Ex-Dream star Medina Garrigues wins doubles title

Anabel Medina Garrigues, playing for the Sacramento-
based California Dream of World TeamTennis last July,
won the doubles title in Monterrey, Mexico, with fellow
Spaniard Arantxa Parra Santonja. The Dream folded in
January. 2015 photo by Phil Kemp/California Dream

   A player with a Northern California connection was bound to win the doubles title today in Monterrey, Mexico, on the WTA tour.
   As it turned out, top-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja of Spain won their second championship in two weeks. They edged unseeded Petra Martic of Croatia and Maria Sanchez of Los Angeles and Boca Raton, Fla., 4-6, 7-5 [10-7] in the Abierto Monterrey Afirme.
   Medina Garrigues was named the co-Female MVP of World TeamTennis while playing for the Sacramento-based California Dream last July. The team folded in January. Sanchez, 26, was born and raised in Modesto.
   Medina Garrigues and Parra Santonja, both 33, won their third doubles title together. They triumphed in Antwerp in February 2015 and Acapulco last week, although they became full-time partners only last June.
   Overall, Medina Garrigues has won 27 doubles titles, including the French Open in 2008 and 2009 with countrywoman Virginia Ruano Pascual, and Parra Santonja 10.
   Medina Garrigues attained career highs of No. 3 in doubles in 2008 and No. 16 in singles in 2009. She has earned $5.8 million in career prize money.
   Sanchez, a 26-year-old USC graduate, played in her second WTA doubles final. She won the Auckland title in 2014 with Sharon Fichman of Canada.
   Sanchez took up tennis at 10 when she and her family moved to Guadalajara, Mexico, for one year.
   In Monterrey, Martic and Sanchez upset No. 2 seeds Anastasia Rodionova of Australia and Alicja Rosolska of Poland in the first round and No. 4 Maria Irigoyen of Argentina and Paula Kania of Poland in the semifinals.
   Pacific Coast Men's Doubles in La Jolla, Calif. -- No. 1 seeds Julian Cash and Arjun Kadhe of Oklahoma State defeated No. 3 Tom Fawcett and Maciek Romanowicz of Stanford 7-6 (1), 6-4 in the final.
   Earlier today, Cash and Kadhe beat No. 7 Tyler Browne of Walnut Creek and J.T. Nishimura of Cal and San Jose 6-3, 6-3.

Journalist Collins dies; U.S. takes lead in Davis Cup

Bob Bryan, left, and Mike Bryan, playing at Indian Wells last March, gave the
United States a 2-1 lead over host Australia on Friday in the first round of the
Davis Cup. Photo by Paul Bauman

   On a sad day for tennis, former Stanford All-Americans Bob and Mike Bryan gave the United States a 2-1 lead over host Australia in the first round of the Davis Cup.
   Legendary journalist Bud Collins died at 86 at his home in Brookline, Mass., on Friday.
  Wrote Bryan Marquard of The Boston Globe, Collins' former newspaper: "Mr. Collins provided the sport with its most authoritative voice, and wrote a tennis encyclopedia and a history of the game, all while remaining one of the most congenial people anyone met courtside or in the press box."
   The 37-year-old Bryan twins defeated captain Lleyton Hewitt and John Peers 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3 on grass at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club, the former home of the Australian Open, in Melbourne.
   Hewitt, a two-time Davis Cup champion, turned 35 on Feb. 24. He came out of a 41-day retirement to replace Nick Kyrgios, bedridden with a virus, but did not play singles on Thursday.
   John Isner will try to clinch the best-of-five-match competition for the United States against Bernard Tomic in Saturday's first encounter. Then Jack Sock of the United States is scheduled to play Sam Groth, who holds the unofficial record with a 163.7-mph (263.4-kph) serve in the 2012 Busan (South Korea) Challenger.
   Hewitt, who was ranked No. 1 in singles from 2001 to 2003, could substitute for the 77th-ranked Groth.
   Hewitt won the singles title in the now-defunct San Jose (Calif.) tournament on the ATP World Tour in 2002 and reached the 2006 final there.
   WTA tour in Monterrey, Mexico -- Another former Stanford All-American, Nicole Gibbs, lost to 20-year-old Estonian Anett Kontaveit 6-1, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Abierto Monterrey Afirme.
   Gibbs, a 23-year-old qualifier from Marina del Rey in the Los Angeles area, was playing in her second career WTA quarterfinal. She also reached the last eight as a qualifier in Seoul in September 2014.
   In today's doubles semifinals, Petra Martic of Croatia and Modesto product Maria Sanchez will face fourth-seeded Maria Irigoyen of Argentina and Paula Kania of Poland.
   The winners will play top-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja of Spain. Medina Garrigues was named the co-Female MVP of World TeamTennis while playing for the Sacramento-based California Dream last July. The team folded in January.
   Pacific Coast Men's Doubles in La Jolla, Calif. -- Two Stanford and two Cal teams reached the round of 16.
   Advancing were No. 3 seeds Tom Fawcett and Maciek Romanowicz of Stanford, No. 6 Filip Bergevi and Florian Lakat of Cal, No. 14 Andre Goransson and William Griffith of Cal and No. 15 Nolan Paige and David Wilczynski of Stanford.  
   Also moving into the last 16 were No. 7 seeds Tyler Browne of Walnut Creek and J.T. Nishimura of Cal.

Sharapova out of Indian Wells; Gibbs in WTA quarters

Two-time champion Maria Sharapova withdrew from Indian
Wells with a left forearm injury. 2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   Another former No. 1 player has withdrawn from the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.
   Maria Sharapova pulled out with a left forearm injury, tournament CEO Raymond Moore announced Thursday. Sharapova won the title in 2006 and 2013.
   Four-time champion Roger Federer, who's recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery, withdrew from the BNP Paribas Open last week. The tournament is scheduled for Monday through March 20.
   Meanwhile, Mackenzie McDonald of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area will make his main draw debut at Indian Wells after receiving a wild card on Thursday.
   McDonald, a junior at UCLA, was named the Pacific-12 Conference Player of the Year last season.
   WTA tour in Monterrey, Mexico -- Qualifier Nicole Gibbs, playing on her 23rd birthday, reached her second WTA quarterfinal when fellow American Christina McHale retired because of dizziness with Gibbs leading 7-6 (5), 6-7 (4), 3-0.
   Gibbs, a former two-time NCAA singles champion at Stanford, upset seventh-seeded Danka Kovinic of Montenegro in the first round.
   Gibbs will face 20-year-old Estonian Anett Kontaveit, who stunned top-seeded Sara Errani of Italy 6-1, 6-3. Kontaveit is 2-1 against Gibbs.
   Petra Martic of Croatia and Modesto product Maria Sanchez will play fourth-seeded Maria Irigoyen of Argentina and Paula Kania of Poland in the doubles semifinals.
   Martic and Sanchez surprised second-seeded Anastasia Rodionova of Australia and Alicja Rosolska of Poland in the opening round.
   Pacific Coast Men's Doubles in La Jolla, Calif. -- No. 12 seeds Alec Adamson and Adam Levie of UC Davis and No. 15 Nolan Paige and David Wilczynski of Stanford coasted in their first-round matches.