Lipsky title, college tourney finals, USTA 30 Indoors

   Fourth-seeded Eric Butorac and Scott Lipsky of the United States edged top-seeded Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski of Poland 6-4, 3-6 [10-8] today to win the Millennium Estoril Open in Portugal.
   Both champions are 34-year-old doubles specialists with Northern California connections.
   Butorac, a left-hander living in Cambridge, Mass., won the first of his 18 ATP World Tour doubles titles in the SAP Open in San Jose in 2007 with Jamie Murray, Andy's older brother who's now ranked No. 1 in men's doubles. Butorac also played for the Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis in 2008.
   The last SAP Open was played in 2013 after 125 years in Northern California under various names, and the Capitals were disbanded in 2014 after 28 years in Sacramento.
   Lipsky, a right-hander living in Irvine, Calif., led Stanford to the NCAA team title in 2000 and reached the 2002 NCAA doubles final with David Martin. Two of Lipsky's 15 ATP doubles titles came in San Jose (2008 with Martin and 2011 with Rajeev Ram).
   Entering Estoril, Lipsky was ranked 42nd and Butorac 48th.
   Lipsky won his second straight Estoril title and third overall. He triumphed with Butorac in 2009 and Treat Huey, a Washington, D.C., native who plays for the Philippines, last year.
   "I wish I new the secret of our success here, because then I could just do the same thing everywhere else," Lipsky said on atpworldtour.com. "I love the weather here. It reminds me of California, where I live. If we could do this every week, it'd be great."
   Butorac has won at least one doubles title in each of the past 10 years and Lipsky in each of the past nine. Estoril was their third title together; they also won Valencia last year.
   "Eric and I have been friends for a long time, and we played together for six or eight months back in 2009," Lipsky said. "We've talked about playing together again for a long time. After Wimbledon last year, we gave it a shot and have had good success. Being friends on and off the court helps a lot in doubles."
   Colleges -- The third-seeded UNLV women surprised top-seeded Fresno State 4-2 to win the Mountain West Conference Championships in Fort Collins, Colo.
   The Lady Rebels (24-1), ranked 72nd, earned an automatic bid in the NCAA Championships, which begin May 13 at campus sites. The Bulldogs (19-9), ranked 47th, could receive an at-large bid when the bracket is announced on Tuesday. The NCAA singles and doubles fields will be released on Wednesday.
   The top-seeded Weber State men and third-seeded Idaho women also earned automatic NCAA bids with titles in the Big Sky Conference Championships at the Gold River Racquet Club in the Sacramento area.
   The Wildcats edged second-seeded Idaho 4-3, and the Vandals coasted past top-seeded Northern Arizona 4-0 for their second straight crown.
   USTA 30 Indoors -- No. 3 seed Tyler Browne, 30, of Walnut Creek defeated No. 1 Jan Tiilikainen, 44, of Reno 6-3, 6-4 in the men's semifinals of the USTA National Men's, Women's & Mixed 30 Indoor Championships at the Spare Time Indoor Tennis Center in Gold River.
   Tiilikainen has won the title six times, including the last two.
   Browne, a former Cal standout and now the associate head coach of the Bears men, will face No. 2 seed Calle Hansen of Newbury Park in the Los Angeles region for the title on Monday at 11 a.m.
   Hansen, a 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) former Pepperdine All-American, dominated unseeded Vittorio Fratta of Walnut Creek 6-0, 6-2.
   Hansen, 36, is playing in the USTA 30 Indoors for the first time since winning his second straight title in the tournament in 2013.
   On the women's side, No. 1 seed Evgenia Dockter of Atlanta and No. 2 seed and defending champion Marisue Jacutin-Mariona of Los Altos advanced to Monday's 9 a.m. final in contrasting fashion.
   Dockter crushed Brooke Biddle of Dallas 6-0, 6-1, while Jacutin-Mariona outlasted Francesca LaO of San Francisco 7-5, 4-6, 7-5.

Novikov doubles title, college tourneys, USTA 30 Indoors

Dennis Novikov of Milpitas in the San Francisco Bay
Area won the doubles title in the Tallahassee (Fla.)
Challenger with Julio Peralta of Chile. 2015 photo
by Paul Bauman

   Dennis Novikov of Milpitas in the San Francisco Bay Area and Julio Peralta of Chile on Saturday won the doubles title in the $50,000 Tallahassee (Fla.) Challenger for the second consecutive year.
   The top-seeded pair edged unseeded Peter Luczak, a former Fresno State star, and Marc Polmans of Australia 3-6, 6-4 [12-10] in the final on green clay.
   Novikov also won the Maui Challenger doubles crown in January with Jason Jung, a Los Angeles-area native who plays for Taiwan.
   Quentin Halys of France won the Tallahassee singles title in a battle of top teenage prospects. Halys, 19, defeated Frances Tiafoe, 18, of Boca Raton, Fla., 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-2.
   Halys and Tiafoe reached the semifinals of the Tiburon and Fairfield Challengers, respectively, in Northern California last October.
   In the Estoril (Portugal) Open doubles semifinals, fourth-seeded Eric Butorac and Scott Lipsky, a former Stanford All-American, beat second-seeded Treat Huey, a Washington, D.C., native who plays for the Philippines, and Max Mirnyi of Belarus 6-4, 7-5.
   Butorac, who played for the now-defunct Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis in 2008, and Lipsky will take on top-seeded Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski of Poland.
   Huey and Lipsky won the 2015 title.
   Colleges -- The No. 1-seeded Fresno State women beat No. 4 San Jose State 4-2 to reach the final of the Mountain West Conference Championships in Fort Collins, Colo. The Bulldogs, ranked 47th, will face UNLV, seeded third and ranked 72nd, for the title.
   The No. 8-seeded Fresno State men lost to No. 4 UNLV 4-2 in the Mountain West semifinals in Las Vegas.
   The Pepperdine women, seeded first and ranked eighth, pounded third-seeded Saint Mary's 4-0 in Claremont, Calif., to win their fourth straight title in the West Coast Conference Championships.
   The host Sacramento State men and women lost in the semifinals of the Big Sky Conference Championships at the Gold River Racquet Club. The No. 5-seeded Hornets men fell to No. 1 Weber State 4-1, and the No. 2 Hornets women lost to No. 3 and defending champion Idaho 4-2.
   The Sac State women had reached the Big Sky final for 14 consecutive years, winning 13 straight titles before falling in last year's final.
   USTA 30 Indoors -- Vittorio Fratta of Walnut Creek upset fourth-seeded Thomas Morton of Citrus Heights 7-6 (5), 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the USTA National Men's, Women's & Mixed 30 Indoor Championships at the Spare Time Indoor Tennis Center in Gold River.
   In today's men's semifinals, Fratta will face No. 2 seed Calle Hansen, 36, of Newbury Park at 9 a.m., and No. 1 seed and two-time defending champion Jan Tiilikainen, 44, of Reno will play No. 3 Tyler Browne, 30, of Walnut Creek at noon.
   Browne, a former Cal standout and now the associate head coach of the Bears men, eliminated 2015 runner-up Ryan Sablan of Martinez 6-4, 6-2.
   Both women's semis are scheduled for 9 a.m. No. 1 seed Evgenia Dockter of Atlanta will face Brooke Biddle of Dallas, and No. 2 seed and defending champion Marisue Jacutin-Mariona of Los Altos will meet Francesca LaO of San Francisco.

Oh, brother: Fresno State men stun Utah State

   In a matchup of coaching brothers, the eighth-seeded Fresno State men stunned top-seeded Utah State 4-2 on Friday in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Championships in Las Vegas.
   Jeremy Moser clinched the victory for Fresno State, coached by Luke Shields, on Court 6. Moser, a freshman from Switzerland, defeated Andrew Nakajima of Utah State, coached by Clancy Shields, 7-5, 6-4.
   The Bulldogs will play fourth seed and host UNLV today. The Rebels beat fifth-seeded New Mexico 4-2.
   Fresno State also reached the women's semifinals in Fort Collins, Colo. The top-seeded Bulldogs will face fourth-seeded San Jose State after both teams won easily.
   Meanwhile, the top-seeded Pepperdine and third-seeded Saint Mary's women reached the final of the West Coast Conference Championships in Claremont, Calif., with 4-0 victories.
   The Waves, ranked eighth, whipped fourth-seeded Santa Clara, and the Gaels blitzed second-seeded Gonzaga.
   In the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference Men's Championships, No. 5 seed and host Sacramento State beat No. 4 Montana 4-2 at the Gold River Racquet Club. The Hornets will take on No. 1 Weber State today.

Fresno St. woman named top Mountain West player

   Fresno State's Sophie Watts was named the Women's Player of the Year in the Mountain West Conference this week.
   Watts, a junior from England, is ranked 75th nationally. She is 21-2 in singles with a 21-match winning streak.
   Watts' teammate, Maiar Sherif Ahmed, was chosen as the Freshman of the Year. Ahmed, from Egypt, is 20-3 in singles.

ALL-MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE

(Northern California players only)

Women

   Singles -- Sophie Watts, Fresno State; Maiar Sherif Ahmed, Fresno State; Rana Sherif Ahmed, Fresno State; Sybille Gauvain, San Jose State; Marie Klocker, San Jose State.
   Doubles -- Anneka Watts and Sophie Watts, Fresno State; Maiar Sherif Ahmed and Rana Sherif Ahmed, Fresno State; Marie Klocker and Gaelle Rey, San Jose State   

Men

   Singles -- Euan McIntosh, Fresno State. 

   Doubles -- Adam Glynn and Euan McIntosh, Fresno State

ALL-WEST COAST CONFERENCE

(Northern California players only)

Men

   First-team singles -- Miguel Diaz, Pacific; Bernardo Saraiva, USF.
   Second-team singles -- Ashot Khacharyan, Santa Clara; Ilya Osintsev, Santa Clara.
   Singles honorable mention -- Jose Chamba, Pacific; Arthur Weber, Saint Mary's; Nils Skajaa, USF;  Thomas Takemoto, USF.
   First-team doubles -- Bernardo Saraiva and Nils Skajaa, USF.
   Second-team doubles -- Sam Bertram and Ilya Osintsev, Santa Clara; Mikheil Khmiadashvili and Ashot Khacharyan, Santa Clara.
   Doubles honorable mention -- Miguel Diaz and Jose Chamba, Pacific; Marlon Brand and Daniel Alameh, Pacific.

Women

   First-team singles -- Andrea Ka, USF.

   Second-team singles -- Hana Ritterova, Pacific; Danielle Flores, Saint Mary's; Thyra Taune, USF; Delphine Rouvillois, Santa Clara.
   Singles honorable mention -- Iveta Masarova, Pacific; Jana McCord, Saint Mary's; Jamie Pawid, Saint Mary's; Kareena Manji, Saint Mary's; Millica Hadzi-Tanovic, USF.
   First-team doubles -- Andrea Ka and Marina Nikolic, USF.
   Second-team doubles -- Kareena Manji and Jamie Pawid, Saint Mary's; Parminder Kaur and Jana McCord, Saint Mary's; Iveta Masarova and Hana Ritterova, Pacific.
   Doubles honorable mention -- Nabila Farah and Daniella Silva, Santa Clara.