Top-seeded Johnson downs prospect Mmoh in Fairfield

Steve Johnson serves during the Aptos (Calif.) final, in which
he beat Dominik Koepfer, in August. Photo by Paul Bauman

   In tonight's featured match, top-seeded Steve Johnson beat fellow American Michael Mmoh 7-6 (4), 6-4 in the second round of the $108,320 NorthBay Healthcare Men's Pro Championship at Solano Community College in Fairfield, Calif.
   Johnson pounded 10 aces and won 82 percent of the points on his first serve (31 of 38) in his first match against Mmoh, who was named after Michael Jordan. Johnson committed six double faults.
   Johnson, 29, and Mmoh, 21, have won three Northern California Challenger singles titles combined. Johnson captured his second Aptos crown in August, and Mmoh took last year's Tiburon title.
   Both players, however, have dropped in the rankings. Johnson, mourning the death of his father/mentor at 58 in 2017, has fallen from a career-high No. 21 in 2016 to No. 99. Mmoh, who sat out for four months early this year because of injuries, has plunged from a career-high No. 96 last October to No. 290.
   Johnson is scheduled to play unseeded Evan King, a 27-year-old left-hander from Chicago, on Thursday. King edged 13th-seeded Mitchell Krueger of Dallas 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 (4) in 2 hours, 54 minutes after outlasting alternate Strong Kirchheimer of Cary, N.C., 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4 in 2:18 on Monday.
   On Wednesday not before 7 p.m., 14th-seeded Jack Sock will meet Jack Draper of Great Britain in the second round. Sock, a former top-10 singles player and a three-time Grand Slam men's doubles champion, will make his first Challenger appearance in more than five years. All 16 singles seeds received first-round byes.
   Also advancing today were fourth-seeded Taro Daniel of Japan and unseeded Sebastian Korda of Bradenton, Fla.
   Daniel, 26, beat wild card Brandon Holt, the 21-year-old son of International Tennis Hall of Famer Tracy Austin, 6-1, 6-4 in the second round.
   Korda, the 19-year-old son of former world No. 2 Petr Korda, topped Sebastian Fanselow, a 27-year-old former Pepperdine All-American from Germany, 6-4, 7-6 (4) in the first round.
   Daniel reached the quarterfinals last week in Tokyo on the ATP Tour to rise 16 places to No. 111. He was born in New York to an American father, Paul, and Japanese mother, Yasue. The family moved to Japan when Taro was an infant and to Spain when he was 14.
   Paul Daniel grew up in Santa Cruz, Calif., a two-hour drive south of Fairfield, on the Pacific Ocean, and Taro spent summers there until he was 15 or 16.
   Here are the updated Fairfield singles and doubles draws and Wednesday's schedule.

Defending champ, 2013 winner fall in Tiburon openers

   Two Tiburon champions lost their opening matches in this year's Challenger, and a third nearly joined them.
   Wild card Brandon Nakashima, a University of Virginia sophomore from San Diego, ousted sixth seed and defending champion Michael Mmoh of Bradenton, Fla., 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 today in the second round at the Tiburon Peninsula Club. All 16 singles seeds received first-round byes.
   Mmoh, also the Tiburon runner-up in 2016, cracked the top 100 for the first time at No. 96 by winning last year's tournament for his second title in two weeks. But the 21-year-old son of former pro player Tony Mmoh will plummet 79 places to No. 287 on Monday. Michael Mmoh sat out for four months early this year because of injuries.
   Also today, Sekou Bangoura of Bradenton beat 12th seed and 2013 Tiburon champion Peter Polansky of Canada 6-1, 6-4. Polansky, 31, won last week's $54,160 Columbus (Ohio) Challenger on an indoor hard court.
   Bangoura also surprised fourth-seeded Dustin Brown, a German who's 2-0 against Rafael Nadal, in the first round at Tiburon in 2015 as a qualifier before losing to Mackenzie McDonald of nearby Piedmont in the second round.
   Seventh-seeded Darian King, the 2016 Tiburon champion from Barbados, topped another 21-year-old American, Ulises Blanch, 2-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5.
   Meanwhile, Ecuador's Roberto Quiroz, a Columbus semifinalist last week, dispatched second-seeded Denis Kudla, a 27-year-old American who lost a thriller in the 2015 Tiburon final, 6-3, 6-2 in 61 minutes.
   Top-seeded Tommy Paul of Greenville, N.C., beat wild card Brandon Holt, a USC senior and the son of International Tennis Hall of Famer Tracy Austin, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2. Paul also defeated Holt in the second round in Tiburon last year, 5-0, retired (shoulder).
   Here are the updated Tiburon singles and doubles draws and Thursday's schedule.

American Paul heads field in $108K Tiburon Challenger

Tommy Paul plays fellow U.S. prospect
Michael Mmoh in last year's Tiburon (Calif.)
quarterfinals. Mmoh, who went on to win
the title, called it the highest-quality match
in which he had ever played. Photo by
Paul Bauman 

   Top-seeded Tommy Paul of Greenville, N.C., is scheduled to play either wild card Brandon Holt, the son of International Tennis Hall of Famer Tracy Austin, or Raymond Sarmiento of Los Angeles in the second round of the First Republic Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger.
   All 16 seeds received first-round byes in the $108,320 tournament, which will begin Monday at the Tiburon Peninsula Club in the San Francisco Bay Area.
   The 22-year-old Paul, the only top-100 player in the draw at a career-high No. 88, won his third Challenger singles title, all since last November, three weeks ago in New Haven, Conn.
   Paul, the 2015 French Open boys singles champion, reached the Tiburon quarterfinals last year as a wild card ranked No. 343. He defeated Holt 5-0, retired (shoulder), in the second round before losing to Michael Mmoh, a top U.S. prospect like Paul, 7-6 (7), 2-6, 6-3. Mmoh, who went on to win the title, called it the highest-quality match in which he had ever played.
   Mmoh, 21, is one of three former Tiburon singles champions in the field. Darian King (2016) of Barbados is seeded seventh, and Peter Polansky (2013) of Canada is seeded 12th. Polansky, 31, won the singles title in the $54,160 Columbus (Ohio) Challenger today on an indoor hard court. He will jump 33 places to No. 167 on Monday.
   American Denis Kudla, who lost a thriller in the 2015 Tiburon final, is seeded second in this year's tournament.
   Collin Altamirano, a 23-year-old Sacramentan, is set to play former University of Virginia teammate JC Aragone of Yorba Linda in the Los Angeles area on Monday at about 2 p.m.
   It will be Altamirano's first appearance in the main draw in Tiburon, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, and first in five years there. He lost in the second round of qualifying in 2014.
   Here are the Tiburon singles and doubles draws and Monday's schedule.

Mmoh, 20, wins 2nd straight Challenger, cracks top 100

Michael Mmoh, left, of Bradenton, Fla., and Marcel Granollers of Spain
pose after Sunday's final in the $100,000 Wells Fargo Tiburon (Calif.)
Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Note to readers: If you enjoy my coverage of Northern California tennis, please donate on my homepage. Even $5 or $10 will help. Here's why I need your support. Thank you.   TIBURON, Calif. — John McEnroe said in an interview in Sacramento four years ago that American tennis, which has not had a men's Grand Slam singles champion since Andy Roddick in 2003, needs great athletes.
   Well, it has one, even if he was born in Saudi Arabia to a former pro from Nigeria and an Irishwoman, lived there until he was 12 and has a German coach.
   Nobody is saying just yet that Michael Mmoh, 20, will end the United States' drought, although he or one of several other prospects could. But reach the top 20 or perhaps top 10? Yes.
   Mmoh took a big step in that direction on Sunday by winning his second Challenger title in two weeks. He rose 12 places in the world rankings to debut in the top 100 at No. 96, surpassing his father Tony's career high of No. 105 in 1987.
   Playing more offensively under his new coach, former pro Alexander Waske, the fifth-seeded Mmoh outclassed top-seeded Marcel Granollers, a Spaniard formerly ranked in the top 20 in singles and top five in doubles, 6-3, 7-5 in the $100,000 Wells Fargo Tiburon Challenger.
   "Michael is one of the most athletic people you will ever see on a tennis court," 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) Reilly Opelka, a 21-year-old American who's seeded second in this week's $100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger at the University of the Pacific's Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center, told The New York Times in 2015. "There is nothing he can't do out there."

   Mmoh saved all five break points against him against Granollers and broke serve twice, to lead 3-1 in the opening set and 6-5 in the second, in their first career meeting. Mmoh rarely ventures to the net, but with Granollers serving at 5-5, 15-30 in the second set, the American nailed a backhand volley winner and broke when Granollers sailed an inside-out forehand long on the next point. Granollers had done the same on break point against him in the first set.
   Mmoh, a chiseled 6-foot-2 (1.88 meters) and 198 pounds (90 kilograms), ultimately won with his power and athleticism.

Michael Mmoh forms a heart with his
hands after Sunday's final to signify his
love of Tiburon. Photo by Paul Bauman

   "For sure," he said afterward while riding a stationary bicycle in the gym at the Tiburon Peninsula Club to cool down. "I think it was a very good balance of serving really well, hitting my forehand really well, moving really well and passing really well.
   "I think that's what it takes to beat a guy like that. There's not just one formula to beat him -- you have to do a little bit of everything, and I stepped up when I needed to. That's how I got that break (in the second set). I came in and hit that volley. I'm pretty proud of the way I stepped up in the big moments and played my aggressive tennis."
   The 32-year-old Granollers, 6-foot-3 (1.91 meters) with an excellent all-around game, agreed with Mmoh's assessment.
   "Obviously, he's a tough player, very solid, no mistakes," said Granollers, who rose four notches to No. 100 after being ranked No. 177 at the beginning of the year. "He served good, very solid from the baseline. Yeah, was two breaks. He have more chances than me today. He deserves (to win). He played better than me today."
   After Mmoh held serve at love to close out the match, he sprawled on his back in exultation. Then he quickly rose and formed a heart with his hands in front of the near-capacity crowd of about 600 at the Tiburon Peninsula Club.

   Mmoh also reached the 2016 Tiburon final, beating Erik Crepaldi of Italy 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7) in the second round of qualifying, saving three match points against Tennys Sandgren in the first round of the main draw and one against defending champion Tim Smyczek in the semifinals before losing to Darian King of Barbados. Sandgren, who retired from that match with a lower back injury while trailing 0-2 in the third set, reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in January.
   "Two-thousand-sixteen was my first run at a Challenger tournament," recalled Mmoh, who lost to eventual champion Cameron Norrie of Great Britain in last year's Tiburon quarterfinals. "I almost lost in qualies. I almost lost in the first round of the main draw.
   "That was like getting to the finals of a tour event for me at that time. That was my first big breakthrough at this level. I've won a lot of matches in Tiburon -- let's put it that way. I love coming back here."
   Mmoh and Waske stayed at their host family's house in downtown San Francisco, a 20-minute drive south of Tiburon (Spanish for "shark"), last week.
   "We had the pleasure of driving over the Golden Gate Bridge every day," Waske gushed. "When you can see San Francisco through the clouds, it's so nice."

Michael Mmoh leaps into a forehand during his 6-3, 7-5
victory on Sunday. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Mmoh was coming off the title in a $75,000 indoor tournament in Columbus, Ohio.
   "Honestly, I was not expecting to do that these two weeks," said Mmoh, who has won four Challenger singles titles, all in the United States. "I was hoping to do the best I can and rack up some wins, but to win back-to-back given the fact that one was indoors and one was outdoors, I surprised myself as well. But I'm putting in a lot of hard work with Alex, and my game is definitely ready. I just put it all out; I was pretty locked in both weeks. Good things happen when you work hard."

   The 43-year-old Waske, who peaked at No. 89 in singles in 2006 and No. 16 in doubles in 2007, said he and agent Olivier van Lindonk, who also manages Kei Nishikori and Garbine Muguruza, told Mmoh "the same thing at the beginning of the week. Winning a Challenger is great. Darian King and Tim Smyczek have won here. But you also have Sam Querrey and Jack Sock — they go boom, boom. If you win two in a row, I feel a lot of players are realizing, now this is different. This is a different level.
   "Today in the final, that was outstanding. That was by far the best he played all week. His offensive game really came in today, smacking the forehand from the middle (of the court), being aggressive on the short balls. That was really good tennis. (He was) a little lucky on the break points because Marcel missed a couple of shots he normally makes, but I'm really happy with (Mmoh's) performance."
   Mmoh, however, will not try to win his third title in three weeks. He withdrew from this week's $150,000 Challenger in Monterrey, Mexico, where he was seeded second, because of fatigue.
   Mmoh pocketed $14,400 for winning the Tiburon singles title, raising his totals to $276,722 this year and $564,029 for his career. Granollers received $8,480 for reaching the singles final and $640 for advancing to the doubles quarterfinals, giving him $9,753,558 for his career.
   The United States leads all nations with 12 men in the top 100. Next are Spain and France. Mmoh became the third 20-year-old American in the elite group, with No. 41 Frances Tiafoe and No. 60 Taylor Fritz, and fifth overall, with No. 15 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece and No. 68 Andrey Rublev of Russia. Two teenagers are ranked in the top 100: 19-year-olds Denis Shapovalov of Canada at No. 31 and Alex de Minaur of Australia at No. 38.
   Tiafoe cracked the top 100 for the first time by winning the Stockton Challenger two years ago at 18. Fritz won back-to-back Northern California Challengers three years ago at 17.

Marcel Granollers, formerly ranked in the top 20
in singles and top five in doubles, could not match
Michael Mmoh's power and athleticism. Photo by
Paul Bauman

   Granollers, also seeded first in Monterrey, attained career highs of No. 19 in singles in 2012 and No. 4 in doubles in 2013. Can Mmoh also reach the top 20 in singles?
   "Yes, for sure," declared Granollers, a two-time Grand Slam runner-up in men's doubles who has reached the fourth round in singles at the French Open three times and the U.S. Open once. "He's a hard worker; he will do it."
   Top 10?
   "Why not?" Granollers suggested. "He's 20 years old. He's (now 96) in the world. He's one of the best young players in the world."
   Granollers isn't the first accomplished Spaniard Mmoh has beaten. He knocked off then-No. 15 Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-4 in the second round of the Miami Open on the ATP World Tour, the major leagues of men's tennis, in March before losing to South Korean Hyeon Chung, an Australian Open semifinalist this year, 6-1, 6-1.
   Mmoh is often compared to another 32-year-old, Gael Monfils of France. Six-foot-4 (1.93 meters) and extremely athletic, Monfils climbed to a career-high No. 6 in 2016 after reaching his second career Grand Slam semifinal in the U.S. Open. But Mmoh's idol as a kid was Roddick, an International Tennis Hall of Famer known primarily for his blistering serve.
   "I always loved his whole persona and everything about him -- the way he played, the way he competed, his mental toughness and his personality," Mmoh said in a January 2017 story on thetennischannel.com.
   It all began in Saudi Arabia, where Tony Mmoh had a sports marketing business and met Geraldine O'Reilly, a nurse and avid tennis fan, while coaching the Saudi Davis Cup team.
   Michael was named after Michael Jordan. Tony had become infatuated with the NBA legend while attending St. Augustine's College (now St. Augustine's University) in North Carolina and becoming a U.S. citizen. Tony now lives in Atlanta. Geraldine lives in Australia, where she's a citizen, but plans to move to the United States, Michael said.
   Michael caught the basketball bug as a child before devoting himself to tennis.
   "When I was 6, I wanted to become a basketball player," said Michael, a big fan of the NBA Wizards and NFL Redskins because Tony's family is from Washington, D.C. "My dad got me into tennis when I was 3. Originally, I didn't really like it, and I loved basketball. Right after that, I realized — given that my dad was a professional tennis player — it would just be easier to play tennis and have that type of mentor.

Qualifiers Hans Hach Verdugo, left, of Mexico and Luke Saville of Aus-
tralia won the doubles title in their first tournament together. Photo by
Paul Bauman

   "I ended up loving tennis. That's the most important thing. That's the thing with my half-siblings. My dad tried to get them to play tennis, but they just didn't love the sport. I feel like I really love the sport — that's why I work so hard."
   Michael moved from Saudi Arabia to Bradenton, Fla., to train at the IMG Academy. He does not speak Arabic.
   "I went to a school with Americans and Europeans," explained Mmoh, who is still based in Bradenton. "Obviously, my parents didn't speak Arabic, so I literally don't speak a word of it."
   Mmoh peaked at No. 2 in the world junior rankings in 2015 after reaching the boys singles semifinals in the French Open and boys singles quarterfinals at the U.S. Open. He won the 2016 USTA Boys' 18 National Championship in Kalamazoo, Mich., to earn an automatic wild card into the men's main draw at the U.S. Open and lost to hard-hitting Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 6-4, 6-1 in the opening round. Then came his breakthrough in Tiburon.
   Tony Mmoh could not be reached for comment, but in the story on thetennischannel.com, he said: "I have tried to talk to Michael in terms of where he wants to be and what it takes for him to get there. The experiences I have had on the tour I have talked to him about. He is a very intelligent young man and very determined. I see that in him. He is trying hard to be successful, and that makes me proud."

   Tony advises Michael to be a predator on the court.

   "He always tells me to be a lion out there, to really put the hurt on guys," Michael said. "In the past, sometimes I would let guys put the hurt on me. I was so good at defense and whatnot, so he always told me to be a lion and take it to guys and really intimidate them by the way you play and how aggressive you are. I would say that's the best thing he ever told me because that's the way I'm going to become a top player."

   In the Tiburon doubles final, qualifiers Hans Hach Verdugo of Mexico and Luke Saville of Australia beat unseeded Gerard Granollers, Marcel's younger brother, and Pedro Martinez of Spain 6-3, 6-2. Hach Verdugo and Saville, who played in their first tournament together, split $6,200. Saville won the 2011 Wimbledon boys singles title.
   Here are the completed Tiburon singles and doubles draws.

Veteran Granollers, promising Mmoh reach Tiburon final

   TIBURON, Calif. -- Marcel Granollers has reached the top 20 in the world in singles.
   Michael Mmoh could get there.
   Granollers, a 32-year-old Spaniard, and Mmoh, a 20-year-old American, will meet for the first time today in the final of the $100,000 Wells Fargo Tiburon Challenger.
   The top-seeded Granollers, ranked No. 104, outclassed sixth-seeded Noah Rubin, a 5-foot-9 (1.75-meter) American, 6-2, 6-2 with his impressive all-around game on Saturday at the Tiburon Peninsula Club.
   "It was not easy; it was a bit windy today," said the 6-foot-3 (1.91-meter) Granollers, who has fallen from career highs of No. 19 in singles in 2012 and No. 4 in doubles in 2013 to No. 104 and No. 22, respectively. "I think I played a very solid match, a smart match with no mistakes."
   The fifth-seeded Mmoh, ranked a career-high No. 108, coped with not only the wind but Australian alternate James Duckworth's unusual game to prevail 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in a matchup of the last two Challenger champions.
   Mmoh won last week's $75,000 tournament in Columbus, Ohio, and the Duckworth triumphed as a qualifier in a $50,000 tourney in Cary, N.C., two weeks ago in his comeback from five operations (three on his right foot and one each on his right shoulder and right elbow).
    "I hadn't really played a guy with that type of game style in a very long time, if ever," said Mmoh, the Tiburon runner-up two years ago as a qualifier. "Some of the plays he was coming up with I've never seen. He has a really good short slice where he kind of baits you. He hits it short and wants you to come in; he has pretty good passing shots. Nobody really uses that play except for maybe (Roger) Federer.
   "And it's a different slice. He puts a lot of undercut on it. In this wind, it's pretty tough to play against his slice. The stuff he does with his slice and sometimes with his drop shots, his volleys ... he's a very creative, crafty tennis player."
   Mmoh said Duckworth did not play the same way in their only other match, which the Aussie won  6-3, 6-4 two years ago in the first round of qualifying in Winston-Salem (N.C.) on the elite ATP World Tour.
     "I think two years ago he was just better than me.," Mmoh admitted. "He was beating me from the back, but I feel like I've improved a lot, so he felt he had to change it up, and it almost threw me off guard."
   This time, Mmoh served and returned better than Duckworth, 26, in a match that featured many long rallies. Mmoh's first-serve percentage for the match was almost double Duckworth's: 70 to 38.
   After Mmoh broke serve to lead 3-2 in the third set, Duckworth pleaded, "One first serve, one first serve!"
   The sixth game of the second set was almost a match in itself. It went to 13 deuces, and Duckworth saved seven break points before holding serve for 4-2.
   "I couldn't believe I didn't win it," Mmoh said. "I thought I played a good game, had so many chances. I felt like every single break point he was down he was playing a very tough point. He made sure he hit that slice with a lot of undercut and just didn't miss. Sometimes on the deuce point, he wasn't doing that. He was little streaky.
   "That game was a momentum changer. It gave him a lot of confidence and kind of defeated me in a way."

   But only temporarily. Mmoh recovered in the third set to advance.
   Not only are Mmoh and Granollers ranked near each other now, they were No. 175 and No. 177, respectively, at the beginning of the year.
   Granollers, who has earned $9.74 million in career prize money, attributed his rise to "playing more matches, and this gives you more confidence. Last year, I lost many first rounds, so I don't play many matches during the week, and you are out of your rhythm."
   Mmoh, meanwhile, credited "a lot of hard work last offseason" with his former coach, Glenn Weiner, and help from his new coach, Alexander Waske, a 43-year-old former pro from Germany.
   "He's taken my game to the next level," said Mmoh, who played in the main draw at Wimbledon for the first time as a qualifier in July and reached his second career ATP quarterfinal at Los Cabos later in the summer. "The fact I've been doing so well so consistently the second half of the year is all due to him, honestly."
   Mmoh, a chiseled 6-foot-2 (1.88 meters) and 198 pounds (98 kilograms), added that Waske has helped him add offense.
   "I'm a very good defensive player. It's tough to get by me and whatnot, but my offensive tennis wasn't fully developed, and I didn't exactly know how to execute it. I felt like he gave me a very good template," Mmoh said.
   Waske, who peaked at No. 16 in doubles in 2007 and No. 89 in singles in 2006, agreed that "offense is the thing that's missing in order to do the next step. There's a couple more steps he needs to do in order to get even higher -- get to top 50, top 20, whatever -- but Michael has incredible potential. His physical abilities are very strong. He has a lot of power, and he hasn't been using his power for offense, only for defense. In my opinion, he's too strong and too big to play defensive tennis purely. He will never be a chip-charger, but he needs to realize in which situation to play what. If he has a good serve and gets a short return, he needs to play offensive.
   "He's a smart guy. We had a lot of video analysis and looked at certain things. He's worked on it, and it's getting better."
   It figures that Mmoh, a one-man United Nations, would hire a non-American.
   Mmoh was born in Saudi Arabia to Tony Mmoh, a former journeyman professional and Olympian from Nigeria, and Geraldine O'Reilly, an Irishwoman who moved to Australia in 2016.
   Tony was coaching the Saudi Arabian Davis Cup team, and Geraldine, an avid tennis fan, was working in Saudi Arabia as a nurse at the time.
   Michael was named after Michael Jordan. Tony had become infatuated with the NBA legend while attending St. Augustine's College (now St. Augustine's University) in North Carolina and becoming a U.S. citizen. Michael moved from Saudi Arabia to Bradenton, Fla., at 12 to train at the IMG Academy and still is based there.
   Here are the Tiburon singles and doubles draws and today's schedule. The tournament is being streamed live.
   Here are the singles qualifying and main draws and today's schedule in the men's $100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger and the singles qualifying draw and today's schedule in the Stockton Women's $60K.

Mmoh tops Paul in dramatic clash of U.S. prospects

No. 5 seed Michael Mmoh held off wild card Tommy Paul 7-6 (7), 2-6,
6-3 today in the quarterfinals of the $100,000 Wells Fargo Tiburon
Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Note to readers: If you enjoy my coverage of Northern California tennis, please donate on my homepage. Even $5 or $10 will help. Here's why I need your support. Thank you.
   TIBURON, Calif. -- If today's match between Michael Mmoh and Tommy Paul is any indication, American fans have a lot to look forward to.
   In a dramatic battle between two of the United States' many men's prospects, the fifth-seeded Mmoh held off Paul, a wild card, 7-6 (7), 2-6, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the $100,000 Wells Fargo Tiburon Challenger on a chilly evening at the Tiburon Peninsula Club.
   Mmoh saved four set points and Paul two in the first set, which lasted 1 hour, 13 minutes. Mmoh bolted to a 5-0 lead in the third set before Paul reeled off the next three games to make matters interesting. Mmoh needed five match points, including four in the last game, to prevail in 2 hours, 37 minutes.
   Mmoh, 20, said it was the highest-quality match in which he has ever played.
   "I've played a lot of great players, and that was a really high level," he asserted.
   Mmoh attributed his victory to "mental toughness. I think he sometimes went through waves in the match where he was super locked-in and he wouldn't miss a ball, then at the beginning of the third set where he literally couldn't make a ball for five games. I think I was mentally locked in the entire time. I think that was the difference."
   Mmoh improved to 3-0 against the 21-year-old Paul, who was not available for comment. Each match has gone three sets.
   "I think Tommy Paul is going to be a name to remember in years to come just like my name, and I think we're going to have a lot of great battles in the future as well," said Mmoh, who was born in  Saudi Arabia to Nigerian pro Tony Mmoh and an Irish mother and named after Michael Jordan. "I'm looking forward to it."

Tommy Paul saved four match points before
succumbing. Photo by Paul Bauman

   And it's hardly just Mmoh, ranked No. 108, and Paul, ranked No. 343 after reaching a career-high No. 149 in January and then missing 4 1/2 months with a right elbow injury.
   The United States has four players 23 or younger in the top 100 -- No. 41 Frances Tiafoe (20), No. 62 Taylor Fritz (20), No. 80 Mackenzie McDonald (23) from Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area and No. 99 Jared Donaldson (21) -- and 11 more in the top 350. Two of them -- No. 138 Noah Rubin and No. 223 Christopher Eubanks, both 22 -- met earlier today in Tiburon.
   The 5-foot-9 (1.75-meter) Rubin, seeded sixth, beat the 6-foot-7 (2.01-meter) Eubanks 6-4, 6-3 in a matchup of the shortest and tallest players in the draw.
   "I don't think there are too many of us (little guys) left (on the pro tours)," Rubin said with a laugh. "The small guys coming out now are like 6-1 (1.85 meters). That's considered small, so 5-9 is incredibly small. It's tough, but at the same time, I'm willing to work to get where I need to be."
   Beating giants is nothing new for Rubin, a product of the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in New York. He toppled 6-foot-10 (2.08-meter) John Isner 6-4, 7-6 (6) in the second round in Washington, D.C., on the elite ATP World Tour this summer for his first victory over a top-10 player. Rubin then lost to 20-year-old Russian Andrey Rublev.
   Asked how he beats players like Isner and Eubanks in an era of power, Rubin said: "I think my power is underestimated. For a guy my size, I can come up with the goods. I can still attack if needed, but when I need to dig down balls for six straight games, my legs are able to do it. It's kind of the best of both worlds. I might not get the aces on big points, but at the same time, I'm going to steal some points."
   In Saturday's semifinals, which follow an 11 a.m. doubles match, Rubin will face top-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain for the first time, and Mmoh will play Australian alternate James Duckworth in a matchup of the last two Challenger champions.

Tommy Paul tries to stay warm during one of Michael Mmoh's
two medical timeouts. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Duckworth won a $50,000 tournament in Cary, N.C., two weeks ago in his comeback from five operations (three on his right foot and one each on his right shoulder and right elbow), and Mmoh triumphed in last week's $75,000 tourney in Columbus (Ohio). In their only previous meeting, Duckworth won 6-3, 6-4 two years ago in the first round of qualifying for Winston-Salem on the ATP World Tour.
   "He was just coming out of juniors then, so he wasn't playing anywhere near the level he's playing at now," Duckworth said after beating Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador 7-5, 6-3. "He's obviously pretty confident coming off a win in Columbus."
   Granollers, who reached career highs of No. 19 in singles in 2012 and No. 4 in doubles in 2013, dismissed John-Patrick Smith of Australia 6-2, 6-3.
   Smith, a 29-year-old left-hander, had beaten the 32-year-old Granollers 6-3, 6-4 on grass in the second round of qualifying at Wimbledon in June.
   "Every match is different," explained Granollers, now ranked No. 104. "At Wimbledon, he played a really good match. Today I served very good, I was aggressive, and I was very focused on the return also. I knew he's a great server, so I'm very happy to be in the semifinals."
   The first set of the Mmoh-Paul match featured two long, breathtaking rallies, including one on the last point that Mmoh won with a spectacular backhand passing shot down the line to elicit a roar from the crowd.
   Mmoh said he had "no idea" how many balls he and Paul, who won the Columbus doubles title with Peter Polansky of Canada, hit during the rallies.
   "It was just a blur, honestly. I don't even remember a lot of the points that I played. Every single point was a grind, and the whole match was a battle," said Mmoh, who reached his first Challenger final in Tiburon two years ago as a qualifier.

Top-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain exults
during his 6-2, 6-3 victory over John-Patrick
Smith of Australia. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Mmoh lost his serve in the opening game of the second set on a double fault, and Paul coasted the rest of the set.
   "I didn't feel like I could have hung in that set and been ready for the third," Mmoh said. "I was competing in the second set but getting ready for the third. I knew I had to ramp it up, and that's what I did."
   But Paul wouldn't go quietly. He came up with one tremendous shot after another on the first four match points, prompting Mmoh to yell at his coach, Alexander Waske, in frustration. Finally, Mmoh pounded a service winner to end matters.
   "I felt like I was playing just as good when it went to 5-3 as when I went up 5-0," Mmoh said. "I didn't think I did anything wrong, especially on all those match points. I thought I did the right thing and played well. He just came up with the goods."
   Mmoh, a right-hander with a two-handed backhand, took medical timeouts at 3-2 in the first set for a dried skin on his left little finger that had split and after the second set for a tight right shoulder.
   Paul, meanwhile, continually patted his lower back and tweaked his left ankle in the second game of the third set but never called for the trainer in the match.
   Here are the Tiburon singles and doubles draws and Saturday's schedule. The tournament is being streamed live. Admission is $30 on Saturday and $35 on Sunday ($55 for both days).
   Here are the singles qualifying draw and Saturday's schedule in the $100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger.

Hoop dreams gone, Eubanks ousts No. 2 seed in Aptos

Christopher Eubanks eyes a backhand volley
while warming up to play No. 2 seed Michael
Mmoh on Wednesday. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Note to readers: If you enjoy my coverage of Northern California tennis, please donate on my homepage. Here's why I need your support.
   APTOS, Calif. — U.S. men's tennis has waited a long time for a player like this.
   Christopher Eubanks, a 6-foot-7 (2.01-meter) African-American, is the type of athlete who typically goes to the NBA.
   "I love basketball," Eubanks admitted Wednesday. "If I could have a second life, I definitely would be a very serious basketball player, but things just didn't work out that way. My dad felt tennis was going to be the best career path for me, and reluctantly I went along with it. I think he made the right decision."
   Eubanks, a 22-year-old lifelong Atlanta resident, continued his rapid rise with a 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory over another African-American, second-seeded Michael Mmoh, in the second round of the $100,000 Nordic Naturals Challenger at the Seascape Sports Club.
   Eubanks likely is the tallest African-American pro player ever. Chip Hooper, a San Francisco Bay Area product who peaked at No. 17 in the world in 1982, comes close at 6-foot-6 (1.98 meters).
   But Hooper, who weighed 210 pounds (95 kilograms), was pure power. Eubanks, only 180 pounds (82 kg.) with Manute Bol-like arms and legs, has plenty of that and can move, although there's room for improvement.
   Eubanks converted his sixth match point against Mmoh, the 20-year-old son of Nigerian former pro Tony Mmoh, with an inside-out forehand on the alley line. Mmoh briefly questioned the call.
   Mmoh — "the most athletic player you'll ever see on a tennis court," according to friend and fellow U.S. hopeful Reilly Opelka — was almost helpless against Eubanks' booming serve on a typically brisk night in this seaside resort. Eubanks finished with seven aces and four double faults, won 88 percent of the points on his first serve (43 of 49) and escaped the only break point against him.

Michael Mmoh, warming up on Wednesday, lost to Christopher
Eubanks for the first time in four matches. Photo by Paul Bauman  

   The 236th-ranked Eubanks, who also displayed a punishing forehand and one-handed backhand, recorded his first victory over the 135th-ranked Mmoh in four career matches.
   "A lot of our matches tend to be a little bit like (tonight's) — (my) offense versus (his) defense," Eubanks said. "On the other occasions, Mike just played too good. I might have let some moments go when we played in the past, but he plays how he plays. He's a fighter; he's a competitor. He made me come up with the goods, and I couldn't do it before. Today I did a good job of staying consistent, playing very dominant first point to last."
   Also Wednesday, 20-year-old Frances Tiafoe upset Milos Raonic to reach the third round of the Rogers Cup in Toronto, and Evan King and Nathan Pasha advanced to the doubles quarterfinals in the Nordic Naturals Challenger. Tiafoe, who will crack the top 40 for the first time on Monday, King and Pasha are African-American.
   It appears African-Americans are making progress in men's professional tennis.
    "Absolutely," Eubanks asserted. "I've said it before: The more kids are able to see it and believe it, the more you'll see — I don't want to say a rush — but more African-American boys and girls introduced to the sport. If I hadn't had guys from the south side of Atlanta who were high-level tennis players, honestly I wouldn't have believed it was possible.
   "I feel like it's a visual thing. Kids will be whatever they see and believe is possible. The more Frances Tiafoe, Michael Mmoh, Donald Young and hopefully myself can get out there and show kids this life is possible — it just takes work, a little luck and a lot of resources — if you devote your time and you find the right people around you, it's definitely a possible career path."

No. 8 seed Prajnesh Gunneswaran of India narrowly avoided an
upset by young American JC Aragone in a 2-hour, 30-minute
slugfest. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Eubanks will meet unseeded Ernesto Escobedo, also 22, in Friday's quarterfinals. Escobedo, who has plummeted from a career-high No. 67 in July 2017 to No. 188, topped qualifier Aleksandar Vukic of Australia 7-6 (6), 7-6 (1).
   In the other half of the draw, fourth-seeded Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia will meet eighth-seeded Prajnesh Gunneswaran of India.
   Kokkinakis, who stunned Roger Federer in the second round at Miami in March, wore down Kaichi Uchida of Japan 7-5, 6-0.
   Gunneswaran, a 28-year-old left-hander, was fortunate to outlast 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) JC Aragone, 23, of Yorba Linda in the Los Angeles area, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in a 2-hour, 30-minute slugfest. Aragone, who helped Virginia win the NCAA title in all three of his years there, double-faulted while holding a match point at 5-4 in the second set and on break point in that game.
   Eubanks began playing at 2.
   "I have an older brother (Mark Jr.) who played, and when I came along (12 years later), my dad put me in the sport with him," Eubanks said.
   Eubanks' father prohibited him from playing on his high school basketball team.
   "I took advanced courses in high school," Eubanks explained. "I'd tell my dad that I would stay after school for tutoring, and I would go to tutoring for about 10 minutes, then I would scrimmage with the basketball team.

   "The basketball coach told me I had a spot on the team if I wanted it. I told my dad eagerly, 'Coach Rogers said I could play on the team.' Sternly he looked me in the face and said, 'No.' That was the extent of my basketball dreams."

JC Aragone was brilliant from the baseline against Prajnesh
Gunneswaran but double-faulted while holding a match point
and on break point in that game. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Eubanks has been mentored by Atlanta products Donald Young, who reached a career-high No. 38 in 2012, and Jarmere Jenkins, the 2013 NCAA singles runner-up and doubles champion from Virginia with Mac Styslinger and now Serena Williams' hitting partner.

   "Traveling with Donald Young kind of opened my eyes to see what professional tennis was like," said Eubanks, who has the one thing the former prodigy lacks — size. "If it hadn't been for him, I wouldn't have known how to go about playing Challengers or preparation or how to be diligent in practice every day.
   "He allowed me to travel with him to the French Open, Wimbledon, U.S. Open and a few other tournaments. I said, 'Wow, this is what professional tennis is; this is what I really want to do.' 

   Eubanks played at Georgia Tech in Atlanta for three years, earning Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year honors in his last two (2016 and 2017). He reached the quarterfinals of his hometown tournament on the ATP World Tour last summer, defeating top U.S. prospects Taylor Fritz and Jared Donaldson, and turned pro last October.
   Eubanks' first and only Challenger title, in Leon, Mexico, at an elevation of 5,955 feet (1,815 meters) in April, was particularly satisfying.
   "I made the final (the previous week) in Guadalajara (at an elevation of 5,138 feet or 1,566 meters) and lost 7-6 in the third," Eubanks recalled. "I left that tournament feeling like I was at rock bottom to go to Leon. I ended up winning that tournament 7-6 in the third in the final, so to go from as low as I felt like I could — because I honestly didn't know if I was good enough to get back to a Challenger final anytime soon — to not only get back but to win it in the same fashion I lost the first one was pretty cool."

   It isn't difficult to identify Eubanks' biggest strength.
   "Definitely my serve," he proclaimed. "I think my match today definitely revolved around my serve. If I don't serve well, I definitely don't win this match."
   Eubanks is working on "getting stronger. Movement is a big thing. Getting out of the corners is a thing I tend to struggle with a little bit right now. I'm hoping as I continue to grow I will get stronger and work a little more diligently on the return and the movement out of the corners.
   "Those are two areas I'm really focusing on. I think I can be a much better player. And always continuing to get the serve as good as possible. The better the serve can be, the higher my trajectory is."
   Eubanks is making his second appearance in Aptos. He played the 2016 tournament on Young's recommendation.

   "Young said, 'I won my first Challenger title in Aptos (in 2007). You'll love it there,' " Eubanks said. "I lost 6-2, 6-1 to Eric Quigley in the first round and was on the next flight home. Now I know what (Young) meant."   

   Here are the updated Aptos singles and doubles draws and Thursday's schedule. Live streaming is available.

Four unseeded players oust seeds in S.F. quarters

   Seedings meant nothing on an extraordinary day in the $100,000 San Francisco Open.
   An unseeded player beat a seed in every quarterfinal today in the indoor tournament at the Bay Club SF Tennis Center. Falling were No. 3 Michael Mmoh, No. 5 Bradley Klahn, No. 6 Noah Rubin and No. 7 Filip Peliwo.
   Miomir Kecmanovic, an 18-year-old Serb, outslugged Mmoh, a semifinalist last year at 19 years old, 7-6 (3), 6-7 (4), 6-1 in 2 hours, 38 minutes. The match featured an epic 53-point rally. Both players train in Bradenton, Fla.
   Germany's Dominik Koepfer, a former Tulane All-American, beat Southern California's Klahn, a 2012 Stanford graduate, 6-2, 7-6 (6) in a matchup of left-handers.
   Jason Jung, a Los Angeles-area native who plays for Taiwan, routed New York-area resident Rubin, the 2014 Wimbledon boys singles champion, 6-3, 6-1 in 52 minutes.
   And Dennis Novikov, a 24-year-old San Jose product, held off Canada's Peliwo, the 2012 Wimbledon boys singles champion, 7-5, 7-5.
   In Saturday's semifinals, the 215th-ranked Novikov will meet No. 285 Koepfer for the first time at 5:30 p.m., followed by No. 194 Kecmanovic vs. No. 205 Jung.
   Jung crushed Kecmanovic 6-1, 6-1 in 48 minutes last week in the quarterfinals of the $125,000 Dallas Challenger in their first meeting. Kecmanovic was coming off a 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4) victory over American Austin Krajicek, also in 2 hours, 38 minutes.
   Here are the San Francisco singles and doubles draws and Saturday's schedule.

NorCal's Novikov ousts top seed in $100K S.F. Open

Dennis Novikov serves in doubles during the 2016
U.S. Open. Photo by Paul Bauman

   SAN FRANCISCO — Patience paid off for Dennis Novikov in a wild first-set tiebreaker on Tuesday night.
   Top-seeded Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan double-faulted on the 24-year-old San Jose product's eighth set point, and Novikov went on to win 7-6 (10), 3-6, 6-2 in the first round of the $100,000 Kunal Patel San Francisco Open indoors at the Bay Club SF Tennis Center. Novikov won the last four games.
   Bublik, 20, had a set point serving at 7-6 in the tiebreaker, but his backhand slice down the line sailed wide.
   Novikov admitted it was difficult to keep his composure in the tiebreaker.
   "Definitely," he said. "He let me off the hook a little bit as well when he was serving for it and didn't convert. Tennis can go either way based on a couple of points. I just tried to stick with it."
   Bublik, who according to at least one pro has top-10 potential, double-faulted three times in the tiebreaker and twice at 2-3, 30-30 in the third set. He finished with 18 aces and 11 double faults.
   "That's the way he plays," Novikov said of Bublik going for big second serves. "He also had some games where he hit big second serves, and he came back with them in games where I should have broken. When you play like that, it kind of comes and goes. You take it as it is."
   It's the third consecutive week in which Novikov played the top seed in the opening round. He ousted former world No. 4 Kei Nishikori, who had been out since August with a right wrist injury, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 two weeks ago in Newport Beach and lost to Nishikori 6-3, 6-3 in Dallas. Nishikori went on to win the Dallas title, beating San Francisco Bay Area product Mackenzie McDonald in the final.
   "It's unlucky, I guess," Novikov said. "But I know if I come out and play to my level, it doesn't matter what seed it is. At the end of the day, you have to go through all of them to win the tournament. Obviously, it would be nice to play them in the final and get a little easier draw, but either way, you've got to beat them, so I was ready."
   Novikov lives in downtown Los Angeles, but his parents reside in Milpitas in the Bay Area.
   "I'm up here visiting pretty often," he said. "I still consider myself from the Bay Area."
   Bublik, who was not available for comment, lost in the first round of a Challenger for the second consecutive week and fell to 2-5 this year after reaching a career-high No. 95 last September.
   Russia natives Bublik, 6-foot-5 (1.96 meters) and only 167 pounds (76 kilograms), and Novikov, 6-foot-4 (1.93) and 200 pounds (91), met for the second time. Bublik won 6-1, 6-4 in the quarterfinals at Aptos, 82 miles (132 kilometers) south of San Francisco, en route to the title last August. Novikov had sprained an ankle playing in Cabo San Lucas the previous week.
   After the Aptos final, runner-up Liam Broady of Great Britain said of the hard-hitting Bublik, "I don't see why he can't be top 10."
   Unlike in Aptos, the right-handed Bublik wore a sleeve on his right arm on Tuesday night. However, the arm did not appear to trouble him.
   Bublik qualified for the Australian Open and Wimbledon last year, upsetting then-No. 16 Lucas Pouille of France in the first round in Melbourne and falling in straight sets to then-No. 1 and defending champion Andy Murray at the All-England Club.
   Bublik also reached the quarterfinals indoors in Moscow on the ATP World Tour in 2016 and 2017, ousting then-No. 23 Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain in the second round last year.
  Novikov advanced to the second round at the U.S. Open in 2012 and Wimbledon in 2016. He gained his first ATP quarterfinal last July on grass in Newport, R.I.
   Bublik, who lost in the second round of qualifying in the Australian Open this year, has dropped to No. 132. Novikov is No. 215, down from his career high of No. 119 in August 2016.
   In Tuesday night's last match, the second-seeded McDonald beat wild card Florian Lakat of France 6-4, 6-4 in a matchup of 22-year-olds. McDonald was born and raised in Piedmont, across the bay from San Francisco, and Lakat starred at Cal, a 15-minute drive north of Piedmont.
   All four seeds in action during the day session, including three Americans, won in straight sets.
   No. 3 Michael Mmoh, a semifinalist last year at 19, dispatched wild card Christian Garin of Chile 6-2, 6-3 in their first career meeting.
   Mmoh, the American son of former Nigerian pro Tony Mmoh, reached his first quarterfinal on the ATP World Tour in Brisbane, Australia, last month as a qualifier. He took out then-No. 33 Mischa Zverev of Germany in the second round.
   Garin qualified for Wimbledon last year and fell to Jack Sock, ranked eighth at the time, in the opening round. Garin also won the French Open boys singles title five years ago, beating Alexander Zverev (Mischa's younger brother) in the final. In the current rankings, 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Alexander Zverev is No. 5 at 20 years old, and the 6-foot-1 (1.85-meter) Garin is No. 298 at age 21.
   No. 5 Bradley Klahn, who graduated from Stanford in 2012, topped Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador 7-6 (1), 6-3 in a battle of 27-year-olds to even their head-to-head series at 1-1. Arevalo, a former Tulsa star, won 7-5, 6-4 in the first round of qualifying at a $50,000 Challenger on outdoor clay in Vicenza, Italy, last May.
   Arevalo reached the doubles final in the $100,000 Tiburon Challenger last fall with Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela of Mexico. The lost to Lakat and his former Cal teammate Andre Goransson of Sweden. Affluent Tiburon is situated across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco.
   Two former Wimbledon boys champions, Noah Rubin (2014) and Canada's Filip Peliwo (2012), also advanced.
   Rubin, seeded sixth, beat Jose Hernandez-Fernandez of the Dominican Republic 6-1, 3-0, retired (right thigh). Peliwo, seeded seventh, eliminated 34-year-old qualifier Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina 6-4, 6-2.
   Here are the San Francisco Open singles and doubles draws and today's schedule.

With incredible turnaround, Norrie reaches final

   STOCKTON, Calif. -- It was the biggest turnaround since Donald Trump succeeded Barack Obama.
   Cameron Norrie was two points from getting bageled in the first set of his semifinal against Michael Mmoh on Saturday in the $100,000 Stockton Challenger.
   From there, Norrie won 11 consecutive games in a 7-5, 6-2 victory at the University of the Pacific's Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center.
   As if that's not amazing enough, Norrie defeated Mmoh by the same score in the quarterfinals of last week's $100,000 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger en route to the title.
   In an effort to change that outcome, the third-seeded Mmoh was determined to play more aggressively this time. He did just that initially, throwing the eight-seeded Norrie off his game and bolting to a 5-0 lead.
   But Mmoh, for all his firepower at a chiseled 6-foot-1 (1.85 meters) and 187 pounds (85 kilograms), likes to use his tremendous athleticism to play defense. He lapsed back into that mode, which proved fatal against Norrie and his precise groundstrokes.
   It didn't help that Mmoh double-faulted on the first of his three set points at 5-3 in the first set, on break point at 5-5 in that set and on break point at 2-4 in the second set.
   "He actually played really well to start off with, hitting the ball everywhere, and I was a little off," said Norrie, a 22-year-old left-hander from Great Britain. "My racket was strung dead, but I'm not making any excuses. He was playing great tennis. I just tried to take it one point at a time, and he stopped being as aggressive. That allowed me to play my game and dictate play a little more."
   Mmoh, 19, of Bradenton, Fla., agreed with Norrie's assessment.
   "I thought I was playing pretty solid and that was part of the reason I was up 5-0," said Mmoh, the son of former journeyman pro Tony Mmoh from Nigeria. "Then everything clicked (for Norrie), and I slowed down a little bit. He found his rhythm and built off that. He played really well the rest of the match after 5-0."
   Norrie, ranked No. 136, will face sixth-seeded Darian King of Barbados today after the 11 a.m. doubles final. King, ranked No. 207, defeated Tim Smyczek of Tampa, Fla., 6-1, 6-4.
   "I was expecting a long match, but I got a couple of errors from Tim to get an early break, and I guess I rode that wave," said King, 25. "Also in the second set, he got some early breaks, and I was getting a little tight trying to win the match. I was playing someone for the first time and trying to get into my first final in a long time."
   Norrie has played King once, winning 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the final round of qualifying for the $100,000 Dallas Challenger in February 2015. Norrie also practiced with King in Barbados while visiting a friend there the week before Tiburon last month.                    
   Norrie seeks his third Challenger title since turning pro in May after his junior year at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.
   Since reaching the second round of the U.S. Open as a qualifier, Norrie has played in three consecutive Challenger finals. In the first one, he lost to unheralded American Kevin King in a $50,000 Challenger in Cary, N.C.
   "I've still got a lot of things to work on," said Norrie, who reached No. 1 nationally at TCU. "It's exciting that I'm winning and not playing my best tennis."
   King will play in his first final since beating Mmoh in last year's Tiburon Challenger.
   Here are the Stockton singles and doubles draws and today's schedule. The tournament is being streamed live.
   Also, here are the singles qualifying draw, singles main draw and today's schedule for the $100,000 Northbay Healthcare Men's Pro Championships at Solano Community College in Fairfield, Calif.

'Lefty Andy Murray' advances to Stockton semis

   STOCKTON, Calif. — If Michael Mmoh is right, Cameron Norrie has a very bright future.
   When it was suggested to Mmoh that the left-hander's game resembles his British countryman Andy Murray's, Mmoh replied: "Lefty Andy Murray is a pretty good comparison. He has a really good backhand and a pretty good forehand. He's very talented at moving you around the court and really dictating that baseline, so he'll just push you from corner to corner. He can do that all day. He has very good precision."
   That doesn't necessarily mean Norrie, who will face Mmoh today in the semifinals of the $100,000 Stockton Challenger, will ascend to No. 1 and win three Grand Slam singles titles like Murray.
   Norrie, 22, is far behind Murray at the same age. Murray won the first of his 45 ATP titles, 14th in the Open era (since 1968) and fourth among active players, in the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose at 18 years old in 2006 and repeated in 2007. Norrie is ranked No. 136 and could crack the top 100 by the end of the year. That would be an impressive feat, considering he turned pro only four months ago after his junior year at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.
   Norrie, seeded eighth, beat Tennys Sandgren, seeded second, 6-3, 7-6 (5) on Friday at the University of the Pacific's Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center.
   The third-seeded Mmoh, 19, of Bradenton, Fla., led 34-year-old Russian qualifier Dmitry Tursunov, a former top-20 player who has been plagued by injuries, 6-3 when Tursunov retired with a hamstring injury.
   It's the third consecutive tournament in which Tursunov, who trained in Northern California from age 12 into his 30s, has retired and the second straight because of a hamstring problem.
   In the other semifinal, sixth-seeded Darian King of Barbados will meet unseeded veteran Tim Smyczek of Tampa, Fla., for the first time.
   King, 25, defeated fourth-seeded Stefan Kozlov, 19, of Pembroke Pines, Fla., 6-4, 6-4. Smyczek, 29, eliminated Elias Ymer, a 21-year-old Swede, by the same score.
   Both King and Smyczek qualified for the U.S. Open in August and lost in the first round.   
   Sandgren, 26, of Gallatin, Tenn., in the Nashville area was the only top-100 player in the Stockton Challenger at No. 97. Top-seeded Ruben Bemelmans, a Belgian who lost to Ymer in the first round, dropped from No. 92 when the draw came out last Saturday to No. 101 in the latest rankings on Monday.
   Norrie's victory wasn't really an upset. He improved to 3-0 against Sandgren, including a 6-2, 6-3 victory in the final of the $100,000 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger on Sunday.
   "I think I've had a little bit of luck (against Sandgren)," the 6-foot-2 (1.88-meter) Norrie said modestly. "I've been winning the long rallies against him, and that's what he usually does well. That's paid dividends, and I've been coming forward when I've needed to and knocking off some volleys when he's on the run and slices. I've been staying positive and staying tough."
   Sandgren led 4-1 (one service break) in the second set, but Norrie broke back for 3-4 when Sandgren sailed a high backhand volley long. Both players then held serve to force the tiebreaker, in which Norrie bolted to a 5-1 lead and held on for the match.
   "He played a good game to break me (early in the second set)," said Norrie, who reached the second round of the U.S. Open as a qualifier before losing to eventual semifinalist Pablo Carreno Busta. "I felt like I was playing well. I just tried to focus on the present. Then I fought back and played a very good tiebreaker and served really well. It's the best I've served the last two weeks. I'm feeling really good about the match."
   Mmoh, the son of former journeyman pro Tony Mmoh from Nigeria, skipped college and turned pro last year. He was happy that his match against Tursunov lasted only 39 minutes.
   Mmoh was coming off a 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4) victory over Mackenzie McDonald, who grew up in Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, on Thursday. Mmoh saved two match points in the 2-hour, 34-minute battle.
   "I had a super-long match yesterday and was pretty sore this morning," conceded Mmoh, who was named after Michael Jordan and has much of his namesake's athleticism. "Having a 30-minute match or whatever it was is going to help me the rest of the tournament and if I decide to play Fairfield (next week) as well."
   Norrie is 2-0 against Mmoh, including a 7-5, 6-2 win last week in the Tiburon quarterfinals.
   "I need to be a little more aggressive and take my chances," said the 6-foot-1 (1.85-meter) Mmoh, ranked No. 156. "I don't think I'm going to have a lot of success just putting the ball in play and hoping he's going to miss because he can make a ton of balls. I'm going to look to use my firepower and take it upon him."
   Here are the Stockton singles and doubles draws and today's schedule. The tournament is being streamed live.
   Also, here are the singles qualifying draw and today's schedule for the $100,000 Northbay Healthcare Men's Pro Championships at Solano Community College in Fairfield, Calif.

Mmoh wins epic rally, saves match points to advance

   STOCKTON, Calif. -- The point lasted longer than the wait at the post office.
   OK, nothing takes that long, except possibly a round of golf.
   And this wasn't just any point. It was crucial.
   Michael Mmoh and Mackenzie McDonald met for the first time on Thursday in the second round of the $100,000 Stockton Challenger. The match between two of the United States' numerous top prospects, both semifinalists in the last year's inaugural Stockton tournament, shaped up as a battle and more than lived up to expectations.
   After saving two match points to send the contest to a third-set tiebreaker, the third-seeded Mmoh led unseeded Mackenzie McDonald 2-0 at the University of the Pacific's sparkling Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center.
   After Mmoh put in a first serve, he and McDonald traded vicious groundstrokes. On and on it went. Finally, a McDonald forehand sailed long to end the epic rally, and Mmoh eked out a 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4) victory in 2 hours, 34 minutes.
   "That was like a 50-ball rally," marveled Mmoh, the 19-year-old son of former journeyman pro Tony Mmoh from Nigeria. "That was a big-time momentum swing. Whoever won that rally had a very good shot to win the match."
   The length of the rally surprised Mmoh for two reasons.
   "He loves to play aggressively and take cuts, so it's tough to get those types of rallies," observed Mmoh, from Bradenton, Fla. "I just played great defense and made it tough on him on that point.
   "This was also very high intensity. It's not like we were just pushing. We were actually ripping it, so that was an extremely impressive rally."
   In truth, the match shouldn't have gone to a tiebreaker.
   On McDonald's first match point, he played with typical aggression belying his small stature. McDonald, only 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters) and 145 pounds (66 kilograms), sent a forehand return of a second serve long.
   On the second match point, the 6-foot-1 (1.85-meter), 187-pound (85-kilogram) Mmoh hammered a service winner.
   "The first match point, I got a little lucky," Mmoh admitted. "He went for his second-serve return and usually makes that but hit it a little long. The second match point, I hit a pretty good serve to his body, but he usually makes those returns, too. I think he got a little tight on those two points, and I took advantage and had a very good start to the tiebreaker.
   "My mentality in the tiebreaker was just to be extremely tough and make it really tough on him. Considering he had those match points, I think I did a good job of that."
   Mmoh also survived two match points in the second round of last week's $100,000 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger before losing to eventual champion Cameron Norrie in the quarterfinals and three match points in the first round at Tiburon last year en route to the final as a qualifier.
   "It's not because of mental toughness," Mmoh, ranked No. 156, conceded of his ability to come back from the brink of defeat. "That's been one of my weaknesses, especially last week. Today, I did a very good job of that. I think that's the reason I won, considering the start he had.
   "I would say it's my athleticism. I think that's been getting me through matches. I don't think I've been hitting the ball that clean or as well as I'd like to, but I've made it tough on guys. I've made matches extremely physical, and they know that coming in. When it happens, it's tough to react to that."
   Indeed, 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) Reilly Opelka, another promising young American and a close friend of Mmoh's, told The New York Times two years ago: "Michael is one of the most athletic people you will ever see on a tennis court. There is nothing he can't do out there."
   Meanwhile, American Denis Kudla, who climbed to a career-high No. 53 last year, "guaranteed" in February that McDonald would reach the top 100. McDonald, a 22-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, is No. 202 only 16 months after sweeping the NCAA singles and doubles titles as a UCLA junior and turning pro.
   McDonald played brilliantly in the first set against Mmoh.
   "Especially with these courts," Mmoh said. "They're a little faster than Tiburon, and he was just hitting the ball so clean, so flat, and it was just going through the court so nicely that it was tough to get a rhythm. Anytime I hit a good serve, it came right at my feet at a very flat pace, and anytime he got a look, he went for a winner. He wasn't really missing, either. When Mackie's playing like that, he can almost beat anyone, so you kind of have to weather the storm a little bit, and I think I did a good job of that."
  Also, Mmoh called for the trainer after hurting his back early in the second set.
  "In the first game of the second set, he hit a drop shot, and I kind of pushed off (the court) a little too much and tweaked my back, which was an issue last week, but I think I'm fine now," Mmoh said. "I might be a little sore tomorrow, but overall I think it's pretty good."
   In the following match on the Stadium Court on Thursday, Elias Ymer of Sweden outdid Mmoh, escaping five match points in a 3-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4 victory over Frank Dancevic, a 33-year-old Canadian who reached a career-high No. 65 in 2007. Ymer (pronounced EE-mer), 21, ousted top-seeded Ruben Bemelmans in the first round.
   Mmoh set up an intriguing quarterfinal against former top-20 player Dmitry Tursunov, a 34-year-old Russian qualifier who has plummeted to No. 574 because of injuries. It will be their first meeting.
   Tursunov, who trained in Northern California from age 12 into his 30s, defeated John-Patrick Smith, a 28-year-old Australian left-hander, 7-6 (2), 6-3.
   Tursunov is built similarly to Mmoh at 6-foot-1 (1.85 meters) and 180 pounds (82 kilograms). Tursunov, who ascended to No. 20 in 2006 and helped Russia win the Davis Cup that year, has a powerful serve and lethal forehand.
   "He's similar to Mackie," Mmoh said. "He has a big game, a big forehand. He loves to go for his shots. It'll be a tough one. He's been at the top of the game, so it's going to be a battle, that's for sure."
   Here are the Stockton singles and doubles draws and Friday's schedule. The tournament is being streamed live. 

How Swede it is: Ymer ousts top seed in Stockton

Elias Ymer serves during his 7-5, 6-3 victory over top-
seeded Ruben Bemelmans in the first round of the
$100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger. Ymer needed
seven match points. Photo by Paul Bauman

   STOCKTON, Calif. -- You think the United States has fallen on hard times in men's pro tennis?
   That's nothing compared to Sweden.
   The nation that cranked out International Tennis Hall of Famers Bjorn Borg, Mats Wilander and Stefan Edberg and a slew of other top players in the 1970s and '80s has no men in the top 200 in the world.
   All countries go through cycles. Also, Sweden has a population of only 9.9 million, about the same as the Chicago area, and a climate more suited to ice hockey and skiing.
   There is hope for Sweden, however, in the form of brothers Elias and Mikael Ymer. Elias, 21, is ranked No. 1 in Sweden at No. 208, down from his career high of No. 118 in May last year. Mikael, 19, is fourth at No. 385.
   Elias Ymer (pronounced EE-mer) needed seven match points today to oust top-seeded Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium 7-5, 6-3 in the first round of the $100,000 Stockton Challenger at the University of the Pacific's Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center.
   "I needed this one a lot," Ymer conceded. "I'm very happy to be through. I lost in the first round in Tiburon last week (to eighth seed and eventual champion Cameron Norrie 7-5, 3-6, 7-5) and was practicing very well. To get matches is always good (for) confidence." 
   All of the match points came with Ymer serving in the last game.
   "Ruben is a top-100 player, and it's always going to be difficult to beat those guys because they're very experienced," said Ymer, who struggled on his first serve while trying to close out the match. "That's why he's No. 90 in the world, because he fights all the time."
    Actually, Bemelmans, a 29-year-old left-hander. dropped from No. 92 to No. 101 on Monday after also losing in the first round at Tiburon as the top seed. Since reaching the third round at Wimbledon as a qualifier and the final of a $75,000 clay-court Challenger in the Netherlands in July, Bemelmans has won only one match in seven tournaments.
   Still, Bemelmans fearlessly went for his shots on the match points against Ymer.
   "That's how I should play the whole match," moaned Bemelmans, who sailed a forehand return of a second serve long on the last match point. "That's my strength, but today I wasn't solid enough to take my opportunities that I created. I must say he served well on the big points, but I should have played a bit more aggressive on (earlier) points that mattered."

   Bemelmans, who has helped Belgium reach the Davis Cup final for the second time in three years, admitted he has lost confidence.

Ruben Bemelmans lost as the top seed
in a Northern California Challenger for
the second consecutive week.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   "I haven't won too many matches, but I feel like I'm getting back slowly," he said. "My level is rising. It's just a matter of time, I think. I have to keep on working, be confident and, like I said, play my game even on the big points."
   Bemelmans became the second consecutive No. 1 seed to lose in the opening round in Stockton. Bjorn Fratangelo of Orlando, Fla., bowed out against Joris De Loore of Belgium in the inaugural tournament last year.
   Two other seeds lost today. No. 5 Ramkumar Ramanathan of India fell to Christian Harrison of Bradenton, Fla., 6-1, 6-2, and No. 7 Felix Auger-Aliassime, 17, of Canada succumbed to Dmitry Tursunov, a 34-year-old qualifier from Russia, 6-2, 6-2.
   Auger-Aliassime became the youngest player to win a match on the ATP Challenger Tour at 14 in 2015. Now 6-foot-3 (1.91 meters), he's ranked No. 161.
   "He doesn't really let you make any decisions (on the court)," said Tursunov, who trained in Northern California from age 12 into his 30s. "He either hits a winner or makes an error. There were quite a lot of mistakes coming from his end.
   "The older he gets, I think the more he's going to be able to judge when to go for his shots and when to pull off. Right now, he just has that one speed, and once he's in that drive mode, it doesn't matter if there's a turn coming up. He doesn't really have a brake pedal."
   Both Tiburon finalists, meanwhile, advanced in straight sets. No. 2 seed Tennys Sandgren of Gallatin, Tenn., topped Christopher O'Connell of Australia 7-5, 7-5, and No. 8 Norrie coasted past wild card Deiton Baughman of Carson in the Los Angeles area 6-3,
6-1.
   Two Stockton semifinalists last year, Americans Michael Mmoh and Mackenzie McDonald, also moved into the second round.
   Mmoh, the 19-year-old son of former Nigerian player Tony Mmoh, met former top-70 player Tobias Kamke for the second consecutive week. After saving two match points in a 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7) victory in the second round at Tiburon, Mmoh breezed past the error-prone Kamke, a 31-year-old German, 6-2, 6-1 in one hour.
   "I don't think he played too hot today, to be honest," observed Mmoh, who was named after Michael Jordan. "I don't think his game was on. Tough conditions: very fast courts and a little windy. I just took advantage. I saw he was a little uncomfortable, so I made it as tough as possible. I was serving well, hitting my shots with good margins and making sure I made him play the extra ball. Considering how poorly he was playing, I thought that was the right strategy, and I executed it pretty well."
   McDonald, a 22-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, overcame the serve-and-volleying of wild card Andre Goransson, a former Cal star from Sweden, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. Goransson, 23, won the Tiburon doubles title with ex-Bears teammate Florian Lakat of France.
   Anyone expecting the Ymers to have blond hair and blue eyes is in for a surprise. They are the black, Swedish-born sons of Ethiopian emigrants.
   "I love Sweden," Elias Ymer crowed. "I've lived there my whole life. ... People respect me. Sweden is a multi-cultural country now."
   In Tiburon, Ymer led by a break in the third set against Norrie but cramped in his hand and legs. A notoriously hard worker, he practiced for five hours straight the next day, according to a tournament sponsor.
   "He went through three guys," Leif Haase marveled.
   Ymer was cautious when asked about possibly helping Sweden return to prominence.
   "We'll see. I have to start by winning Challengers," said Ymer, who has won three of them, all on clay. "One step at a time."
   Here are the Stockton singles and doubles draws and Wednesday's schedule. The tournament is being streamed live.