More players confined to hotels; Cal commit falls in final

   The number of players confined to their Melbourne hotel rooms has increased from 47 to 72, The Associated Press reported today.

   The players may not leave their rooms, even to practice, for 14 days. The Australian Open remains scheduled for Feb. 8-21.

   A COVID-19 case was reported from a third flight, which had carried 58 passengers from Doha, Qatar, where Australian Open men's qualifying was held. Twenty-five players were on board, but the passenger, who tested negative before the flight, is not a player, according to the AP. 

   Other than the 72 players, competitors must quarantine for 14 days but may leave their hotels for five hours a day to train. Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said Tennis Australia might alter the lead-up tournaments to help players unable to train. 

   UTR Pro Tennis Series — Second-seeded Hanna Chang, a 22-year-old professional from Fontana in the Los Angeles region, outlasted Jessica Luisa Alsola, a high school senior from Fresno, Calif., 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 in the final of the first-place playoff in Newport Beach, Calif.

   Alsola, a University of California, Berkeley signee, led 3-0 in the third set in the $25,000 singles-only tournament. She defeated top-seeded Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area in the semifinals.

   Chang collected $4,000.

   In other finals:

   —Second-seeded Kimberly Hance, a high school senior, beat Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer, a high school junior, 7-6 (tiebreaker score not available), 2-6, 6-3 in a matchup of Southern Californians in the second-place playoff. Hance has verbally committed to UCLA; Lutkemeyer is uncommitted.

   —Jwany Sherif of Huntington Beach in the L.A. region defeated Tomi Main, a high school junior from Seaside, Calif., in the Monterey area, 6-3, 6-4 in the third-place playoff. Main has verbally committed to Texas Tech for 2022.

   Another $25,000 tournament in Newport Beach will begin Monday. Entries include Cal All-American Haley Giavara, a sophomore from San Diego, and Madison Weekley, a high school junior from Alamo in the Bay Area. Weekley has verbally committed to Saint Mary's in the Bay Area. 

   Weekley is scheduled to face Lutkemeyer in a round-robin match on Monday, followed by Giavara against Skyler Grishuk of Newport Beach. 

Many players placed in strict Melbourne quarantine

Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria
Azarenka reportedly is among 47 players con-
fined to their Melbourne hotel room for 14 days.
File photo by Paul Bauman

   The Australian Open is three weeks away, but the coronavirus already is causing problems.

   Three coronavirus cases have been detected on charter flights carrying players from Los Angeles and Abu Dhabi to Melbourne, The Associated Press reported today. None of the cases were players.

   Forty-seven players on the flights may not leave their hotel rooms, even to practice, for 14 days. Reportedly among them are 2019 U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu, two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka and 2014 U.S. Open runner-up Kei Nishikori.

   The Australian Open is scheduled for Feb. 8-21.

   Meanwhile, 16th-ranked Madison Keys has tested positive for COVID-19 and is doubtful for the Australian Open. Keys won the last Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in 2017.

   UTR Pro Tennis Series — In a semifinal between Northern California teenagers, Jessica Luisa Alsola stunned top-seeded Katie Volynets 6-2, 7-6 (8) in Newport Beach, Calif.

   Volynets, a 19-year-old professional ranked No. 316 in the world, served for the second set at 6-5 in the $25,000 singles-only tournament. She double-faulted for 30-30, lost the next point and was broken after mis-hitting a forehand off a deep return of a second serve. 

   Alsola, a high school senior headed to the University of California, Berkeley, had three match points at 6-3 in the tiebreaker, but Volynets leveled at 6-6 when Alsola netted a forehand putaway. Alsola recovered to claim the set and match.

   Alsola is set to meet Hanna Chang, a 22-year-old pro from Fontana, Calif., on Sunday at 9 a.m. PST. The final will be streamed live.

   Chang, ranked No. 300, beat Megan McCray, a former Oklahoma State star from Oceanside, Calif., 6-3, 7-6 (4). 

   In the semifinals of the third-place playoff, Tomi Main, a high school junior from Seaside, Calif., in the Monterey area defeated Maya Pitts, a high school senior from Los Angeles, 7-5, 6-4. 

   Main, who has verbally committed to Texas Tech for 2022, is slated to play Jwany Sherif of Huntington Beach, Calif., on live stream Sunday at about 11 a.m. 

   Sherif crushed Filippa Bruu-Syversen, a high school senior from Chatham, N.J., 6-2, 6-0. Bruu-Syversen has verbally committed to UC Santa Barbara.

Murray tests positive; Main advances in UTR $25K

Andy Murray could miss the Australian Open, in which
he is a five-time runner-up. File photo by Paul Bauman

   Andy Murray, who won the first two of his 46 tour-level singles titles in San Jose, Calif., reportedly has tested positive for the coronavirus. 

   The former world No. 1 could miss the Australian Open, which has been postponed three weeks to Feb. 8-21 in Melbourne. The tournament requires a two-week quarantine beforehand and a negative virus test before departing. 

   Murray, 33, reportedly has no symptoms of COVID-19. The three-time Grand Slam singles champion, who played only four tournaments last year because of the five-month COVID break and lingering hip problems, has tumbled to No. 123 in the world. He underwent a second operation on his right hip in January 2019 and missed five months.

   Murray received a wild card in this year's Australian Open, in which he is a five-time runner-up.

   Six-time champion Roger Federer, 39, also will miss the tournament after having arthroscopic surgery on his right knee twice in the first half of 2020.  

   UTR Pro Tennis Series — Tomi Main, a high school junior from Seaside, Calif., in the Monterey area, defeated Isabella Chhiv, a high school sophomore from Irvine, Calif., 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the third-place playoff in Newport Beach, Calif.

   Main, who has verbally committed to play at Texas Tech, led 5-1 in the third set in the $25,000 tournament. She is scheduled to play top-seeded Maya Pitts, a high school senior from Los Angeles, on Saturday at about 11 a.m. PST. Live streaming is available. 

   Pitts routed Misa Malkin, a University of South Carolina signee from Tucson, Ariz., 6-1, 6-2.

   Top-seeded Katie Volynets, a 19-year-old pro from Walnut Creek, Calif., in the San Francisco Bay Area, is slated to meet Jessica Luisa Alsola, a University of California, Berkeley signee from Fresno, Calif., on Saturday at 9 a.m. in the semifinals of the first-place playoff. The match will be streamed live.

Quinn wins all-NorCal boys 16 final in Winter Nationals

   Sixth-seeded Ethan Quinn of Fresno, Calif., beat fifth-seeded Kurt Miller of Los Gatos, Calif., in the San Jose area 6-2, 6-2 today to win the boys 16 singles title in the USTA National Winter Championships on clay in Orlando, Fla.
   Quinn did not lose a set in seven matches. Miller was coming off a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 victory over third-seeded Michael Zheng of Montville, N.J., on Thursday.
   In the boys 18 doubles final on a hardcourt in Orlando, fourth-seeded Keshav Chopra of Marietta, Ga., and Coy Simon of Charleston, S.C., topped third-seeded Aryan Chaudhary of Santa Clara, Calif., also near San Jose, 4-6, 6-2, retired.
   Chaudhary and Zapp, who won the singles title, will enroll at Stanford and North Carolina, respectively.
   Top-seeded Natalie Block of Plantation, Fla., and Aubrey Nisbet of Wilmington, Del., won the girls 16 doubles crown on clay in Orlando. They wore down unseeded Katie Codd of Carlsbad in the San Diego region and Tomi Main of Seaside, near Monterey, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0. Codd claimed the singles title.

Ovrootsky advances to Eddie Herr girls 16 doubles final

   Vivian Ovrootsky will play for another Eddie Herr title.
   The 15-year-old San Jose, Calif., resident, who won the singles crown in the 14s two years ago, reached Saturday's doubles final in the 16s with Sarah Hamner of Fort Collins, Colo.
   The top-seeded pair defeated eighth-seeded Kassandra Di Staulo of Weston, Fla., and Gavriella Smith of New Orleans 6-4, 6-2 today in the Eddie Herr International 2019 in Bradenton, Fla.
   Hamner and Ovrootsky are scheduled to play sixth-seeded Ava Krug of Lakewood Ranch, Fla., and Qavia Lopez of Milwaukee.
   Krug and Lopez outclassed fourth-seeded Midori Castillo of Chula Vista, Calif., in the San Diego area and Tomi Main of Seaside, Calif., near Monterey, 6-3, 6-3.

Two NorCal girls reach Eddie Herr doubles semis in 16s

   Two Northern Californians separately reached the girls 16 doubles semifinals in the prestigious Eddie Herr International 2019 in Bradenton, Fla.
   In the top half of the draw, top-seeded Sarah Hamner of Fort Collins, Colo., and Vivian Ovrootsky of San Jose, Calif., outplayed fifth-seeded Ashlyn Krueger of Flower Mound, Texas, and Marcela Lopez of Frisco, Texas, 6-1, 6-4 today.
   In the bottom half, fourth-seeded Midori Castillo of Chula Vista, Calif., in the San Diego area and Tomi Main of Seaside, Calif., (near Monterey) topped Ann Guerry and Kate Sharabura, both of Atlanta, 6-4, 7-5.
   Hamner and Ovrootsky are scheduled to meet eighth-seeded Kassandra Di Staulo of Weston, Fla., and Gavriella Smith of New Orleans on Friday. Castillo and Main are set to face sixth-seeded Ava Krug of Lakewood Ranch, Fla., and Qavia Lopez of Milwaukee.
   Ovrootsky, seeded first in singles, fell to fifth-seeded Lan Mi of the United States 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 in the quarters. Ovrootsky won singles title in the 14s two years ago.
   Other NorCal players have been eliminated from the tournament. Esther Vyrlan of Sacramento lost in the girls 14 doubles quarterfinals, fourth-seeded Priya Nelson of Sacramento in the third round of the girls 14s and Aidan Mayo of Roseville in the Sacramento area in the second round of the boys 18s.
   Past competitors in the Eddie Herr tournament include eventual world No. 1s Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova, Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic. Herr, the father of international junior tennis, died in 2000 at 93.

Mayo, Houghton reach third round in Orange Bowl

   Aidan Mayo and India Houghton reached the third round of singles and Tomi Main helped pull off a big upset in doubles today, all in the 16s, at the Orange Bowl in Plantation, Fla.
   The 12th-seeded Mayo, who grew up in the Sacramento suburb of Roseville, beat Samir Banerjee of Basking Ridge, N.J., 7-6 (7), 6-2 in the prestigious clay-court tournament.
   Mayo, who trains at the USTA Player Development Center in Carson, will meet unseeded American Joshua Miller.
   Third-seeded Pablo Llamas Ruiz of Spain outplayed Max Fardanesh of Albany in the San Francisco Bay Area 6-3, 6-3.
   Mayo also advanced to the doubles quarterfinals with Spencer Brachman of Commack, N.Y. Seeded fourth, they eliminated Fardanesh and Evan Wen of Morristown, N.J., 6-4, 6-3.
   The unseeded Houghton, from Belvedere Tiburon in the Bay Area, routed Whitney King of Grosse Ile, Mich., 6-0, 6-2 to set up a match against third-seeded Tara Malik of Secaucus, N.J.
   Elise Wagle of Niskayuna, N.Y., downed Main, from Seaside in the Monterey area, 6-4, 6-3.
   Main and Jordyn McBride of Valencia in the Los Angeles region ousted top-seeded Elaine Chervinsky of Boca Raton, Fla., and Madison Sieg of Greenwich, Conn., 6-4, 6-2 to reach the doubles quarterfinals.
   Ava Catanzarite of Franklin Park, Pa., and Allie Gretkowski of Mount Pleasant, S.C., surprised seventh-seeded Leena Bennetto of Canada and Houghton 6-4, 6-4.
   Main and McBride are scheduled to play Catanzarite and Gretkowski on Wednesday.

In all-NorCal final, Quan wins Easter Bowl boys 12s

   In an all-Northern California final, No. 2 seed Rudy Quan of Roseville beat No. 10 Raghav Jangbahadur of Palo Alto 6-1, 6-4 on Thursday to win the boys 12 championship in the Easter Bowl at Indian Wells.
   Quan also won the boys 12 title in the USTA National Winter Championships at Tucson, Ariz., in January.
   Meanwhile, Jenson Brooksby of Carmichael and 15th-seeded Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek advanced to the boys and girls 18 quarterfinals, respectively.
   In the girls 16 quarterfinals, India Houghton of Belvedere Tiburon outlasted Kimberly Hance of Torrance 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
   Houghton, who ousted top-seeded Gianna Pielet of El Paso, Texas, in the second round, will meet Hibah Shaikh of Teaneck, N.J. Shaikh beat Allura Zamarripa of Saint Helena 6-1, 6-4.
   Fourth-seeded Allura and Maribella Zamarripa downed Makayla Mills of Wilmington, N.C., and Anna Ross of Mt. Pleasant, S.C., 6-4, 6-1 in the doubles quarterfinals.
   In the girls 14 doubles final, No. 3 seeds Ann Guerry and Kate Sharabura, both of Atlanta, beat No. 6 Anushka Khune of Palo Alto and Tomi Main of Seaside 6-2, 7-5.
   No. 4 seeds Zachery Lim of Fairfield and Alex Lin of Gold River edged No. 7 Hunter Heck of Saint Paul, Min., and Maxwell McKennon of Newport Beach 5-7, 6-3 [10-8] in the boys 16 quarterfinals.
   Lim and Lin will take on No. 1 seeds Keshav Chopra of Marietta, Ga., and Coy Simon of Charleston, S.C.

A. Zamarripa, Quan stay hot in Winter Nationals

   Allura Zamarripa of Saint Helena in the Napa area and Rudy Quan of Roseville in the Sacramento region continued their remarkable runs in the USTA National Winter Championships today.
   Zamarripa upset a seed for the fourth time to reach the girls 16 semifinals in Orlando, Fla. Quan, seeded seventh in the boys 12s, throttled top-seeded Nicholas Mangiapane of Davidson, N.C., 6-0, 6-1 in the quarterfinals in Tucson, Ariz. Quan has lost only seven games in his five matches.
   Zamarripa ousted No. 11 Carmen Corley of Albuquerque, N.M., 6-4, 6-2 in the hard-court tournament. Zamarripa also knocked off No. 4 Anessa Lee of San Marino in the Los Angeles region in the first round, No. 17 Allison Zipoli of Winnetka, Ill., in the third round and No. 13 Katja Wiersholm of Kirkland, Wash., in the fourth round.
   Zamarripa will take on No. 1 Gianna Pielet of El Paso, Texas. Pielet held off No. 10 Rosie Garcia Gross of New York 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 after edging Leyden Games of Newport Beach 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4) in the fourth round.
   Fourth-seeded Allura and Maribella Zamarripa lost to top-seeded Corley and Pielet 6-3, 6-4 in the doubles semis.
   Meanwhile, No. 7 Priya Nelson of Sacramento and No. 10 Anushka Khune of Palo Alto advanced to the girls 14 semis in Tucson, but No. 14 Tomi Main of Seaside in the Monterey area lost.
   Nelson beat No. 17 Nevena Carton of Middletown, N.J., 7-5, 6-2, and Khune outclassed Emma Baker of Chicago 6-2, 6-3. Khune has not lost a set in her five matches.
   Midori Castillo, from the San Diego suburb of Bonita, dominated Main 6-1, 6-3 to prevent an all-Northern California matchup against Khune.
   In the boys 14 quarterfinals in Tucson, No. 3 Samir Banerjee of Basking Ridge, N.J., downed No. 14 Brian Chong of Cupertino (near San Jose) 6-3, 7-5.