Samsonova stymies Stephens for 10th straight win

Sloane Stephens fell to Russian wild card in three sets
today in the third round at Wimbledon. 2019 photo by
Mal Taam

   Wild card Liudmila Samsonova, a 22-year-old Russian, extended her winning streak to 10 matches today with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 victory over unseeded Sloane Stephens, a 28-year-old product of Fresno, Calif., in the third round at Wimbledon.

   Samsonova won her first WTA title as a qualifier in Berlin on grass two weeks ago. Ranked No. 65, she is playing in the Wimbledon main draw for the first time.

   Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion, has not advanced past the third round at Wimbledon since reaching the quarterfinals in 2013.

   Also today, No. 21 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia eliminated No. 11 seed Garbiñe Muguruza of Spain 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 to become the first Arab woman to reach the round of 16 at Wimbledon. Since winning the 2017 title, Muguruza has not gone past the third round at the All England Club.

   Muguruza starred in the now-defunct Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, advancing to the semifinals in the last edition in 2017 and the quarterfinals in 2014. Muguruza also won the Stanford doubles crown with compatriot Carla Suarez Navarro in 2014.

   In the third round of the Wimbledon men's draw, No. 10 seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada dominated 34-year-old British wild card Andy Murray, the Wimbledon champion in 2013 and 2016, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2. Shapovalov lost in the opening round of the 2017 Fairfield, Calif., Challenger at 17. 

   Murray, who underwent right hip surgery in 2018 and 2019, played at Wimbledon for the first time in four years. He won the first of his 46 tour-level singles titles in San Jose in 2006 at 18 and repeated the following year. Murray also won the Challenger in Aptos, Calif., a 45-minute drive south of San Jose, in 2005 at 18.

   Halfway through the third round, the only remaining Wimbledon singles champions are No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic, No. 6 seed Roger Federer and No. 25 seed Angelique Kerber.

   In men's doubles, Andre Goransson (University of California, Berkeley, 2014-17) of Sweden and Casper Ruud of Norway upset No. 9 seeds Kevin Krawietz of Germany and Horia Tecau of Romania 6-4, 7-6 (4) in the second round. Goransson, 27, is playing in his first Grand Slam tournament.

   No. 6 seeds Rajeev Ram, a volunteer assistant coach at Cal from Carmel, Ind., and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain routed Laslo Djere of Serbia and Gianluca Mager of Italy 6-1, 6-2 in the first round.

   In the opening round of mixed doubles, Oliver Marach, a 40-year-old Austrian, and Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine beat Santiago Gonzalez and Giuliana Olmos of Mexico 7-5, 7-5. 

   Kichenok reached the women's doubles final with her twin sister, Nadiia, in the inaugural (2018) Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose. Olmos was born in Austria and grew up in Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Struggling Kenin, Andreescu upset at Wimbledon

Madison Brengle ousted No. 4 seed Sofia Kenin today in the
second round at Wimbledon. 2019 photo by Paul Bauman

   Two of the top five women's seeds, both Grand Slam champions who have struggled this year, lost at Wimbledon today.

   In an all-American matchup, Madison Brengle ousted No. 4 seed Sofia Kenin 6-2, 6-4 in the second round. Kenin has won three Challenger singles titles in Northern California and Brengle two.

   Also, Alize Cornet of France routed No. 5 seed Bianca Andreescu of Canada 6-2, 6-1 in the first round. Cornet, who stunned Serena Williams in the third round at Wimbledon in 2014, ended a three-match losing streak at the All England Club.

   Neither Kenin, who won the 2020 Australian Open at 21, nor Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion at 19, has reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament this year. In fact, Andreescu hasn't survived the second round in a 2021 major. The last Grand Slam tourney of the year, the U.S. Open, is scheduled for Aug. 30 to Sept. 12.

   Another major champion, 28-year-old Fresno, Calif., product Sloane Stephens, defeated Kristie Ahn, a 29-year-old Stanford graduate from Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 7-5, 6-3 in the second round.

   In a rematch of the 2018 Wimbledon men's final, top-ranked Novak Djokovic dismissed Kevin Anderson of South Africa 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in the second round. The 6-foot-8 (2.03-meter) Anderson, 35, had right knee surgery in September 2019 and February 2020.

   Sam Querrey, a 33-year-old San Francisco native, eliminated No. 11 seed Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain, 7-6 (6), 6-4, 7-5.

   The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Querrey, a Wimbledon semifinalist in 2017 and quarterfinalist in 2016 and 2019, clubbed 22 aces and won 90 percent of the points on his first serve (56 of 62). Carreno Busta, a two-time U.S. Open semifinalist, fell to 0-6 at Wimbledon.

   Wild card Andy Murray, the Wimbledon champion in 2013 and 2016, outlasted qualifier Oscar Otte of Germany 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the second round.

   Murray won the first of his 46 tour-level singles titles in San Jose in 2006 at 18 and repeated the following year. He also won the Challenger in Aptos, Calif., a 45-minute drive south of San Jose, in 2005 at 18.

Goransson in doubles final; Murray out of Aussie Open

Andre Goransson seeks his sixth Challenger doubles title. The
26-year-old Swede owns one ATP doubles crown. File photo by
Paul Bauman

   Second-seeded Andre Goransson (University of California, Berkeley, 2014-17) of Sweden and David Pel of the Netherlands beat unseeded Americans Robert Galloway and Alex Lawson 7-6 (4), 6-1 on an indoor hardcourt today in the semifinals of the €132,280 ($160,632) Istanbul Challenger.

   Goransson and Pel, a 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) left-hander, are scheduled to meet unseeded Lloyd Glasspool of Great Britain and Harri Heliovaara of Finland on Saturday. 

   Glasspool and Heliovaara eliminated top-seeded Jonathan Erlich, 43, of Israel and Andrei Vasilevski of Belarus 7-6 (5), 6-3. Erlich won the 2008 Australian Open doubles title with countryman Andy Ram.

   Goransson, 26, seeks his sixth Challenger doubles title and first with Pel. Goransson owns one ATP doubles crown; he and Christopher Rungkat of Indonesia edged Erlich and Vasilevski 6-2, 3-6 [10-8] in the Pune (India) final last February.

   Australian Open — Former world No. 1 Andy Murray, who won the first two of his 46 tour-level singles titles in San Jose, Calif., withdrew from the year's first Grand Slam tournament after recently testing positive for COVID-19.

   Murray, a three-time Grand Slam singles champion, is 0-5 in Australian Open finals. The tournament is scheduled for Feb. 8-21 in Melbourne.

   UTR Pro Tennis Series — Cal All-American Haley Giavara, a sophomore from San Diego, withdrew from the semifinals of the second-place playoff in Newport Beach, Calif. 

   Madison Weekley, a high school junior from Alamo in the San Francisco Bay Area, is slated to play Skyler Grishuk of Newport Beach in the semifinals of the fourth-place playoff on Sunday in the $25,000 singles-only tournament.

   Weekley, who has verbally committed to Saint Mary's in the Bay Area, lost to Rebecca Lynn, a high school junior from Newport Beach, 7-6 (4), 6-1 today to finish 1-3 in round-robin play.

   Colleges — The Cal men (1-0) and women (1-0) are slated to face UCLA on Saturday in Los Angeles on ITA Kickoff Weekend.

   The men's match against the No. 18 Bruins at USC will be streamed live at 1 p.m. The No. 19 women's contest at No. 2 UCLA will be streamed live at 4 p.m.

Murray tests positive; Main advances in UTR $25K

Andy Murray could miss the Australian Open, in which
he is a five-time runner-up. File photo by Paul Bauman

   Andy Murray, who won the first two of his 46 tour-level singles titles in San Jose, Calif., reportedly has tested positive for the coronavirus. 

   The former world No. 1 could miss the Australian Open, which has been postponed three weeks to Feb. 8-21 in Melbourne. The tournament requires a two-week quarantine beforehand and a negative virus test before departing. 

   Murray, 33, reportedly has no symptoms of COVID-19. The three-time Grand Slam singles champion, who played only four tournaments last year because of the five-month COVID break and lingering hip problems, has tumbled to No. 123 in the world. He underwent a second operation on his right hip in January 2019 and missed five months.

   Murray received a wild card in this year's Australian Open, in which he is a five-time runner-up.

   Six-time champion Roger Federer, 39, also will miss the tournament after having arthroscopic surgery on his right knee twice in the first half of 2020.  

   UTR Pro Tennis Series — Tomi Main, a high school junior from Seaside, Calif., in the Monterey area, defeated Isabella Chhiv, a high school sophomore from Irvine, Calif., 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the third-place playoff in Newport Beach, Calif.

   Main, who has verbally committed to play at Texas Tech, led 5-1 in the third set in the $25,000 tournament. She is scheduled to play top-seeded Maya Pitts, a high school senior from Los Angeles, on Saturday at about 11 a.m. PST. Live streaming is available. 

   Pitts routed Misa Malkin, a University of South Carolina signee from Tucson, Ariz., 6-1, 6-2.

   Top-seeded Katie Volynets, a 19-year-old pro from Walnut Creek, Calif., in the San Francisco Bay Area, is slated to meet Jessica Luisa Alsola, a University of California, Berkeley signee from Fresno, Calif., on Saturday at 9 a.m. in the semifinals of the first-place playoff. The match will be streamed live.

Murray withdraws from Cologne due to pelvic problem

Andy Murray was named the ATP Comeback Player
of the Year in 2019. File photo by Paul Bauman

   Andy Murray withdrew from this week's ATP Tour event in Cologne, Germany, because of a lingering pelvic problem and could miss the rest of the year, Reuters reported Monday.

   The former world No. 1 returned from a second hip surgery in January 2019 and won Antwerp seven months later. It was his 46th singles title and first since 2017, and he was named the ATP Comeback Player of the Year.

   The first two crowns of Murray's career came in the SAP Open in San Jose, Calif., in 2006 at age 18 and in 2007. The tournament folded after the 125th edition in 2013. 

   Murray, 33, had more hip trouble late last year and returned to the circuit after the long COVID-19 pandemic break. He lost in the second round of the U.S. Open, first round of the French Open and opening round last week, also in Cologne.

   The three-time Grand Slam singles champion said he has tendinitis in his left psoas, the muscle connecting the lower back to the top of the leg. He did not say how long he would be out. 

   Ranked No. 1 in 2016, Murray plunged as low as No. 839 in July 2018. He has climbed to No. 116.

Sakkari stops Gauff, 16, in Western & Southern Open

Maria Sakkari, playing in San Jose, Calif., last year, dismissed
Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-3 in the first round of the Western & South-
ern Open in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. Photo by Paul Bauman 

Maria Sakkari did Coco Gauff a big favor by withdrawing from the WTA tournament in Linz, Austria, last October. 

That allowed Gauff to advance to the main draw as a lucky loser, and she went on to win her first WTA title at age 15. 

Gauff was not as fortunate today. Now 16, she lost to the 25-year-old Greek 6-1, 6-3 in 65 minutes in the first round of the Western & Southern Open in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

The tournament, normally held in the Cincinnati area, is being played at the site of the U.S. Open with no fans in attendance because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sakkari, seeded 13th at No. 21, won 84 percent of the points on her first serve (21 of 25) and saved the only break point against her.

It was Sakkari's second match since the WTA tour resumed after a hiatus of almost five months. She fell to 69th-ranked Kristyna Pliskova, the twin sister of No. 3 Karolina Pliskova, 6-4, 6-4 on clay in the first round in Palermo two weeks ago.

"I think I really played a good match," Sakkari, the runner-up in the inaugural Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif., in 2018, said on-court after the match. "I played a match in Palermo, but for me, it doesn't count. It wasn't even a match (there), the way I played. Coming back the way I did, it's really important, and (I take) a lot of confidence from this." 

Sakkari is scheduled to play either No. 33 Yulia Putintseva or No. 36 Zhang Shuai on Monday. 

Former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, who won the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford 10 years ago, dispatched 15th-seeded Donna Vekic, a semifinalist in San Jose last year, 6-2, 6-3. 

Azarenka, the Australian Open champion in 2012 and 2013, will face either wild card Sloane Stephens, a Fresno, Calif., product who won the 2017 U.S. Open, or Carolina Garcia of France. 

Amanda Anisimova, 18, ousted 11th-seeded Alison Riske 6-3, 6-3 in an all-American encounter. 

Anisimova, who won her first professional title in the 2017 Sacramento, Calif., Challenger at 15 and reached the French Open semifinals last year, will face another American in the second round on Monday. She will take on either Jennifer Brady, coming off her first WTA title last week in Lexington, Ky., or qualifier Jessica Pegula, the runner-up in the 2012 Sacramento Challenger at 18.

No. 16 seed Dayana Yastremska, ranked 25th at age 20, eliminated 40-year-old Venus Williams, who has won seven Grand Slam and two Bank of the West singles titles, 7-5, 2-6, 7-5.

On the first day of ATP Tour matches since March, winners included wild card Andy Murray and Milos Raonic, who combined to go 23-0 and win five singles titles in the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose.

Murray, 33, defeated American wild card Frances Tiafoe, who won the 2016 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger, 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-1. 

Murray, who captured the first of his three Grand Slam singles title in the 2012 U.S. Open, is playing in his first tournament of the year as he continues his comeback from hip operations in 2018 and 2019. He is set to play fifth-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany on Monday.

The 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) Raonic, who has struggled with injuries since reaching the 2016 Wimbledon final, hammered 19 aces in a 6-4, 6-4 victory over 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Sam Querrey, a 32-year-old San Francisco native.

Murray voted ATP Comeback Player of Year

Andy Murray rebounded from his second hip operation to win
a doubles title in his first tournament back and a singles crown
in October. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Andy Murray, who won the first two of his 46 tour-level singles titles in San Jose, Calif., was voted by fellow players as the ATP Comeback Player of the Year.
   Other award winners announced Thursday were Rafael Nadal (year-end No. 1 singles player), Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah (year-end No. 1 doubles team), Matteo Berrettini (Most Improved Player) and Jannik Sinner (Newcomer of the Year).
   Murray announced on Jan. 10 that he would retire after Wimbledon at the latest because of chronic hip pain. He had surgery on his right hip for the second time on Jan. 28 but returned to the tour in doubles in June, one month after his 32nd birthday.
   In Murray's first tournament back, he won the doubles title with Feliciano Lopez in the Fever-Tree Championships in London. Murray also won the singles crown in the European Open in Antwerp in October.
   Murray went 10-0 in singles in the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose, winning the crown in 2006 at 18 years old and the following year. He also won the Challenger in Aptos, Calif., a 45-minute drive south of San Jose, in 2005 at 18.
   Nadal, 33, became the oldest player to finish as the year-end No. 1 in the history of the ATP rankings. He took home four singles trophies this year, including his 12th in the French Open and fourth in the U.S. Open.
   With his Roland Garros crown, Nadal broke Margaret Court's record of 11 Australian Open singles titles, seven of which came when only amateurs were allowed to play.
   By winning the U.S. Open, Nadal pulled within one of Roger Federer's record of 20 Grand Slam men's singles titles.
   Cabal, 33, and Farah, 32, of Colombia won their first two Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. They became the second all-South American team to finish as the year-end No. 1 doubles team, following Hans Gildemeister of Chile and Andres Gomez of Ecuador in 1986.
   Farah reached the singles final in the 2012 Aptos Challenger, losing to former USC teammate Steve Johnson.
   Berrettini, a 23-year-old Italian, climbed from No. 54 to No. 8 in the 2018 and 2019 year-end rankings, respectively. He advanced to his first Grand Slam semifinal in the U.S. Open.
   Berrettini's countryman, 18-year-old Sinner, skyrocketed from No. 763 at the end of 2018 to No. 78 currently. He is the youngest player in the year-end top 80 since Nadal finished No. 47 at age 17 in 2003.
   Sinner lost in the second round of the $81,240 Aptos Challenger in August the week after winning the $54,160 Lexington (Ky.) Challenger.

Murray has hip surgery; Altamirano reaches quarters

Andy Murray, who won the first two of his 45 tour-level
singles titles in San Jose in 2006 and 2007, wrote on Insta-
gram that he now has a metal hip. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Andy Murray might try to prolong his career, after all.
   The former world No. 1, who tearfully announced on Jan. 10 that he would retire after Wimbledon in July at the latest, underwent right hip surgery in London on Monday.
   " ... Feeling a bit battered and bruised just now but hopefully that will be the end of my hip pain," Murray, 31, wrote on Instagram. "I now have a metal hip."
   Doubles specialist Bob Bryan had the same procedure last August. He returned in the recent Australian Open, teaming with 40-year-old twin Mike Bryan to reach the quarterfinals. They played at Stanford in 1997 and 1998, leading the Cardinal to the NCAA title in both years.
   "He's been watching me like a hawk, asking me how I'm feeling after matches, after practices, where I'm at," Bob Bryan said of Murray in an  Associated Press story. "I never once told him, 'This is the way to go,' because I do see that singles is a different monster. Those guys are really sliding around, killing themselves for four hours. Who knows if this joint would hold up?"
   Murray, who won the first two of his 45 tour-level singles titles in San Jose in 2006 and 2007, also had right hip surgery last January and came back in June.
   ATP Challenger Tour -- Collin Altamirano of Sacramento reached the quarterfinals of last week's $162,480 Oracle Challenger Series in Newport Beach.
   After receiving a first-round bye as an alternate, the 23-year-old Altamirano defeated Victor Estrella Burgos, 38, of the Dominican Republic and Dustin Brown, 34, of Germany before losing to Donald Young of Atlanta.
   Brown, the runner-up in the $100,000 Fairfield (Calif.) Challenger in 2015, is 2-0 against Rafael Nadal. Both wins came on grass, including on Centre Court at Wimbledon in the second round in 2015.

Murray, two-time San Jose champ, says he'll retire soon

Andy Murray, troubled by a nagging hip injury, said he will
retire after Wimbledon at the latest. The upcoming Australian
could be his last tournament. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Andy Murray, who won the first two of his 45 tour-level titles in San Jose, announced Thursday that he will retire after Wimbledon this year at the latest.
   Hobbled by a hip injury since June 2016, Murray said the Australian Open could be his last tournament. Play is scheduled for Sunday (California time) through Jan. 27.
   "I spoke to my team, and I told them, 'I cannot keep doing this,' " Murray, who underwent hip surgery last January, said in an emotional news conference in Melbourne. "I needed to have an end point because I was sort of playing with no idea when the pain was going to stop. I felt like making that decision.
   "I said to my team, 'Look, I think I can get through this until Wimbledon.' That's where I would like to stop playing. But I am also not certain I am able to do that."
   Murray, 31, has won three Grand Slam singles titles and two Olympic gold medals in singles. He ended British droughts of 77 years by winning Wimbledon in 2013 and 79 years by clinching a victory over Belgium in the 2015 Davis Cup final. Murray reached No. 1 in the world in November 2016.
   The last match of Murray's career could come Sunday against 22nd-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain in the first round of the Australian Open, in which Murray is a five-time runner-up.
   Bautista Agut won his ninth career ATP title last week in Doha, stunning top-ranked Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.
   Murray went 10-0 in the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose, winning the title in 2006 at 18 years old and the following year. He also won the Challenger in Aptos, a 45-minute drive south of San Jose, in 2005 at 18.
   Brad Gilbert, a lifelong San Francisco Bay area resident, coached Murray for 16 months in 2006 and 2007.
   Australian Open draw -- No. 16 seed Serena Williams, who has a residence in Silicon Valley, could face top-ranked Simona Halep or Venus Williams in the fourth round.
   Serena, who hopes to tie Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles, also could meet Naomi Osaka in the semifinals in a rematch of the controversial 2018 U.S. Open final, won by the then-20-year-old Japanese upstart.
   In the other half of the women's draw, No. 5 seed and Fresno product Sloane Stephens could play No. 2 seed and 2016 champion Angelique Kerber in the quarterfinals.
   Three men with Northern California connections are unseeded.
   Sam Querrey, a 31-year-old San Francisco native, will meet Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France in the first round. The winner will play either No. 24 seed and 2018 semifinalist Hyeon Chung of South Korea or left-hander Bradley Klahn, a 28-year-old Stanford graduate.
   Mackenzie McDonald, a 23-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, will play Andrey Rublev, a promising 21-year-old Russian rebounding from a stress fracture in his lower back.
   Australian Open qualifying -- No. 3 seed Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland defeated ex-Stanford star Nicole Gibbs 6-3, 7-6 (3) to earn a main-draw berth.
   Gibbs led 3-0 (two service breaks) in the second set and served for the set at 6-5. She reached the second round or better in the Australian Open main draw for the last four years, losing to eventual champion Serena Williams in the third round in 2017.

Querrey ousts ailing Murray in Wimbledon quarters

Sam Querrey, playing in the 2014 Sacramento Challenger, today
reached his first Grand Slam semifinal. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Sam Querrey achieved the biggest victory of his career today, ousting top seed and defending champion Andy Murray 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-1 at Wimbledon to reach his first Grand Slam semifinal in 42 appearances.
   Murray, who also won Wimbledon in 2013 to end Great Britain's 77-year title drought in men's singles at the All England Club, struggled with a nagging hip injury after leading Querrey by a set and a service break.
   Still, the 24th-seeded Querrey told reporters that his victory is "a really big deal. It's my first (major) semifinal. To beat Andy, to have it be at Wimbledon, was even a little more special. (It was) just an incredible match. I'm just so happy right now.
   "I was a little nervous at first when we got out there," added Querrey, who stunned Novak Djokovic in the third round at Wimbledon last year en route to the quarterfinals. "I had a little bit of a shaky game, my first service game. But then when I broke back in the second set, (I) kind of took a deep breath and settled in a little bit. As the match kept going, I just felt more and more confident, more and more like I belonged (out there).
   The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Querrey pounded 27 aces, and the 6-foot-3 (1.90-meter) Murray had eight. Both players committed two double faults.
   Querrey won 84 percent of the points on his first serve (62 of 74) to Murray's 73 percent (60 of 82). Querrey had 70 winners and 30 unforced errors vs. Murray's 33 and 19, respectively.
   Although Querrey graduated from Thousand Oaks High School in the Los Angeles area and lives in nearby Santa Monica, he has strong Northern California ties.
   Querrey was born in San Francisco and briefly lived in nearby Santa Rosa before moving to Las Vegas and then Thousand Oaks. In his professional debut just after graduating from high school in 2006, he won the $50,000 Yuba City Challenger.
   Querrey reached the semifinals in the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose in 2010 and the final edition in 2013, and won the doubles title there in 2010 with Mardy Fish.
   Querrey also played part-time for the now-defunct Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis in 2012 and 2013, and swept the three-week NorCal Challenger swing through Napa, Sacramento and Tiburon in 2014.
   Another San Francisco native, 18-year-old CiCi Bellis, lost today in the women's doubles quarterfinals, and Sacramento native Sam Riffice was eliminated in boys singles and doubles.

Andy Murray, playing at Indian Wells in 2015, struggled with a nagging hip
injury after leading Sam Querrey two sets to one today. Photo by Paul Bauman

   In Friday's men's singles semifinals, Querrey will face another 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) player, No. 7 seed Marin Cilic of Croatia, and No. 3 Roger Federer will meet No. 11 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.
  Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion, ended the run of Gilles Muller, 3-6, 7-6 (6), 7-5, 5-7, 6-1. Muller, a 34-year-old left-hander from Luxembourg, had ousted Rafael Nadal in the fourth round.
   Federer, who won the last of his seven Wimbledon singles titles in 2012, eliminated No. 6 seed Milos Raonic, last year's runner-up.
   Berdych led Djokovic, a three-time Wimbledon champion, 7-6 (2), 2-0 when the 30-year-old Serb retired with a right shoulder injury.
   Querrey became the first player since Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 10 years ago to win three consecutive five-set matches at Wimbledon. And he could make it four straight.
   Cilic, 28, is 4-0 against Querrey, 29, but each match (three on grass and one on a hardcourt) has been close. They have met twice at Wimbledon, and both encounters were marathons. Cilic prevailed 7-6 (6), 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-7 (3), 17-15 in 5 1/2 hours in the third round in 2012 and 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-4 in the second round in 2009.
   The 2012 clash between Cilic and Querrey is the second-longest by time in Wimbledon history, trailing John Isner's victory over Nicolas Mahut, 70-68 in the fifth set, in 2010. That epic lasted 11 hours, 5 minutes over three days.
   Bellis and 18-year-old Czech Marketa Vondrousova lost to No. 9 seeds Hao-Ching Chan of Taiwan and Monica Niculescu of Romania 6-3, 6-4.
   Riffice fell to Constantin Bittoun Kouzmine of France 7-6 (8), 7-6 (5) in the second round and teamed with Duarte Vale of Portugal in a 6-4, 6-4 loss to Americans Vasil Kirkov and Danny Thomas in the first round.
   Both Bellis and Riffice are now based at the new USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.

Pospisil, runner-up in S.F., shocks Murray in BNP

Vasek Pospisil serves in the final of last
month's KPSF Open in San Francisco.
Photo by Mal Taam

   Vasek Pospisil, who reached the final of a minor-league tournament in San Francisco one month ago, stunned top-ranked Andy Murray 6-4, 7-6 (5) on Saturday in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.
   Pospisil, a 26-year-old qualifier from Canada, has plunged from a career-high No. 25 in 2014 to No. 129. He hired International Tennis Hall of Famer Mark Woodforde as his coach at the end of last season.
   "I feel like I'm on a comeback trail," Pospisil, who lost to qualifier Ze Zhang of China in the final of last month's $100,000 KPSF Challenger in San Francisco said on bnpparibasopen.com. "I had a tough year last year for many, many different reasons. I feel the last couple months I really found my hunger and my motivation to be back on the court training hard again.
   "I felt like a big result was coming, because I believe in my abilities, but just kind of had to put the pieces together again. Obviously to beat the No. 1 player in the world is incredible. It's the biggest win of my career, and I'm just thrilled right now."
   Pospisil reached the third round at Indian Wells for the first time in five appearances. However, he won the 2015 doubles title with American Jack Sock one year after they took the Wimbledon crown.
   Pospisil will face qualifier Dusan Lajovic of Serbia in the third round on Monday. Lajovic surprised 30th-seeded Feliciano Lopez, a 2015 quarterfinalist from Spain, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (2).
   Murray, who received a first-round bye, played his first singles match since winning the Dubai title on March 4.
   The 29-year-old Scotsman has had mixed results at Indian Wells. He advanced to the final in 2009, semifinals in 2015 and quarterfinals in 2010 and 2013. But this was the third time in seven years that Murray has lost his opening match in the tournament. He fell in the second round to Donald Young in 2011 and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in 2012. Murray also lost to Federico Delbonis, 7-6 in the third set, in the third round last year.

Giant-killers Zverev, Vandeweghe starred in NorCal

Mischa Zverev, left, poses with fellow Moscow natives Dmitry Tursunov,
middle, and Igor Andreev during the 2012 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger.
Tursunov, who's still active at 34, and Andreev, who's retired, are former
top-20 players. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Five years ago, a German left-hander with a dynamic serve-and-volley game and a history of injuries reached back-to-back Challenger finals in Northern California.
   On Saturday (California time), Mischa Zverev used his old-school game to stun top-ranked Andy Murray 7-5, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 in the Australian Open in Melbourne and reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
   Later, CoCo Vandeweghe of Rancho Santa Fe in the San Diego area eliminated top-ranked and defending champion Angelique Kerber 6-2, 6-3 to gain her second major quarterfinal.

Zverev serves to Daniel Kosakowski in the semifinals of the
2012 Sacramento Challenger. Zverev advanced to the final,
in which he lost to James Blake. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Zverev's victory followed Denis Istomin's upset of six-time and defending champion Novak Djokovic, seeded No. 2, in the second round.
   For the first time in the Open Era, the Australian Open lost both top seeds and both defending champions before the quarterfinals.    
    It's also the first time the top two men's seeds have lost in a major since Roger Federer and Andy Roddick in the 2004 French Open, won by Gaston Gaudio over fellow Argentine Guillermo Coria in the only Grand Slam final of their careers.
   Murray won his first ATP World Tour title in the SAP Open in San Jose at 18 in 2006, repeated the following year and never returned. The tournament folded after the 125th edition in 2013.
   Vandeweghe played World TeamTennis for the now-defunct Sacramento Capitals in 2009 at 17 and in 2012. She also reached the final of the 2012 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford as a lucky loser, falling to Serena Williams. Kerber won the 2015 Bank of the West Classic.
   Williams can regain the No. 1 ranking by winning her 23rd Grand Slam singles title, which would break a tie with Steffi Graf for the record in the Open Era (since 1968). Only Margaret Court (24) has won more.

   The 25-year-old Vandeweghe, ranked 35th, will face seventh-seeded Garbine Muguruza, the reigning French Open champion.
   Zverev, who saved two match points in his second-round victory over No. 19 seed John Isner, will take on No. 17 Federer.

Runner-up CoCo Vandeweghe and champion
Serena Williams pose with their trophies in
the 2012 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   The favorites for the men's title now are:
   --No. 3 seed Milos Raonic, last year's Wimbledon runner-up.
   --No. 4 Stan Wawrinka, who won the first of his three Grand Slam singles crowns in the 2014 Australian Open.
   --No. 9 Rafael Nadal, a 14-time Grand Slam singles champion seeking his first one since the 2014 French Open.
   --The 35-year-old Federer, who has won a record 17 Slams but none since Wimbledon in 2012.
   Zverev, a 29-year-old Moscow native who's ranked 50th, has been overshadowed by his 19-year-old brother. Alexander Zverev, ranked and seeded 24th, lost to Nadal in five sets in the third round. Nadal has touted 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Alexander as a future world No. 1.
   Mischa Zverev, 6-foot-3 (1.90 meters), lost to Americans James Blake and Jack Sock in the 2012 Sacramento and Tiburon finals, respectively.
   Murray, a three-time Grand Slam singles champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist, was trying to win his first Australian Open title. He has five runner-up finishes, falling just short the last two years and in three of the last four. All five losses have come against the top-ranked player, Federer in 2010 and Djokovic the subsequent four times.
   Also Saturday, Australian wild cards Alex Bolt and Bradley Mousley outlasted Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native, and Donald Young of Atlanta 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 to reach the quarterfinals.
   In the first round of mixed doubles, Raquel Atawo (formerly Kops-Jones) of San Jose and Robert Lindstedt of Sweden edged No. 3 seeds Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 0-6, 7-6 (6) [10-8].
   Atawo won the 2003 NCAA doubles title with Cal teammate Christina Fusano, a Sacramento native. Lindstedt played at Fresno State before transferring to Pepperdine.

No upset this time as Querrey falls to Murray

Sam Querrey, shown in 2014, lost to Andy Murray
in the third round of the Australian Open after stun-
ning Novak Djokovic in the same round at Wimble-
don last year. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Sam Querrey couldn't pull off another Grand Slam shocker.
   The 29-year-old San Francisco native, seeded 31st, lost to top-ranked Andy Murray 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 on Thursday (California time) in the third round of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
   Querrey ousted then-No. 1 and two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic in the same round at Wimbledon last July.
   Murray had 40 winners and 22 errors as he improved to 7-1 against Querrey.
   Murray, a three-time Grand Slam singles champion, seeks his first Australian Open. He has five runner-up finishes, falling short the last two years and in three of the last four. All five losses have come against the top-ranked player, Roger Federer in 2010 and Djokovic the subsequent four times.
   Djokovic, seeded second in Melbourne, lost to Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in the second round.
   Murray went undefeated in the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose, winning the title at 18 in 2006 and repeating the following year.
   Also Thursday:
   --Liezel Huber, a 40-year-old U.S. citizen from South Africa, and Maria Sanchez, a Modesto product, lost to third-seeded Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina of Russia 6-3, 6-1 in the second round of women's doubles.
   Huber, formerly ranked No. 1, was playing in her third tournament since retiring after Wimbledon in 2014.
   Makarova and Vesnina won the 2013 French Open and 2014 U.S. Open and reached the final of the 2014 Australian Open, losing to Italians Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.
   --Top-seeded Bethanie Mattek-Sands of Phoenix and Mike Bryan (Stanford, 1997-98) of Wesley Chapel, Fla., edged Arina Rodionova and John-Patrick Smith of Australia 6-4, 4-6 [10-6] in the first round of mixed doubles.
   Mattek-Sands and Bryan won the 2015 French Open title.

Querrey hopes to pull off another major upset

Sam Querrey, shown in 2014, knocked off top-ranked Novak
Djokovic in the third round at Wimbledon last year en route
to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal. Photo by Paul Bauman

   The showdown is set.
   No. 31 seed and San Francisco native Sam Querrey, hoping to knock off a top-ranked player again, will face Andy Murray in the third round of the Australian Open.
   Querrey advanced with a 7-6 (5), 6-0, 6-1 victory over Alex De Minaur, a 17-year-old wild card from Australia, on Tuesday night (PST) in Melbourne.
   The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Querrey won 93 percent of the points on his first serve (43 of 46) against the slightly built De Minaur, the Wimbledon junior runner-up last July.
   Querrey pounded nine aces and committed nine double faults as he equaled his best Australian Open result, the third round, in his 11th appearance.
   Murray trounced 19-year-old Russian Andrey Rublev, the French Open boys champion and No. 1 junior in the world in 2014, 6-3, 6-0, 6-2 in a late match at Rod Laver Arena.
   Querrey, who stunned top-ranked Novak Djokovic in the third round at Wimbledon last year en route to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal, is 1-6 against Murray.
   Murray won the first two of his 44 career tour-level singles titles (tied for 14th in the Open Era and fourth among active players) in the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose.
   In men's doubles on Tuesday, No. 3 seeds Bob and Mike Bryan got off to a good start in their quest for a seventh Australian Open title.
   The 38-year-old twins (Stanford, 1997-98) dominated Frenchmen Paul-Henri Mathieu and Benoit Paire 6-3, 6-0 in the first round.
   The Bryans have won a record 16 Grand Slam men's doubles titles but none since the 2014 U.S. Open.
   Aussies John Bromwich and Adrian Quist hold the record of eight Australian Open men's doubles titles, which they won consecutively from 1938 to 1950. The tournament was not held from 1941 to 1945 because of World War II.
   Meanwhile, Liezel Huber, formerly ranked No. 1 in women's doubles, and Modesto product Maria Sanchez defeated Madison Brengle of Dover, Del., and Anastasia Rodionova of Russia 7-6 (4), 6-2 in the opening round.
   Huber, a 40-year-old U.S. citizen from South Africa, is playing in her third tournament since retiring after Wimbledon in 2014. She and Sanchez will meet No. 3 seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina of Russia.
   Makarova and Vesnina won the 2013 French Open and 2014 U.S. Open and reached the final of the 2014 Australian Open, losing to Italians Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.
   Chuang Chia-jung of Taiwan and Nicole Gibbs (Stanford, 2011-13) of Marina del Rey in the Los Angeles area lost to No. 2 seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands of Phoenix and Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 7-5.
   Mattek-Sands and Safarova have won three Grand Slam titles, including the 2015 Australian Open.

Murray downs Djokovic for title, ends year at No. 1

Andy Murray beat Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-4 today to win
the ATP World Tour Finals for the first time. 2015 photo
by Paul Bauman

   One former San Jose champion won a title in the ATP World Tour Finals in London today, but another fell short. Barely.
   Top-seeded Andy Murray dismantled second-seeded Novak Djokovic by the surprisingly one-sided score of 6-3, 6-4 to win the crown and end the year at No. 1, both for the first time.
   Murray captured the first two of his 44 career singles titles, tied for 14th in the Open Era, in the SAP Open in San Jose in 2006 and 2007. Those were Murray's only appearances in the tournament, which ended a 125-year run in Northern California after the 2013 edition.
   In today's doubles final, fifth-seeded Henri Kontinen of Finland and John Peers of Australia edged seventh-seeded Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Rajeev Ram of Carmel, Ind., 2-6, 6-1 [10-8].
   Ram won the doubles crown in the 2011 SAP Open with Scott Lipsky, a former All-American at nearby Stanford.
   Murray and Djokovic, both 29, have been rivals since their junior days. Even though Murray, who's one week older, was seeded higher, his victory was surprising. Djokovic was 24-10 against Murray and fresher. Djokovic was coming off a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Kei Nishikori, whereas Murray had needed 3 hours, 38 minutes to subdue Milos Raonic 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (9), saving a match point in the process.
   Murray admitted after the final that he was tired during the match and stayed calm to conserve energy. He is often feisty on the court.
   Murray ended 2016 with 24 consecutive match victories and five straight titles. This year, he also won his second Wimbledon title, earned his second Olympic gold medal in singles and became a father for the first time.
   Djokovic was trying to win the ATP World Tour Finals for the fifth straight time and sixth overall. He also was bidding for his third straight year-end No. 1 ranking and fifth overall.
   Djokovic won only one title after capturing the French Open in June to complete a career Grand Slam.
   Murray earned $2,391,000 for winning the title, and Djokovic pocketed $1,261,000.

Nishikori upsets Murray to reach U.S. Open semis

Kei Nishikori prepares to return serve during a practice
session at the U.S. Open last week as his coach,
Michael Chang, observes. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Andy Murray was due for a letdown.

   It came today against a determined Kei Nishikori. 

   The second-seeded Murray fought as hard as he could but fell to the sixth-seeded Nishikori 1-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 in 3 hours, 57 minutes in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   Nishikori will play third-seeded Stan Wawrinka, a 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 winner over wild card Juan Martin del Potro in a match that ended at 1:25 a.m. EDT, on Friday. Wawrinka is 3-2 against Nishikori.
   In the women's quarterfinals, top-seeded Serena Williams topped fifth-seeded Simona Halep of Romania 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, and 10th-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic dominated unseeded Ana Konjuh, 18, of Croatia 6-2, 6-2.

   Murray, 29, of Great Britain double-faulted at 5-5, 30-30 in the fifth set. After Nishikori hit a sensational forehand stab volley to break, a furious Murray slammed the net cord with his racket. Nishikori, 26, of Japan then held serve for the match on a muggy day at packed Arthur Ashe Stadium, the biggest tennis stadium in the world with a capacity of 23,771.

   Nishikori benefited from a chat with his coach, Michael Chang, during a rain delay in the middle of the second set as the new retractable roof was closed. 

   With Murray holding a break point for 2-0 in the fourth set, a point was replayed because of a bizarre recurring gong noise in the stadium. An irritated Murray argued to the chair umpire that she had said play would continue despite the gong. Nishikori proceeded to reel off six straight games and send the match to the fifth set. 

   Murray had been 7-1 against Nishikori, including a 6-1, 6-4 victory last month on a hardcourt in the Olympic semifinals in Rio de Janeiro. Murray went on to win his second straight Olympic gold medal in singles, and Nishikori took the bronze. 

   Only two months ago, Murray also won his second Wimbledon singles crown. 

   Since winning the 2012 U.S. Open for the first of his three Grand Slam singles titles, Murray has failed to reach the semifinals at Flushing Meadows. Nishikori, meanwhile, advanced to his first major semifinal since the 2014 U.S. Open, in which he lost to Marin Cilic in the final.

   Murray won the first of his 39 tour-level singles titles (fourth among active players and 16th in the Open era, which began in 1968) 10 years ago in the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose. He repeated the following year in his second and last appearance in the low-level ATP World Tour tournament, which ended a 125-year run in 2013.

    Nishikori lost in the second round of the SAP Open in all three of his appearances (2008, 2009 and 2011). Brad Gilbert of San Rafael in the San Francisco Bay Area coached him in 2011.
   Del Potro, a 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) right-hander with a two-handed backhand, has had three operations on his left wrist and one on his right since overpowering Roger Federer to win the 2009 U.S. Open for his only Grand Slam title.
   No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic will meet No. 10 Gael Monfils of France in the other semifinal. Djokovic leads the head-to-head series 12-0.
   In the women's semifinals on Thursday (ESPN), Williams will face Pliskova at 4 p.m. PDT, followed by No. 2 Angelique Kerber against unseeded Caroline Wozniacki, a two-time U.S. Open finalist.
   Williams beat Pliskova 7-5, 6-2 in the second round of the 2014 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in their only previous meeting. Williams went on to win her third title in the tournament and has not returned since then. Pliskova reached last year's final at Stanford, losing to Kerber.
   Kerber is 7-5 against Wozniacki.
   Keenan Mayo of Roseville in the Sacramento area and Lukas Greif of Evansville, Ind., lost in the second round of boys doubles to No. 4 seeds Miomar Kecmanovic of Serbia and Alexei Popyrin of Australia 6-4, 6-4.

Resilient Murray sobs after second Wimbledon title

Andy Murray has overcome tremendous adversity to win three Grand Slam
singles titles. 2015 photo by Paul Bauman

   Of the Big Four in men's tennis, Andy Murray has encountered the most adversity.
   By far.
   Yes, Novak Djokovic's native Serbia was bombed by NATO forces in 1999, when he turned 12.
   Yes, Roger Federer's beloved former coach, Peter Carter of Australia, died in a car accident in South Africa a week before Federer's 21st birthday in 2002.
   Yes, Rafael Nadal, who's tied for second place with 14 career Grand Slam singles titles, has been in a prolonged funk.
   Then there's Murray. He was unharmed -- physically, at least -- in the 1996 school massacre in Dunblane, Scotland, at 8 years old. Also, his parents split up when he was 10.
   That's not all. Shortly after becoming the first British man to win Wimbledon in 77 years in 2013, Murray underwent back surgery.
   And Murray was 2-8 in Grand Slam finals, including 0-5 in the Australian Open, entering Sunday. All of the losses had come against either Djokovic or Federer.
   Is it any wonder that the intensely competitive Murray sobbed into his towel and then his hands after beating hard-serving Milos Raonic 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) for his second Wimbledon title?
   "I've had some great moments here and also some tough losses," said the 29-year-old Murray, who speaks in a monotone and rarely cracks a smile in interviews. "And obviously, the wins feel extra special because of the tough losses."

Milos Raonic had only eight aces in the
final, far under his previous average in
the tournament. 2016 photo
by Paul Bauman

   Murray and Raonic left an indelible impression on Northern California tennis in the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose. Not only did they combine for five singles titles, including their first on the ATP World Tour, they went undefeated in the indoor tournament. Raonic, in fact, never lost a set.
   Murray won the SAP Open in 2006 at 18 and repeated in 2007, going 10-0 overall. Raonic earned the first of his three straight SAP Open titles at 20 in 2011 and finished 13-0 with two byes. The tournament ended a 125-year run after the 2013 edition.
   The 6-foot-3 (1.90-meter) Murray used his experience, agility, superb return-of-serve and groundstrokes (especially his two-handed backhand), and home advantage on Sunday to subdue Raonic, a 25-year-old Canadian who had ousted Federer in five sets to reach his first Grand Slam final.
   "This one's going to sting," conceded the sixth-seeded Raonic, a consummate professional who vowed again to do everything in his power to win a Slam.
   Murray committed only 12 unforced errors, just two in the second set, saved both break points against him and blocked back serves at up to 147 mph (236.6 kph).
   The 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) Raonic, who had averaged 25.5 aces in his first six matches at Wimbledon, had only eight in the final on a breezy afternoon.
   Murray, seeded second, recorded the only break in the match to lead 4-3 in the first set and stormed to 6-1 leads in both tiebreakers.
   Raonic normally dominates tiebreakers with his big serve. But this was a case of a champion rising to the occasion and a Grand Slam final novice feeling the pressure.

Former San Jose champs reach Wimbledon final

Milos Raonic, serving at Indian Wells in March, defeated
Roger Federer in five sets on Friday at Wimbledon and
became the first Canadian man to reach a Grand Slam
singles final. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Andy Murray and Milos Raonic, who will meet in the Wimbledon final on Sunday, are no strangers to Northern California tennis fans.
   Not only did they combine for five singles titles, including their first on the ATP World Tour, in the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose, they never lost a match in the tournament. Raonic, in fact, never lost a set.
   Murray won the 2006 title at 18 and repeated in 2007, going 10-0. Raonic took the first of his three straight crowns at 20 in 2011 and finished 13-0 with two byes. The tournament ended a 125-year run after the 2013 edition.
   Raonic, seeded sixth at Wimbledon, eliminated seven-time champion Roger Federer, seeded third, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 on Friday.
   Federer, who will turn 35 on Aug. 8, came within a point of serving for the match in the fourth set, but the 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) Raonic escaped the jam with a 139-mph (223.7-kph) service winner.
   Uncharacteristically, Federer double-faulted twice in a row in the last game of the fourth set and tripped on the grass in the middle of the fifth set. He might have reinjured his left knee, on which he had arthroscopic surgery for a torn meniscus in February, in the fall.

Andy Murray beat Tomas Berdych in straight
sets to reach his 11th Grand Slam singles final.
He has won two, including Wimbledon in 2013.
2015 photo by Paul Bauman

   Raonic, the first Canadian man to advance to a Grand Slam singles final, hammered 23 aces and saved eight of nine break points. His serve reached 144 mph (231.7 kph).

   Murray, seeded second, dismissed 2010 Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych, seeded 10th, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to reach his 11th Grand Slam singles final.
   Murray has won "only" two Slams, including Wimbledon in 2013 to become Great Britain's first men's champion in 77 years. But this will be the 29-year-old Scotman's first major final against someone besides Federer or Novak Djokovic.
   Murray is 6-3 against Raonic. Their only previous meeting on grass came only three weeks ago, when Murray won 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3 in the Queen's Club final in London.
   Sunday's final will be televised live at 6 a.m. PDT by ESPN and on tape delay at noon by ABC.  
   Meanwhile, Raquel Atawo (formerly Kops-Jones) of San Jose fell to 0-3 in Grand Slam women's doubles semifinals. The 10th-seeded team of Atawo, a 33-year-old Fresno native and former NCAA doubles champion from Cal, and Abigail Spears of Colorado Springs, Colo., lost to fifth-seeded Timea Babos of Hungary and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-2.  
   In the mixed doubles quarterfinals, Henri Kontinen of Finland and Heather Watson of Great Britain coasted past ex-Stanford star Scott Lipsky of Irvine, Calif., and Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia 6-3, 6-2.

Past Bank of the West champs gain Wimbledon semis

Serena Williams displays her trophy after winning the singles title in the Bank
of the West Classic at Stanford for the third time in 2014. Tri Nguyen/
TriNguyenPhotography.com

   Over the years, the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford has attracted almost all of the top players in women's tennis.
   For the latest example, consider the Wimbledon singles semifinals, which were set today. Three of the remaining players have won the Bank of the West Classic, and only an upset prevented a sweep.
   Serena Williams has won the Bank of the West three times (2011, 2012 and 2014), Venus Williams twice (2000 and 2002) and Angelique Kerber once (2015).
   Dominika Cibulkova, the No. 19 seed at Wimbledon and 2013 Bank of the West champion, lost to unseeded Elena Vesnina 6-2, 6-2.
   Cibulkova was coming off a marathon victory over third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, the 2012 Wimbledon runner-up to Serena Williams, in the fourth round on Monday.
   In Thursday's semis, beginning at 5 a.m. PDT (ESPN), top-ranked Serena Williams will play Vesnina, and No. 4 seed Kerber will meet No. 8 Venus Williams. Of the four, only Venus Williams is entered in this year's Bank of the West Classic, July 18-24 at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
   Meanwhile, six other players with strong Northern California ties will play in  Wimbledon quarterfinals in various events on Wednesday.

Venus Williams won the Bank of the West Classic
in 2000 and 2002. 2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   In men's singles, No. 28 seed Sam Querrey will take on No. 6 Milos Raonic on No. 1 Court at 5 a.m. (ESPN2), and No. 2 Andy Murray will go against No. 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Centre Court after No. 3 Roger Federer meets No. 9 Marin Cilic at 5 a.m. (ESPN).
   Querrey, a 28-year-old San Francisco native, ended top-ranked Novak Djokovic's Grand Slam winning streak at 30 matches in the third round.
   Raonic, a 25-year-old Canadian, never lost a set in 13 career matches in the SAP Open in San Jose, winning the last three titles (2011-13) before the tournament was discontinued. It had been held in various locations in Northern California for 135 years.
   Murray, 29, of Great Britain won the first of his 37 tour-level singles titles (fourth among active players) in the 2006 SAP Open at 18 and repeated in 2007. He also won the 2005 Aptos Challenger at 18.
   Former Stanford stars Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, seeded No. 2, topped No. 14 Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia 7-5, 6-7 (10), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
   The Bryans, 38, have won a record 16 Grand Slam men's doubles titles -- including Wimbledon in 2006, 2011 and 2013 -- but none since the 2014 U.S. Open.
   No. 10 seeds Raquel Atawo (formerly Kops-Jones) of San Jose and Abigail Spears of Colorado Springs, Colo., dismissed Daria Gavrilova of Australia and Daria Kasatkina of Russia 6-3, 6-3. Atawo, 33, was born in Fresno and starred at Cal.
   Three other players with Northern California connections lost today.
   Possibly setting a record for the latest men's or women's first-round match in a Grand Slam tournament, Jiri Vesely and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic beat Dmitry Tursunov, a 33-year-old Russian based in the Sacramento suburb of Granite Bay, and Andrea Petkovic of Germany 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 in mixed doubles.
   No. 14 seed Katarina Zavatska of Ukraine eliminated Michaela Gordon of Saratoga in the San Francisco Bay Area 6-1, 6-3 in the second round of girls singles.
   Also, Youssef Hossam of Egypt and Egi Kirkin of Turkey defeated Nicola Kuhn of Spain and Sam Riffice of Roseville in the Sacramento area 2-6, 6-1, 6-0.

Djokovic completes career Grand Slam

Novak Djokovic serves to Andy Murray during the 2015 BNP Paribas
Open in Indian Wells. Djokovic beat Murray in four sets today for his
first French Open title. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Novak Djokovic has been racking up Grand Slam titles like frequent flier miles.
   But this one was special.
   After losing three French Open finals, all in the last four years, Djokovic became the eighth man to complete a career Grand Slam with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Andy Murray today at Roland Garros.
   Djokovic, 29, joined rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal as well as Andre Agassi, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Don Budge and Fred Perry with singles titles in all four majors.
   Djokovic has won five of the last six Slams. Only a four-set loss to Stan Wawrinka in the 2015 French Open final prevented Djokovic from becoming the first man in 47 years and third overall to achieve a calendar-year Grand Slam. Laver accomplished the feat in 1962 and 1969, and Budge in 1938.
   For now, Djokovic will have to be content with becoming the only other man and first since 1969 to hold all four major titles at once.
   "It's a thrilling moment, one of the most beautiful I have had in my career," Djokovic told reporters. "It's incredibly flattering to know that Rod Laver is the last one that managed to do that. There are not many words that can describe it. It's one of the ultimate challenges that you have as a tennis player. I'm very proud and very thrilled.
   "It's hard for me to reflect on what has happened before and what's going to happen after. I'm just so overwhelmed with having this trophy next to me that I'm just trying to enjoy this moment."
   With his 12th Grand Slam singles title, Djokovic passed Laver and Bjorn Borg and tied Emerson for fourth place. Should Djokovic achieve a calendar-year Grand Slam in 2016, a distinct possibility, he will tie Nadal and Pete Sampras for second place with 14 and pull within three of Federer.
  Laver was barred from Grand Slam tournaments for five years in his prime until professionals were allowed beginning in 1968. Emerson, who remained an amateur, won 10 of his 12 Slams during Laver's absence.
   And should Djokovic also win the singles gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in August, he will become the first man to earn a so-called Golden Slam. Tennis was dropped from the Olympics after the 1924 Games and returned as a full medal sport in 1988, when Steffi Graf swept all five titles.

Murray fell to 2-8 in Grand Slam finals. Five of the losses have come
against Djokovic and three against Roger Federer. This was Murray's
first French Open final. 2015 photo by Paul Bauman

   Murray, playing in his first French Open final, fell to 2-8 in Grand Slam title matches. Five of the losses have come against Djokovic and three against Federer. However, Murray beat Djokovic to win the 2012 U.S. Open and Wimbledon in 2013, ending a 77-year drought for British men at the All England Club.
   Murray went undefeated in two appearances in the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose, Calif., winning his first career ATP World Tour title there 10 years ago at 18 and repeating in 2007. Djokovic never played in the SAP Open.
   Djokovic, admittedly nervous in the first set of today's final, played brilliantly from the beginning of the second set until 5-2 in the fourth. He pounded serves down the middle, ripped groundstrokes to the corners and exhibited his peerless defense and return-of-serve.
   Then, understandably, nerves set in again. Djokovic was broken for 5-3 but held his next service game for the title.
   "This is his day today," a gracious Murray -- who turned 29 on May 15, one week before Djokovic -- said during the award ceremony. "What he's achieved in the last 12 months is phenomenal. Winning all four of the Grand Slams in one year is an amazing achievement. It's something that is so rare in tennis. It's not happened for an extremely long time, and it's going to take a long time for it to happen again. Everyone here who came to watch is extremely lucky to see it. Losing in the final (stinks), but I'm proud to have been a part of it today."
   Before the men's singles final, Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic became the first French team to win the women's doubles title at Roland Garros since Gail Chanfreau and Francoise Durr in 1971.
   Garcia and Mladenovic, seeded fifth, topped Russia's Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, the seventh seeds and 2013 champions, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.