Doubles star to return to Bay Area after long absence

Sania Mirza, left, and Martina Hingis meet the press after winning the doubles
title at Indian Wells in 2015. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Sania Mirza, formerly ranked No. 1 in doubles, plans to return to the San Francisco Bay Area for the first time in 13 years.

   The 34-year-old Indian is set to play doubles in next month's Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, tournament officials announced today.

   Mirza, who is only a runner-up finish in the French Open from earning a career Grand Slam in women's doubles, took 2018 and 2019 off to have her first child with husband Shoaib Malik. 

   Mirza leads active players with 42 career tour-level doubles titles, including the 2007 Bank of the West Classic crown at Stanford with Shahar Peer of Israel. Mirza also reached the 2007 singles final at Stanford, losing to Anna Chakvetadze of Russia.

   The doubles field for the Silicon Valley Classic, Aug. 2-8 at San Jose State University, also includes former doubles world No. 1s Bethanie Mattek-Sands of Phoenix, Latisha Chan of Chinese Taipei and Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic. 

   Peschke, 46, has won both Mubadala doubles titles, in 2018 with Chan and 2019 with Nicole Melichar, a Czech-born American.

   The team of Mattek-Sands, ranked No. 13 in the doubles, and countrywoman Desirae Krawczyk, ranked No. 18, heads the acceptance list for the tournament, which will mark 50 years of women's tour tennis in the Bay Area. Krawczyk has won the last two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles.

   ATP Tour — In the first round of doubles on clay in Gstaad, Switzerland, alternates Zizou Bergs of Belgium and Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands dispatched No. 4 seeds Andre Goransson (University of California, Berkeley, 2014-17) of Sweden and Frederik Nielsen of Denmark 6-3, 6-4.

   At Wimbledon in 2012, Nielsen and Jonathan Marray of Great Britain became the only wild cards in the tournament's 144-year history to capture the men's doubles title. Three years later, Nielsen won Northern California Challengers in Tiburon and Fairfield with Johan Brunstrom of Sweden.

   In Los Cabos, Mexico, Brandon Nakashima, 19, of San Diego upended No. 4 seed and 2017 champion Sam Querrey, a 33-year-old San Francisco native, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round on hardcourts.

   ATP Challenger Tour — In the opening round of doubles in the $52,00 Atlantic Tire Championships on hardcourts in Cary, N.C., Orlando, Fla., residents Ulises Blanch and Sam Riffice, a Sacramento, Calif., native, outplayed Boris Arias of Bolivia and Gonzalo Villanueva of Argentina 6-1, 7-5 in a matchup of unseeded teams. 

   Riffice won the NCAA singles title as a Florida junior in May after helping the Gators capture the team championship.

   USTA Pro Circuit — Qualifier William Griffith, a former Cal standout from Fresno, Calif., beat Nathan Ponwith of Scottsdale, Ariz., 7-5, 6-4 in the first round of the $15,000 Edwardsville (Ill.) Futures on hardcourts. Ponwith completed his eligibility at Arizona State in May.

Wimbledon Day 12: Serena on track for Grand Slam

Serena Williams moved with one tournament of the first
calendar-year Grand Slam in more than a quarter century.
2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   Women's final -- The only thing that will keep Serena Williams from winning a calendar-year Grand Slam is nerves. Even that probably won't stop her. She's that much better than everyone else.
   Overcoming early and late jitters, the top-seeded Williams defeated No. 20 Garbine Muguruza 6-4, 6-4 to win her fourth straight major title. Williams will try to become the first player in more than quarter century to win a calendar-year Grand Slam beginning late next month in the U.S. Open.
   Only three women have won all four majors in one season: Maureen Connolly in 1953, Margaret Court in 1970 and Steffi Graf in 1988. Graf added the Olympic gold medal in singles that year. Unfortunately for Williams, the Olympics are next year.
   The 33-year-old Williams collected her 21st major singles title, third in history behind Court's 24 and Graf's 22. It was Williams' sixth Wimbledon singles crown, also third behind Martina Navratilova's nine and Graf's seven. Muguruza, 21, was playing in her first Grand Slam final.
   Williams double-faulted three times in the opening game and eight times overall. Muguruza led 4-2 in the first set before Williams took five straight games and nine of the next 10. She almost squandered a 5-1 lead in the second set.    
   Doubles finals -- Martina Hingis of Switzerland won her first Wimbledon title in 17 years, teaming with Sania Mirza of India to edge Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 5-7, 7-6 (4), 7-5. The top-seeded Hingis, 34, and Mirza trailed the second seeds 5-2 in the final set.
   Hingis also won Wimbledon titles in singles in 1997 and doubles in 1996 and 1998. She quit tennis in 2002 because of foot and leg injuries but returned in 2006. Hingis retired again in 2007, when she was suspended for two years because of a positive cocaine test, and came back in 2013 to play doubles only.
   Hingis can add another Wimbledon trophy today, when she and Leander Paes of India play Timea Babos of Hungary and Alexander Peya of Austria in mixed doubles.
   In the men's doubles final, fourth-seeded Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands and Horia Tecau of Romania beat 13th-seeded Jamie Murray of Great Britain and John Peers of Australia 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-4.
   Tecau had been 0-3 in Wimbledon men's doubles, losing with Robert Lindstedt of Sweden from 2010 through 2012. Murray is Andy Murray's older brother.
   Men's final matchup -- Second-seeded Roger Federer leads top-seeded Novak Djokovic 20-19 in the head-to-head series. They are 6-6 in majors and 1-1 at Wimbledon.
   Djokovic has won the last two meetings, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2 in the final at Indian Wells (hardcourt) in March and 6-4, 6-3 in the final at Rome (clay) in May. See my story on the Indian Wells final.
   Stars and stripes -- In the boys doubles semifinals, fourth-seeded Reilly Opelka and Akira Santillan knocked off top-seeded Taylor Fritz and Michael Mmoh 6-3, 6-4. All but Santillan, who's from Japan, are American.
  Opelka, who's 6-foot-10 (2.08 meters) at 17 years old, and Santillan will face eighth-seeded Nam Hoang Ly of Vietnam and Sumit Nagal of India in today's final.
   Fast fact -- Williams, who will turn 34 on Sept. 26, became the oldest woman to win a Grand Slam singles title in the Open era (since 1968).
   Northern California connection -- Williams and Muguruza are scheduled to defend titles in the Bank of the West Classic, Aug. 3-9 at Stanford.
   Williams defeated Angelique Kerber last year for her third Bank of the West singles championship, and Muguruza teamed with countrywoman Carla Suarez Navarro for the doubles crown.
   Kerber and Suarez Navarro also plan to return to Stanford.
   Quote -- Williams on holding the winner's silver dish and balancing it on her head: "I was peaceful, feeling really good. Maybe a little after that, I started thinking about New York."
   Today on TV (beginning at 6 a.m. California time, ESPN; replay at noon on ABC) -- Men's singles final, Djokovic (1) vs. Federer (2); mixed doubles final, Peya and Babos (5) vs. Paes and Hingis (7).

Federer, Azarenka overcome adversity for BNP titles

   Roger Federer and Victoria Azarenka overcame everything but alien invaders in the past two weeks to win the BNP Paribas Open.
  Adversity? You name it -- Federer and Azarenka faced it in Indian Wells.
  In the middle of the tournament, Federer, his wife and two young daughters felt the effects of the virus that devastated many players and fans. Federer also lost the first set against two first-time opponents, dangerous Milos Raonic and Thomaz Bellucci.
  In the semifinals, Federer waited out a three-hour rain delay, then coped with the wind in a straight-set victory over rival Rafael Nadal. Finally, the Swiss star tamed the huge serve of 6-foot-9 John Isner, coming off a victory over top-ranked Novak Djokovic, to win 7-6 (7), 6-3 Sunday for his record fourth title at Indian Wells.
   "When it all pays off after a bit of a scare early on in the week and you get the title and the emotions are going, it's a wonderful feeling," Federer told reporters. "I remember the days when I won three years in a row here, and I enjoyed myself over here." 
   Federer, 30, has won 15 straight matches (three titles) and 39 of 41 since losing in the U.S. Open semifinals last September. He avenged both losses, to Nadal in the Australian Open semifinals and to Isner in the first round of the Davis Cup in Switzerland, in the BNP Paribas Open. Federer also won the Indian Wells trophy for the first time since 2006, when he capped a three-year title run.
   Azarenka, ranked No. 1, apparently avoided the virus but trailed 4-1 in the third set and was two points from losing against Mona Barthel of Germany in the second round. From then on, Azarenka lost only 21 games in five matches, culminating in her 6-2, 6-3 triumph over Maria Sharapova, for her first Indian Wells singles crown (she won the 2009 doubles title with Vera Zvonareva).
   It was the first women's final between No. 1 and No. 2 in the world since 2008. Azarenka improved to 23-0 this year, the best start since Martina Hingis went 37-0 in 1997.
   "Last year was a learning experience for me," said Azarenka, who also beat Sharapova handily to win the Australian Open in January and the 2010 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford. "Every loss I analyzed, and step by step (I) just built on everything -- just daily hard work. I had a lot of tough losses last year, and so now I'm really trying to turn it around in my own favor. I have just been trying to be consistent and professional every day. I never dreamed this would happen."
   Both Indian Wells champions received $1 million.
   Marc Lopez and Nadal won their second Indian Wells doubles title, beating Isner and San Francisco native Sam Querrey 6-2, 7-6 (3) in a matchup of unseeded teams. Lopez and Nadal, close friends from Spain, also won the 2010 championship.
   Top-seeded Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond extended their winning streak to 16 matches and four tournaments Saturday, coasting to a 6-2, 6-3 victory over defending champions Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina. It was Raymond's seventh Indian Wells doubles title (three with Lindsay Davenport, two with Samantha Stosur and one each with Rennae Stubbs and Huber) and Huber's first.
   Huber, 35, and Raymond, 38, each have won the Bank of the West Classic doubles title twice but never together. Huber triumphed in 2008 with Cara Black and in 2010 with Davenport, and Raymond prevailed in 2002 with Stubbs and in 2003 with Black.
   Mirza won the Bank of the West doubles crown in 2007 with Shahar Peer.
   Men's Challengers -- Two top-seeded players with Northern California ties, Scott Lipsky and John Paul Fruttero, won Challenger doubles titles.
   Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and Lipsky, a former Stanford All-American living in Huntington Beach, defeated unseeded Americans Bobby Reynolds and Michael Russell 6-4, 6-3 in the $125,000 Dallas Tennis Classic.
   John Paul Fruttero, an ex-Cal All-American living in San Jose, topped unseeded Australians Colin Ebelthite and Samuel Groth 6-2, 6-4 in the $50,000 ATP Challenger Pingguo in Pingguo, China.
   Colleges -- The No. 88 Sacramento State women (9-8) lost 6-1 to No. 28 Saint Mary's (8-5) in a nonconference match in the Sacramento suburb of Gold River. The Hornets' Maria Meliuk, a senior, edged Carla Lindlar 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 10-5 tiebreak at No. 5 singles. ...
   The rebuilding Sac State men (3-9) also lost a nonconference contest 6-1, to host Texas-Arlington (4-8). The Hornets' point came from freshman Marek Marksoo, an Estonian who beat Nicolas Moreno 6-4, 6-4 at No. 4 singles.