0, 6-3 in Alpharetta, Ga.   

Lisicki breaks Venus' record for fastest serve

Sabine Lisicki unloads a record 131-mph (210.8-kph) serve in her
loss to fifth-seeded Ana Ivanovic today in the Bank of the West
Classic at Stanford. Photo courtesy of Bank of the West Classic.

   STANFORD, Calif. — Venus Williams lost her record for the world's fastest serve by a woman but won her match.
   Sabine Lisicki unleashed a 131-mph (210.8-kph) rocket in a 7-6 (2), 6-1 loss to fifth-seeded Ana Ivanovic today in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
   Lisicki was aided by hot (84 degrees/28.9 Celsius), dry weather but not elevation (Stanford is 30 feet/9.1 meters above sea level). 
   "Well ... at least I broke the world record for fastest serve," tweeted Lisicki, the runner-up to Marion Bartoli at Wimbledon last year.
   Williams, who held the previous mark of 129 mph (207.6 kph), overpowered qualifier Paula Kania of Poland 6-3, 6-2 in the featured night match.
   Meanwhile, rising star Garbine Muguruza ousted defending champion Dominika Cibulkova, seeded sixth, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. It was the Bank of the West debut for the 6-foot (1.82-meter) Muguruza, who's ranked 28th in the world at 20 years old.
   Muguruza plays for Spain, where she lives, but might switch to Venezuela, her native country. Her father is Spanish and her mother Venezuelan.
   Muguruza reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal last month in the French Open, routing top-ranked Serena Williams 6-2, 6-2 in the second round. Cibulkova, 25, of Slovakia advanced to her first Grand Slam final in January in the Australian Open, falling to Li Na.
   Also losing was seventh-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro. The 5-foot-4 (1.62-meter) Spaniard, ranked 16th, fell 6-3, 7-5 to Monica Puig of Puerto Rico despite holding three set points at 5-4 in the second set.
   Qualifier Carol Zhao, a Stanford sophomore, won her first WTA main-draw match when Yanina Wickmayer, a U.S. Open semifinalist in 2009, retired because of a viral illness with Zhao leading 6-2, 1-0. A disoriented Serena Williams recently retired from her second-round doubles match at Wimbledon with older sister Venus for the same reason.
   Lisicki, a 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) German, crushed her record-breaking serve down in the middle in the ad court at 5-5, 40-30 in the first set. Ivanovic returned the ball solidly but sprayed it wide cross-court.  
   Williams set her serving mark in the 2007 U.S. Open.

Williams said she was glad Lisicki broke her record.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   "I think it's time it's broken," Williams, 34, said with her characteristic graciousness after her serve topped out at a mere 120 mph (193.1 kph) against Kania. "That's a good thing, I think. I guess I have to start trying to serve harder. Clearly, she serves really hard. That's good encouragement.
   "I'm not really trying to serve hard, though. I used to. When I really want the point, that's when I start to serve a little bit harder, but I (usually) hit a medium serve that goes somewhere above 110 (177.0 kph).
   "I'm trying more for placement these days. It takes a lot of energy to serve, so if you can take off 10 miles an hour (16.1 kph) and place it, this is smarter. I need to serve harder now, I guess."
   Samuel Groth of Australia holds the men's record for the world's fastest serve, 163.7 mph (263.4 kph) in the 2012 Busan (South Korea) Challenger. Ivo Karlovic, a 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) Croat, owns the mark at the top level of men's tennis with a 156-mph (251.1-kph) blast in the first round of the 2011 Davis Cup against Germany.
   Williams, playing in the Bank of the West Classic for the first time since losing to Bartoli in the 2009 final, will meet fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka on Thursday in the second round. Azarenka, who will turn 25 on Thursday, received a first-round bye.
   Williams and Azarenka are both former top-ranked players, multiple Grand Slam singles champions (seven titles for Williams; two for Azarenka) and past Bank of the West titlists (Williams in 2000 and 2010; Azarenka in 2010).
   Both also have battled health issues. Williams was diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome, an energy-sapping autoimmune disease, in 2011. Azarenka has missed most of this year with a left foot injury.
   Williams, a lean 6-foot-1 (1.85 meters), has fallen to 25th and hasn't won a major singles title in six years, but she remains a threat. Last month, the five-time Wimbledon singles champion came within two points of beating eventual winner Petra Kvitova in the third round at the All England Club.
   Williams said she'll continue playing "as long as I'm good. I'm running pretty fast. If I get slow and terrible, then I'll stop.
  "I'm not having kids right now, it seems, and I don't have a husband telling me what to do and we don't have to argue every day," Williams continued with a laugh, "so for me it's easy to keep playing tennis."
   Williams made her pro debut 20 years ago at 14 in the Bank of the West Classic, beating American veteran Shaun Stafford in the first round before losing to top-seeded and second-ranked Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain. At the time, the tournament was held across San Francisco Bay in the Oakland Coliseum Arena in the fall.
   "It's great to still be feeling well enough to play on this tour," said Williams, a two-time Bank of the West champion (2000 and 2002) and five-time runner-up (1998, 1999, 2004, 2005 and 2009). "It's much more competitive than 20 years ago, and it's great to be looking pretty solid, too.
   "It's been a long journey. I don't know at that age if I would have envisioned that I'd still be playing, but I'm glad I am because you get one shot at it, and then you fade to gray somewhere and someone else is better. So while I'm here, I'm going to go for it."

BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC

At Stanford

First-round singles

   Carol Zhao, Canada, def. Yanina Wickmayer, Belgium, 6-2, 1-0, retired.
   Monica Puig, Puerto Rico, def. Carlo Suarez Navarro (7), Spain, 6-3, 7-5.
   Garbine Muguruza, Spain, def. Dominika Cibulkova (6), Slovakia, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.
   Ana Ivanovic (5), Serbia, def. Sabine Lisicki, Germany, 7-6 (2), 6-1.
   Venus Williams, United States, def. Paula Kania, Poland, 6-3, 6-2.
   Daniela Hantuchova, Slovakia, def. Paula Ormaechea, Argentina, 6-3, 6-4.

First-round doubles

   Varvara Lepchenko, United States, and Ajla Tomljanovic, Croatia, def. Mari Osaka, Japan, and Marina Shamayko, Russia, 6-1, 6-0.
   Carolina Garcia, France, and Shuai Zhang, China, def. Kristie Ahn, United States, and Carol Zhao, Canada, 3-6, 6-1 [12-10].

Doubles quarterfinals

   Alla Kudryavtseva, Russia, and Anastasia Rodionova (2), Australia, def. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, Croatia, and Karolina Pliskova, Czech Republic, 6-1, 6-0.

Wednesday's schedule

Stadium

(Starting at 11 a.m.)

   Monica Puig, Puerto Rico, vs. Sachia Vickery, United States.

(Not before 1:30 p.m.)

   Agnieszka Radwanska (2), Poland, vs. Varvara Lepchenko, United States.
   Andrea Petkovic (8), Germany, vs. Naomi Osaka, Japan.

(Not before 7 p.m.)

   Serena Williams (1), United States, vs. Karolina Pliskova, Czech Republic.
   Hao-Ching Chan, Taiwan, and Andrea Petkovic (4), Germany, vs. Paula Kania, Poland, and Katerina Siniakova, Czech Republic.

Court 6

(Starting at 1:30 p.m.)

   Daniela Hantuchova, Slovakia, and Arantxa Parra Santonja, Spain, vs. Daria Gavrilova, Russia, and Yi-Fan Xu, China.
   Caroline Garcia, France, and Shuai Zhang, China, vs. Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro (3), Spain.

Serena, Bartoli have an easy time

   Fans didn't get to see much singles Saturday at Stanford.
   During the day session, third-seeded Marion Bartoli of France reached the final of the Bank of the West Classic without hitting a ball as eighth-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia defaulted because of a strained abdominal muscle.
   At night, Serena Williams of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., brushed aside Sabine Lisicki of Germany 6-1, 6-2 in 59 minutes in a matchup of unseeded players. Williams advanced to her first final since winning Wimbledon last year.
    "I have never played her before, so I did not know what to expect," said Lisicki, who reached her first Grand Slam semifinal recently at Wimbledon. "I’m not used to having the ball come back at me so hard. It was a new experience, a learning experience."
   Williams is 2-1 against Bartoli, who won the last meeting in straight sets in the fourth round at Wimbledon in June. It was Williams' second tournament since returning from an 11-month absence caused by an off-the-court foot injury and life-threatening blood clots in her lungs.
   "I’m a much better player now – I was really struggling there," Williams said. "I put a lot of pressure on myself, being the defending champ and having a lot to lose."
   This is the 26-year-old Bartoli's ninth consecutive year in the Bank of the West Classic. After failing to advance past the second round in the first five years, she has reached the final in three of the past four years. She upset Venus Williams for the 2009 title and was the runner-up to Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada in 2008.
   Serena Williams, 29, is playing in the Bank of the West Classic for only the third year. The former world No. 1 reached the semifinals in 2008 and the quarterfinals in 2009.
   Ranked No. 169, Williams will rise to the top 80 with a victory today and approximately  No. 110 with a loss.
   Both finalists will be fresh.
   Aside from her three-set victory over Maria Kirilenko in the second round, Williams has lost only seven games in three matches. She blanked former Sacramento Capital Anastasia Rodionova 6-0, 6-0 in the first round.
   Bartoli, ranked a career-high No. 9, has played only three sets in the tournament. After receiving a first-round bye, she won in straight sets in the second round and triumphed 6-1, retired in the quarterfinals before Cibulkova's default.
   "This has never happened to me, but there’s not much I can do about it," Bartoli said. "It’s a shame Dominika had to be put out. It will be an extremely tough match (today), and I need to get ready."

Results - Saturday, July 30, 2011
Singles - Semifinals
(3) Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. (8/WC) Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) w/o (left abdominal strain)
Serena Williams (USA) d. Sabine Lisicki (GER) 61 62
Doubles - Semifinals
(1) Huber/Raymond (USA/USA) d. Aoyama/Fujiwara (JPN/JPN) 61 62
(2) Azarenka/Kirilenko (BLR/RUS) d. (3) Goerges/Zahlavova Strycova (GER/CZE) 46 63 105 (Match TB)
Order Of Play - Sunday, July 31, 2011
Stadium (from 12.00hrs)
1. Singles Final: Marion Bartoli vs. Serena Williams
2. Doubles Final: Huber/Raymond vs. Azarenka/Kirilenko

Serena aces test against Sharapova

   Look out, women's tennis.
   Serena Williams is returning to form quickly.
   In only her third tournament since an 11-month layoff, the unseeded Williams routed second-seeded Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-3 Friday night in the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
   "I had a good start," Williams said of the matchup between former No. 1 players in the world. “You can’t go in against the fifth-ranked player with your mind everywhere. You have to be serious. It’s a great win for the hardcourt season."
      Added Williams: "I’m a better player this month than I was last month. I’ve put in a lot of work, and I hope it continues to pay off."
    Williams improved to 7-2 against Sharapova with six straight victories.
    "It certainly wasn’t my night," said Sharapova, who at 17 shocked two-time defending champion Williams to win the 2004 Wimbledon title. "She was serving and hitting so well, and I was extremely late in my reactions. I felt sluggish. It was a bad day, but it’s also a reminder that I need to step up."
   With Sharapova's loss, both of last year's Bank of the West finalists have been eliminated. Top seed and defending champion Victoria Azarenka fell to qualifier Marina Erakovic of New Zealand on Thursday.
   Erakovic, however, fell to eighth-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-1, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.
   In today's semifinals, third-seeded Marion Bartoli of France will meet Cibulkova at
1 p.m., and Williams will face unseeded Sabine Lisicki of Germany at 7 p.m.
   Bartoli won the Bank of the West in 2009 and reached the final in 2008. Lisicki, 20, recently reached her first Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon.
   Kendrick suspended -- Former top-100 player Robert Kendrick, a Fresno native, was suspended for one year by the International Tennis Federation after testing positive for a banned drug at the French Open.
   Kendrick, 31, said the drug came from a capsule he took to fight jet lag.
   Ranked a career-high No. 69 in 2009, Kendrick has fallen to No. 105. He reached the final of the Sacramento Challenger last October and in 2008, and he won the 2007 doubles title with Brian Wilson.
   Wayne Odesnik, the 2007 Sacramento Challenger singles champion, returned to action early this year after a one-year suspension for a doping violation.

Results - Friday, July 29, 2011
Singles - Quarterfinals
Serena Williams (USA) d. (2) Maria Sharapova (RUS) 61 63.
(3) Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. Ayumi Morita (JPN) 61 ret. (right ankle injury).
Sabine Lisicki (GER) d. (5) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) 76(4) 26 62.
(8/WC) Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) d. (Q) Marina Erakovic (NZL) 61 61.
Doubles - Quarterfinals
(1) Huber/Raymond (USA/USA) d. Fichman/Pelletier (CAN/CAN) 62 64.

Order Of Play - Saturday, July 30, 2011
Stadium (from 13.00hrs)
1. Dominika Cibulkova vs. Marion Bartoli.
2. Goerges/Zahlavova Strycova vs. Azarenka/Kirilenko.
3. Sabine Lisicki vs. Serena Williams (NB 19.00hrs).
4. Huber/Raymond vs. Aoyama/Fujiwara.

Serena, Sharapova set to meet

   The dream matchup is set.
   Former world No. 1s Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova will meet tonight at 8 in the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
   The unseeded Williams advanced with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 victory over Maria Kirilenko of Russia on Thursday. Sharapova, the second seed and 2010 runner-up, had beaten Daniela Hantuchova on Wednesday night to reach the quarters.
   Williams is 6-2 against Sharapova with five consecutive victories. At 17 years old, Sharapova stunned Williams, the two-time defending Wimbledon champion, to win the 2004 title there.
   Both players have come back from extended layoffs. Sharapova missed almost 10 months in 2008 and 2009 because of chronic shoulder pain that required surgery. Williams returned in June after sitting out for 11 months because of foot injuries and life-threatening blood clots in her lungs.
   "You can never rest against Serena," Sharapova said. "She hasn’t played in quite a while, but she’s still a great competitor. At the end of the day, she has 13 Grand Slam (singles) titles, and I have three. That says a lot."
   Said Williams: "I’m sure we’ll both go out and do the best each of us can. It’s nothing personal. It’s my job, and I want to get paid. I leave it on the court."
   Another player climbing back up the rankings after a long absence, Marina Erakovic of New Zealand, stunned top seed and defending champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. Azarenka was playing her first singles match since reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon.
   Erakovic, a qualifier ranked No. 121, was sidelined for six months because of a left hip injury in 2009.
   "I went into a slump just before the injury and was beginning to question whether this tennis thing was for me," Erakovic said. "The injury made me realize how much I love tennis, and that’s when I committed myself. Coming back, I feel like I can  compete with the best."
   Unseeded German Sabine Lisicki, another first-time Grand Slam semifinalist at Wimbledon, knocked off fourth-seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia 6-3, 7-5. Stosur had reached the semifinals at Stanford in each of the past two years.     
   Second-round singles
   (Q) Marina Erakovic (NZL) d. (1) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) 46 75 62.
   Sabine Lisicki (GER) d. (4) Samantha Stosur (AUS) 63 75.
   Ayumi Morita (JPN) d. (Q) Urszula Radwanska (POL) 46 75 61 (saved 3mp).
   Serena Williams (USA) d. Maria Kirilenko (RUS) 62 36 62.
   Doubles quarterfinals
   (2) Azarenka/Kirilenko (BLR/RUS) d. Rodionova/Rodionova (AUS/RUS) 63 61.
   Aoyama/Fujiwara (JPN/JPN) d. Cibulkova/Date-Krumm (SVK/JPN) 36 64 10-6 (Match TB).

Sharapova advances in Bank of the West

   Maria Sharapova did her part. Now it's up to Serena Williams.
   Sharapova, a Russian seeded second, outlasted Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 Wednesday night in the second round of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
   If Williams beats Maria Kirilenko of Russia on Thursday afternoon, she will meet Sharapova in Friday's quarterfinals in a matchup of former No. 1 players in the world.
   Williams is unseeded at No. 169 after missing 11 months because of foot injuries and life-threatening blood clots in her lungs. She returned to the circuit last month and is playing in her first tournament in the United States in almost two years.
   Also winning Wednesday were third-seeded Marion Bartoli of France, fifth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland and eighth-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia.
   The 5-foot-3 Cibulkova, a Wimbledon quarterfinalist this year, ousted 19-year-old American Christina McHale, the youngest player in the top 100, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.
   Bartoli won the Bank of the West Classic in 2009 and reached the final in 2008. Radwanska gained the semifinals last year and Cibulkova the quarterfinals in 2008.
   In the doubles quarterfinals Wednesday, Wimbledon runners-up Sabine Lisicki of Germany and Samantha Stosur of Australia lost to third-seeded Julia Goerges of Germany and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic 2-6, 6-4, 10-5 match tiebreaker.