After big upset, Kozyreva falls to fellow college qualifier

   Maria Kozyreva and Sachia Vickery couldn't back up their big victories in the $60,000 Berkeley (Calif.) Challenger.

   Emma Navarro of Charleston, S.C., eliminated Russia's Kozyreva 7-5, 6-3 today in a matchup of college qualifiers to reach the quarterfinals at the venerable Berkeley Tennis Club.

   Kozyreva, a fifth-year student at Saint Mary's College in nearby Moraga, Calif., ranked No. 1,246, stunned top-seeded Zheng Saisai, ranked No. 75, on Wednesday. Navarro, a University of Virginia sophomore, won the NCAA singles title in May. 

   Meanwhile, Usue (pronounced EW-sway) Arconada of Naples, Fla., topped Sachia (pronounced SA-sha) Vickery of Miramar, Fla., 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2 in a battle of unseeded players.

   Vickery, who reached the singles semifinals and won the doubles title in the last (2019) Berkeley Challenger, ousted second-seeded Wang Xinyu, the runner-up in last week's $115,000 Columbus (Ohio) Challenger, on Wednesday. 

    Navarro is scheduled to play unseeded Marcela Zacarias of Mexico on Friday at 10 a.m., followed by fourth-seeded Kurumi Nara of Japan against qualifier Sophie Chang, a native of Havre de Grace, Md.

    In Friday's other quarterfinals, seventh-seeded Mayo Hibi of Japan is set to meet unseeded Louisa Chirico, a former top-60 player from Westchester, N.Y., at 10 a.m., followed by Arconada versus eighth-seeded Liang En Shuo of Chinese Taipei. Hibi, a longtime Southern California resident, reached the 2019 Berkeley final, losing to Madison Brengle. 

   Here are the Berkeley singles and doubles draws and Friday's schedule.

   BNP Paribas Open — Rising star Jenson Brooksby, 20, of Carmichael, Calif., in the Sacramento area and Katie Volynets, 19, of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area received wild cards in the tournament, Monday through Oct. 17 in Indian Wells, Calif. Both will debut in the BNP Paribas Open.

   ATP Tour — Top-seeded Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski of Great Britain beat wild cards Brandon Nakashima of San Diego and Sem Verbeek (University of the Pacific, 2013-16) of the Netherlands 6-1, 7-5 in the quarterfinals of the inaugural San Diego Open. 

Riffice adds NCAA title; Brooksby qualifies for French

   Sam Riffice was supposed to be worn out physically and mentally after helping Florida win its first NCAA men's team title last week.

   Indeed, he often struggled in this week's singles competition. Riffice survived, though, to become the third Gator to win the men's title and the ninth man in this century to earn both crowns. He received an automatic wild card in the main draw of the U.S. Open, Aug. 30 to Sept. 12 in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

   The sixth-seeded Riffice, a junior who grew up in Roseville, Calif., in the Sacramento area, topped second-seeded Daniel Rodrigues of South Carolina 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 today in the winner's adopted hometown of Orlando, Fla.

   Riffice lost the opening set for the third time in his six matches. He also was extended to three sets in the semifinals against top-seeded Liam Draxl of Kentucky.

   Riffice, who fell in the second round of doubles, joined Mark Merklein (1994) and Jeff Morrison (1999) as the only Florida men to win the NCAA singles championship.

   The last man to earn the NCAA Triple Crown (team, singles and doubles titles in the same year) was Matias Boeker of Georgia in 2001.

   Rodrigues, a sophomore from Portugal, nearly became the second consecutive Gamecock to capture the NCAA singles title. Paul Jubb of Great Britain claimed the 2019 crown; last year's tournament was canceled because of the pandemic.

   Third-seeded Emma Navarro of Virginia won the women's singles title, outclassing second seed and defending champion Estela Perez-Somaribba of Miami 6-3, 6-1.

   Both doubles finals were decided by two points.

   Third-seeded Adam Walton and Pat Harper of Tennessee edged unseeded Finn Murgett and Tad Maclean of Auburn 7-6 (5), 2-6 [13-11]. Also, fourth-seeded Makenna Jones and Elizabeth Scotty of North Carolina topped unseeded Kylie Collins and Lulu Sun of Texas 7-6 (3), 4-6 [10-8]. 

   Sun, a freshman from Switzerland, won a dramatic three-set singles match last week to give the Longhorns a 4-3 victory over Pepperdine for their first women's team title since 1995.

   French Open — Jenson Brooksby, who has a history of coming back from the brink of defeat, did it again.

   The 20-year-old resident of Carmichael, Calif., in the Sacramento region, saved three match points in a 6-7 (5), 7-6 (2), 6-4 victory over Evan Furness, a 22-year-old French wild card and one of the smallest players in men's professional tennis at 5-foot-7 (1.70 meters) and 145 pounds (66 kilograms), in the final round of qualifying in Paris. The battle lasted 3 hours, 22 minutes.

   Brooksby, who last month became the first man in five years to win back-to-back Challengers on hardcourts and clay, extended his winning streak to 13 matches.

   Brooksby, ranked No. 163 only five months after turning pro, will play in the singles main draw of a Grand Slam tournament for the third time and first outside the United States. He lost to John Millman in the first round of the 2018 U.S. Open after receiving an automatic wild card for winning the USTA Boys 18 National Championships and reached the second round of the 2019 U.S. Open as a qualifier. In the latter tournament, he stunned 2010 Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych in the first round and led by a set and 4-0 in a four-set loss to 17th-seeded Nikoloz Basilashvili. 

   Also today, No. 9 seed Mackenzie McDonald, a 26-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, defeated Marco Trungelliti of Argentina 6-4, 6-4.

   McDonald did not drop a set in his three qualifying matches. He advanced to the second round of the main draw at Roland Garos last fall as a direct entrant, losing to second seed and eventual champion Rafael Nadal 6-1, 6-0, 6-3, and was the only American man to reach the round of 16 in the Australian Open in February. 

   On the women's side, Lara Arruabarrena of Spain eliminated Carol Zhao (Stanford, 2014-16) of Canada 6-4, 6-2.

   ATP Tour — In the Belgrade (Serbia) doubles final, Jonathan Erlich, 44, of Israel and Andrei Vasilevski of Belarus defeated Andre Goransson (University of California, Berkeley, 2014-17) of Sweden and Rafael Matos of Brazil 6-4, 6-1. Both teams were unseeded.

   Erlich and Vasilevski won all three of their matches before the final in match tiebreakers, including 13-11 in the semifinals. 

   Erlich, who reached a career-high No. 5 in doubles in 2008, won the 2017 Aptos, Calif., Challenger with Neal Skupski of Great Britain. Also in 2017, Goransson claimed the first of his seven ATP Challenger doubles titles in Tiburon, Calif., with former Cal teammate Florian Lakat of France.  

Volynets wins USTA girls 18s, earns U.S. Open berth

Katie Volynets became the third Northern Californian
to win a USTA 18 national singles title in six years.
Photo courtesy of JFS Communications

   Katie Volynets is headed to the U.S. Open.
   The 17-year-old resident of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area, seeded second, beat third-seeded Emma Navarro of Charleston, S.C., 6-2, 6-4 today to win the USTA Billie Jean King Girls 18 National Championships in San Diego.
   Volynets, a Walnut Creek native whose parents are Ukrainian, received an automatic wild card in the women's main draw of the U.S. Open, Aug. 26-Sept. 8 in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   She became the third Northern Californian to win a USTA 18 national singles title in six years, joining Collin Altamirano (2013) and Jenson Brooksby (2018). All train under Joseph Gilbert at the Arden Hills Club & Spa in Sacramento.
   Volynets bolted to a 4-0 lead against Navarro.
   "The key was starting really well and maintaining the level of play like I wanted to," Volynets said in a news release. "I was really energetic and focused on court and pumped myself up constantly.
   "After I won match point, I had a surge of energy and joy. It means so much to me, and I'm excited to go play (the U.S. Open). I've been working on this for a long time."
   Meanwhile, Sacramento-area product Aidan Mayo lost a heartbreaker in the final of the USTA Boys 16 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich.
   Top-seeded Alexander Bernard of Bonita Springs, Fla., outlasted the fourth-seeded Mayo, who now lives in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5. Mayo had a match point at 5-3 in the third set.
   Hugo Hashimoto of San Jose won the boys 16 doubles title with Benjamin Kittay of Potomac, Md. Seeded seventh, they beat 11th-seeded Lucas Brown of Plano, Texas, and Aiden Kim of Chantilly, Va., 6-4, 6-3.

Bay Area's Volynets reaches Girls 18 National final

Katie Volynets, shown earlier in the week, could become the third Northern Calif-
ornian to win a USTA Boys or Girls 18 National singles title in six years. Photo
courtesy of JFS Communications 

   Second-seeded Katie Volynets, 17, of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area beat 13th-seeded Katrina Scott, 15, of Woodland Hills in the Los Angeles region 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 today in the semifinals of the USTA Billie Jean King Girls 18 National Championships in San Diego.
   Volynets is scheduled to face third-seeded Emma Navarro of Charleston, S.C., on Sunday at 2 p.m. PDT (Tennis Channel). The winner will receive a wild card in the women's main draw of the U.S. Open, Aug. 26-Sept. 8 in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   Navarro, who won the French Open girls doubles title with Alexa Noel of Summit, N.J., in June, crushed top-seeded Hailey Baptiste of Washington, D.C., 6-0, 6-2.
   Volynets is 2-0 against Navarro in International Tennis Federation junior tournaments. Volynets won their last meeting 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 in the Easter Bowl 18 semifinals on a hardcourt in April 2018 in Indian Wells, Calif. Volynets went on to win the title.
   Volynets could join Collin Altamirano (2013) and Jenson Brooskby (2018) as the third Northern Californian to win the USTA Boys or Girls 18 National singles title in six years. All train under Joseph Gilbert at the Arden Hills Club & Spa in Sacramento.
   In Kalamazoo, Mich., fourth seed and Sacramento-area product Aidan Mayo topped 19th-seeded Alex Finkelstein of Raynham, Mass., 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals of the USTA Boys 16 National Championships. Finkelstein was coming off a three-set victory over second-seeded Luke Casper of Santa Cruz, Calif.
   Mayo, who now lives in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance, will face top-seeded Alexander Bernard of Bonita Springs, Fla. Bernard beat seventh-seeded Ben Shelton of Gainesville, Fla., 6-2, 6-4.
   In the boys 16 doubles semifinals, seventh-seeded Hugo Hashimoto of San Jose and Benjamin Kittay of Potomac, Md., outlasted 13th-seeded Casper and Jameson Corsillo of Boca Raton, Fla., 7-6 (6), 0-6, 6-4.
   The match ended with a game penalty against Casper and Corsillo for unsportsmanlike conduct, Colette Lewis reported on ZooTennis. A line umpire reported a threatening remark to the chair after a point had been assessed earlier in the set for comments about a line call.
   Hashimoto and Kittay will meet 11th-seeded Lucas Brown of Plano, Texas, and Aiden Kim of Chantilly, Va. Brown and Kim surprised second-seeded Thomas Paulsell of Seattle and Frank Thompson of Blacksburg, Va., 7-6 (2), 7-6 (7).
   Aspen Schuman of Menlo Park in the Bay Area won the doubles title in the USTA Girls 12 National Championships in Alpharetta, Ga., with Haylee Conway of Bellevue, Wash. Seeded first, they beat fifth-seeded Kate Fakih of Arcadia in the Los Angeles region and Victoria Osuigwe (pronounced Oh-sig-way) of Bradenton, Fla., 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.