McDaniel loses by walkover in National Indoors final

   Unseeded Williams Cooksey of Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich., beat third-seeded Marcus McDaniel of Vacaville by walkover (illness) on Monday in the final of the USTA Boys 18 National Indoor Championships in Overland Park, Kan.
   Vacaville is located between San Francisco and Sacramento, Calif.
   McDaniel, a high school senior headed to Georgia Tech, won the doubles title with Keshav Chopra of Marietta, Ga. Unseeded, they outplayed third-seeded Michael Andre and Blake Kasday of Las Vegas 8-5 in the final.
   In the boys 16s in Wayland, Mass., fifth-seeded Kurt Miller of Los Gatos in the San Francisco Bay Area reached the semifinals. He lost to seventh seed and eventual champion Michael Zheng of Montville, N.J., 6-3, 6-1.
   Dylan Tsoi of El Dorado Hills in the Sacramento area won the boys 14 doubles title in Chicago with Dylan Charlap of Palos Verdes Estates in the Los Angeles region. Seeded second, they topped sixth-seeded Cole Stelse of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Adam Sun of Glendale, Ariz., 9-7 in the final.
  Mirabelle Brettkelly of San Francisco reached the girls 18 singles quarterfinals in Indianapolis. She edged fourth-seeded Rachel Arbitman of Hewlett, N.Y., 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) in the second round.

Bryans, Easter Bowl, NorCal HOF, coach award, colleges

Bob Bryan, serving, and Mike Bryan play in the 2016
U.S. Open. The ex-Stanford stars won their sixth Miami
Open title on Saturday. Photo by Paul Bauman

   The Bryan brothers and Vivian Ovrootsky won big titles on Saturday.
   Third seeds and ex-Stanford stars Bob and Mike Bryan beat unseeded Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands and Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 7-5, 7-6 (6) for their sixth Miami Open crown and second in a row.
   The 40-year-old Bryan twins saved four set points in the second-set tiebreaker. They also survived four match points in their 7-6 (7), 6-7 (8) [14-12] semifinal victory over top-seeded Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Marcelo Melo of Brazil.
   The Bryans collected their 118th tour-level title and second since Bob returned to action in January after missing eight months. He underwent hip replacement surgery last August.
   "A doctor was cutting me open eight months ago, and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it back on court," said Bob, who lives in the Miami suburb of Sunny Isles Beach. "To win this title is a dream and certainly wasn't possible eight months ago. This huge for us."
   Ovrootsky, a 14-year-old San Jose resident, downed DJ Bennett of Belleview, Fla., 6-3, 6-4 for the Easter Bowl girls 16 title in Indian Wells. Ovrootsky was seeded ninth and Bennett 10th.
   "I didn't play my best tennis today, and DJ played unbelievable tennis today, and her forehand was really on," Ovrootsky, who also received the USTA Sportsmanship Award in her age group, told publicist Steve Pratt. "I just had to get through the match and stay offensive."
   Ovrootsky, who won an ITF Level 4 tournament in Irvine last week, extended her winning streak to 12 matches.
   "It was tiring, but I think I recovered well, which is why I was able to move the way I did today," said Ovrootsky, who has won three USTA gold balls and two silver balls.
   Ovrootsky takes online classes and trains under Nick Fustar at the Eagle Fustar Tennis Academy.
   Two other San Francisco Bay Area residents, Ria Bhakta of Saratoga and Natasha Rajaram of Los Altos, lost in finals on Thursday.
   Third-seeded Tsehay Driscoll of Pacific Palisades in the Los Angeles area topped the second-seeded Bhakta 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 for the girls 14 singles title.
   Unseeded Daniela Borruel of Buena Park in the L.A. region, and Rebecca Kong of San Diego dominated second-seeded Thea Latak, from the Chicago suburb of Burr Ridge, Ill., and Rajaram 6-3, 6-1 for the girls 12 doubles crown.
   NorCal Hall of Fame -- The USTA Northern California Tennis Hall of Fame will enshrine prominent coach Brad Stine and four others at a luncheon on Friday, June 21, at the Peninsula Golf & Country Club in San Mateo. The event is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
  Stine has coached Jim Courier, Kevin Anderson, Mardy Fish, Andrei Medvedev and other pros. Also inducted will be:
   --Elly Hakami, who reached No. 32 in the world in singles in 1988 and No. 68 in doubles in 1987.
   --Jeff Greenwald, a sports psychologist, author and top 40-and-over player.
   --Administrators Linda Peltz and Mike Skinner.
   Developmental Coach of Year -- Joseph Gilbert, the owner and director of the JMG Tennis Academy at Arden Hills Athletic & Social Club in Sacramento, became the first two-time winner of the Team USA Developmental Coach of the Year award.
   Gilbert coaches:
   --Collin Altamirano and Jenson Brooksby, the 2013 and 2018 USTA boys 18 national champions, respectively.
   --Ishaan Ravichander and Mason Nguyen, the boys 18 and 12 winners, respectively, in the USTA National Winter Championships in January.
   --Zachery Lim, who won the boys 16 title in the International Spring Championships in Carson last April.
   Colleges -- Caroline Lampl edged Rianna Valdes 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) to give the No. 7 Stanford women (14-1, 5-0 Pac-12) a 4-3 victory over No. 16 USC (13-3, 3-1) in Los Angeles.
   Emily Arbuthnott, one of the Cardinal's top players, missed the match for an undisclosed reason.
   No. 11 UCLA (12-4, 4-1) routed No. 15 Cal (9-5, 3-2) 6-1 in Los Angeles.
   The No. 12 USC men (13-6, 3-0) outplayed No. 10 and host Stanford (12-4, 2-2) 4-1. No. 19 UCLA (10-4, 3-0) beat No. 40 Cal (9-9, 2-2) 4-2 in Berkeley.

A. Zamarripa reaches quarters in Winter Nationals

   Allura Zamarripa of Saint Helena in the Napa area upset No. 13 seed Katja Wiersholm of Kirkland, Wash., 7-5, 6-2 today to reach the girls 16 quarterfinals in the USTA National Winter Championships in Orlando, Fla.
   Wiersholm is the third seed Zamarripa has beaten in the hard-court tournament. She also ousted No. 4 Anessa Lee of San Marino in the Los Angeles region in the first round and No. 17 Allison Zipoli of Winnetka, Ill., in the third round.
   Zamarripa will meet No. 11 Carmen Corley of Albuquerque, N.M. Corley topped Bridget Stammel of Dallas 6-1, 6-7 (7), 6-2.
   No. 17 seed India Houghton of Belvedere Tiburon in the San Francisco Bay Area lost to Justine Dondonay of Alhambra in the Los Angeles region 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (6).
   Zamarripa also advanced to the doubles semifinals with her sister Maribella. Seeded fourth, they will face top-seeded Corley and Gianna Pielet of El Paso, Texas.
   Three NorCal girls advanced to the singles quarters in the Winter National 14s in Tucson, Ariz. No. 7 Priya Nelson of Sacramento and No. 14 Tomi Main of Seaside in the Monterey area prevailed in three sets, and No. 10 Anushka Khune of Palo Alto won in straight sets.
   Unseeded Gavathri Krishnan and Emily Novikov, both from the San Jose area, lost in the girls 12s in Tucson.
    In the boys 18s in Orlando, No. 3 Kevin Zhu of Pearland, Texas, beat Marcus McDaniel of Vacaville (near Sacramento) 6-2, 6-4.
   Two NorCal boys stayed alive in Tucson. No. 14 Brian Chong of Cupertino (near San Jose) survived against No. 8 Louis Cloud of San Antonio 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3 in the 14s. No. 7 Rudy Quan, from the Sacramento suburb of Roseville, routed No. 11 Meethre Bardot of Frisco, Texas, 6-0, 6-2 in the 12s.
   Quan will take on No. 1 Nicholas Mangiapane of Davidson, N.C.

Future Stanford players retire in Orange Bowl

   Both Alexandre Rotsaert and Niluka Madurawe are headed to Stanford next fall.
   And both retired from their second-round matches today in the Orange Bowl on clay in Plantation, Fla. In fact, all singles players with Northern California ties have been eliminated from the prestigious tournament.
  Daniel Michalski of Poland ousted the seventh-seeded Rotsaert, from Boca Raton, Fla., 7-5, 0-0, retired in the boys 18s. Rotsaert reached the quarterfinals of last week's Eddie Herr International Championships on clay in Bradenton, Fla.
   Sixth-seeded Nika Radisic of Slovenia downed Madurawe -- from Sunnyvale, 10 miles (16.1 kilometers) southeast of Stanford in the San Francisco Bay Area -- 6-4, 1-0, retired in the girls 18s.
   Meanwhile, Northern Californians Aidan Mayo and Marcus McDaniel lost to higher seeds in the third round of the boys 16s.
   No. 7 seed Roi Ginat of Israel defeated No. 9 Mayo, from Roseville, 6-3, 6-4. No. 1 Nini Gabriel Dica of Romania beat No. 13 McDaniel, from Vacaville, 7-5, 6-0. Mayo advanced to the semifinals in the Eddie Herr 14s last week. Dica and Ginat will meet in the quarterfinals.
   Keenan Mayo, Aidan's older brother, and Madurawe remain alive in doubles.
   Tomas Kopczynski of Delray Beach, Fla., and Mayo ousted sixth-seeded Thomas Bosancic of Austria and Sangeet Sridhar of Glendale, Ariz., 7-6 (3), 7-5 in the first round. Mayo and Adrian Andreev of Bulgaria won the Eddie Herr 18s.
   Madurawe and Luba Vasilyuk of Frisco, Texas, beat Tanisha Kashyap of India and Alexandra Vagramov of Canada 6-3, 6-3 in the opening round. Madurawe and Vasilyuk will face top-seeded Caty McNally of Cincinnati and Whitney Osuigwe of Bradenton.
   In the boys 16 doubles quarterfinals, top-seeded Cezar Cretu of Romania and Dica edged fifth-seeded Alexander Lee of Oak Brook, Ill., and McDaniel 6-2, 6-7 (4) [10-7].

Ovrootsky sweeps girls 12 titles in Winter Natls.

   Vivian Ovrootsky of San Jose swept the girls 12 singles and doubles titles today in the USTA National Winter Championships in Tucson, Ariz.
   Also, Carolyn Campana of Hillsborough in the San Francisco Bay Area won the girls 18 doubles crown with Ivana Corley of Albuquerque, N.M., in Scottsdale, Ariz.
   Ovrootsky, the No. 1 seed, overwhelmed No. 2 Matilyn Wang of Scottsdale 6-1, 6-2. Then No. 4 Ovrootsky and Anushka Khune of Palo Alto in the Bay Area topped No. 8 Katherine Hui of San Diego and Emmie Moore of Salt Lake City 7-5, 6-4.
   No. 3 Campana and Corley outclassed No. 5 Jessica Aragon of Plano, Texas, and Emilee Duong of Placentia in the Los Angeles area 6-3, 6-2.
   In the rain-delayed 18s and 16s in Scottsdale, three Northern Californians lost in the singles semifinals to the eventual champions.
   No. 6 Ryan Seggerman of Coronado in the San Diego area defeated No. 16 Jenson Brooksby from the Sacramento suburb of Carmichael 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. Brooksby was the runner-up in the national hard court and clay court 16s last summer. He won the national hard court 12s in 2013.
   Eighth-seeded Chelsea Kung of Fort Worth, Texas, beat seventh-seeded Sara Choy of Palo Alto 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. Choy won the 16s last year.
   Top-seeded Brandon Nakashima of San Diego dominated unseeded Marcus McDaniel of Vacaville, between San Francisco and Sacramento, 6-1, 6-3.

NorCal's Leustian, McDaniel fall in Jr. Orange Bowl

   Northern Californians Stefan Leustian and Marcus McDaniel lost by identical scores today in the boys 14 round of 16 in the Junior Orange Bowl in Key Biscayne, Fla.
   The No. 9-seeded Leustian, from Mather in the Sacramento region, fell to No. 1 Bu Yunchaokete of China 6-4, 6-4. No. 17 McDaniel, from Vacaville, succumbed to No. 9 Spencer Brachman of Commack, N.Y.
   Leustian faced Yunchaokete for the second time this month. Yunchaokete won 6-1, 6-2 in the boys 14 quarterfinals of the Eddie Herr International Championships on Dec. 1 in Bradenton, Fla.
   McDaniel, the runner-up in the NorCal Sectional 14s in Sacramento in June, is ranked sixth nationally in the 14s. Leustian, who won the prestigious Les Petits As (Small Champions) title in Tarbes, France, in January, is eighth.
   McDaniel, 14, was playing in his first Junior Orange Bowl. 

Two NorCal boys reach last 16 in Jr. Orange Bowl

Stefan Leustian, shown last year, crushed Barney Fitz-
patrick of Great Britain 6-1, 6-0 in the Junior Orange
Bowl. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Two Northern Californians have reached the boys 14 round of 16 in the Junior Orange Bowl.
   No. 9 seed Stefan Leustian of Mather in the Sacramento area crushed 17th-seeded Barney Fitzpatrick of Great Britain 6-1,
6-0 today in Key Biscayne, Fla.
   Also, No. 17 Marcus McDaniel of Vacaville, between Sacramento and San Francisco, surprised No. 6 Han-chih Lin of Taiwan 6-3, 6-2.
   McDaniel is ranked sixth nationally in the 14s and Leustian eighth.
   Leustian, who won the prestigious Les Petits As (Small Champions) title in Tarbes, France, in January, will take on No. 1 Bu Yunchaokete of China. Yunchaokete saved two match points in a 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (9) victory over No. 17 Shunsuke Mitsui of Japan.
   Yunchaokete dominated Leustian 6-1, 6-2 in the boys 14 quarterfinals of the Eddie Herr International Championships on Dec. 1 in Bradenton, Fla.
   McDaniel, the runner-up in the NorCal Sectional 14s in Sacramento in June, will face No. 9 Spencer Brachman of Commack, N.Y. Brachman eliminated Peter Alam of Great Britain 6-4, 6-4.
   McDaniel, 14, is playing in his first Junior Orange Bowl
   "My level has been rising and I've been playing in bigger and bigger tournaments and having better results throughout the year," McDaniel, who will begin training part-time at the new USTA center in Orlando, Fla., next month, told Zoo Tennis. "I wanted to get a taste of what international was like, so we came here for the experience, to see what the top players around the world are like, to see what I need to go back and work on."
   Mayo named -- Aidan Mayo, 13, of Roseville in the Sacramento region and three other American boys were chosen to play in next month's Nike International in Bolton, England, and Les Petits As.
   Also picked were Toby Kodat and Martin Damm of Bradenton and Alexander Bernard of Naples, Fla. Damm's father, a Czech also named Martin, won the 2006 U.S. Open men's doubles title with Leander Paes of India and peaked at No. 5 in the world in doubles in 2007.
   Mayo's brother, Keenan, reached the quarterfinals of the 14s in Les Petits A's two years ago.
   Past winners of Les Petits As, for 12- to 14-year-olds, include Rafael Nadal, Michael Chang, Martina Hingis and Kim Clijsters.

Chaudhary, Willy earn Sectional 14 singles titles

No. 1 seed Aryan Chaudhary, left, of Santa Clara subdued No. 2
Marcus McDaniel of Vacaville for the boys 14 singles title in the
NorCal Junior Sectional Championships. Photo by Paul Bauman

   SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Aryan Chaudhary should have lost the first set.
   And the second set.
   Instead, he pulled out both to claim the boys 14 singles title in the NorCal Junior Sectional Championships.
   The top-seeded Chaudhary, from Santa Clara, overcame deficits of 3-5 in both sets and a set point against him in the second set to subdue second-seeded Marcus McDaniel of Vacaville 7-5, 7-6 (1) on Tuesday at the Arden Hills Resort Club & Spa.
   "I was making a lot more balls (than McDaniel)," the 13-year-old Chaudhary, ranked second in the 14s in Northern California, explained after the baseline battle in 91-degree (32.8 Celsius) heat. "He just wasn't (on) his game today. I wasn't playing too well, but I was able to force him to make some mistakes. That's how I was able to close out the match."
   McDaniel, ranked fourth in the NorCal 14s at 14 years old, agreed but added that he made a strategic mistake.
   "I just couldn't make that many balls," said the 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter), 130-pound (59-kilogram) McDaniel, who has a punishing forehand. "I played the wrong shot (of Chaudhary's). I should have played the other side. I played his backhand too much, and he's too solid on the backhand side."     
   On the adjacent court, second-seeded Avantika Willy of Dublin beat fifth-seeded Laura Sanders of El Cerrito 6-3, 7-5 for the girls 14 crown.

No. 2 seed Avantika Willy, above, of Dublin
beat No. 5 Laura Sanders of El Cerrito for
the girls 14 crown. Photo by Paul Bauman

   McDaniel served for both sets at 5-3 but surrendered the last four games of the first set and squandered a set point at 5-4 in the second set when he sailed a routine backhand long.
   "I was just starting to press too much, trying to keep pressure on him," McDaniel said. "I wasn't hitting the ball as well as I could, which led to me missing even more and led to me going downhill faster instead of letting him make the errors."
   The 5-foot-9 (1.75-meter), 140-pound (63.5-kilogram) Chaudhary, meanwhile, said he "started staying more calm and trying to reduce my errors and force him to make more errors."
   McDaniel still had a chance to force a decisive third set but dropped the last six points of the tiebreaker to end the match. During the stretch, he committed four unforced errors and a double fault and returned a first serve long.
   "I felt his ball was coming off the strings faster," McDaniel said of the tiebreaker. "He was kind of loose because he had the (first) set under his belt. ... I couldn't make my backhand. It's usually pretty solid."
   McDaniel strongly resembles Piedmont's Mackenzie McDonald, who turned pro this month after sweeping the NCAA singles and doubles titles as a UCLA junior, in several ways. Their first and last names are similar, they look alike facially, and both have slight builds.
   Chaudhary swept in singles and doubles, as he did last year in the 12s in Sunnyvale. Willy, however, won her first sectional title.
   "I just came out mentally prepared," said Willy, who will turn 14 on July 25. "(Sanders) is a great player. I was just really focused, and every point, I was mentally in it."
   Sanders, who was not available for comment, was coming off long three-setters in the quarterfinals and semifinals. But Willy said Sanders didn't appear tired.
   "She may have been, but I couldn't tell," Willy admitted.

NORCAL JUNIOR SECTIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Tuesday's finals

At UC Santa Cruz

Girls 18

Singles

   Carolyn Campana (4), Hillsborough, def. Hind Abdelouahid (9), San Jose, walkover.

Doubles

   Hind Abdelouahid, San Jose, and Katie Volynets (3), Walnut Creek, def. Niluka Madurawe, Sunnyvale, and Katya Tabachnik (1), San Francisco, 7-5, 6-4.

Girls 16

Singles

   Connie Ma (2), Dublin, def. Angela Huang, Piedmont, 6-2, 6-0.

Doubles

   Katherine Duong, Cupertino, and Connie Ma (2), Dublin, def. Pamela Duke, San Jose, and Jacquie Tan (1), Elk Grove, 6-3, 6-4.

At Arden Hills Resort & Spa in Sacramento

Boys 14

Singles

   Aryan Chaudhary (1), Santa Clara, def. Marcus McDaniel (2), Vacaville, 7-5, 7-6 (1).

Doubles

   Aryan Chaudhary, Santa Clara, and Hugo Hashimoto (1), San Jose, def. Marcus McDaniel, Vacaville, 0-6, 7-6 (4) [10-2].

Girls 14

Singles

   Avantika Willy (2), Dublin, def. Laura Sanders (5), El Cerrito, 6-3, 7-5.

Doubles

   Allura Zamarripa and Maribella Zamarripa (1), Saint Helena, def. Tiffany Boudagian, South San Francisco, and Vivian Ovrootsky, San Jose, 6-2, 6-1.