Osaka outslugs Serena to reach Australian Open final

Naomi Osaka, shown at 16 in 2014, improved to 3-1
against Serena Williams. Osaka will meet Jennifer Brady
for the Australian Open title. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Showdown? What showdown?

   In a much-anticipated match, third-seeded Naomi Osaka outslugged 10th-seeded Serena Williams 6-3, 6-4 tonight to reach the Australian Open final in Melbourne.

   Williams, a seven-time Australian Open champion, fell short for the 11th time in her attempt to tie Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles. 

   Williams, 39, put her hand over her heart as she said goodbye to the crowd, leading to speculation that this was her last Australian Open.

   "If I ever say farewell, I wouldn't tell anyone," Williams — who won the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in 2011, 2012 and 2014 — said in her post-match news conference before walking off in tears.

   Osaka, 23, of Japan improved to 3-1 against Williams, including a victory in the contentious 2018 U.S. Open final.

  The 2019 Australian Open champion, Osaka is scheduled to meet 22nd-seeded Jennifer Brady of Boca Raton, Fla., on Saturday at 12:30 a.m. PST on ESPN in a rematch of their U.S. Open semifinal last September. Osaka triumphed 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-3 en route to the title. She is 2-0 against Brady at the tour level.

   Brady, 25, beat 25th-seeded Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to reach her first Grand Slam final.

   Osaka made her WTA main-draw debut at 16 at Stanford in 2014. Brady starred in Northern California Challengers, sweeping the singles and doubles titles in Redding ($25,000) in 2014 at age 19 and advancing to the quarterfinals as the top seed in Sacramento ($60,000) in 2017, losing to Sofia Kenin. 

   In the first men's semifinal, top-ranked Novak Djokovic eliminated qualifier Aslan Karatsev of Russia 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. Djokovic, seeking his ninth Australian Open singles title, will play the winner of the Friday, 12:30 a.m. (PST) match between fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev and fifth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas on ESPN.

   Meanwhile, sixth-seeded Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Rajeev Ram, a 36-year-old volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley, reached the mixed doubles final with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Australian wild cards Storm Sanders and Marc Polmans.

   Krejcikova and Ram will meet either unseeded Desirae Krawczyk of the United States and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain or Australian wild cards Samantha Stosur and Matthew Ebden.

   Krejcikova eyes her third consecutive Australian Open mixed doubles crown after triumphing with Ram in 2019 and Nikola Mektic of Croatia last year.

Barty blows big lead; Nadal stunned; Gibbs retires at 27

Ashleigh Barty of Australia fell to 25th-seeded Karolina Muchova of the Czech
Republic in the Australian Open quarterfinals. 2019 photo by Harjanto Sumali

   The home-country drought in the Australian Open will continue for at least another year.

   Top-ranked Ashleigh Barty of Australia blew a big lead today and lost to 25th-seeded Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals in Melbourne.

   Barty, the 2019 French Open champion, bolted to a 5-0 advantage in the first set while dropping only six points. She led 2-0 in the second set, and Muchova took a medical timeout after winning the next game. 

   "I was a bit lost on the court, and my head was spinning, so I took a break," the 24-year-old Muchova, who reached her first Grand Slam semifinal, said in a post-match interview. "And it helped me."

  No Aussie man or woman has won the singles title in the Australian Open since Chris O'Neil on the women's side 43 years ago.

   Muchova is scheduled to meet 22nd-seeded Jennifer Brady of Boca Raton, Fla., on Wednesday (PST) after the 7 p.m. semifinal between third-seeded Naomi Osaka and 10th-seeded Serena Williams (ESPN2). 

   Fans will be allowed to return to the tournament Thursday, ending the five-day COVID-19 lockdown in the state of Victoria.

   Brady, 25, eliminated compatriot and close friend Jessica Pegula, who was unseeded, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 to reach her second Grand Slam semifinal. A first-time major finalist is guaranteed.

   Both Brady, a former UCLA All-American, and Pegula, who skipped college, starred in Northern California Challengers. 

   Brady swept the singles and doubles titles in Redding ($25,000) in 2014 at age 19 and advanced to the quarterfinals as the top seed in Sacramento ($60,000) in 2017, losing to defending champion Sofia Kenin.

   Pegula, the daughter of Buffalo Bills and Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula, reached the Sacramento final in 2012 at 18 and the Stockton semifinals in 2018.

   Muchova edged Brady 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (2) in the second round on clay at Prague in 2019 in their only previous meeting. 

   Fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev advanced to the men's semifinals with a 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 victory over fellow Russian Andrey Rublev, seeded seventh. 

   Medvedev, the runner-up to Rafael Nadal in the 2019 U.S. Open, will play seventh-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas, who stunned the second-seeded Nadal 3-6, 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4, 7-5 in 4 hours, 5 minutes. 

   Nadal, the 2009 Australian Open champion, had lost only once in a Grand Slam match after winning the first two sets. That occurred in the third round of the 2015 U.S. Open against Fabio Fognini. 

   Nadal and Roger Federer remain tied with a record 20 major singles titles.

   Medvedev is 5-1 against Tsitsipas.

   Rajeev Ram, a volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley, advanced to the semifinals in men's doubles and mixed doubles.

   Defending champions Ram and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain beat unseeded Marcus Daniell of New Zealand and Philipp Oswald of Austria 7-6 (6), 6-2. Daniell, 31, announced last month that he will donate 10 percent of his prize money for the rest of his career to charity.

   Ram and Salisbury are set to face sixth-seeded Jamie Murray, Andy's older brother from Great Britain, and Bruno Soares of Brazil. Murray and Soares won the Australian Open and U.S. Open in 2016.

   Both Ram and Murray won a doubles title in the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose, Calif., Ram in 2011 with former Stanford All-American Scott Lipsky and Murray in 2007 with Eric Butorac.

   In mixed doubles, sixth-seeded Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Ram downed third-seeded Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Mate Pavic of Croatia 7-6 (3), 6-3.

   Krejcikova seeks her third consecutive Australian Open mixed doubles crown after triumphing with Ram in 2019 and Nikola Mektic of Croatia last year.

   Kenin undergoes appendectomy — Kenin, last year's Australian Open champion, underwent an emergency appendectomy this week in Melbourne. 

   Kenin, who also won NorCal Challengers in 2017 and 2018, lost to Kaia Kanepi of Estonia last week in the second round of the Australian Open. 

   Gibbs retires — Former Stanford star Nicole Gibbs announced her retirement on Monday at 27. 

   Gibbs, a petite 5-foot-6 (1.54 meters), is ranked No. 172 after climbing to a career-high No. 68 in 2016. She reached the third round of the 2014 U.S. Open and 2017 Australian Open and the final of the 2018 Berkeley Challenger, losing to Kenin in the latter match.

   Gibbs went public with her battle against depression in early 2018 and overcame oral cancer in 2019.

   The personification of feistiness, Gibbs once stomped on her racket face during a match because she didn't like the string tension, and she likely had the most menacing stare in pro tennis.

   Win or lose, Gibbs answered reporters' questions thoughtfully. Whether she was asked about her depression or engagement to her now-husband, no subject was off-limits.

   Gibbs won three NCAA titles, two in singles and one in doubles, in her three years at Stanford.

   A strong social critic on Twitter, Gibbs plans to enroll in law school this fall and eventually work in public service.

Mamma mia: Serena, Pironkova, Vika reach quarters

Serena Williams avenged a loss to Maria Sakkari two weeks ago
in the Western & Southern Open. File photo by Paul Bauman 

   Two mothers in their 30s will meet in the U.S. Open quarterfinals on Wednesday.

   One of them was expected, the other far from it. 

   Third-seeded Serena Williams, who will turn 39 on Sept. 26, defeated 15th-seeded Maria Sakkari of Greece 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3 today in the fourth round in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

   Tsvetana Pironkova, a 32-year-old Bulgarian, beat Alize Cornet of France 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3 in a matchup of unseeded players. Pironkova is playing in her first tournament since Wimbledon in 2017 after starting a family.

   A third mother in her 30s, unseeded Victoria Azarenka, topped 20th-seeded Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic 5-7, 6-1, 6-4. Muchova, a Wimbledon quarterfinalist last year, appeared on the verge of retiring with a hamstring injury early in the third set.

   It's the first time that three mothers have advanced to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament.

   Williams overcame a 0-2 deficit in the third set to even her record against Sakkari at 1-1. Sakkari beat Williams 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-1 in the third round of the Western & Southern Open two weeks ago in Flushing Meadows.

   Williams won the last of her six U.S. Open singles titles in 2014. She has reached the last two U.S. Open finals, losing to upstarts Naomi Osaka and Bianca Andreescu in straight sets in an attempt to tie Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles. That quest continues.

   Sakkari, the runner-up in the inaugural Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif., in 2018, was trying to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

   Williams — who won the now-defunct Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in 2011, 2012 and 2014 — is 4-0 against Pironkova. Williams won the last encounter 7-5, 6-3 in the second round in Cincinnati in 2015. Three weeks later, the top-ranked Williams lost to No. 43 Roberta Vinci of Italy in one of the biggest upsets in sports history while trying to complete the first calendar-year Grand Slam since Steffi Graf in 1988. 

   Azarenka, 31, extended her winning streak to 10 matches, including a walkover in the final of the Western & Southern Open, after going 0-3 since August 2019. She won the Bank of the West Classic 10 years ago and ascended to No. 1 in 2012.

   Azarenka will face 16th-seeded Elise Mertens, 24, of Belgium for the first time in the quarters. Mertens, a semifinalist in the inaugural Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic, dominated second-seeded Sofia Kenin of the United States 6-3, 6-3.

   Kenin won Northern California Challengers in 2016 at 17, 2017 and 2018 and stormed to her first Grand Slam title in the Australian Open in January.

   In the men's draw, second-seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria eliminated 15th-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime, a 20-year-old Canadian, 7-6 (4), 6-1, 6-1.

   Thiem, a three-time runner-up in Grand Slam tournaments, is set to play 21st-seeded Alex de Minaur on Wednesday. The 21-year-old Australian beat unseeded Vasek Pospisil of Canada 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-2 to reach his first major quarterfinal.

   Pospisil won the Wimbledon doubles title in 2014 with American Jack Sock, advanced to the singles final in the 2017 San Francisco Challenger and underwent back surgery in January 2019.

   Thiem, 26, is 2-0 against de Minaur, including a straight-set victory in the first round of the 2017 U.S. Open.

   The other quarterfinal in the bottom half of the draw will be an all-Russian affair. 

   Third-seeded Daniil Medvedev, last year's runner-up to Rafael Nadal in a five-set epic, dismissed the last remaining U.S. man, unseeded Frances Tiafoe, 6-4, 6-1, 6-0. The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Medvedev, 24, has not lost more than four games in a set in four tournament matches.

   Tiafoe won the 2016 Stockton, Calif., Challenger at 18 years old to crack the top 100 and climbed to a career-high No. 29 in February 2019. He will rise 16 places to No. 66 after the U.S. Open.

   Tenth-seeded Andrey Rublev outplayed sixth-seeded Matteo Berrettini, a semifinalist in last year's U.S. Open, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.

   Rublev, 22, avenged a straight-set loss to the 24-year-old Italian in the round of 16 at Flushing Meadows in 2019 and reached his second Grand Slam quarterfinal. He also advanced to the Elite Eight in the 2017 U.S. Open at 19 before missing three months in 2018 with a lower-back stress fracture and six weeks in 2019 with a wrist injury.

   Medvedev has not lost a set in three career matches against Rublev.

   Barty out of French Open — Top-ranked Ashleigh Barty announced on Instagram that she will not defend her French Open title.

   The 24-year-old Australian cited coronavirus concerns and inadequate preparation. The French Open, normally held in late May and early June, was moved to Sept. 27-Oct. 11 because of the pandemic.

   "It has been a difficult decision to make but unfortunately I will not be competing in Europe this year," Barty wrote. "Last year's French Open was the most special tournament of my career so this is not a decision I have made lightly. There are two reasons for my decision. The first is the health risks that still exist with Covid. The second is my preparation, which has not been ideal without my coach being able to train with me due to the state border closures in Australia."

   Barty, who also skipped the U.S. Open, said she will not play again this year.

Barty, Pliskova, Gauff lose in fourth round at Wimbledon

Alison Riske, playing in the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at
Stanford, shocked top-ranked Ashleigh Barty 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to-
day at Wimbledon to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
Photo by Mal Taam

   Two of the top three women's seeds lost today at Wimbledon.
   That leaves No. 7 Simona Halep, who ended 15-year-old Coco Gauff's impressive run, as the highest seed in the quarterfinals. No. 11, however, is seven-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams.
   Unseeded American Alison Riske shocked top-ranked Ashleigh Barty 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
   Also, unseeded Karolina Muchova, making her Wimbledon main-draw debut this year at 22, outlasted third seed and fellow Czech Karolina Pliskova, the runner-up at the U.S. Open in 2016 and the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, 4-6, 7-5, 13-11 in 3 hours, 17 minutes. And Halep dispatched Gauff 6-3, 6-3.
   Riske, who won a Wimbledon tuneup tournament last month in s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, for her second WTA singles title, has needed three sets to prevail in all four of her matches at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. She also has eliminated 13th-seeded Belinda Bencic and 22nd-seeded Donna Vekic.
   "I'm so thrilled," the 55th-ranked Riske, who reached the Stanford semifinals in 2016 and quarterfinals in 2015, told reporters. "I think honestly the biggest key for me has just been to battle from start to finish of every match that I've been part of. Judging by the scoreline, they haven't all gone perfect.
   "I feel like I've been there in every moment, looking to impose myself. I'm really most proud about that. I think just being tough has been the key."
   Riske snapped Barty's winning streak at 15 matches, including titles in the French Open and on grass in Birmingham, England.
   "I think I started well," Barty said. "I was sticking to how I wanted to play. Then in the second set, I think my serve let me down. I let Alison get back into the match too many times, having looks at second serves.
   "Overall, I didn't play a poor match. When I needed to, when the big moments were there, Alison played better today. Tough one to swallow, but I lost to a better player."
   Riske, 29, is scheduled to play Williams, 37, for the first time on Tuesday at 5 a.m. PDT (ESPN). Williams routed 30th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 6-2 in 64 minutes.
   Williams – the Stanford champion in 2011, 2012 and 2014 – has never lost more than three games in a set in seven career matches against the 5-foot-4 (1.62-meter) Suarez Navarro, who won the Stanford doubles title in 2014 with fellow Spaniard Garbine Muguruza. In fact, Williams demolished Suarez Navarro 6-0, 6-0 in the quarterfinals of the 2013 U.S. Open.
   In the other Wimbledon women's quarterfinals, Halep will face unseeded Zhang Shuai, eighth-seeded Elina Svitolina will meet Muchova, and 19th-seeded Johanna Konta will face unseeded Barbora Strycova, a 33-year-old Czech.
   Konta, who reached the Wimbledon semifinals and won the Stanford title in 2017, outlasted No. 6 seed Petra Kvitova, the champion in 2011 and 2014 at the All England Club, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
   Whereas four unseeded women advanced to the quarterfinals, only one unseeded man did. Sam Querrey, a 31-year-old San Francisco native, topped Tennys Sandgren 6-4, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) to reach the quarters or better at Wimbledon for the third time in four years.
   The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Querrey, now based in Las Vegas, pounded 25 aces in the first match between U.S. men in the second week of a Grand Slam tournament since 2007 and the first at Wimbledon since 2000.
   No. 26 seed Guido Pella, a 29-year-old left-hander from Argentina, subdued No. 15 seed Milos Raonic, the Wimbledon runner-up to Andy Murray in 2016, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3), 8-6 in 3 hours, 42 minutes. The 6-foot-5 (1.96 meters) Raonic fired 33 aces.
   Raonic never lost a set in three appearances in the SAP Open in San Jose, winning the title in 2011, 2012 and 2013 before the tournament moved to Rio de Janeiro.
   The top three Wimbledon men's seeds – No. 1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic, No. 2 Roger Federer and No. 3 Rafael Nadal – coasted in straight sets.
   The matchups in Wednesday's men's quarterfinals are Djokovic against 21st-seeded David Goffin, Pella vs. 23rd-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut, Nadal against Querrey, and Federer vs. eighth-seeded Kei Nishikori.
   Nadal is 4-1 against Querrey. They will meet on grass for the first time.
   In the third round of men's doubles, 11th-seeded Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France beat seventh-seeded Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan 7-6 (3), 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (5).
   The 41-year-old Bryan twins (Stanford, 1997-98) were seeking their fourth Wimbledon title and first major crown together since the 2014 U.S. Open.
   Mike Bryan won last year's Wimbledon title with Jack Sock while Bob Bryan was sidelined with a hip injury that required replacement surgery.