No. 2 seed falls on day of upsets in 100K Aptos

   Evan King of Chicago led a parade of upset winners today in the $100,000 Nordic Naturals Challenger in Aptos, Calif.

   King, a 24-year-old former University of Michigan All-American ranked No. 392, stunned No. 2 seed Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan 6-4, 7-5 in a first-round matchup of left-handers at the Seascape Sports Club.

   Nishioka, only 5-foot-7 (1.70 meters), reached his first ATP World Tour semifinal last week in Atlanta and advanced to the Aptos quarterfinals last year. He's ranked a career-high No. 85 overall and second in Japan behind No. 7 Kei Nishikori.

   Also falling today were No. 4 Stefan Kozlov of Pembroke Pines, Fla., No. 5 Ramkumar Ramanathan of India and No. 7 Farrukh Dustov of Uzbekistan.

   In the featured evening match, No. 3 Bjorn Fratangelo avoided the rash of upsets. The 23-year-old American topped 29-year-old countryman Alex Kuznetsov 6-2, 7-6 (4). Fratangelo reached last year’s semifinals, and Kuznetsov won the title 10 years ago.

   After the first round, the only remaining seed in the bottom half of the draw is No. 6 Ernesto Escobedo of the United States. He leads the U.S. Open Wild Card Challenge after two of three tournaments ($50,000 Binghamton, N.Y., $50,000 Lexington, Ky., and Aptos). The American who earns the most points in two of the tournaments will receive a wild card into the U.S. Open, Aug. 29-Sept. 11 in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. 

   Kozlov, 18, lost to 21-year-old wild card Mackenzie McDonald of Piedmont, Calif., 6-1, 6-4. Piedmont is located in the San Francisco Bay Area about a 90-minute drive north of Aptos.    

   Kozlov, one of the United States’ top prospects, advanced to his first ATP quarterfinal at s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, in June.

   McDonald turned pro in May, forgoing his senior year at UCLA, after becoming the first man in 15 years to sweep the NCAA singles and doubles titles.

   Ramanathan lost to qualifier Cameron Norrie of Great Britain 6-3, 7-6 (8). Norrie attained the NCAA singles semifinals as a sophomore at Texas Christian University in the spring.

   Dustov, an Aptos semifinalist as a qualifier three years ago, bowed out to Australian veteran Marinko Matosevic, a former top-40 player and the 2010 Aptos champion, 6-1, 6-0.

   Wild card Clay Thompson, a former UCLA All-American, beat qualifier John Lamble of Saratoga in the Bay Area 6-3, 6-4.

   Here are the singles and doubles draws and Wednesday's schedule.

Top seed Evans to face Stanford star in 100K Aptos

Daniel Evans of Great Britain displays his runner-up check
in the 2013 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger. Evans held a cham-
pionship point against former Stanford star Bradley Klahn.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Top-seeded Daniel Evans of Great Britain will play wild card Tom Fawcett, who finished his sophomore year at Stanford in May, on Monday or Tuesday in the first round of the Nordic Naturals Challenger in Aptos, Calif.
   The draw for the $100,000 tournament at the Seascape Sports Club, situated on the coast of the Pacific Ocean a one-hour drive south of Stanford, was held Saturday.
   The 26-year-old Evans, only 5-foot-9 (1.75 meters), helped Great Britain win its first Davis Cup title in 79 years in 2015 and reached the third round at Wimbledon this summer before falling to seven-time champion Roger Federer in straight sets.
   Evans, ranked No. 82, is no stranger to Aptos. He reached the final three years ago and held a championship point in a loss to former Stanford star Bradley Klahn.
   Second-seeded Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan will meet Evan King, a 24-year-old former University of Michigan All-American, in a first-round clash of left-handers.
   Nishioka, 20, reached his first semifinal on the ATP World Tour this week in Atlanta and advanced to the Aptos quarterfinals last year. He will improve from No. 97 to a career high of about No. 88 when the new rankings are released Monday.
   Third-seeded Bjorn Fratangelo drew fellow American Alex Kuznetsov, who won the Aptos title 10 years ago at 19.
   In an intriguing matchup, fourth-seeded Stefan Kozlov, 18, of Pembroke Pines, Fla., will take on Mackenzie McDonald, a 21-year-old wild card from Piedmont, Calif., for the first time. Piedmont is located a 90-minute drive north from Aptos.
   Kozlov shocked Steve Johnson on grass at s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands in June to reach his first quarterfinal on the ATP World Tour. Johnson, then ranked No. 39 and now No. 22, won Aptos in 2012.
   Kozlov advanced to the final of the $100,000 Sacramento Challenger at 16 in 2014, losing to former top-20 player Sam Querrey. Afterward, Querrey predicted that Kozlov eventually would crack the top 10. Kozlov has soared from No. 351 at the beginning of the year to No. 161.
   McDonald, playing for UCLA in May, became the first man to sweep the NCAA singles and doubles titles in 15 years. He then chose to skip his senior year and turn pro.
   In today's final round of qualifying, No. 6 seed John Lamble, a former Santa Clara University standout from nearby Saratoga, will face No. 1 Tucker Vorster of South Africa at 10 a.m.
   The Aptos tournament, in its 29th year, is the longest-running Challenger in the United States.
   Here are the singles main draw, qualifying draw and today's schedule.

Video of amazing Aptos shot; U.S. Open wild cards

Eighth-seeded Yoshihito Nishioka, playing wild card Jared
Donaldson in the first round of last week's $100,000 Comer-
ica Bank Challenger, might have pulled off the shot of the
year later in the match. Photo by Paul Bauman

   It gets chilly at night in Aptos, a California town on the Pacific Ocean.
   But fans who stayed for the first-round match between teenagers Yoshihoto Nishioka of Japan and Jared Donaldson of the United States last week in the $100,000 Comerica Bank Challenger were rewarded with perhaps the shot of the year on the Challenger tour.
   Late in the third set, Donaldson wrong-footed Nishioka with a forehand volley. Nishioka -- a 5-foot-7 (1.70-meter), 141-pound (64-kilogram) left-hander — responded with a clean behind-the-back passing shot down the line.
   The 19-year-old Nishioka, seeded eighth, immediatedly flipped his racket to the court in disbelief, raised his arms triumphantly, turned to his camp and smiled widely. Even Donaldson, an 18-year-old wild card, applauded with one hand and his racket.
   Nishioka won 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 and went on to reach the quarterfinals, attaining a career-high ranking of No. 127.
   U.S. Open wild cards -- The list of U.S. Open wild cards, eight men and eight women, released Tuesday contains some surprises. Austin Krajicek received a wild card, but CiCi Bellis did not.
   The U.S. Open is scheduled for Aug. 31 through Sept. 13 in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   Krajicek, a 25-year-old left-hander from Bradenton, Fla., fell short of winning the U.S. Open Wild Card Challenge by falling to John Millman of Australia in the final of the Comerica Bank Challenger.
   Bjorn Fratangelo won the Wild Card Challenge as the American with the best results in two of three summer Challengers — $50,000 Binghamton, N.Y., $50,000 Lexington, Ky., and Aptos — but the USTA also awarded a wild card to Krajicek.
   Joining Fratangelo and Krajicek will be Australia's Lleyton Hewitt; Americans Donaldson, Ryan Harrison, Ryan Shane and Frances Tiafoe; and France's Pierre-Hughes Herbert.
   Hewitt, 34, will make his 15th and final appearance in the U.S. Open. He won the title in 2001 and reached the final in 2004.
   Bellis, a resident of Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area, made headlines in last year's U.S. Open. As a 15-year-old wild card, she stunned 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia in the first round to become the youngest player to win a main-draw match in the U.S. Open since Anna Kournikova, also 15, in 1996.
   Cibulkova was the runner-up to Li Na in last year's Australian Open.
   Bellis, ranked No. 159, must win three qualifying matches to return to the main draw of the U.S. Open.
   One women's wild card went to American Nicole Gibbs, who turned pro out of Stanford as a junior in 2013 after winning her second straight NCAA singles title. Gibbs reached the third round of last year's U.S. Open as a wild card.
   "Massive thank you to @usta for another @usopen opportunity. Humbled. Happy. Thankful. Excited. All words that come to mind," Gibbs tweeted.
   Also awarded wild cards this year were Americans Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Louisa Chirico, Samantha Crawford, Sofia Kenin, Jamie Loeb and Sachia Vickery, and France's Oceane Dodin.
   Crawford, 20, won the women's U.S. Open Wild Card Challenge, which consisted of $50,000 tournaments in Stockton, Sacramento and Lexington. She also captured the U.S. Open girls singles title in 2012.

Americans have extra incentive in Aptos semifinal

Seventh-seeded Austin Krajicek, shown Thursday, beat No. 2
Malek Jaziri on Friday in the only upset involving a seed this
week in the Comerica Bank Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

  Bjorn Fratangelo and Austin Krajicek will meet today for more than a berth in the final of the $100,000 Comerica Bank Challenger.
   A coveted wild card into the upcoming U.S. Open also will be on the line when the Americans, who are good friends, square off at the Seascape Sports Club in Aptos, Calif.
  Krajicek, seeded seventh, beat No. 2 Malek Jaziri of Tunisia 6-3, 6-4 on Friday in the only upset involving a seed this week.
   Fratangelo, seeded fourth, topped No. 6 Matthew Ebden of Australia 6-4, 6-2. Ebden was coming off a 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 victory over former world No. 2 Tommy Haas, 37, on Thursday night.
   The other semifinal features the winners of the last two Challengers, top-seeded John Millman of Australia and third-seeded Kyle Edmund of Great Britain. Millman won Lexington, Ky., two weeks ago, and Edmund captured Binghamton, N.Y., the previous week. Both were $50,000 tournaments.
   Millman routed fifth-seeded Taro Daniel, a local favorite even though he plays for Japan, 6-1, 6-3. Daniel's American father and Japanese mother recently moved from Spain, where Taro still lives, to Soquel in the Aptos area. 
   Edmund subdued eighth-seeded Yoshihito Nishioka, 19, of Japan 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
   Millman, ranked 85th, has surrendered no more than three games in a set in his three Comerica matches. He is trying to become the first top seed in the 28-year history of the tournament to win the title.
   Millman is 2-0 against Edmund, winning in straight sets both times last year on hardcourts similar to those in Aptos. Edmund, 20, is ranked No. 109.

Bjorn Fratangelo, shown in the Napa (Calif.) Challenger last
September, would clinch a wild card in the U.S. Open with a
victory over Krajicek today in Aptos. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Binghamton, Lexington and Aptos comprise the U.S. Open Wild Card Challenge. The American who fares the best in two of the three tournaments will receive a wild card into the singles main draw of the U.S. Open, Aug. 31-Sept. 13 in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   Fratangelo would clinch the wild card with a victory over Krajicek, who must win the title to earn the bid.
   Losers in the first round of singles in the U.S. Open pocket $39,500. Reaching the second round is worth $68,600 and the third round $120,200. The champion will collect $3.3 million.
   Neither the 22-year-old Fratangelo, who's named after Swedish legend Bjorn Borg, nor Krajicek, a 25-year-old left-hander, has played in the singles main draw of the U.S. Open. Krajicek has competed in the doubles main draw at Flushing Meadows three times, reaching the second round in 2013 with countryman Denis Kudla.
   Fratangelo is 1-0 against Krajicek, winning 7-6 (7), 6-3 on clay in a 2011 Futures tournament in Fratangelo's hometown of Pittsburgh. Fratangelo is ranked No. 116, and Krajicek is No. 132.
   A few weeks before the Pittsburgh tournament, Fratangelo won the French Open boys singles title, and Krajicek captured the NCAA doubles championship at Stanford with Texas A&M teammate Jeff Dadamo. Stanford is an hour up the road from Aptos. 

$100,000 COMERICA BANK CHALLENGER

At Seascape Sports Club in Aptos, Calif.

Singles quarterfinals

   Austin Krajicek (7), United States, def. Malek Jaziri (2), Tunisia, 6-3, 6-4.

   Bjorn Fratangelo (4), United States, def. Matthew Ebden (6), Australia, 6-4, 6-2.

   Kyle Edmund (3), Great Britain, def. Yoshihito Nishioka (8), Japan, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

   John Millman (1), Australia, def. Taro Daniel (5), Japan, 6-1, 6-3. 

Doubles quarterfinal

   Yuki Bhambri, India, and Matthew Ebden, Australia, def. Malek Jaziri, Tunisia, and Ze Zhang, China, 7-5, 6-2.

Today's schedule

Center Court

(Starting at 11 a.m.)

   Chris Guccione, Australia, and Artem Sitak (1), New Zealand, vs. Karen Khachanov, Russia, and Elias Ymer, Sweden.
   Bjorn Fratangelo (4), United States, vs. Austin Krajicek (7), United States.
   John Millman (1), Australia, vs. Kyle Edmund (3), Great Britain.
   Austin Krajicek and Nicholas Monroe (2), United States, vs. Yuki Bhambri, India, and Matthew Ebden, Australia.

Odd backgrounds serve Daniel, Seeberger well

Taro Daniel, shown today, was born in New York, grew up in
Japan and plays for that country but lives in Spain and considers
the Comerica Bank Challenger his hometown tournament. His
parents live near Aptos in Soquel. Photo by Paul Bauman

   APTOS, Calif. -- In vastly different ways, they probably have the most unusual backgrounds in professional tennis.
   Local favorites Matt Seeberger, seeded fourth in doubles with Julio Peralta of Chile, and Taro Daniel, seeded fifth in singles, followed each other on an outside court today in the $100,000 Comerica Bank Challenger at the Seascape Sports Club.
   Seeberger starred at nearby UC Santa Cruz in NCAA Division III and began playing on the pro tour, strictly in doubles, last year at 30. That used to be retirement age in tennis.
   Seeberger and Peralta lost to Yuki Bhambri of India and Matthew Ebden of Australia 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) in the first round.
   There was no shame in that. Bhambri, a former world No. 1 junior, reached the third round of men's doubles in last year's Australian Open with Michael Venus of New Zealand. Ebden won the Australian Open mixed doubles title two years ago with Jarmila Gajdosova, a Slovakian-born Australian who played for the Sacramento-based California Dream of World TeamTennis last month.
   Then there's Daniel, who was born in New York, grew up in Japan and plays for that country but lives in Spain and considers the Comerica Bank Challenger his hometown tournament. Got all that? He defeated Farrukh Dustof of Uzbekistan 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-0 to reach the quarterfinals.
   Daniel, 22, led by two service breaks in the first set and served for the set twice. Dustof, who reached the Aptos semifinals two years ago as a qualifier, injured a groin muscle chasing a drop shot late in the second set and stopped running in the third set.
   Daniel has an American father, Paul, and a Japanese mother, Yasue. The family moved from New York to Japan when Taro was an infant and to Spain when he was 14.
  Paul Daniel grew up in Santa Cruz. A financial manager for TRW Automotive, he and Yasue moved from Spain to Soquel in the Santa Cruz area a few months ago. Taro, however, remains based in Valencia in the tennis hotbed of Spain.
   "It's a lot easier for him to work from here," Daniel said of his father. "His company is American. For me, basing myself in Spain is better for my tennis, so I plan on staying for the moment. I don't know what will happen in the future."
   Daniel, tall and slender at 6-foot-3 (1.91 meters) and 168 pounds (76 kilograms), had a large rooting section at his match.
   "All these people from this side (of the net) are related to me," he said. "My dad's from here, and I train at this club whenever I'm over here. I definitely consider this my second home."
   Daniel was less adamant about his national loyalties. He hesitated when asked if he feels mostly American, Japanese or Spanish.
   "Um, I think Japanese might be the most correct thing for me to say because I lived there until I was 14," he said. The first 10 years are where you kind of define your life.
   "I don't really feel 100 percent of any one of them. I definitely don't feel Spanish. Either Japanese or American."
   Daniel, ranked No. 112, will face top-seeded John Millman of Australia for the first time in a marquee matchup on Friday. Millman, 26, beat then-No. 19 Tommy Robredo of Spain in the first round at Wimbledon in late June as a qualifier and won the Lexington (Ky.) Challenger two weeks ago to attain a career-high ranking of No. 84. He is now No. 85.
   "He's been playing really well this year, especially the last few weeks, and played a really good match against (Roger) Federer at the beginning of the year," Daniel noted. "I saw that match and respect him a lot, but if I can play a little better than I did today, I think I can give myself a chance."
   Millman, playing in his hometown of Brisbane, lost to Federer 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the second round in January. Daniel, who fell to American Denis Kudla in the second round of qualifying in Brisbane, said Millman "was about to win, which really surprised me because Federer was playing well as well. But I don't think I'm too far from (Millman's) level."       
   Millman, Daniel added, "is very solid from the back (of the court). He has a similar game to myself. Maybe he hits the ball a little flatter."

Matt Seeberger, shown today, starred at UC Santa Cruz near Aptos
and began playing on the pro tour, strictly in doubles, last year at 30.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Seeberger, a 31-year-old San Francisco native, collected NCAA titles like beer bottles at UC Santa Cruz. He won a record eight of them (three singles, three doubles and two team). Seeberger transferred to Hawaii in the fall of his senior year but returned to UC Santa Cruz in the spring.
   "We didn't get a certain recruit we were looking for," he explained. "The team wouldn't be as strong as I was hoping for."
   After graduating from UC Santa Cruz with highest honors in economics, the analytical Seeberger began coaching privately in the San Francisco Bay Area.
   "I didn't want to play professional tennis," he asserted. "I felt I had done everything I wanted to do with tennis in college. I wanted to start coaching and pursuing other avenues."
   Finally, though, Seeberger couldn't resist the lure of the pro tour. He joined the Futures circuit, equivalent to the low minor leagues in baseball, last year in June.
   "I was encouraged by some good friends to go out and play and just focus on doubles," said the 6-foot-2 (1.88-meter) Seeberger, who displayed a well-paced serve, excellent return of serve and lightning-quick reflexes in today's match. "I thought it would be fun to try. I (had) paid off all my deft from school, and I didn't have any attachments -- no wife or kids -- at that moment."
   That didn't last long. Seeberger married Kelly, from Vancouver, British Columbia, in January and immediately moved there.
   In just over one year, Seeberger has soared from No. 1,334 in the world doubles rankings to No. 159.
   "It's gone way better than my expectations," he admitted.
   To reach his goal of playing regularly on the ATP World Tour, the major leagues of men's tennis, Seeberger must crack the top 100.
   Now Seeberger can see playing another "10 or 15 years if I feel it's the right thing to do with my life and my family. I'll keep playing until something else comes along."       
   Notes -- Two teenagers met in the featured night match as eighth-seeded Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan beat U.S. wild card Jared Donaldson 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
   Nishioka, 19, might have pulled off the shot of the year on the Challenger tour late in the third set. After Donaldson had wrong-footed him, Nishioka struck a clean behind-the-back passing shot down the line. He immediately flipped his racket to the court in disbelief, raised his arms triumphantly, turned to his camp and smiled widely. Even Donaldson, 18, applauded with one hand and his racket.
   Other than their ages, Nishioka and Donaldson are opposites. Nishioka is a 5-foot-7 (1.70-meter), 141-pound (64-kilogram) left-hander. Donaldson is a 6-foot-2 (1.88-meter), 160-pound (73-kilogram) righty. ...     
   All seeds still have advanced as the quarterfinalists in the top half of the draw have been determined. Millman has had the easiest time, dropping only seven games in two matches. No. 3 Kyle Edmund of Great Britain also has not lost a set. Daniel and Nishioka, meanwhile, each have survived a pair of three-set matches. ...
   Age hasn't mellowed John Paul Fruttero, a 34-year-old doubles specialist. The former Cal All-American, playing in his first pro tournament since reaching the Aptos quarterfinals with Brian Baker three years ago, showed up as usual with his mohawk dyed Cal Bears blue.
   Wild cards Fruttero and Andre Dome, both Californians, lost to qualifiers Marius Copil of Romania and Andrew Rublev, a 17-year-old Russian, 6-3, 7-6 (3). Fruttero reached the Aptos final four years ago with Raven Klaasen of South Africa, and Rublev finished last year as the world's No. 1 junior in singles. ...
   Another pair of California wild cards, Dennis Novikov of Milpitas in the Bay Area and Daniel Nguyen, fell to top-seeded Chris Guccione of Australia and Artem Sitak of New Zealand 2-6, 7-5 [10-6]. Guccione won three straight Aptos doubles titles (2009-11) with countryman Carsten Ball.

$100,000 COMERICA BANK CHALLENGER

At Seascape Sports Club in Aptos, Calif.

Second-round singles

   Kyle Edmund (3), Great Britain, def. Daniel Nguyen, United States, 7-5, 6-3.
   John Millman (1), Australia, def. Guido Andreozzi, Argentina, 6-3, 6-2.
   Taro Daniel (5), Japan, def. Farrukh Dustov, Uzbekistan, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-0.
   Yoshihito Nishioka (8), Japan, def. Jared Donaldson, United States, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. 

First-round doubles

   Austin Krajicek and Nicholas Monroe (2), United States, def. Deiton Baughman and Eric Johnson, United States, 6-3, 7-6 (3).

   Marius Copil, Romania, and Andre Rublev, Russia, def. Andre Dome and John Paul Fruttero, United States, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
   Chris Guccione, Australia, and Artem Sitak (1), New Zealand, def. Daniel Nguyen and Dennis Novikov, United States, 2-6, 7-5 [10-6].
   Dean O'Brien and Ruan Roelofse (3), South Africa, def. Guido Andreozzi, Argentina, and Nicolas Jarry, Chile, 5-7, 6-3 [10-8].
   Karen Khachanov, Russia, and Elias Ymer, Sweden, def. Carsten Ball, Australia, and Somdev Devvarman, India, 6-7 (3), 6-1 [10-8]. 
   Yuki Bhambri, India, and Matthew Ebden, Australia, def. Julio Peralta, Chile, and Matt Seeberger (4), United States, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3).
   Ruben Gonzales, Philippines, and Darren Walsh, Great Britain, def. Guilherme Clezar, Brazil, and Brydan Klein, Great Britain, 5-7, 6-3 [10-8]. 

   Malek Jaziri, Tunisia, and Ze Zhang, China, def. Farrukh Dustov, Uzbekistan, and Jurgen Zopp, Estonia, 7-5, 7-5. 

Thursday's schedule

Center Court

(Starting at 11 a.m.)

   Austin Krajicek (7), United States, vs. Mischa Zverev, Germany.
   Bjorn Fratangelo (4), United States, vs. Elias Ymer, Sweden.
   Malek Jaziri (2), Tunisia, vs. Guilherme Clezar, Brazil.  

(Not before 6 p.m.)

    Tommy Haas, Germany, vs. Matthew Ebden (6), Australia.

Court 5

(Starting at 2 p.m.)

   Chris Guccione, Australia, and Artem Sitak (1), New Zealand, vs. Ruben Gonzales, Philippines, and Darren Walsh, Great Britain.

(Not before 4 p.m.)

   Austin Krajicek and Nicholas Monroe (2), United States, vs. Marius Copil, Romania, and Andrey Rublev, Russia.

   Dean O'Brien and Ruan Roelofse (3), South Africa, vs. Karen Khachanov, Russia, and Elias Ymer, Sweden.