Roger, Rafa to meet 11 years after Wimbledon epic

Roger Federer, left, and Rafael Nadal shake hands after Federer's 6-2, 6-3
victory in the fourth round of the 2017 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
Photo by Mal Taam

   Some consider it the greatest tennis match ever.
   In the 2008 Wimbledon final, Rafael Nadal subdued Roger Federer 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (8), 9-7 in 4 hours, 48 minutes. The epic was immortalized in the 2018 documentary "Strokes of Genius."
   Federer and Nadal – who rank first and second with 20 and 18 Grand Slam singles titles, respectively – will meet on grass for the first time since then in Friday's second Wimbledon semifinal. That will follow the 5 a.m. PDT matchup between Novak Djokovic, who ranks third with 15 major singles crowns, and Roberto Bautista Agut. ESPN will televise both matches live.
   Nadal, 33, is 24-15 against Federer, 37. The Swiss maestro has a 2-1 edge on grass, having beaten Spanish star in the 2006 and 2007 Wimbledon finals.
   Federer, who made his Northern California debut in a San Jose exhibition last year, has won a record eight singles titles at the All England Lawn Tennis Club and Nadal two.
   "He has improved so much over the years on this surface," the second-seeded Federer, who topped eighth-seeded Kei Nishikori 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4, told reporters. "He's playing also very different than he used to. Haven't played each other in a long, long time on this surface. He's serving way different. I remember back in the day how he used to serve, and now how much bigger he's serving, how much faster he finishes points.
   "A lot of (people were) saying, 'Oh, it's the end,' by 2008. Similar to me in '09. We're still here, so it's nice to play each other again."
   Nadal, seeded third, beat unseeded Sam Querrey, a 31-year-old San Francisco native, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 to reach the semifinals for the second consecutive year. Querrey, 6-foot-6 (1.98 meters), had 22 aces and only three double faults.
   "It's a great feeling to be back in the semifinals, be able to play at this level," Nadal said. " ... (I'm) very happy the way that we managed to be in that round. Now to play against Roger always is a unique situation. Excited to be back on this court against him after 11 years. Means a lot for me and probably for him, too."
   Djokovic, the top seed and defending champion, needed only 1 hour, 57 minutes to dispatch 21st-seeded David Goffin of Belgium 6-2 6-0, 6-2.
   Bautista Agut, a Spanish veteran seeded 23rd, eliminated 26th-seeded Guido Pella, a left-hander from Argentina, 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to reach his first Grand Slam semifinal. Bautista Agut missed Wimbledon last year with groin and abdomen injuries.
   Djokovic is 7-3 against Bautista Agut, who has won the last two encounters, this year on hard courts in three sets in Doha and Miami. The players have never met on grass.
   In the third round of mixed doubles, top-seeded Bruno Soares of Brazil and Nicole Melichar of Stuart, Fla., beat unseeded Andy Murray and Serena Williams, a part-time Silicon Valley resident, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
   Murray was playing in his third tournament, all in doubles, since undergoing hip surgery in January. He won the first of his 45 tour-level singles titles – 14th in the Open Era and fourth among active players behind Federer, Nadal and Djokovic – at 18 in the 2006 SAP Open in San Jose and repeated the following year.

Nadal quits match; del Potro, Djokovic reach final

Rafael Nadal, playing at Indian Wells last year, retired with right knee
tendinitis with Juan Martin del Potro leading 7-6 (3), 6-2 today in the
U.S. Open semifinals. Photo by Mal Taam

   Note to readers: If you enjoy my coverage of Northern California tennis, please donate on my homepage. Here's why I need your support. Thank you.
   If anyone deserves a break, it's Juan Martin del Potro.
   The No. 3 seed got one today when No. 1 and defending champion Rafael Nadal retired with right knee tendinitis with del Potro leading 7-6 (3), 6-2 in the U.S. Open semifinals in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   Nadal, a three-time U.S. Open champion, was coming off three consecutive tough matches in oppressive heat and humidity. However, he had two days to rest after the last one.
   Nadal subdued No. 27 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia in 4 hours, 23 minutes in the third round, Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia in 3 hours, 19 minutes in the fourth round and No. 9 seed Dominic Thiem of Austria in 4 hours, 49 minutes in the quarterfinals. The latter match ended at 2:04 a.m. EDT Wednesday.
   Nadal also retired from his Australian Open quarterfinal against Marin Cilic in January with a right leg injury.
   Del Potro, a 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) right-hander with a two-handed backhand, stunned Nadal and Roger Federer to win the 2009 U.S. Open but had surgery on his right wrist in 2010 and three operations on his left wrist in 2014-15.
   "It's been horrible for me," del Potro, who considered retirement, lamented in 2015. "One doctor would say something to me; another would say something different. It was difficult to believe one or the other."
   Del Potro, who will turn 30 on Sept. 23, will face No. 6 seed Novak Djokovic on Sunday at 1 p.m. PDT (ESPN). Djokovic, a two-time U.S. Open champion and five-time runner-up, dominated Kei Nishikori, the 2014 runner-up at Flushing Meadows, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
   Djokovic is 14-4 against Del Potro with a three-match winning streak and six victories in their last seven matches.
   Women's singles -- No. 17 seed Serena Williams, who has a residence in Silicon Valley, will try to tie Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles when she meets No. 20 Naomi Osaka, 20, of Japan on Saturday at 1 p.m. (ESPN).
   Osaka, who will play in her first major final, defeated Williams 6-3, 6-2 in the first round at Miami in March in their only previous meeting. It was Williams' second tournament since giving birth to her first child on Sept. 1, 2017, and enduring life-threatening complications.
   Men's doubles -- Mike Bryan (Stanford, 1997-98) won his 18th Grand Slam men's doubles title, breaking the record he shared with John Newcombe.
   No. 3 seeds Bryan and Jack Sock of the United States outclassed No. 7 Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Marcelo Melo of Brazil 6-3, 6-1 in 74 minutes for the crown in a matchup of the last two Wimbledon championship teams.
   Bryan, 40, and Sock claimed their second consecutive Grand Slam title. Bryan's twin brother, Bob, underwent hip surgery on Aug. 2.
   Boys singles -- Unseeded Jenson Brooksby, 17, of Carmichael in the Sacramento area beat 14th-seeded Brandon Nakashima of San Diego 6-4, 7-5 in the quarterfinals.
   Brooksby also defeated Nakashima 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 to win last month's USTA Boys 18 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich, and 6-2, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the Easter Bowl at Indian Wells in March en route to the title.
   Brooksby, who plans to enroll at Texas Christian in the fall of 2019 or in January 2020, is scheduled to play unseeded Lorenzo Musetti of Italy on Saturday. Musetti dismantled Daniel Michalski of Poland 6-4, 6-0.

Keys, Osaka gain U.S. Open semis; Nishikori tops Cilic

Madison Keys poses with a stuffed grizzly bear after
winning last year's Bank of the West Classic at Stan-
ford. Grizzly bears are the state animal of California.
Photo by Mal Taam 

   Note to readers: If you enjoy my coverage of Northern California tennis, please donate on my homepage. Here's why I need your support. Thank you.
   All four women who played today in the U.S. Open quarterfinals made splashes in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
   No. 14 seed Madison Keys of Boca Raton, Fla., beat No. 30 Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-4, 6-3 on another sultry day in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., after No. 20 Naomi Osaka of Japan overwhelmed lethargic Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-1, 6-1 in 57 minutes. Tsurenko told reporters afterward that she woke up today with a viral illness.
   Osaka, 20, became the youngest U.S. Open semifinalist since Caroline Wozniacki in 2010 and the first Japanese woman to reach a Grand Slam semifinal since Kimiko Date lost to Steffi Graf in three sets at Wimbledon in 1996.
   Keys won the last singles title in the Bank of the West Classic in 2017, and Suarez Navarro teamed with compatriot Garbine Muguruza to earn the 2014 doubles crown at Stanford.
   Osaka's first big win came four years ago in the Bank of the West Classic. As a 16-year-old qualifier playing her first main-draw match on the WTA tour, she ousted 2011 U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur 4-6, 7-6 (7), 7-5 in the opening round. Osaka saved a match point in the tiebreaker and overcame a 3-5 deficit in the third set. She then fell to No. 8 seed Andrea Petkovic.
   Tsurenko lost to Keys in the Stanford quarterfinals last year. The tournament moved to nearby San Jose under a new sponsor, Mubadala, this year.
   In Thursday's first semifinal (4 p.m. PDT on ESPN), No. 17 Serena Williams will meet No. 19 Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia for the first time. Then Keys, who was routed by close friend Sloane Stephens in last year's U.S. Open final, will face Osaka.
   Keys is 3-0 against Osaka, including a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (3) victory in the third round of the 2016 U.S. Open in their initial meeting.
   Williams, who has a residence in Silicon Valley, won the last of her six U.S. Open singles crowns four years ago. The three-time Bank of the West singles champion (2011, 2012 and 2014) can tie Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles. 
   In a men's quarterfinal today, No. 21 seed Kei Nishikori of Japan outlasted No. 7 Marin Cilic of Croatia 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4 in 4 hours, 8 minutes. Nishikori, who trailed 2-4 in the second set, avenged a 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 loss to Cilic in the 2014 U.S. Open final.
   Nishikori will take on No. 6 Novak Djokovic, a two-time U.S. Open champion, on Friday. Djokovic eliminated unseeded John Millman of Australia 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
   Millman, who has won two Northern California Challengers (Sacramento in 2010 and Aptos in 2015) and reached the final of another (Tiburon in 2014), was coming off a stunning victory over Roger Federer.
   Djokovic, 31, is 14-2 against Nishikori, 28, with a 13-match winning streak.

Naomi Osaka recorded her first big win as a 16-year-old
qualifier in the 2014 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   Also Friday, No. 1 seed Rafael Nadal, the defending and three-time champion, will face No. 3 Juan Martin del Potro, who upset Federer for the 2009 U.S. Open title.
   Nadal, 32, is 11-5 against del Potro, who will turn 30 on Sept. 23. In their last meeting, Nadal prevailed 7-5, 6-7 (7), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in 4 hours, 28 minutes in the Wimbledon quarterfinals in July.
   Del Potro and Nishikori played in the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose. Del Potro reached the quarterfinals as the second seed in 2009 in his only appearance in the tournament. Nishikori lost in the second round 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.
   In the men's doubles quarterfinals today, No. 3 seeds Mike Bryan (Stanford, 1997-98) and Jack Sock of the United States beat Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina and Nicolas Jarry of Chile 6-4, 7-6 (3).
   Bryan and Sock, the reigning Wimbledon champions, are scheduled to play No. 5 seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah of Colombia on Thursday. Cabal and Farah, the Australian Open runners-up this year, defeated No. 15 Rohan Bopanna of India and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 6-3, 6-4.
    Two Northern California juniors were eliminated from the U.S. Open.
   Keenan Mayo, 18, of Roseville in the Sacramento area lost to No. 4 seed Nicolas Mejia of Colombia 6-3, 6-3 in the second round. And in the second round of girls doubles, Hailey Baptiste and Dalayna Hewitt topped fellow Americans Natasha Subhash and Katie Volynets, a 15-year-old resident of Walnut Creek in the Bay Area, 6-4, 7-6 (6).

Kerber dominates Keys; Chung beats Sandgren

   The match shaped up as a battle between resurgent Angelique Kerber and rising Madison Keys.
   Instead, the 21st-seeded Kerber demolished the 17th-seeded Keys 6-1, 6-2 in 51 minutes today in the Australian Open quarterfinals in Melbourne.
   "It was more Kerber playing so well than Keys playing badly," Tennis Channel commentator Martina Navratilova said of the matchup between the Bank of the West Classic champions at Stanford in 2015 (Kerber) and last year (Keys).
   Kerber, a 5-foot-8 (1.73-meter) German left-hander who turned 30 last week, admittedly played spectacular defense, as usual. But the 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) Keys, an American who will turn 23 on Feb. 17, had no aces and four double faults and made numerous errors, especially backhands down the line into the net.
   The match was reminiscent of last year's U.S. Open final, in which Fresno product Sloane Stephens whipped Keys 6-3, 6-0 in 61 minutes in the first major title match for both players.
   Kerber improved to 10-0 this year, including a run to the Sydney title. After winning her first two Grand Slam titles, the Australian Open and U.S. Open, and rising to No. 1 in 2016, she failed to reach the quarterfinals of a major in 2017 (losing in the first round in Melbourne and at Wimbledon) and ended the year at No. 21.
   Kerber will play top-seeded Simona Halep, a 6-3, 6-2 winner over sixth-seeded Karolina Pliskova, on Wednesday PST. Kerber is 4-4 against Halep with four wins in the last five meetings.
   In a men's quarterfinal between unseeded players, Hyeon Chung, 21, of South Korea defeated Tennys Sandgren, 26, of Gallatin, Tenn., in the Nashville area 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-3 at Rod Laver Arena.
   Chung. who needed six match points, will face either second seed and defending champion Roger Federer or 10th-seeded Tomas Berdych (Wednesday at 12:30 a.m. PST on ESPN2). Chung is 0-0 against Federer and 0-2 against Berdych.
   Sandgren will add $352,398 (U.S.) to his career prize money of $488,735 and soar to about No. 52 in the rankings.
   Both Chung and Sandgren eliminated rusty former Australian Open champions in straight sets during the tournament.
   Chung toppled six-time champ Novak Djokovic, seeded 14th after taking six months off to rest his sore right elbow, to become the first Korean to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal. Afterward, Djokovic said the 58th-ranked Chung has top-10 potential.
   Sandgren, ranked 97th, knocked off 2014 champ Stan Wawrinka, playing in his first tournament since undergoing knee surgery five months ago, in the second round.
   Sandgren, the runner-up in the $100,000 Tiburon Challenger in the San Francisco Bay Area last fall, was 0-2 in Grand Slam matches and was 2-8 in tour-level matches entering the Australian Open.
   Chung and Sandgren met for the first time two weeks ago in Auckland, with Chung prevailing 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in the first round. Sandgren said the match gave him confidence that he can compete at the top level.
   Oracle Challenger Series in Newport Beach, Calif. -- Qualifier Dennis Novikov, a 24-year-old San Jose product, ousted top-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the first round.
   The 6-foot-4 (1.93-meter), 200-pound (91-kilogram) Novikov, ranked No. 238, slugged 15 aces past Nishikori, the 2014 U.S. Open runner-up who was playing in his first match since August because of a right wrist injury.

Djokovic beats Monfils in bizarre U.S. Open semifinal

Novak Djokovic, shown in 2015, improved to 13-0 against Gael Monfils.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Gael Monfils imitated Muhammad Ali.
   Novak Djokovic looked like "The Incredible Hulk."
   This, it's safe to say, was no ordinary Grand Slam semifinal.
   The result, though, was the same as always. Djokovic improved to 13-0 against Monfils with a wacky 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 victory on a steamy Friday in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   In a desperate attempt to break through against Djokovic, the 10th-seeded Monfils said he employed Ali's "rope-a-dope" strategy by playing nonchalantly for the first two sets.
   ESPN commentator John McEnroe, however, blasted the 30-year-old Frenchman on the air for an apparent lack of effort.
   After dropping the second set, Monfils reverted to his usual flashy style of play. It worked, for a while.
   Djokovic, disgusted at missed break-point opportunities late in the third set, ripped his shirt and briefly played with his chest partially exposed.
   A trainer massaged Djokovic's left shoulder and then his right one during the match, but he said afterward that he wasn't concerned.
   Djokovic will seek his second straight U.S. Open title and third overall on Sunday (1 p.m. PDT on ESPN) against third-seeded Stan Wawrinka. The 31-year-old Swiss advanced to his first U.S. Open final by beating sixth-seeded Kei Nishikori, the 2014 runner-up to Marin Cilic, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-2.
   Djokovic, a 29-year-old Serb, also will try to earn his third Grand Slam title of the year and 13th overall to break a tie with Roy Emerson for sole possession of fourth place on the career list. Roger Federer holds with record with 17, and Rafael Nadal and Pete Sampras are tied for second with 14.
   Djokovic is 19-4 against Wawrinka, whose last victory in the series came in the 2015 French Open final. Wawrinka also defeated Nadal for the 2014 Australian Open crown.
   This will be the third meeting between Djokovic and Wawrinka in the U.S. Open. Djokovic won 6-4, 6-1, 3-1, retired in the round of 16 in 2012 and 2-6, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals in 2013.
   In the Men's Collegiate Invitational, top-seeded Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, who has helped Virginia win the last two NCAA titles, demolished third-seeded Tom Fawcett of Stanford 6-2, 6-0 in the semifinals.
   Kwiatkowski will face fourth-seeded Austin Smith, who completed his eligibility at Georgia this year, for the title of the eight-man tournament.
   The invitational began in 2014 to bring attention to college tennis during the U.S. Open.

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.

On crummy motels, heat, Vika, etc. in Indian Wells

Eventual champion Victoria Azarenka begins
 a warmup session by tossing a football.
 Photo by Paul Bauman

   Random observations after spending three days in the middle of the second week at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, a suburb of Palm Springs:

   —The area features numerous swanky hotels. Then there was my motel in lovely Indio. I don't want to say it was cheap, but across the street was Silva's Radiator, and around the corner was the Riverside County Detention Center (they can't just call it a jail). Nothing says "resort area" like barbed wire.

   —I've attended the BNP Paribas Open annually since 2009, and I still can't get used to the "o" being silent in Coachella Valley, where the Palm Springs area is situated.

   —You don't have to be Dr. Oz or House to figure out why there's a pharmacy on seemingly every corner in the Ca-chell-a Valley. Because of the year-round warm weather, Palm Springs is, above all, a retirement community. 

   —Overheard as a female fan talked on her cellphone: "I want you to call your kidney guy for an appointment in two weeks." See what I mean?

   —Even in March, the temperature reaches the high 80s and low 90s in Indian Wells. Players have to be in phenomenal shape to battle for up to three hours; it's tough just to sit in the afternoon sun and watch the matches. Memo to self: Don't come here in July.

   —In fact, the players are unbelievably fit. Unlike their golf counterparts, pro tennis players can't afford to have an ounce of fat since their sport places a premium on movement and endurance.

   —When the sun goes down, though, the temperature is ideal.

   —It doesn't get any better than when you're sipping an ice-cold lemonade in a shaded seat, watching the best tennis players in the world in a beautiful setting and listening to The Beatles ("Drive My Car," "Good Day Sunshine," etc.) on the PA system during changeovers or between matches.

Stan Wawrinka's one-handed backhand
is the most beautiful shot in tennis.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   —Creedence Clearwater Revival ("Proud Mary") and Eric Clapton ("Layla") work, too. My wife hates CCR, but she teaches school and stayed home in Sacramento.

   —OK, so I'm old, too. But not retirement age yet.

   —The tournament volunteers are very helpful and friendly, contributing to the relaxed atmosphere.

   —Stan Wawrinka's one-handed backhand is the most beautiful shot in tennis. Richard Gasquet's, Dominic Thiem's and Philipp Kohlshreiber's are pretty sweet, too. 

   —It isn't just John Isner's 140-plus-mph (225-plus kph) first serve that's a weapon. In a 6-4, 7-6 (4) third-round victory over Adrian Mannarino, the 6-foot-10 (2.08-meter) Isner's second delivery consistently bounced over the head of the 5-foot-11 (1.81-meter) Frenchman, who grew increasingly frustrated.

   —In the next round, 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) Kei Nishikori saved a match point in his 1-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5) win over the ninth-seeded Isner. With his tremendous hand-eye coordination, the fifth-seeded Nishikori blocked back several of Isner's first-serve rockets to pull out the tiebreakers.

   —Two kids clamored for Nishikori to throw them a souvenir after he beat Isner. Nishikori tossed each of them a towel, and both kids ran off without saying thank you.

   —Eighteen-year-old Alexander Zverev, a 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) German whom Rafael Nadal touted as a possible future No. 1, also is impressive in the interview room. Zverev displayed candor, maturity and impeccable English after losing to Nadal in the fourth round. When asked about blowing a putaway volley while holding match point, Zverev admitted, "I missed probably the easiest shot I had the whole match." Regarding the possibility of reaching No. 1, Zverev asserted, "This is painful right now, but it doesn't change anything about the process."
   —Memo to "journalists": Please ask a question. "Talk about ... " and "Your thoughts on ... " are not questions.

   —By the way, when did "journalists" become "media members"? Why use two words when one will do, except to sound like a pompous jerk?
   —It didn't take long for 13th-seeded Gael Monfils to exhibit his renowned athleticism in his 6-3, 6-4 victory over Federico Delbonis in the fourth round. Monfils hit a seemingly impossible backhand with the ball behind him and won the point.

Alexander Zverev, 18, was impressive in the interview
room as well as on the court. Photo by Paul Bauman

   —Delbonis, who stunned second-seeded Andy Murray in the third round, has a bizarre hitch in his service motion. The 6-foot-3 (1.91-meter) left-hander from Argentina starts to toss the ball, brings his arm back down, then goes through with an unusually high toss. Didn't bother Monfils, though.

   —Novak Djokovic stood up several hundred fans who packed Practice Court 2 for his scheduled session at noon on Wednesday, a day off for him. By 11:30 a.m., the stands were almost full, and by 12:30 p.m., most of the fans gave up and left. Hey, Djoker, if you're not going to practice, don't sign up for the court. If something comes up, have someone in your entourage call the staff so the fans can be notified. As one of them said at 1:15 p.m.: "(Tournament officials) say he's still going to show up but his coach doesn't know when. Very considerate. Without the fans, you're nothing. Remember that." 

   —Just then, Victoria Azarenka arrived to warm up for her match that evening. The 26-year-old Belarusian, who lived in the Phoenix area for many years, began by running pass patterns along a baseline, catching footballs tossed by a member of her entourage and throwing them back. The 49ers might want to take a flier on her in next month's draft.
   —Djokovic went on to win his third straight Indian Wells title and record fifth overall. Azarenka upset Serena Williams for her second BNP crown. That morning, tournament director and CEO Ray Moore opened his big mouth about the women's tour. 

   —Former Stanford star Nicole Gibbs, who reached the fourth round as a qualifier, has the greatest stare in tennis. When displeased, she lowers her head and shoots daggers from her eyes. 

   —Gibbs is feisty, too. Two years ago, in a loss to fellow American Louisa Chirico in the second round of the FSP Gold River Challenger in Sacramento, Gibbs stomped on her racket because she didn't like the string tension. 

   —Players engage in a lot of wishful thinking when they challenge line calls. They're wrong about 90 percent of the time. Often, it's not even close.

   —Players weren't the only celebrities in the BNP Paribas Open. After one match, a woman insisted on having her picture taken with charismatic chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani.
   —Fans could putt on a small green set up by the Indian Wells Golf Resort in the shopping area of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, the site of the BNP Paribas Open. One guy was taking practice swings and intently studying his putt. Hey, Bubba, putt the ball already. This isn't the Masters. 

Defending champ Halep, Wawrinka fall in BNP

   INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Defending champion Simona Halep and No. 3 seed Stan Wawrinka exited, and No. 4 Rafael Nadal and No. 5 Kei Nishikori barely survived on a day of high drama in the BNP Paribas Open.
   Halep, seeded fifth, fell to top seed and two-time champion Serena Williams 6-4, 6-3 in Wednesday night's featured  match in 16,100-seat Stadium 1. They were scheduled to meet in last year's semifinals, but Williams withdrew minutes beforehand with a knee injury.
   Williams' older sister Venus had done the same before they were to meet in the 2001 semifinals. Fans unleashed a torrent of boos, some allegedly made racial comments, and both players boycotted the tournament for the next 14 years.
   Just as Venus had in 2001, Serena won Miami two weeks after Indian Wells last year.
   Venus returned to the BNP Paribas Open this year as the 10th seed but lost to qualifier Kurumi Nara of Japan in the second round after receiving a bye.
   After last year's withdrawal, Serena said: "It feels really good to get that win (against Halep). She obviously has been in good form the past couple years."
   Still, Williams improved to 7-1 against Halep.
   "She played really well today," said Halep, who pronounced herself healthy after she had encountered a series of physical problems this year. "I have to get better to be closer to her."
   Wawrinka, a two-time Grand Slam singles champion, lost to 15th-seeded David Goffin of Belgium 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (5). Wawrinka nearly pulled off an amazing comeback after trailing 6-3, 4-0 and then 5-2 in the third set.
   Wawrinka led 4-2 in the tiebreaker, but Goffin won the next three points. At 5-5, Wawrinka sailed a putaway overhead at the net way long. On the next point, he netted a forehand off a running cross-court forehand by Goffin to end the match after 2 hours, 25 minutes in 90-degree heat.
   "Well, not too great a day, not too great a level," lamented Wawrinka, who applauded the crowd and signed a couple of autographs on his way out of 8,000-seat Stadium 2. "I didn't have the rhythm yet. Was a match without a brain, let's put it that way."  
   The fourth-ranked Wawrinka had not lost a set to the 5-foot-11 (1.80-meter), 150-pound (68-kilogram) Goffin in their three previous matches, although they had played four tiebreakers (all won by Wawrinka).
   Goffin, who saved two match points in his second-round victory over 18-year-old wild card Frances Tiafoe of the United States, reached his second ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal and first on hardcourts. He also advanced to the Rome quarters on clay last year.
   Goffin, ranked 18th, had been 1-25 against top-10 players with a 14-match losing streak against them. He beat then-No. 9 Milos Raonic in the Basel quarterfinals in 2014.
   Both Nadal and Nishikori saved match points in their victories.
   Nadal, who has won three singles and two doubles titles at Indian Wells, held off 18-year-old Alexander Zverev 6-7 (8), 6-0, 7-5 in 2 hours, 34 minutes in Stadium 1.
   Nadal trailed 5-2 in the third set against the 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) German, whom the Spanish star has touted as a future No. 1. Zverev netted a putaway forehand volley while serving at 5-3, 40-30.
   "I missed probably the easiest shot I had the whole match," Zverev moaned.
   Showing his inexperience, Zverev fell apart after that, dropping 14 of the next 15 points for the match. Nadal, though, displayed his trademark tenacity.
   "Is a great victory," crowed Nadal, who has slumped since winning the 2014 French Open for his 14th Grand Slam singles title (tied for second all-time with Pete Sampras behind Roger Federer's 17). "I'm very happy about it. I am especially happy about the mentality on court, the spirit of fight during the whole match, believing that I can win a match during the whole time even in the tougher situations."
   Nishikori, 5-foot-10 (1.78-meters), withstood 23 aces by 6-foot-10 (2.08-meter) John Isner to prevail 1-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5). Nishikori, who escaped a match point at 5-6 in the third set, reached the Indian Wells quarterfinals for the first time in eight appearances.
   Isner upset world No. 1 Novak Djokovic to reach the 2012 final, in which he lost to Federer. The Swiss star missed this year's tournament while recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery.
   Djokovic, who has won the last two Indian Wells titles and four overall, and Nadal are the only remaining past men's champions. Both are in the top half of the draw. The top-seeded Djokovic will meet No. 7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Nadal will face Nishikori.
   The bottom half will produce a first-time Indian Wells finalist. No. 10 Marin Cilic will play Goffin, and No. 8 Gael Monfils will take on No. 12 Raonic.
   Serena Williams will play third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, the runner-up to Flavia Pennetta in 2014, in one semifinal. Radwanska will rise one notch to No. 2, tying her career high, after beating eighth-seeded Petra Kvitova 6-2, 7-6 (3) on Wednesday.
   The other semifinal will be determined today. No. 13 seed Victoria Azarenka, the 2012 champion, will meet unseeded Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia, and No. 18 Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic will face unseeded 18-year-old Daria Kasatkina.
   In the men's doubles quarterfinals, No. 8 seeds Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia edged No. 3 Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan 4-6, 6-1 [14-12]. The Bryans, who starred at Stanford in the late 1990s, won the Indian Wells title in 2013 and 2014.
   Roger-Vasselin is the baby of the group at 32. Zimonjic will turn 40 in June, and the Bryans will be 38 next month. 

Nishikori tops Fritz for fourth straight Memphis title

Kei Nishikori, playing at Indian Wells last
March, became the fourth active player to
win the same tournament at least four times.
The others: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and
Novak Djokovic. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Kei Nishikori joined illustrious company today, but Taylor Fritz made him work.
   Japan's Nishikori, seeded first and ranked seventh, defeated Fritz, an 18-year-old U.S. wild card, 6-4, 6-4 to win the Memphis (Tenn.) Open for the fourth straight year.
   "It's amazing to win four in a row," Nishikori, who lost the first three games against Fritz, told reporters. "I tried not to think about it too much this week. I didn't feel a lot of pressure.
   "It was a tough start again today, but I managed it better. I played better tennis as the match went on, and I'm happier with the second set. I only gave him a few points on my serve in the last few games."
   The only other active men to win a tournament at least four times in a row are Roger Federer (five Wimbledons, five U.S. Opens and four Halle titles twice), Rafael Nadal (five and four French Opens, eight Monte Carlo crowns and five Barcelona championships) and Novak Djokovic (four ATP World Tour Finals and four Beijing titles).
   Fritz, who was playing in this third tour-level event, became the second-fastest American to reach at ATP final. John Isner was the runner-up at Washington, D.C., in 2007 in his second ATP tournament. He was a 22-year-old University of Georgia graduate at the time.
   "I definitely didn't expect to get to the finals so quickly starting on the ATP level, but it's a great accomplishment to get here," said Fritz, whose parents (Guy Fritz and former top-10 player Kathy May) and uncle (Harry Fritz) all played professionally. "I'm really happy despite losing the finals because I had a great week. So I have a lot of confidence moving forward, and I hope I can keep these kind of results going."
   Fritz, who was ranked No. 694 before winning back-to-back Northern California Challengers in Sacramento and Fairfield last October, will rise to No. 103 when the new list is released on Monday.
   The slow court in Memphis favored the speedy, 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) Nishikori over the 6-foot-4 (1.93-meter) Fritz.
   During the final, Tennis Challenger commentator and former top-10 player Jimmy Arias described Fritz as "a power player. He doesn't always move his feet well, but he has amazing hands."
   Nishikori wasn't the only player to repeat in the tournament. Unseeded Mariusz Fystenberg of Poland and Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico won their second straight Memphis title, beating fourth-seeded Americans Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-4.
   Querrey, a San Francisco native, swept the Memphis singles and doubles titles in 2010. His partner then was Isner.

U.S. Open Day 1 recap: 2014 runner-up ousted

Fourth-seeded Kei Nishikori, the runner-up in last
year's U.S. Open, lost to Benoit Paire of France
today in the first round at Flushing Meadows.
2015 file photo by Paul Bauman

   NEW YORK -- Serena Williams had a short night at the U.S. Open.
   Kei Nishkori had a short stay.
   The top-ranked Williams, bidding for the first calendar-year Grand Slam since 1988, led Vitalia Diatchenko 6-0, 2-0 when the 25-year-old Russian retired with an ankle injury in the first of tonight's two matches at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
   Williams won 32 of the 37 points in the 27-minute match. Diatchenko, ranked 86th, had her left foot and ankle taped in the first set.
   Next for Williams on Wednesday is qualifier Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands. 
   During the hot, humid day session, the fourth-seeded Nishikori fell to Benoit Paire of France 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4 at Louis Armstrong Stadium. Nishikori, last year's runner-up to Marin Cilic, squandered two match points in the fourth set.
   Meanwhile, top-seeded Novak Djokovic, seeking his second U.S. Open title but first since 2011, crushed Joao Souza of Brazil 6-1, 6-1, 6-1.
   Six women's seeds lost, including three in the top 10: No. 7 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, No. 8 Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic and No. 10 Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain.
   Ivanovic fell 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to Dominika Cibulkova, who avenged an opening-round loss to 15-year-old CiCi Bellis of Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area in last year's U.S. Open.
   Also losing today was No. 30 Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2004 U.S. Open champion from Russia, 6-3, 7-5 to Kristina Mladenovic of France.
   Another former U.S. Open champ from Russia, third-seeded Maria Sharapova, withdrew on Sunday with a right leg muscle strain that has sidelined her since Wimbledon.
   The highest remaining seed other than Williams in her half of the draw is No. 12 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland. They could meet in the quarterfinals. Bencic, 18, handed Williams her second loss of the year en route to the Toronto title two weeks ago. 
   Men's seeded winners -- No. 1 Novak Djokovic, No. 7 David Ferrer, No. 8 Rafael Nadal, No. 9 Cilic, No. 10 Milos Raonic, No. 14 David Goffin, No. 17 Grigor Dimitrov, No. 18 Feliciano Lopez, No. 19 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 23 Roberto Bautista-Agut, No. 25 Andreas Seppi, No. 26 Tommy Robredo, No. 27 Jeremy Chardy, No. 32 Fabio Fognini.
   Men's seeded losers -- No. 4 Nishikori, No. 16 Gael Monfils. 
   Women's seeded winners -- No. 1 Serena Williams (three-time defending champion), No. 12 Bencic, No. 13 Ekaterina Makarova, No. 15 Agnieszka Radwanska, No. 17 Elina Svitolina, No. 19 Madison Keys, No. 23 Venus Williams, No. 25 Eugenie Bouchard, No. 31 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
   Women's seeded losers -- No. 7 Ivanovic, No. 8 Pliskova, No. 10 Suarez Navarro, No. 21 Jelena Jankovic, No. 29 Sloane Stephens, No. 30 Kuznetsova.
   Stars and stripes -- U.S. women went 10-5, including two all-American matches. Anna Tatishvili, a native of Georgia in Asia who became a U.S. citizen last year, whipped Pliskova 6-2, 6-1. The 6-foot-1 (1.86-meter) Pliskova, 23, has never advanced past the third round in a Grand Slam tournament.
   U.S. men went 1-4. The only victory came from 33-year-old Mardy Fish, who will retire after the tournament. The former world No. 7 has battled an irregular heartbeat and severe anxiety for the past three years.
   Fast fact -- Nishikori became the first U.S. Open men's finalist from the previous year to lose in the first round since 1999.
   Northern California connection -- Pliskova reached the final of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford this month, losing to Angelique Kerber of Germany but cracking the top 10 for the first time. 
   Australia's John Millman, who won the Aptos Challenger three weeks ago, lost to Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4. Stakhovsky stunned Roger Federer in the second round at Wimbledon two years ago, ending the Swiss' streak of Grand Slam quarterfinals at 36.
   Quote -- Djokovic: "With a dominant win like the one today, it adds to your confidence, your self-belief. But it's also making a statement for everybody that is out there watching. We are all watching each other's matches. We are all seeing how each other progresses. It's important you're out on the court with the right intensity and you're sending a good message, and I've done so.”
   Tuesday at Arthur Ashe Stadium -- Day session (beginning at 8 a.m. PDT, streaming on ESPN3 from 8 to 10 a.m., then shown on ESPN): Simona Halep (2) vs. Marina Erakovic, Caroline Wozniacki (4) vs. Jamie Loeb, Roger Federer vs. Leonardo Mayer.
   Night session (beginning at 4 p.m. PDT, ESPN): Andy Murray (3) vs. Nick Kyrgios, Petra Kvitova (5) vs.Laura Siegemund.

Wimbledon Day 3 recap: No. 5 Nishikori withdraws

Kei Nishikori pulled out of his second-round match against Santiago
Giraldo because of a left calf injury. 2015 photo by Paul Bauman

   "Upset" of the day -- Fifth-seeded "Special" Kei Nishikori, last year's U.S. Open runner-up to "Cheech" Marin Cilic, withdrew from his second-round match against Santiago Giraldo "Rivera" of Colombia because of a left calf injury. In Nishikori's six previous Wimbledon appearances, he had progressed from three straight first-round losses to two third-round setbacks to a fourth-round showing.
   Match of the day -- The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Cilic, from Croatia, outlasted 5-foot-9 (1.75-meter) Ricardas "Ben" Berankis of Lithuania 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 7-5 in 3 hours, 34 minutes.
   Men's seeded winners -- No. 1 Novak "It's No" Djokovic, No. 4 Stan "The Man" Wawrinka, No. 7 Milos "Kunis" Raonic, No. 9 Cilic, No. 11 Grigor "Mortis" Dimitrov, No. 14 Kevin "Costner" Anderson, No. 16 David "Gerry" Goffin, No. 17 John "Wayne" Isner, No. 21 Richard "Don't Blow A" Gasquet, No. 24 Leonardo "Da Vinci" Mayer, No. 26 Nick "I'm Just" Kyrgios, Bernard "A." Tomic.
   Men's seeded losers -- No. 5 Nishikori, No. 32 Dominic "Home" Thiem.

   Women's seeded winners -- No. 1 Serena "Vanessa" Williams, No. 4 Maria "Shriver" Sharapova, No. 6 "I Love" Lucie Safarova, No. 14 Andrea Petkovic "Park," No. 16 Venus "And Mars" Williams, No. 22 Samantha "Stephens" Stosur, No. 23 Victoria "Station" Azarenka, No. 29 Irina-Camelia "Ain't Too Proud To" Begu, No. 30 Belinda "Johnny" Bencic. 
   Women's seeded losers -- No. 7 Ana "Karenina" Ivanovic, No. 11 "North" Karolina Pliskova, No. 19 Sara "No Runs, No Hits, No" Errani.
   Stars and stripes -- U.S. men and women had an excellent day. The Williams sisters moved within one victory each of meeting in the fourth round, two women ousted seeds, and two men reached the third round.
   Qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands "Of Time" dismissed Ivanovic 6-3, 6-4, and CoCo "Chanel" Vandeweghe took out Pliskova 7-6 (5), 6-4. Also advancing were Madison "Where The Hell Are My" Keys and Sloane "Ranger" Stephens.
   On the men's side, Isner and wild card Denis "The Menace" Kudla won. Isner will face Cilic, and Kudla will meet Giraldo.
   Fast fact -- It was the hottest day in Wimbledon history as the temperature topped 95 degrees (35 Celsius).
   Northern California connection -- All players in action won in the first round of doubles.
   Triumphing in women's doubles were fifth-seeded Raquel Kops-Jones (San Jose resident, ex-Cal star)-Abigail Spears, 16th-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues (Sacramento-based California Dream in World TeamTennis)-Arantxa Parra Santonja, Jarmila Gajdosova (Dream)-Ajla Tomljanovic and Johanna Konta-Maria Sanchez (Modesto product).
   Prevailing in men's doubles were Treat Huey-Scott Lipsky (ex-Stanford star) and Steve Johnson-Sam Querrey (San Francisco native). Huey, a Washington, D.C., native who plays for the Philippines, and Lipsky, an Irvine resident, upset 12th-seeded Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay and David Marrero of Spain 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-4.  
   Quote -- Serena Williams on possibly playing Venus: "She poses a big threat for me."
   Thursday's top matches (beginning at 5 a.m. PDT on ESPN) -- Centre Court: Sabine Lisicki "To My Stomach" (18) vs. Christina McHale "Navy," Roger Federer "Express" (2) vs. "Yosemite" Sam Querrey, "San" Rafael Nadal (10) vs. Dustin "Hoffman" Brown.
   Court 1: Andy "Bill" Murray (3) vs. Robin "Hood" Haase, Petra "Fied Forest" Kvitova (2) vs. Kurumi "Weather" Nara, Jo-Wilfried "Sing A" Tsonga (13) vs. "Prince" Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

French Open Day 10 recap: Wawrinka ousts Federer

Swiss stars Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka played doubles
together at Indian Wells last year. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Upset of the day -- Eighth-seeded Stan Wawrinka reached the French Open semifinals for the first time, knocking off Swiss countryman Roger Federer, seeded second, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the wind.
   Wawrinka, the 2014 Australian Open champion, defeated Federer, who won the French Open in 2009, for only the third time in their 19 meetings and the first in their five Grand Slam encounters. 
   Match of the day -- Fourteenth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France advanced to the semifinals for the second time in three years with a 6-1, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3 victory over No. 5 Kei Nishikori of Japan. 
   Women's quarterfinals -- No. 7 seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia dismissed No. 19 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-3, 6-2 in 75 minutes to reach a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time since winning the 2008 French Open for her only major title.
   No. 13 seed Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic backed up her victory over defending champion Maria Sharapova with a 7-6 (3), 6-3 win over No. 21 Garbine Muguruza of Spain to reach her second Grand Slam semifinal. The 28-year-old Safarova, a Wimbledon semifinalist last year, will crack the top 10 for the first time on Monday. 
   Stars and stripes -- Top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan, Southern California natives seeking their third French Open title, moved into the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-4 victory over seventh-seeded Marcin Matkowski of Poland and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia.
   However, No. 2 seeds and reigning Wimbledon champions Vasek Pospisil of Canada and Jack Sock of Tampa, Fla., lost to fifth-seeded Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands and Horia Tecau of Romania 6-3, 6-3.
   In the mixed doubles quarterfinals, second-seeded Mike Bryan and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, a Phoenix resident, beat Anastasia Rodionova of Australia and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan 6-0, 7-6 (3). 
   The United States has four boys -- No. 2 Taylor Fritz, No. 6 Michael Mmoh, No. 13 Tommy Paul and 6-foot-10 (2.08-meter) Reilly Opelka -- and three girls -- No. 3 Katerina Stewart, No. 4 CiCi Bellis and Caroline Dolehide -- in the junior round of 16.
   Fourth-seeded Michaela Gordon of the United States and Charlotte Robillard-Millette of Canada fell to Jill Teichmann of Switzerland and Shilin Xu of China 6-1, 2-6 [10-8] in the second round.
   Northern California connection -- The 37-year-old Bryan twins led Stanford to NCAA team titles in their two years on the Farm (1997 and 1998). Qureshi is scheduled to play for the Sacramento-based California Dream in World TeamTennis this summer. Bellis, 16, and Gordon, 15, live in the San Francisco Bay Area.    
   Fast facts -- Federer reached the French Open final for four straight years from 2006 through 2009. Now he's on a less impressive streak: He has lost in the quarterfinals or earlier for the past three years.
   Quotes -- Wawrinka: ''I played my best match in a Grand Slam tournament and my best match on clay.''
   Federer: ''I tried many things. Obviously I was not going to leave the French Open without having tried everything out there.''
   Tsonga: "You're going to be praised when you reach semis at Roland Garros, as if you had already won the tournament. Whereas, in fact, well, to me it's not over yet.''
   Wednesday's quarterfinals on Court Philippe Chatrier (starting at 5 a.m. PDT, ESPN2) -- Serena Williams (1) vs. Sara Errani (17), Novak Djokovic (1) vs. Rafael Nadal (6). 
   Wednesday's quarterfinals on Court Suzanne Lenglen (starting at 5 a.m. PDT, ESPN2) -- Timea Bacsinszky (23) vs. Alison Van Uytvanck, Andy Murray (3) vs. David Ferrer (7).

Lopez, 33, upsets Nishikori to reach BNP quarters

Feliciano Lopez, ranked a career-high No. 12, slugs
a forehand in his victory over No. 5 Kei Nishikori.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   INDIAN WELLS -- Feliciano Lopez is playing the best tennis of his career at the advanced age of 33.
   The Spaniard, ranked a career-high No. 12, took out No. 5 Kei Nishikori 6-4, 7-6 (2) today to reach the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open for the first time in his 13 appearances.
   Lopez, a 6-foot-2 (1.88-meter) left-hander, blasted 12 aces in the 95-minute match. Nishikori, the U.S. Open runner-up last September, played in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open for the first time. 
   "I had one bad game at 5-4 (in the first set)," the 25-year-old Japanese star lamented. "Until then, I was playing better. He was hitting good serves, but I had all the chances. But just one bad game at 5-4 -- I think that's all that matters in today's match."
   Lopez will meet fourth-seeded Andy Murray, who lost to Rafael Nadal in the windy 2009 final, in the quarters. The other quarterfinal in the top half of the draw will be No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic against No. 12 Bernard Tomic of Australia. In the bottom half, No. 2 Roger Federer will play No. 9 Tomas Berdych, and No. 3 Nadal will face No. 6 Milos Raonic.
   Djokovic and Federer eliminated the last remaining U.S. men in singles. Djokovic held off No. 18 John Isner 6-4, 7-6 (5), in the second match of the night session, and Federer dismissed Jack Sock 6-3, 6-2 in 69 minutes in the last match of the day session.   

Nishikori played in the fourth round at Indian Wells for the
first time. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Isner defeated Djokovic, 7-6 in the third set, in the 2012 semifinals at Indian Wells before losing to Federer in the final.
   The 33-year-old Federer, who owns a record four singles titles at Indian Wells, earned his 50th career victory in the tournament today.
   Still, it was an encouraging tournament for Sock, 22. Playing in his first tournament of the year after undergoing hip surgery in mid-December, he reached the fourth round of an ATP Masters 1000 tournament, the highest level other than the Grand Slams, for the first time.
   Tomic, also 22, outlasted 18-year-old countryman Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
   Kokkinakis was trying to become the eighth teenager (since 1987) to reach the Indian Wells quarterfinals. Four of the others are in the International Tennis Hall of Fame (Boris Becker, Andre Agassi, Michael Chang and Jim Courier), and the other three will be (Nadal, Djokovic and Murray).
   Meanwhile, top-ranked Serena Williams and third-seeded Simona Halep advanced to a semifinal meeting.
   Williams defeated 27th-seeded Timea Bacsinszky 7-5, 6-3 to end the Swiss player's winning streak at 15 matches. Halep topped 12th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 to moved into the Indian Wells semis for the second straight year.
   The other two women's semifinalists will be determined on Thursday. No. 15 seed and defending champion Flavia Pennetta, another 33-year-old, of Italy will face No. 24 Sabine Lisicki of Germany. No. 18 Jelena Jankovic, the 2010 champion, will meet qualifier Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine.

Aussie Open Day 10 highlights: Keys edges Venus

Madison Keys, then 18, practices during the 2013
Bank of the West Classic at Stanford. In her only
appearance in the tournament, she upset No. 8 seed
Magdalena Rybarikova in the first round before losing
to qualifier Vera Dushevina. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Upset of the day -- Madison Keys' storybook tournament continued while Venus Williams' ended. In a battle of American generations, the unseeded Keys overcame a thigh injury to outlast the 18th-seeded Williams 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 today at Melbourne Park and reach her first Grand Slam semifinal.
   Keys, 19, had her left thigh taped at 1-4 (two service breaks) in the second set against Williams, 34. The same injury caused Keys to retire from a third-round match against Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan at Wimbledon last year.
   Williams was diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome, a chronic autoimmune disease, in 2011. She was trying to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal since the 2010 U.S. Open and become the oldest female semifinalist in a major since Billie Jean King (39) at Wimbledon in 1983.
   Keys has only one day rather than the customary two to recover for the semifinals.
   Match of the day -- A one-sided match suddenly became a thriller as defending champion Stan Wawrinka subdued 2014 U.S. Open runner-up Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (6) in the quarterfinals.   
   The fourth-seeded Wawrinka bolted to leads of 5-0 and 6-1 in the tiebreaker but blew all five match points. At 6-6, the fifth-seeded Nishikori attempted a risky drop shot that hit the tape and fell back. Wawrinka finally ended the match with an ace down the middle to avenge a five-set loss to Nishikori in the quarterfinals of last year's U.S. Open.
   Notable -- Serena Williams reached the Australian Open semifinals for the first time since winning the last of her five titles at Melbourne Park in 2010. The top seed, playing with a chest cold, routed 11th seed and 2014 runner-up Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-2.  
   Top seed Novak Djokovic tamed hard-serving Milos Raonic, seeded eighth, 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. Djokovic, 27, seeks his fifth Australian Open title.
   In junior girls singles, No. 14 seed Katie Swan of Great Britain surprised No. 1 Shilin Xu of China 6-2, 6-2 in the third round.
   Men's semifinal matchups (seedings in parentheses) -- No. 6 Andy Murray vs. No. 7 Tomas Berdych. Berdych leads the head-to-head series 6-4.
   No. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. No. 4 Wawrinka. Djokovic leads the series 16-3. The veterans will meet in the Australian Open for the third straight year, each time one round later. The first two encounters were marathons. Djokovic prevailed 12-10 in the fifth set in 5 hours, 2 minutes in the fourth round in 2013, and Wawrinka triumphed 9-7 in the fifth in 4 hours in last year's quarterfinals to snap a 14-match losing streak to the Serb.
   Women's semifinal matchups -- No. 2 Maria Sharapova vs. No. 10 Ekaterina Makarova. Sharapova leads the series 5-0.
   No. 1 Serena Williams vs. Keys (first meeting).
   Stars and stripes -- The United States has two women in the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since the Williams sisters at Wimbledon in 2009. Three American women reached the quarterfinals of a Slam for the first time since the 2004 U.S. Open (Jennifer Capriati, Lindsay Davenport and Serena Williams). Davenport now coaches Keys.
   Third-seeded Taylor Fritz of Rancho Santa Fe in the San Diego area and 11th-seeded Raveena Kingsley of Fulton, Md., advanced to the junior boys and girls quarterfinals, respectively.
   Third-seeded Michael Mmoh of Temple Hills, Md., and Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia moved into the boys doubles semifinals. 
   Northern California connection -- Serena Williams and Cibulkova have combined to win the last four titles in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford. Williams triumphed in 2011, 2012 and 2014, and Cibulkova in 2013 (when Williams did not play in the tournament). Cibulkova lost to 15-year-old CiCi Bellis of Atherton, near Stanford, in the first round of last year's U.S. Open.
   Sameer Kumar, a Carmel, Ind., resident who will enroll at Stanford next year, lost to sixth-seeded Duck Hee Lee of South Korea 2-6, 6-0, 7-5 in the third round of junior boys singles. 
   Fast facts -- Wawrinka improved to 9-0 while Venus Williams fell to 9-1 this year. Both won Australian Open tuneup tournaments, Wawrinka in Chennai and Williams in Auckland.
   Quote -- Wawrinka: "Phew."

U.S. Open Day 15: Cilic coasts to first major crown

Marin Cilic practices with Novak
Djokovic at night at Indian Wells
in March. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Men's final — No. 14 seed Marin Cilic of Croatia dominated No. 10 Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in the first Grand Slam final for both players.
   Cilic, 6-foot-6 (1.98 meters), missed last year's U.S. Open while serving a four-month doping suspension. He said he inadvertently ingested a stimulant in a glucose tablet bought at a pharmacy.
   Nishikori, 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters), was trying to become the first man from Asia to win a major singles title.  
   Fast facts — This was the first time in 40 years that a U.S. Open finalist failed to win at least four games in a set in the title match.
   This was also the first Grand Slam final since the 2005 Australian Open without Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal, who did not defend his U.S. Open title because of a right wrist injury.
   Cilic earned $3 million and rose seven places in the world rankings to No. 9, matching his career high in 2010. Nishikori pocketed $1.45 million and improved three notches to a career-high No. 8.
   Cilic became the first man ranked outside the top 10 to win a Grand Slam singles title since Gaston Gaudio in the 2004 French Open.
   Both finalists have been coached since late last year by former players with one Grand Slam singles title. Goran Ivanisevic, who works with countryman Cilic, won Wimbledon in 2001. Michael Chang, who tutors Nishikori, captured the 1989 French Open at 17 years, 3 months. He remains the youngest man to win a Grand Slam singles title.   
   The score of every set in the men's and women's singles finals was the same. Serena Williams defeated Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday.
   Quote -- Cilic, on his suspension: "I just used the positive parts, which, you know, made me tougher."

U.S. Open Day 13: Nishikori, Cilic score major upsets

    Men's semifinals -- Everyone who predicted a Kei Nishikori-Marin Cilic final at the beginning of the tournament, please stand up.
   For the first time since Marat Safin beat Lleyton Hewitt in the 2005 Australian Open, a major final will be played without Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal.
   Nishikori, only 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters) and 150 pounds (68 kilograms), became the first man from Asia to reach a Grand Slam singles final. Seeded 10th, he shocked the top-ranked Djokovic 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3 in sweltering heat and humidity.
   Even though Nishikori was coming off two marathons, he seemed fresher than Djokovic, who got married shortly after winning Wimbledon in July and lost early in his two U.S. Open tuneup tournaments.
   Nishikori had a cyst removed from the bottom of his right foot last month and hadn't played in a tournament since Aug. 1. He had his right foot re-wrapped during his fourth-round and quarterfinal battles at Flushing Meadows.
   Cilic, seeded 14th, also advanced to his first major final. The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Croat overpowered the second-seeded Federer 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 for his first victory over the Swiss star in six career matches. 
   Cilic blasted serves at up to 132 mph (213 kph) and finished with 13 aces, including three straight in the final game.
   Notable --  Fourth-seeded Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina of Russia won their second Grand Slam women's doubles title, rallying from a set and a break down to beat unseeded Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Flavia Pennetta of Italy 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.
   Hingis, an International Tennis Hall of Famer who will turn 34 on Sept. 30, launched a doubles comeback last year. She was playing in her first major final since winning the 2002 Australian Open women's doubles title with Anna Kournikova.
   Hingis has won 15 Grand Slam titles (five in singles, nine in women's doubles and one in mixed doubles).     
   Women's final matchup (seedings in parentheses) -- Serena Williams (1) vs. Caroline Wozniacki (10), Sunday at 1:30 p.m. PDT on CBS. Williams leads the head-to-head series 8-1 with five straight victories. However, the players' two meetings last month were close. Williams won 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the Montreal quarterfinals and 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the Cincinnati semifinals.
   Wozniacki said she stayed in bed between the quarterfinals and semifinals because of a viral illness, but she seemed fine during her win over Peng Shuai in the semis. Wozniacki led 7-6 (1), 4-3 when Peng retired with heat exhaustion and leg cramps.
   Williams quit her second-round doubles match at Wimbledon on July 1 with what the WTA called a viral illness.
   U.S. report -- All three Americans in the junior singles semifinals lost: sixth-seeded Francis Tiafoe in the boys field, and qualifier Caroline Dolehide and wild card Katerina Stewart on the girls side.
   Tiafoe, perhaps the United States' top male hope, had two match points in his 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (6) loss to fifth-seeded Quentin Halys of France.
   Northern California connection -- Top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan will play 11th-seeded Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez of Spain in the men's doubles final on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. PDT on ESPN2. The Bryans, who led Stanford to NCAA titles in their two years there (1997-98), seek their fifth U.S. Open title and 100th overall.
   Nishikori played in the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose three times, losing in the second round in 2008, 2009 and 2011. Brad Gilbert of San Rafael coached Nishikori in 2011.
   Fast facts -- Nishikori lost to qualifier Daniel Evans of Great Britain in straight sets in the first round of last year's U.S. Open. Evans was coming off a runner-up finish in the Aptos Challenger, failing to convert a championship point against former Stanford star Bradley Klahn.
   Cilic missed last year's U.S. Open while serving a four-month doping suspension. He said he ingested a stimulant accidentally in a glucose tablet.
   Quote -- Nishikori, on having the cyst removed: "I didn't even know if I should come to New York, so I wasn't expecting (anything), actually."

U.S. Open Day 8 highlights: Nishikori win ties record

Kei Nishikori loses to Andy Murray in the 2012
Australian Open quarterfinals. Nishikori reached
the last eight in a Grand Slam tournament for the
first time since then by beating Milos Raonic in
a match that ended at 2:26 a.m. New York time.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Match of the day -- Score one for the little guy. It rarely happens in this era of power.
   No. 10 seed Kei Nishikori, a gutsy 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) Japan native, outlasted No. 5 Milos Raonic, a 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) Canadian with a pulverizing serve, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-4 in a fourth-round match that ended at 2:26 a.m. New York time.
   That tied the latest finish in U.S. Open history. Also ending at 2:26 a.m. were Philipp Kohlschrieber's third-round victory over John Isner in 2012 and Mats Wilander's second-round win over fellow Swede Mikael Pernfors in 1993.
    Nishikori, 24, reached his second Grand Slam quarterfinal and first at the U.S. Open. He missed most of the tuneup tournaments for Flushing Meadows with a severely infected right big toe and had his foot re-wrapped early in the fourth set of the 4-hour, 19-minute battle.
   Nishikori is coached by Michael Chang, an International Tennis Hall of Famer and the 1996 U.S. Open runner-up.
  Upset of the day -- In the latest women's surprise, No. 17 seed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia ousted No. 7 Eugenie Bouchard of Canada 7-6 (2), 6-4 in the fourth round.
   Bouchard, the runner-up at Wimbledon last month, took a medical timeout in the second set for dizziness in the heat and extreme humidity. She failed to reach a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time this year.
   Among the top nine women's seeds, the only quarterfinalist is No. 1 Serena Williams.
   Notable -- Top-ranked Novak Djokovic, the 2011 U.S. Open champion, advanced to the quarterfinals for the eighth consecutive year at Flushing Meadows and 22nd straight Grand Slam tournament. He outplayed the 22nd-seeded Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-1, 7-5, 6-4.
   Williams, who has won 17 Grand Slam singles titles, reached her first major quarterfinal of the year with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over unseeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia.
   No. 16 seed Victoria Azarenka, the U.S. Open runner-up to Williams for the past two years, eliminated qualifier Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Krunic had knocked out No. 3 Petra Kvitova, who won her second Wimbledon title last month, in the third round.
   Sixth-seeded Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek, the defending men's doubles champions, lost to 11th-seeded Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 in the third round.
   Eighth-seeded Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock, the reigning Wimbledon champs, fell to unseeded Carlos Berlocq and Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 6-2, 6-2 in the third round.
   Women's quarterfinal matchups (seedings in parentheses) -- Williams (1) vs. Flavia Pennetta (11), Azarenka (16) vs. Makarova (17), Peng Shuai vs. Belinda Bencic, Caroline Wozniacki (10) vs. Sara Errani (13).
   Men's quarterfinal matchups -- Djokovic (1) vs. Andy Murray (8), Stan Wawrinka (3) vs. Nishikori (10). The other encounters will be determined today. If the seedings hold, they will be Tomas Berdych (6) vs. Marin Cilic (14) and Roger Federer (2) vs. Grigor Dimitrov (7).
   Northern California connection -- Top-seeded CiCi Bellis, 15, of Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area routed Renata Zarazua of Mexico 6-1, 6-3 in the first round of girls singles. Bellis stunned 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova, the Australian Open runner-up in January, in the first round of women's doubles before losing to Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan in the second round.
   In an all-American men's doubles match, top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan beat Bradley Klahn and Tim Smyczek 6-3, 7-6 (5) to reach the quarterfinals. All except Smyczek (pronounced SMEE-check) played at Stanford, but only Klahn graduated. Klahn, 24, is 12 years younger than the Bryan twins.
   Fast fact -- For the first time since 1977, eight different women will have played in a year's Grand Slam finals.
   Quote -- Makarova, on what was going through her mind during Bouchard's medical timeout: "Well, actually, I thought, 'Thanks,' because I also was tired."

Tour group bids fond farewell to Melbourne

   CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — This was a difficult time for our tour group to leave Melbourne, Australia.
   Four blockbuster semifinals were set in the Australian Open, and Thursday (Wednesday in the United States) was Australia Day. Oh, well. I'll just have to suffer sightseeing in beautiful New Zealand for five days.
   On the men's side in the Australian Open, second-seeded Rafael Nadal upended No. 3 Roger Federer 6-7 (5), 6-2, 7-6 (5), 6-4 Thursday night (early Thursday morning California time), and No. 1 Novak Djokovic will meet No. 4 Andy Murray on Friday night in a rematch of last year's final, won by Djokovic in straight sets.
   In the women's draw, No. 4 Maria Sharapova edged No. 2 Petra Kvitova 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 in a matchup of Wimbledon champions (Kvitova last year and Sharapova in 2004), and No. 3 Victoria Azarenka outlasted No. 11 Kim Clijsters, the defending champion who battled injuries last year, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
   The 22-year-old Azarenka, taught as a child in Belarus by Sacramento State men's coach Slava Konikov, reached her first Grand Slam final. The 28-year-old Clijsters, who has won the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford four times, played in her last Australian Open.
   Australia Day commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet of 11 convict ships at Sydney Cove in 1788. The state of Victoria, of which Melbourne is the capital, published a 22-page booklet listing Australia Day events.
   On our last day at the Australian Open on Wednesday, I watched three quarterfinal matches at Rod Laver Arena in mercifully cooler weather. My seat during the tournament always has been in the shade in one corner of the court — for which I'll be eternally grateful — but other group members have not been as fortunate. One reported that sitting in the sun in the intimate, 14,820-seat facility, which has a retractable roof, can be unbearable because of a lack of circulation. And that's just watching the matches — never mind playing in them.
   In all three matches Wednesday, the bigger, physically stronger player won.
   Kvitova, a 6-foot left-hander from the Czech Republic, made some ghastly errors, prompting shrieks of despair, against Sara Errani, a gritty 5-4 Italian. But Kvitova prevailed 6-4, 6-4, winning the last five games, to gain her first Australian Open semifinal.
   Similarly, the 6-2 Sharapova overpowered fellow Russian Ekatarina Makarova, a skinny, 5-11 left-hander, 6-2, 6-3. Sharapova, who has won every Grand Slam except the French Open on clay, displayed a devastating serve and forehand but an erratic two-handed backhand against Makarova, who had stunned five-time Australian Open champion Serena Williams in the previous round.
   The last match of the day session at Rod Laver Arena featured two players, Murray and Kei Nishikori, with ties to the San Francisco Bay Area. Brad Gilbert of San Rafael coaches Nishikori and formerly tutored Murray, who won the SAP Open in San Jose in 2006 at 18 years old and in 2007.
   Murray, a 6-3 Scotsman, frustrated the 5-10 Nishikori, the first Japanese man in 80 years to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal, with his power and incredible shotmaking in a 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 drubbing.
   In the first game of the third set, Nishikori ripped a deep return of serve for an apparent winner. But Murray, using his tremendous athleticism and reflexes, lunged and slapped a half-volley forehand cross-court passing shot. Shortly thereafter, it was sayonara, Nishikori.
   It was time for our group to leave the Australian Open, too. I took the 30-minute walk along the Yarra River back to our hotel to shower and change for our farewell dinner.
   Walking around Melbourne and Sydney is, shall we say, revealing. If some women's dresses and skirts get any tighter or shorter, their necklines any lower or their heels any higher, somebody is going to have to call the vice squad. Not that I'm complaining ...
   Other Australian Open matches — Second-seeded Daniel Nestor of Canada and Max Mirnyi of Belarus, and unseeded Leander Paes of India and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic advanced to the men's doubles semifinals.
   Mirnyi, who formerly worked with Konikov, and Nestor, the World TeamTennis Male Rookie of the Year in 2003 for the Sacramento Capitals, defeated No. 12 Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and Christopher Kas of Germany 6-1, 6-7 (4), 6-2.
   Paes and Stepanek beat No. 10 Eric Butorac of Rochester, Minn., and Bruno Soares of Brazil 6-4, 7-6 (2). Stepanek won the singles and doubles titles in the 2009 SAP Open. Butorac captured the 2007 doubles crown in San Jose and played for the Capitals in 2008. 
   In the juniors, Mackenzie McDonald of Piedmont (near Oakland) and Stanford-bound Krista Hardebeck of Santa Ana breezed past seeds in the third round of boys and girls singles, respectively.
   McDonald knocked off No. 6 Andrew Harris of Australia 6-2, 6-3, and Hardebeck drilled No. 8 Anna Schmiedlova of Slovakia 6-1, 6-2.

Federer routs Nishikori in Basel final

   As they say, be careful what you wish for.
   Wild card Kei Nishikori, who said Saturday that he always wanted to play Roger Federer, lost to the third-seeded superstar 6-1, 6-3 Sunday in the final of the $2.6 million Swiss Indoors in Basel.
   "I think I started a little bit nervous, even though at the same time I was excited to play in the final here with Roger,” Nishikori, who's coached by Brad Gilbert of San Rafael, said on the ATP World Tour's Web site. “I’m a bit disappointed with how I played today, as it didn’t go well, but it’s always going to be tough against him. ... His tennis was too good for me. I felt like I couldn’t do anything.”
   Nishikori, 21, of Japan rose eight spots to a career-high No. 24 in the world. He was seeking his second ATP World Tour title after winning Delray Beach three years ago. The right-hander underwent surgery on his right elbow in August 2009 and plunged to No. 898 early last year.
   The Basel final was Nishikori's second of the season. He lost to Ryan Sweeting of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on clay in Houston in April.
   “Every match is a good experience, especially when you’re playing Top 10 guys,” Nishikori said. “It’s a different level, and I’ve learned from these matches.”
   Federer ended a 10-month title drought, his longest since he went 11 months between the first two crowns of his career in 2001 and 2002. The Basel title was his fifth in his hometown tournament and marked the fifth time he was won an event at least that many times.
   Bryans win another title -- Top seeds and former Stanford All-Americans Bob and Mike Bryan won their second title in two weeks, beating unseeded Eric Butorac and Jean-Julien Rojer 6-4, 7-6 (9) in the $2.85 million Valencia (Spain) Open.
   The 33-year-old twin sons of Sacramento Capitals coach Wayne Bryan were playing in the indoor, hardcourt tournament for the first time since 2003, when the event was played on clay. The title was their eighth of the year, including the Australian Open and Wimbledon, and record 75th of their career.
   Butorac played for the Capitals in 2008.
   Querrey loses in qualifying -- Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native, fell to fifth-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-7 (2), 6-1, 6-1 in the second (final) round of qualifying for the $3.78 million BNP Paribas Masters in Paris.
   The 6-foot-6 Querrey reached the semifinals of the Sacramento Challenger and the final of the Tiburon Challenger last month, losing to 6-10 Ivo Karlovic of Croatia each time.
   Two former Sacramento champions, Donald Young (2008) of Atlanta and Santiago Giraldo (2009) of Colombia, advanced to the main draw.
   NorCal showdown -- In an all-Northern California matchup, fourth-seeded Yasmin Schnack downed Maria Sanchez 6-3, 6-1 in the first round of qualifying for the $75,000 Goldwater Women's Tennis Classic in Phoenix.
   Schnack, from the Sacramento suburb of Elk Grove, and Sanchez, from Modesto, won the doubles title in the $25,000 Oak River Rehab Challenger in Redding in September.