Paul Barretto, Keenan Mayo repeat in Sectionals

   Paul Barretto and Keenan Mayo won their second consecutive NorCal Junior Sectional boys 18 and 16 singles titles, respectively, on Sunday at the Natomas Racquet Club in Sacramento.
   The No. 2-seeded Barretto, a 17-year-old Tiburon resident, beat No. 9 Jenson Brooksby, 15, of Carmichael 6-4, 6-3. The No. 1-seeded Mayo, a Roseville resident who turned 16 last month, dominated No. 9 Ryder Jackson of Nicasio 6-1, 6-1.
   In the quarterfinals of the girls 18s at UC Santa Cruz, No. 4 seed Carolyn Campana of Hillsborough ousted No. 5 Rachel Eason, the defending champion from Union City, 6-4, 6-2.
   Also, No. 2 Katie Volynets, 14, of Walnut Creek dismissed No. 4 Jessi Muljat, 15, of Sacramento 6-3, 6-1. Volynets is ranked first nationally in the 14s.
   Volynets avenged a 6-4, 7-5 loss to Muljat in the 16s final of the USTA International Spring Championships in Carson, Calif., in April.
   No. 1 seed Herrick Legaspi of Sacramento and No. 3 Anushka Khune of Palo Alto won the boys and girls 12 titles, respectively, at the Sunnyvale Tennis Center.
   The quarterfinals of the boys and girls 14s are scheduled for today at 11 a.m. at the Arden Hills Resort & Spa in Sacramento, followed by the semifinals at 3 p.m.

NORCAL JUNIOR SECTIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Finals

At Natomas Racquet Club in Sacramento

Boys 18

Singles

   Paul Barretto (2), Tiburon, def. Jenson Brooksby (9) Carmichael, 6-4, 6-3.

Doubles

   Arjith Jayaraman, Gold River, and Andrew Ton (4), Milpitas, def. Siddharth Chari, Saratoga, and Randy Cory, Salinas, 6-4, 1-6 [11-9].

Boys 16

Singles

   Keenan Mayo (1), Roseville, def. Ryder Jackson (9), Nicasio, 6-1, 6-1.

Doubles

   Sam Gibson, Chico, and Stevie Gould (4), Corte Madera, def. Ryder Jackson, Nicasio, and Zachery Lim (8), Fairfield, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

At Sunnyvale Tennis Center

Boys 12

Singles

  Herrick Legaspi (1), Sacramento, def. Raghav Jangbahadur (4), Palo Alto, 6-2, 6-0.

Doubles

   John Kim, Sunnyvale, and Herrick Legaspi (1), Sacramento, def. Liam Carpenter, Greenbrae, and Patrick Toman (3), Pleasant Hill, 6-2, 6-1.

Girls 12

Singles

   Anushka Khune (3), Palo Alto, def. Georgia Beard (1), Santa Rosa, 6-3, 6-2.

Doubles

   Anushka Khune, Palo Alto, and Madison Weekley (2), Alamo, def. Martina Marica, San Jose, and Kamila Wong (3), Palo Alto, 6-0, 6-2.

Qualifier Choy takes out sixth seed in Easter Bowl

   Sara Choy overcame a terrible start and pulled off a big upset in the Easter Bowl on Tuesday.
   The qualifier from Palo Alto shocked No. 6 seed Taylor Johnson of Redondo Beach 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2 in the first round of the girls 18s in Indian Wells.
   Choy trailed 0-5 in the first set in a matchup of 15-year-olds.
   "When I caught up in the first set, I still had momentum going into the second set," Choy, who won the 16s in the USTA National Winter Championships in Scottsdale, Ariz., in January, told Zoo Tennis. "I was feeling pretty confident, even though I lost in the tiebreaker. I knew if I just forgot about what happened in the tiebreaker and treated the new set like a new match, it would be OK for me."
   Another qualifier from Northern California, Darya Possokhova of San Francisco, lost to No. 3 seed Claire Liu of Thousand Oaks 6-0, 6-1. On Sunday, Liu came up short against fellow 15-year-old Kayla Day of Santa Barbara in the final of the USTA International Spring Championships in Carson.
   In the first round of boys 18 singles in the Easter Bowl, No. 5 seed Sam Riffice of Roseville and Paul Barretto of Tiburon advanced, but Austen Huang of Elk Grove lost to qualifier Timothy Sah of San Diego 6-3, 6-4.  
   Riffice was the 18s runner-up in USTA International Spring Championships. Huang won the Winter National boys 18s, and Barretto defeated Huang for the 18s title in the NorCal Junior Sectional Championships in Sacramento last June.
   Four days after falling in the boys 18 doubles final in the International Spring Championships, No. 4 seeds Brian Cernoch of North Bethesda, Md., and Riffice lost to Vasil Kirkov of Tampa, Fla., and Sebastian Korda of Bradenton, Fla., 6-3, 6-3 in the first round of the Easter Bowl.
   Korda is the son of Petr Korda, the 1998 Australian Open champion who subsequently tested positive for steroids, was banned and retired.
   No. 9 Ajai Shekhera of Campbell and No. 15 Jenson Brooksby of Carmichael won their opening-round matches in the Easter Bowl boys 16s, and No. 6 Rachel Eason of Union City and No. 14 Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek advanced in the girls 16s.
   Volynets, the 14-year-old runner-up to Jessi Muljat of Sacramento in the International Spring Championships, will face No. 1 seed Sedona Gallagher of Henderson, Nev.
   Muljat, 15, lost to No. 11 Dasha Kourkina of Brooklyn, N.Y., 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 in the first round of the Easter Bowl. 
   In the boys 14 doubles final, No. 1 Joshua Rabb of Woodstock, Ga., and Andres Martin of Flowery Branch, Ga., beat No. 2 Stefan Leustian of Mather and Zachery Lim of Fairfield 8-4.
   In the boys 12 singles semifinals, No. 11 Max Fardanesh of Albany edged No. 5 Noelle Andrey Ampong of Downers Grover, Ill., 4-6, 6-2 [10-7]. Fardanesh is scheduled to play No. 1 seed Samuel Landau of Los Angeles today for the title.  

Muljat wins all-NorCal girls 16 final in USTA tourney

   In an all-Northern California matchup, No. 14 seed Jessi Muljat of Sacramento defeated No. 15 Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek 6-4, 7-5 today to win the girls 16 singles title in the USTA International Spring Championships in Carson, Calif.
   Muljat, 15, is ranked 42nd nationally in the 16s, and Volynets, 14, is No. 1 in the 14s.
   Another Northern Californian, Sam Riffice of Roseville, reached the boys 18 singles final. Seeded No. 4, Riffice dismantled No. 2 seed and defending champion William Blumberg of Greenwich, Conn., 6-0, 6-1.
   Riffice, who trains at the USTA center in Boca Raton, Fla., is ranked No. 1 nationally in the 18s.
   The other boys 18 semifinal was even more one-sided as No. 11 Liam Caruana of Italy whipped No. 10 Oliver Crawford of Spartanburg, S.C., 6-0, 6-0.
   Blumberg gained revenge in the doubles final. No. 1 seeds Blumberg and Nathan Ponwith of Scottsdale, Ariz., routed No. 5 Brian Cernoch of North Bethesda, Md., and Riffice 6-1, 6-1.
   Past tournament singles champions include Sam Querrey (2005), Bradley Klahn (2008), Sloane Stephens (2009) and Melanie Oudin (2008).
   Past participants include Milos Raonic, Madison Keys, Steve Johnson, Christina McHale, Madison Brengle, Vania King, Ryan Harrison, Nicole Gibbs, CoCo Vandeweghe, Lauren Davis, Taylor Townsend and Jesse Levine.

NorCal girls reach 16 singles final in USTA tourney

   The girls 16 singles final in the USTA International Spring Championships in Carson will be an all-Northern California encounter.
   No. 14 seed Jessi Muljat of Sacramento will meet No. 15 Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area on Saturday.
   Muljat, 15, outlasted unseeded Eryn Cayetano of Corona, Calif., 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 today. Volynets, 14, routed No. 10 Hailey Baptiste of Takoma Park, Md., 6-0, 6-2.
   Cayetano ousted No. 1 seed Kacie Harvey, 14, of Braintree, Mass., in the second round, and Volynets eliminated No. 2 Marcella Cruz of Marlboro, N.J., in the third round.
   Muljat is ranked 42nd nationally in the 16s, and Volynets is No. 1 in the 14s.
   In the girls 18 quarterfinals, No. 2 seed Kayla Day of Santa Barbara, Calif., held off No. 6 Michaela Gordon of Saratoga, Calif., 6-4, 7-5 in a matchup of promising 16-year-olds. 
   Day, a left-hander, was the girls 18 runner-up in the Orange Bowl in Plantation, Fla., last December. She is ranked No. 13 in the world among girls and No. 685 among women. Gordon is No. 44 and No. 605, respectively.
   Both Day and Gordon have reached the quarterfinals of $25,000 professional tournaments. Day did so in Wesley Chapel, Fla., in January and, as a qualifier, in Surprise, Ariz., in February. Gordon gained the quarters in Redding in 2014 at 15 years old.
   In the boys 18s in Carson, Sam Riffice of Roseville in the Sacramento area reached the singles semifinals and doubles final.
   Riffice, seeded No. 4 in singles, topped No. 5 Duarte Vale of Portugal 7-5, 6-1. Riffice, who has not lost a set in his four matches, will face No. 2 seed and defending champion William Blumberg of Greenwich, Conn. In the other semifinal, No. 10 Oliver Crawford of Spartanburg, S.C., will play No. 11 Liam Caruana of Italy.
   No. 5 doubles seeds Brian Cernoch of North Bethesda, Md., and Riffice beat No. 3 Crawford and Brandon Holt of Rolling Hills, Calif., 7-5, 6-4. Cernoch and Riffice saved nine set points after trailing 5-1 in the first set. Cernoch won the 16s last year with Crawford.
   Holt, the son of International Tennis Hall of Famer Tracy Austin, and Riley Smith of Long Beach, Calif., were the boys doubles runners-up in the U.S. Open last September.
   Cernoch and Riffice will take on No. 1 Blumberg and Nathan Ponwith of Scottsdale, Ariz., for the title.
   Past tournament singles champions include Sam Querrey (2005), Bradley Klahn (2008), Sloane Stephens (2009) and Melanie Oudin (2008).
   Past participants include Milos Raonic, Madison Keys, Steve Johnson, Christina McHale, Madison Brengle, Vania King, Ryan Harrison, Nicole Gibbs, CoCo Vandeweghe, Lauren Davis, Taylor Townsend and Jesse Levine. 

Californians, 16, to meet in Spring quarterfinals

   Two promising 16-year-old Californians will meet today in the girls 18 quarterfinals at the USTA International Spring Championships in Carson.
   No. 2 Kayla Day of Santa Barbara wore down Ann Li of Devon, Pa., 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 on Thursday to set up a showdown against No. 6 Michaela Gordon of Saratoga. Gordon dominated Elysia Bolton of Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., 6-3, 6-1.
   Day, a left-hander, was the girls 18 runner-up in the Orange Bowl in Plantation, Fla., last December. She is ranked No. 13 in the world among girls and No. 685 among women. Gordon is No. 44 and No. 605, respectively.
   Both players have reached the quarterfinals of $25,000 professional tournaments. Day did so in Wesley Chapel, Fla., in January and, as a qualifier, in Surprise, Ariz., in February. Gordon gained the quarters in Redding in 2014 at 15 years old.
   Day is 1-0 against Gordon, having won 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 on clay in the round of 16 in the 2014 Orange Bowl. 
   In the boys 18s in Carson, Sam Riffice of Granite Bay advanced to the singles quarterfinals and doubles semifinals. Seeded No. 4 in singles, Riffice dismissed No. 14 Trent Bryde of Suwanee, Ga., 6-3, 6-1. Riffice, who hasn't lost more than three games in a set in his three matches, will play No. 5 Duarte Vale of Portugal. 
   No. 5 Riffice and Brian Cernoch of North Bethesda, Md., knocked off No. 2 Ulises Blanch of Deerfield Beach, Fla., and Liam Caruana of Italy 5-7, 7-5 [10-6].
   A pair of Northern Californians, meanwhile, reached the girls 16 singles semifinals.
   No. 14 seed Jessi Muljat of Sacramento defeated No. 6 Peyton Stearns of Mason, Ohio, 6-4, 6-4, and No. 15 Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek beat her doubles partner, No. 12 Cali Jankowski of Carlsbad, 6-4, 4-6, 4-0, retired.
   Muljat, 15, will play unseeded Eryn Cayetano of Corona, and Volynets, 14, will take on No. 19 Hailey Baptiste of Takoma Park, Md. Cayetano ousted No. 1 Kacie Harvey of Braintree, Mass., in the second round.
   In the doubles quarterfinals, No. 6 Baptiste and Mackenzie Clark of Bernardsville, N.J., edged No. 4 Harvey and Muljat 6-4, 2-6 [10-6].

Volynets, 14, and Muljat, 15, oust high seeds

   Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek and Jessi Muljat of Sacramento upset high seeds on Wednesday to reach the girls 16 quarterfinals in the USTA International Spring Championships in Carson.
   Volynets, seeded No. 15, ousted No. 2 Marcella Cruz of Marlboro, N.J., 7-5, 6-1. No. 14 Muljat took out No. 4 Cameron Compall of Winnetka, Ill., 6-2, 6-0.
   But No. 3 Niluka Madurawe of Sunnyvale lost to No. 16 Vivian Cheng of Santa Monica, 7-5, 6-4.
   Volynets, 14, will face her doubles partner, No. 12 Cali Jankowski of Carlsbad. Jankowski beat Dasha Kourkina of Brooklyn, N.Y., 6-3, 6-3.
   Muljat, 15, will play No. 6 Peyton Stearns of Mason, Ohio. Stearns topped wild card Gabriella Price of Montebello, N.Y., 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.
    Meanwhile, No. 4 Sam Riffice of Granite Bay and No. 6 Michaela Gordon of Saratoga moved into the third round of the boys and girls 18s, respectively. Riffice is 17 and Gordon 16.
   In the boys 18s, Patrick Kypson of Greenville, N.C., knocked off top-seeded Ulises Blanch of Deerfield Beach, Fla., 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.

USTA INTERNATIONAL SPRING CHAMPIONSHIPS

In Carson, Calif.

(Northern California results only)

Boys

18 singles

Second round

   Sam Riffice (4), Granite Bay, def. Juan Alejandro Hernandez Serrano, Mexico, 6-2, 6-0. 
   Oliver Crawford (10), Spartanburg, S.C., def. Jenson Brooksby, Carmichael, 6-1, 6-2.

18 doubles

Second round

   Brian Cernoch, North Bethesda, Md., and Sam Riffice (5), Roseville, def. Arnav Dhingra, Darnestown, Md., and Nikolai Parodi, Takoma Park, Md., 6-1, 6-3.

16 singles

Third round

   Axel Nefve (2), Hinsdale, Ill., def. Stevie Gould, Corte Madera, 6-3, 7-6 (0).

Girls

18 singles

Second round

   Michaela Gordon (6), Saratoga, def. Melissa Plambeck, Bradenton, Fla., 6-0, 6-1.
   Jade Lewis (10), New Zealand, def. Camille Favero, Sacramento, 6-3, 6-4.
   Maria Mateus (3), Braintree, Mass., def. Sara Choy, Palo Alto, 6-1, 6-0.

16 singles

Third round

   Jessi Muljat (14), Sacramento, def. Cameron Compall (4), Winnetka, Ill., 6-2, 6-0.
   Katie Volynets (15), Walnut Creek, def. Marcella Cruz (2), Marlboro, N.J., 7-5, 6-1.
   Vivian Cheng (16), Santa Monica, def. Niluka Madurawe (3), Sunnyvale, 7-5, 6-4.

16 doubles

Second round

   Kacie Harvey, Braintree, Mass., and Jessi Muljat (4), Sacramento, def. Katya Hersh, Carpentsersville, Ill., and Lauren Lemonds, Indianapolis, 6-4, 1-6 [10-1].
   Vivian Cheng, Santa Monica, and Britt Pursell, Oceanside, def. Cali Jankowski, Carlsbad, and Katie Volynets (7), Walnut Creek, 1-6, 6-4 [16-14].

NorCal's Campana reaches Eddie Herr doubles semis

   Unseeded Carolyn Campana of Hillsborough in the San Francisco Bay Area and Abigail Forbes of Raleigh, N.C., knocked off two seeded teams today to reach the girls 16 doubles semifinals in the Eddie Herr International Tennis Championship.
    Campana and Forbes surprised No. 8 Georgia Gulin of Brazil and Fernanda Labrana of Chile 7-5, 6-3 and then No. 2 Nicole Mossmer of La Jolla and Jessi Muljat, 14, of Sacramento 6-3, 6-1 in Bradenton, Fla.
   Campana and Forbes will play unseeded Kacie Harvey of Braintree, Mass., and Melissa Sakar of Lauderdale Lake, Fla., on Saturday. Harvey and Sakar beat unseeded Meredith Jones of the Philippines and Renata Lombera of Mexico 6-2, 7-5.
   Neither of the semifinal teams has lost a set in three matches.
   Meanwhile, 14-year-old Amanada Anisimova continued her amazing run in girls 18 singles. The wild card from Hallandale Beach, Fla., ousted a third consecutive seed to move into the semis, defeating No. 11 Alexandra Sanford of Westerville, Ohio, 6-4, 6-2.
   Anisimova had beaten No. 7 Bianca Andreescu of Canada in the second round and No. 11 Michaela Gordon of Saratoga in the Bay Area in the third round.
   Anisimova will try to continue her streak when she meets No. 5 Tamara Zidansek, 17, of Slovenia. No. 1 Dalma Galfi of Hungary will play unseeded Kylie McKenzie of Anthem, Ariz., in the other semifinal.
   The boys 18 semifinals feature two Canadians. No. 6 Felix Auger-Aliassime will take on No. 2 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, and No. 15 Benjamin Sigouin will meet No. 4 Alex De Minaur of Australia.

Anisimova, 14, upsets NorCal's Gordon in Herr 18s

No. 11 seed Michaela Gordon, shown in July, fell
to Amanda Anisimova 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 in the third round
of the Eddie Herr International Tennis Championship
in Bradenton, Fla. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Amanda Anisimova, a 14-year-old wild card from Hallandale Beach, Fla., ousted a seed for the second consecutive match to reach the girls 18 quarterfinals in the Eddie Herr International Tennis Championship in Bradenton, Fla.
   Anisimova wore down 11th-seeded Michaela Gordon, 16, of Saratoga, 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 on Thursday. Anisimova, who beat No. 7 seed Bianca Andreescu of Canada in the second round, has won all three of her matches in three sets.
   Anisimova is scheduled to face No. 11 Alexandra Sanford of Westerville, Ohio, today. Sanford defeated Kelly Chen of Cerritos 7-6 (7), 6-4.
   In girls 16 doubles, No. 2 seeds Nicole Mossmer of La Jolla and Jessi Muljat, 14, of Sacramento advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Victoria Kurz of Germany and Adelaide Lavery of Canada.
   Mossmer and Muljat will meet either No. 8 seeds Georgia Gulin of Brazil and Fernanda Labrana or unseeded Carolyn Campana of Hillsborough and Abigail Forbes of Raleigh, N.C. 
   The Eddie Herr Championship is one of the most prestigious junior tournaments in the world. Past competitors include Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, David Nalbandian, Maria Sharapova, Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic.
   Herr, the father of international junior tennis, died in 2000 at 93.

Catching up: Fritz, Hibino, colleges, juniors

Taylor Fritz, shown en route to the title in the
recent Fairfield Challenger, lost in the second
round in Las Vegas. That ended his winning
streak at 17 matches. Photo by Paul Bauman

   U.S. phenom Taylor Fritz's winning streak ended at 17 matches last week when he lost in the second round of the $50,000 Las Vegas Challenger.
   Fritz, the world's top-ranked junior, fell to Grega Zemlja of Slovenia 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-2. Zemlja advanced to the final, losing to Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands. Both Zemlja, 29, and de Bakker, 27, are former top-50 players.
   Fritz, who will turn 18 on Wednesday, won three straight titles after turning pro in August. He triumphed in the U.S. Open boys tournament, the $100,000 Sacramento Challenger and the $50,000 Fairfield Challenger.
   The latter two titles came in Fritz's home state of California. He lives in Rancho Santa Fe in the San Diego area.
   WTA tour -- Nao Hibino, who won the inaugural $50,000 Stockton Challenger in July, beat Donna Vekic of Croatia 6-2, 6-2 recently in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, for her first WTA tour title.
   Hibino, 20, of Japan did not face a seed or drop a set in the tournament. She defeated Ukraine's Anhelina Kalinina, the champion of the $50,000 Sacramento Challenger the week after Stockton, in the first round in Tashkent.
   Only 5-foot-4 (1.6 meters) and 132 pounds (60 kilograms), Hibino has soared from No. 177 in the world before Stockton to No. 79.
   USTA/ITA All-American Championships -- Cal's Andre Goransson and Maegan Manasse and Stanford's Tom Fawcett reached the semifinals of this month's USTA/ITA All-American Championships.
    Goransson, a junior from Sweden, lost to fourth-seeded Dominik Koepfer of Tulane 6-4, 6-4 in Tulsa, Okla. Fawcett, a 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) sophomore from Winnetka, Ill., fell to third-seeded Thai-Son Kwiatkowski of NCAA champion Virginia 6-3, 6-2.

Nao Hibino, playing in the Sacramento Challenger in July,
recently won her first WTA tour title. Photo by Mal Taam 

   Both Goransson and Fawcett were seeded 9-16. Kwiatkowski won the title.
   Manasse, a junior from Redondo Beach, lost to seventh seed and eventual champion Danielle Collins of Virginia 7-6 (7), 6-3 in Pacific Palisades. Collins won last year's NCAA singles title.
   Second-seeded Manasse and Denise Starr, a junior from Brooklyn, N.Y., won the doubles title with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over unseeded Hayley Carter and Whitney Kay of North Carolina 6-1, 6-4.
   USTA/ITA Northwest Regional Championships -- Stanford's David Wilczynski, a sophomore from Richboro, Pa., topped Mitch Stewart of Washington 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 on Monday in Seattle for the USTA/ITA Men's Northwest Regional title.
   USF's Vasco Valverde and Nils Skajaa took the doubles title, outclassing Stanford's Nolan Paige and Maciek Romanowicz 6-2, 6-2.
   Top-seeded Taylor Davidson of Stanford is scheduled to face ninth-seeded Mayar Ahmed of Fresno State today in the final of the Women's Northwest Regional Championships at Stanford.
   In the doubles final, top-seeded Davidson and Caroline Doyle, from San Francisco, will take on third-seeded Klara Fabikova and Olivia Hauger of Cal.
   USTA National Selection Tournament -- Top-seeded Sara Choy of Palo Alto routed third-seeded Jessi Muljat of Sacramento 6-1, 6-2 to win the girls 16 title in this month's USTA National Selection Tournament at the University of the Pacific in Stockton.
   In the doubles final, unseeded Michelle Deng of Temple City and Rena Lin of Northridge beat top-seeded Choy and Niluka Madurawe of Sunnyvale 8-6.
   Eighth-seeded Jenson Brooksby of Carmichael reached the boys 16 singles semifinals, falling to unseeded Jake Sands of Pacific Palisades 6-1, 6-0. Sands then lost to sixth-seeded Govind Nanda of Redlands.
   Third-seeded Brooksby and Randy Cory of Salinas won the doubles title, beating fourth-seeded Nanda and Sands 8-4 in the final.
   The 16s was the only age group in the tournament.

Batta wins boys 18 title in Rio Del Oro tourney

Boys 18 singles champion Amit Batta, left, and
runner-up Ajai Shekhera. Photo by Paul Bauman

   SACRAMENTO -- Amit Batta has talked to the coaches at UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara and likes both schools.
   But the 16-year-old Los Altos resident has bigger aspirations.
   "My dream school is UCLA or Texas," Batta said Sunday after winning the boys 18 title at the Rio Del Oro Junior Excellence tournament at the Rio Del Oro Racquet Club. "I've always liked the combination of athletics and education, and I love their athletics and education.
   "Also, they're in great locations. Austin is a great city, and UCLA is in a nice part of Los Angeles. I have a ton of friends at UCLA."
   What about Stanford, just a lob away from Los Altos, or Cal across San Francisco Bay?
   "I'm very interested in them," conceded Batta, who lived in his parents' native India from age 10 to 15. "I'm hoping they reach out. I'm going to stop e-mailing them. I want them to want me."

   Batta does have one concern, though.

   "My friends say Cal is overcrowded," he said.

Girls 18 singles champion Rachel Eason, right, and
runner-up Jessi Muljat. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Batta, seeded second in the Rio Del Oro tournament, beat top-seeded Ajai Shekhera of Campbell 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 for the crown.
   In the girls 18 final, fourth-seeded Rachel Eason, 15, of Union City topped fifth-seeded Jessi Muljat, 14, of Sacramento 6-2, 6-4.
   Meanwhile, two tiny girls with immense talent, also playing up, breezed to titles.
   Third-seeded Katie Volynets, 13, of Walnut Creek overwhelmed unseeded Payton Saca of Sacramento, 6-0, 6-0 in the 16s.
   And top-seeded Connie Ma, 11, of Dublin, dominated unseeded Monica Stratakos of Saratoga 6-2, 6-1 in the 14s.
   Volynets, last year's USTA girls 12 national champion, is 4-foot-11 (1.5 meters) and 73 pounds (33.1 kilograms). Ma is 4-9 (1.45 meters) and 70 pounds (31.8 kilograms).

   Saca, who's 7 1/2 inches (19 centimeters) taller and 37 pounds (16.8 kilograms) heavier than Volynets, moderately praised her opponent.

Girls 16 singles champion Katie Volynets, left, and
runner-up Payton Saca. Photo by Paul Bauman

   "She's a good player when she hits the ball in her strike zone," offered Saca, who's also 13 but 6 1/2 months older than Volynets. "She's very competitive. She doesn't give up." 

RIO DEL ORO JUNIOR EXCELLENCE

At Rio Del Oro Racquet Club in Sacramento

Singles finals

   Boys 18 -- Amit Batta (2), Los Altos, def. Ajai Shekhera (1), Campbell, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.
   Boys 16 -- Daly Meinert (1), Fresno, def. Andre Xiao (3), Saratoga, 6-3, 6-0.
   Boys 14 -- Aditya Gupta (1), Los Altos, def. Stefan Leustian (2), Mather, 7-6 (10), 5-7, 3-1, ret.
   Boys 12 -- Anas Abdelouahid (2), San Jose, def. Aryan Chaudhary (5), Santa Clara, 4-6, 6-2 [10-5].
   Girls 18 -- Rachel Eason (4), Union City, def. Jessi Muljat (5), Sacramento, 6-2, 6-4.

   Girls 16 -- Katie Volynets (3), Walnut Creek, def. Payton Saca, Sacramento, 6-0, 6-0.

Girls 14 singles champion Connie Ma, right, and
runner-up Monica Stratakos. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Girls 14 -- Connie Ma (1), Dublin, def. Monica Stratakos, Saratoga, 6-2, 6-1.
   Girls 12 -- Vivian Ovrootsky (2), San Jose, def. Claire Galerkin (1), San Francisco, 5-2, ret.

Doubles finals

   Boys 18 -- Donald Hall, Chico, and Max Yun (1), Walnut Creek, def. Amit Batta, Los Altos, and Ajai Shekhera, Campbell, 8-5.

   Boys 16 -- Daly Meinert, Fresno, and Andre Xiao (1), Saratoga, def. Kailas Shekar, Saratoga, and Dean Stratakos (4), Saratoga, 8-5.
   Boys 14 -- Stefan Leustian, Mather, and Zachery Lim (2), Fairfield, def. Aidan Mayo, Roseville, and Coby McCaig (4), Modesto, 9-8 (6).
   Boys 12 -- Aryan Chaudhary, Santa Clara, and Jake Vassel (1), Danville, def. Max Fardanesh, Albany, and Geoffrey Golan (2), San Jose, 8-4.
   Girls 18 -- Sara Choy, Palo Alto, and Catalina Rico (1), San Jose, def. Sarah Hu, Oakland, and Katya Tabachnik (2), San Francisco, 8-3.
   Girls 16 -- Hind Abdelouahid, San Jose, and Abbie Mulbarger (1), Woodbridge, def. Jacquie Tan (2), Elk Grove, and Jessica Tsukigi (2), San Jose, 8-6.
   Girls 14 -- Katherine Duong, Cupertino, and Connie Ma, Dublin, def. India Houghton, Tiburon, and Alena Pruett (4), Mountain View, 8-6.
   Girls 12 --Claire Galerkin, San Francisco, and Maryia Lucia, Roseville, def. Alisha Chulani, Los Altos, and Katherine Simone, Morgan Hill, 8-6.

Pro final delayed; Muljat, 14, wins women's open title

   Fifteen-year-old CiCi Bellis' Challenger final was postponed by rain, but 14-year-old Jessi Muljat won a women's open title on Sunday.
   The sixth-seeded Bellis, from Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area, was scheduled to play  fourth-seeded Maria Sanchez, a 25-year-old Modesto product, for the first time on Sunday in the $25,000 Fresh Start Women's Open in the San Diego suburb of Rancho Santa Fe.
   The match between Sanchez, ranked No. 220 in the world, and Bellis, ranked No. 244, was rescheduled for 9 a.m. today. However, there's an 80 percent chance of more rain.
   Muljat, seeded fourth, outclassed fellow Sacramentan Eirene Granville, who was unseeded, 6-1, 6-2 in the $2,000 Rio del Oro Open at the Rio del Oro Racquet Club in Sacramento.
   Earlier Sunday, Muljat ousted top-seeded Haley Gay of San Ramon 6-2, 7-5. Fourteen women played in the women's open division.
   Muljat, an amateur, advanced to the second round of qualifying in the Fresh Start Women's Open in her first pro tournament.
   Second-seeded Kiryl Harbatsiuk, a 27-year-old resident of Orangevale in the Sacramento area, prevailed in the 57-player men's draw. He overpowered his fellow Belarus native and former Sacramento State teammate, top-seeded Anton Stryhas, 6-3, 6-3.
   Harbatsiuk was named the Big Sky Conference MVP for three consecutive years (2009-11) and briefly played on the professional tour, reaching a career-high No. 710 in the world in 2011.
   Colleges -- Cecilia Estlander outlasted Lindsay Kostas 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Court 6 to clinch a 4-3 victory for the No. 8 Cal women over No. 7 Stanford at Stanford.
   On Court 1, fourth-ranked Carol Zhao of Stanford edged No. 2 Maegan Manasse 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6). Estlander's victory gave the Bears (7-2) an insurmountable 4-2 lead.
   Stanford (7-2) suffered its first home loss of the season and only its sixth since 1999. Cal coach Amanda Augustus has been involved in three of those losses, including as a player in 1999.
   In other college matches, the No. 64 Saint Mary's women trounced Sacramento State 7-0 in Moraga, the host UC Davis women routed UC Riverside 6-1, and the Pacific men lost to Idaho 4-3 to finish sixth among eight teams in the Pacific Mountain Invitational in Stockton.

Roseville's Riffice gains quarters in Jr. Orange Bowl

   Sam Riffice of Roseville in the Sacramento area reached the boys 14 quarterfinals in the prestigious Junior Orange Bowl in Coral Gables, Fla.
   Riffice, seeded ninth, topped 17th seeded Rudolf Molleker of Germany 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-1 on Friday to set up today's match against second-seeded Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia.
   Jessi Muljat, a wild card from the Sacramento suburb of Gold River, lost to fourth-seeded Amanda Anisimova of Hallandale Beach, Fla., 6-1, 6-3 in the girls 12 round of 16.

Tursunov wins Munich doubles; Klinger takes junior title

Dmitry Tursunov, shown at Indian Wells
in March, won the doubles title in Munich
with Jarkko Nieminen. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Dmitry Tursunov has spent the past three months rebounding in singles.
   Now he's starting to do the same in doubles.
   Tursunov, a 30-year-old Russian based in the Sacramento area, and Jarkko Nieminen of Finland defeated Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus and Eric Butorac of Rochester, Minn., 6-1, 6-4 on Sunday to win the BMW Open on clay in Munich. Both teams were unseeded.
   "I think today both of us were so nervous and so tight," Tursunov said on atpworldtour.com. "We're just glad it's finally over. It wasn't the prettiest match for both teams, but we had some good points.
   "It helped us (this week) that the courts were a little bit slow with the weather and conditions, so we were able to hit a lot of groundstrokes. It's tough for the doubles guys; they're so used to high-paced shots. We were able to take our time and pick our spots."
   Tursunov and Nieminen upended top seeds Alexander Peya of Austria and Bruno Soares of Brazil in the Munich quarterfinals and No. 3 seeds Julian Knowle of Austria and Filip Polasek of Slovakia in the semifinals.
   With the sixth ATP World Tour doubles title of his career but first since late 2010, Tursunov skyrocketed 124 places in the rankings to No. 146. He reached a career-high No. 36 in 2008.
   In singles, Tursunov has improved from No. 122 to No. 57 this year. He has been as high as No. 20, in 2006, during his injury-plagued career.
   A right-hander with a two-handed backhand, Tursunov missed three months early last year with a left wrist injury and never got untracked in 2012. He also missed this past January to rest nagging back, left wrist and right shoulder injuries.
   Tursunov has won seven ATP singles titles. The Munich crown was his first on clay in singles or doubles. All of his doubles titles have come with different partners.     
   Ironically, Nieminen handed Tursunov probably the most heartbreaking loss of his career, prevailing 7-5, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-7 (6), 9-7 in the round of 16 at Wimbledon in 2006. It's the closest Tursunov has come to reaching the singles quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament.
   In doubles, Tursunov has advanced to the quarterfinals twice and semifinals once in the French Open with countryman Igor Kunitsyn from 2007 to 2009.
   Tursunov and Butorac both have played for the Sacramento Capitals in World TeamTennis. Tursunov was named the WTT Rookie of the Year in 2004 for Sacramento, and Butorac competed for the Capitals in 2008. They were teammates for one match in 2008.

Cameron Klinger, 15, of San Jose won
the boys 18 singles title at the Rio del
Oro Junior Championships in Sacra-
mento. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Juniors -- Cameron Klinger of San Jose defeated Nikita Matveyko of Kirkland, Wash., 7-5, 6-2 to win the boys 18 singles title at the Rio del Oro Junior Championships in Sacramento. Both players were unseeded.
   Matveyko served for the first set at 5-4.
   "I played a couple good games to win the set," said Klinger, whose height (6-foot-2) and power belie his age (15). "I think that hurt him mentally (in the second set)."
   Klinger, who swept the USTA national boys 14 singles and doubles titles in 2011, was playing in his first tournament in two months.
   "I was burned out," he explained. "I spent three or four months (playing) in Florida. I feel a lot better now."
   Klinger recently began working with Fresno-based Brad Stein, the former coach of International Tennis Hall of Famer Jim Courier.
   In the girls 18 final, unseeded Emma Critser of Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area beat fifth-seeded Karina Vyrlan of Sacramento 6-2, 6-4. Critser is a high school junior; Vyrlan, a 14-year-old freshman, has been home-schooled since fourth grade.
   Fifth-seeded Jessi Muljat (pronounced Mul-yat), 12, of Gold River in the Sacramento area topped unseeded Maria Kozyreva of Granite Bay 6-4, 6-4 to win the girls 16 singles title.
   Following are results of the other Rio del Oro finals:
   Boys 16 singles -- Lane Leschly (8), Atherton, def. Trenton Neild (9), La Selva Beach, 6-1, 6-2.
   Boys 14 singles -- Keenan Mayo (2), Roseville, def. Austen Huang (1), Elk Grove, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.
   Boys 12 singles -- Stefan Leustian (6), Mather, def. Aidan Mayo (3), Roseville, 7-5, 6-2.
   Girls 14 singles -- Jillian Taggart, Fair Oaks, def. Ashley Yeah (5), Los Gatos, 6-1, 6-0.
   Girls 12 singles -- Muskan Mahajan (4), San Ramon, def. Jennamarie Gordon (1), Los Altos Hills, 6-4, 6-1.
   Boys 18 doubles -- Wyatt Kershaw, Clovis, and Deric Wanland (1), Sacramento, def. Arshak Ghazaryan, Granite Bay, and Nikita Matveyko, Kirkland, Wash., 8-5.
   Boys 16 doubles -- Joseph Conlin, Alameda, and Jayson Fung, San Francisco, def. Peter Shin, Dublin, and Satyajit Simhadri (1), Saratoga, 8-2.
   Boys 14 doubles -- Austen Huang, Elk Grove, and Keenan Mayo (1), Roseville, def. Randy Cory, Salinas, and Andrew Ton (2), Milpitas, 9-8.
   Boys 12 doubles -- Mason Fung, San Francisco and Ryder Jackson (1), Nicasio, def. Ryan Ali, Mill Valley, and Ilan Leventhal (4), San Mateo, 8-3.
   Girls 18 doubles -- Bridget Guenard, Elk Grove, and Stephanie Lin (1), Pinole, def. Paige Cline, Kentfield, and Isabella Heidenreich, Napa, 8-6.
   Girls 16 doubles -- Darya Possokhova and Katya Tabachnik (1), San Francisco, def. Rebecca Li, Pleasanton, and Seriana Saltzen (2), Cameron Park, 8-6.
   Girls 14 doubles --Jenna Schlatter, Saint Helena, and Jillian Taggart, Fair Oaks, def. Niluka Madurawe, Sunnyvale, and Jacquie Tan, Elk Grove, 8-5.
   Girls 12 doubles -- Julia Owens, Los Altos, and Monica Stratakos (1), Saratoga, def. Alexandra Accinelli, Sacramento, and Jasjot Sandhu, Rancho Cordova, 8-2. 

Vyrlan, 14, and Muljat, 12, post big upsets

Karina Vyrlan, 14, overwhelmed top-seeded Mariska Chamdani
6-0, 6-0 in the girls 18 quarterfinals. Photo by Paul Bauman

   SACRAMENTO -- Keep an eye on Karina Vyrlan and Jessi Muljat.
   Playing way up, the 14-year-old Vyrlan and the 12-year-old Muljat (pronounced Mull-yat) knocked off No. 1 seeds Saturday in the Rio del Oro Junior Championships at the club by the same name.
   The fifth-seeded Vyrlan, from Sacramento, crushed Mariska Chamdani of Santa Clara 6-0, 6-0 in the girls 18 quarterfinals. The fifth-seeded Muljat, from Gold River in the Sacramento area, outsteadied Darya Possokhova of San Francisco 6-4, 6-2 in the girls' 16 semifinals.
   Chamdani, a high school senior and four-star recruit on tennisrecruiting.net, has verbally committed to Brown University, an Ivy League school in Providence, R.I.
   Vyrlan will face unseeded Sara Choy of San Francisco in the 18s semis today at 8 a.m., with the winner advancing to the 11:30 a.m. final.

Jessi Muljat, 12, knocked off No. 1 seed
Darya Possokhova 6-4, 6-2 in the girls 16
semifinals. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Muljat will play unseeded Maria Kozyreva of Granite Bay for the 16s title today at 8 a.m. Kozyreva downed fifth-seeded Stephanie Nguyen of San Jose 7-5, 6-2.

   Not to be outdone, Cameron Klinger, 15, of San Jose demolished Justin Sun of Fremont 6-0, 6-0 in a matchup of unseeded players in the boys 18 semifinals. Sun had ousted top-seeded Manpreet Tiwana of Cupertino 6-3, 0-6, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
    Klinger will meet unseeded Nikita Matveyko of Kirkland, Wash., for the title today at 9 a.m. Neither player has lost a set en route to the final.
   The long-legged Vyrlan, 5-foot-9, earned her first WTA ranking point in March.
   "That was so cool," she said with a big smile.
   Vyrlan qualified for a $10,000 tournament in Metepec, Mexico, and won her first-round match in the main draw before losing to Slovakia's Lenka Wienerova, 10 years older, 6-1, 6-2 in the second round. Wienerova is ranked No. 415 after reaching a career-high No. 128 in 2009.

Cameron Klinger, 15, trounced Justin Sun 6-0, 6-0
in the boys 18 semifinals. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Gary Muljat, meanwhile, said of his daughter: "The neat thing is she never had to be pushed to play. She always wanted to play, then take lessons, then play tournaments. She has always driven the process. Neither my wife nor I play."
   The 6-foot-2 Klinger, a home-schooled sophomore, hopes to turn pro or play in NCAA Division I after high school.  
   "I want to keep both options open," said Klinger, who swept the USTA boys 14 singles and doubles titles in 2011.

   Klinger favors USC or UCLA over Stanford, about 20 miles up the freeway from home, or Cal.
   "(USC and UCLA) are a lot higher ranked (in tennis) right now," he explained. "I kind of want to get out of Northern California but stay in California."