Game, set, match: Czar says so long after 10 1/2 years

Australian Christopher O'Connell and his coach, David Moore, encountered a wall
of flames 200 yards (183 meters) ahead while evacuating during qualifying for the
2017 Fairfield (Calif.) Challenger. They quickly turned around and were shaken but
unharmed. Photo courtesy of Christopher O'Connell

   After 10 1/2 years, this is my 3,324th and last post. That's almost one a day, mostly while working full-time. But who's counting?

   At 66 (ugh), I'm ready to move on. I will, however, keep this website active in case anyone wants to peruse past articles.

   I've seen a lot of great tennis in the past 10 1/2 years, but I will most remember the friendly players from around the world and the revealing interviews. Here are some highlights of the past decade-plus:

Dmitry Tursunov, a former top-20 player, detailed
his rigid upbringing in a four-hour interview in 2011.
2017 photo by Paul Bauman

   —Former top-20 player Dmitry Tursunov, a Moscow native who trained in Northern California as a junior and professional, spilling his guts about his rigid upbringing during a four-hour interview in 2011. As Vivian Kensington (Selma Blair) says in the hilarious 2001 movie "Legally Blonde," "Four hours."

   —Australian John Millman, like Tursunov one of the true nice guys in sports, candidly recalling the low point of his career in a 90-minute interview.

   —Millman becoming the first No. 1 seed in the 28-year history of the Aptos (Calif.) Challenger to win the title and shocking Roger Federer to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals.

   —Strolling on the beach in Aptos as the sun sets on the Pacific Ocean.  

   —Santiago Giraldo, a former top-30 player from Colombia, looking at a ball with a smiley face on it during changeovers in the 2016 Fairfield (Calif.) Challenger to remind himself how lucky he was to be playing professional tennis. Giraldo won the title and retired four years later at 32. 

   —Belgium's An-Sophie Mestach, the world's top junior in 2011, hurting her wrist twirling her racket while bouncing the ball 25 times — yes, 25 times — before each serve.

   —Christopher O'Connell of Australia recounting his harrowing evacuation from Northern California wildfires during qualifying for the 2017 Fairfield Challenger. O'Connell won the title two years later.

Santiago Giraldo displays the smiley-face ball
he looked at during changeovers in the 2016
Fairfield Challenger "to remember how lucky
I am." Photo by Paul Bauman

   —Attending the Australian Open in 2012 — has it really been 10 years? — the U.S. Open in 2015 and 2016, and the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., annually.

   —Sorry to name-drop, but interviewing International Tennis Hall of Famers Billie Jean King, John McEnroe, Jim Courier, Pete Sampras, Michael Chang, Pam Shriver and Nick Bollettieri. All were gems.

   —The inimitable Wayne Bryan, tennis ambassador, father of Bob and Mike Bryan, and former longtime coach of the Sacramento Capitals in World TeamTennis. Wayne Bryan is smart, funny, exuberant and down-to-earth. Not a bad combination.

   —Serena Williams winning the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in 2011, 2012 and 2014.

   —Naomi Osaka stunning 2011 U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur in the first round at Stanford in 2014 as a 16-year-old qualifier playing her first main-draw match on the WTA Tour.

   —Germany's Sabine Lisicki breaking the record for the fastest women's serve (131 mph or 210.8 kph) in a first-round loss at Stanford in 2014.

   —Milos Raonic winning his third consecutive SAP Open title in 2013 in San Jose, Calif. The 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) Canadian with a pulverizing serve never lost a set in 13 matches in the indoor tournament, which folded in 2014 after 125 years in one form or another.

   —Covering the 100th-anniversary celebration of the Sutter Lawn Tennis Club in Sacramento, Calif. Shriver moderated a poignant question-and-answer session with fellow Hall of Famers Dennis Ralston, Rosemary Casals and Charlie Pasarell. Beforehand, I sat at a dinner table with Ralston, who died 14 months later at 78.

Serena Williams poses after winning the Bank of the West Classic
at Stanford for the third and final time in 2014. Tri Nguyen/
TriNguyenPhotography.com

   —Interviewing San Francisco Bay Area product Brad Gilbert after the renowned coach, author and commentator and former top-five player addressed 125 juniors and parents at the beautiful, stately Olympic Club in San Francisco in 2013. 

   —Sofia Kenin winning a Northern California Challenger for three consecutive years as a teenager, triumphing in Sacramento, Stockton and Berkeley. Eighteen months after the latter tournament, she stormed to the Australian Open title.

   —Sam Querrey, a 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) San Francisco native, sweeping the three-week NorCal Challenger swing through Napa, Sacramento and Tiburon in 2014. Querrey had decided to stay on familiar ground rather than try to qualify in Asia on the elite ATP World Tour.

   —Cameron Norrie of Great Britain winning back-to-back NorCal Challengers in Tiburon and Stockton at 22 in 2017 and Taylor Fritz of the United States doing likewise in Sacramento and Fairfield at 17 in 2015. They are now ranked No. 1 in their countries at No. 12 and No. 22 in the world, respectively.

John McEnroe spoke to reporters before a 2014
legends match in Sacramento, Calif. Photo by
Paul Bauman 

   —The spectacular view of the Golden Gate Bridge across San Francisco Bay from the town of Tiburon ("shark" in Spanish).   

   —American Bjorn Fratangelo — yes, he was named after Bjorn Borg — winning the 2018 Fairfield Challenger after almost quitting tennis.

   —American Stefan Kozlov — yes, he was named after Stefan Edberg — reaching the final of the 2014 Sacramento Challenger at 16.

   —Interviewing Jenson Brooksby at 12, CiCi Bellis at 13, Katie Volynets at 15 and Sam Riffice at 15.

   Brooksby and Bellis were voted the Newcomer of the Year on the ATP Tour last year and WTA Tour in 2017, respectively. Bellis, who underwent three operations on her right wrist and one on her right elbow in 2018-19, has not played in 14 months.

   Volynets, who turned 20 on Dec. 31, has climbed to No. 178 in the world. Riffice helped Florida win the NCAA team championship last May, then added the singles title.

   Brooksby and Riffice were born in Sacramento, Bellis in San Francisco and Volynets in Walnut Creek in the Bay Area.

   —Interviewing Stanford alumni Bob and Mike Bryan, Bradley Klahn, Nicole Gibbs and Kristie Ahn. All bias aside, fellow alums are the classiest, most articulate, most introspective athletes I've encountered in 47 years covering tennis. Granted, the tightly wound McEnroe wasn't exactly classy on the court, but he has always been refreshingly candid. Plus, he attended Stanford for only one year.

   Gibbs discussed her battle with depression. Others would have said, "Tennis questions only, please."

At 16, Naomi Osaka stunned Samantha Stosur in the first
round at Stanford in 2014. Photo by Paul Bauman

   True, Ahn flung her racket high into the crowd — accidentally, she said — during the semifinals of the 2019 Berkeley Challenger. But she patiently discussed the incident with a reporter afterward. Others would have hid in the locker room.

   —Nice guys Tommy Haas, Mardy Fish, Tim Smyczek, Denis Kudla, Noah Rubin, Liam Broady and Marc Polmans.

   —The sensational final between Smyczek (pronounced SMEE-check) and Kudla, close friends and training partners, in the 2015 Tiburon Challenger. Smyczek saved four match points and Kudla one in Smyczek's 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7) victory.

   —Nice gals Venus Williams, Garbiñe Muguruza, Zheng Saisai, Kimiko Date (pronounced DAH-tay), Mayo Hibi, Sachia Vickery and Grace Min.

   —Date, a former top-five player from Japan who retired at 26 for 12 years, reaching the semifinals of the Stockton Challenger at 44 in 2015 and losing in the final round of Stockton qualifying at 46. Date was Tom Brady before Tom Brady.

   —The "Gentle Giant," 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) Ivo Karlovic.

   —The "Little Giant," 5-foot-3 (1.61-meter), 120-pound (54-kilogram) Danielle Lao.

The drive to the Tiburon Men's Challenger offers a spectacular view of the
Golden Gate Bridge from the town of Tiburon. 2017 photo by Paul Bauman 

   —Jan Tiilikainen, after winning the national men's 30 indoor title for the fifth time in 2014 in the Sacramento area, recalling his grueling workouts as a teenager in Finland.

   —Interviewing Wayne Thiebaud, a world-renowned artist who played tennis until the day after he turned 100 in November 2020, on the phone. The gracious, humble Thiebaud (pronounced TEE-bow) died this past Christmas.

   —The "cookie lady."

   —Speaking of sweets ... buying heavenly brownies and chocolate croissants at Fournée Bakery in Berkeley, taking them across the street to the venerable Berkeley Tennis Club and munching them while watching world-class tennis courtside in beautiful weather. It doesn't get any better than that.

Norrie's coach receives ATP year-end award

Cameron Norrie soared from No. 74 at the start of 2021 to
No. 12 in the year-end rankings. 2016 photo by Paul Bauman

   Facundo Lugones was voted the ATP Coach of the Year by players for helping Cameron Norrie of Great Britain soar to No. 12 in the year-end rankings. 

   Lugones, 29, of Argentina is only three years older than Norrie. They were teammates at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth in 2014-15.

   Norrie, ranked No. 74 at the beginning of 2021, won his first two ATP Tour titles in Los Cabos and Indian Wells. The left-hander played two matches as an alternate in the Nitto ATP Finals after Stefanos Tsitsipas' withdrawal, losing to No. 8 Casper Ruud and No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

    Norrie won back-to-back Northern California Challengers in Tiburon and Stockton in 2017. In Stockton, Norrie was compared to his countryman Andy Murray. 

   Lugones was selected over Gilles Cervara (Daniil Medvedev), Christian Ruud (Casper Ruud), Craig Boynton (Hubert Hurkacz) and Juan Carlos Ferrero (Carlos Alcaraz). 

   Medvedev, 25, won his first Grand Slam title in the U.S. Open and finished the year at No. 2.

   Ruud, 22, and Hurkacz, 24, ended 2021 at No. 8 and No. 9, respectively. Christian Ruud, Casper's father, peaked at No. 39 in 1995. 

   Alcaraz, who turned 18 in May, jumped from No. 141 to No. 32 in the year-end rankings. 

   The ATP will announce the Comeback Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year this week. Nominees include NorCal products Mackenzie McDonald (Comeback Player) and Jenson Brooksby (Newcomer).

   Both McDonald, 26, and Brooksby, 21, skyrocketed to the top 60, reached their first ATP final and advanced to the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament (McDonald for the second time). McDonald underwent hamstring surgery in June 2019.

Ex-NorCal star Norrie, Badosa earn unlikely titles in BNP

 No. 21 seed Cameron Norrie beat No. 29 seed Nikoloz
Basilashvili in three sets to win the BNP Paribas Open
in Indian Wells. 2016 photo by Paul Bauman 

   Even without many of the world's top players in the tournament, few, if any, observers could have foreseen Cameron Norrie and Paula Badosa winning the BNP Paribas Open.

   Both Norrie, a 26-year-old British left-hander, and Badosa, a 23-year-old Spaniard, were seeded No. 21. Neither had won a match in Indian Wells before this year. Badosa, in fact, played in the main draw for the first time.

   But Norrie defeated No. 29 seed Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 today after Badosa edged No. 27 seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 7-6 (5), 2-6, 7-6 (2) in 3 hours, 4 minutes.

   All except Azarenka, a two-time Grand Slam singles champion, were playing in the biggest match of their lives. Azarenka was bidding to become the first woman to win the tournament three times. 

   Absent from the BNP Paribas Open, normally held in March, were Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem — who had combined to win 14 of the previous 16 titles — the top two-ranked women (Ashleigh Barty and Aryna Sabalenka) and 2018 champion Naomi Osaka.

   Badosa, a quarterfinalist in this year's French Open and Tokyo Olympics, was two points from losing with Azarenka serving at 5-4, 30-0 in the third set. Azarenka then committed four consecutive errors, leveling the set at 5-5. After both players held serve, Badosa bolted to leads of 3-0 and 5-1 in the tiebreaker and held on from there.

   Badosa, a New York native, defeated four top-20 players in a row to reach the final.

   "The first thing that I've learned this week is that nothing is impossible," Badosa, who has spoken openly about experiencing depression. "If you fight, if you work, after all these years, you can achieve anything. ... 

   "I have been through tough moments. I never stopped dreaming. That's what kept me working hard and believing until the last moment."

   Norrie was born in South Africa, grew up in New Zealand, starred at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, and lives in London. He defeated one top-20 player, No. 15 Diego Schwartzman of Argentina, en route to the title.

   "If you'd have told me I'd have won before the tournament, I wouldn't have believed you, so it's amazing," Norrie, who won back-to-back Northern California Challengers in Tiburon and Stockton in 2017, said in an on-court interview.

  Badosa and Norrie will rise to career highs of No. 11 and No. 16 (No. 1 in Great Britain), respectively, on Monday. They pocketed $1,209,730 each.

   ATP Tour — No. 1 seed Jenson Brooksby, 20, of Carmichael, Calif., in the Sacramento area beat wild card Michael Geerts of Belgium 6-4, 6-2 in the first round of qualifying for the European Open, an ATP 250 tournament in Antwerp, Belgium.

   Brooksby, ranked a career-high No. 70, is scheduled to play Slovakia's Norbert Gombos, ranked No. 115 and seeded No. 8, on Monday for a main-draw berth. Gombos, 31, dispatched Bernabe Zapata Miralles of Spain 6-3, 6-2.

Ex-NorCal star Norrie advances to BNP final; Fritz falls

No. 21 seed Cameron Norrie is scheduled to meet No. 29 seed
Nikoloz Basilashvili in the final of the BNP Paribas Open in
Indian Wells on Sunday. 2016 photo by Paul Bauman

   Cameron Norrie and Taylor Fritz, each of whom won back-to-back Northern California Challengers early in their professional careers, played today in the semifinals of the prestigious BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

   The 21st-seeded Norrie, a 26-year-old left-hander from Great Britain, dispatched 23rd-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-2, 6-4. Then 29th-seeded Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia beat the 31st-seeded Fritz, a 23-year-old resident of Rancho Palos Verdes in the Los Angeles area, 7-6 (5), 6-3. Basilashvili saved three set points in the first set and all seven break points he faced, including two in the final game.

   It's the first time all semifinalists in an ATP Masters 1000 tournament, the highest level besides the Grand Slams, have been ranked outside the top 25. Of course, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem — who have combined to win 14 of the last 16 Indian Wells singles titles — did not play.

   Dimitrov, ranked 28th after reaching a career-high No. 3 in 2017, was coming off three-set victories over top-seeded Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday and eighth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz on Thursday. Norrie, meanwhile, breezed past 11th-seeded Diego Schwartzman 6-0, 6-2 in 73 minutes in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

   Norrie — who was born in South Africa, grew up in New Zealand, starred at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, and lives in London — called the Dimitrov clash "the biggest match of my career, following on from (Thursday), which was the biggest match. There was even more pressure today. I came out and played really physical. Grigor was maybe a little tired from the other matches, but he fought hard and made it physical at the start of the second set, which wasn't easy."

   Norrie won the Tiburon and Stockton Challengers in 2017. Fritz took the Sacramento and Fairfield crowns at 17 in 2015.

   Norrie and Basilashvili, 29, are scheduled to meet Sunday after the 1 p.m. women's final between No. 21 seed Paula Badosa of Spain and No. 27 seed Victoria Azarenka, the 2012 and 2016 champion. Tennis Channel will televise both matches.

   As a qualifier in Rotterdam in March, Norrie routed Basilashvili 6-0, 6-3 on an indoor hardcourt in the first round in their only previous encounter. Azarenka, a 32-year-old mother, and Badosa, a 23-year-old New York native, are set to meet for the first time.    

Ex-NorCal star cruises into first Masters 1000 semifinal

Cameron Norrie was 0-2 in the main draw in Indian Wells
before this year. 2016 photo by Paul Bauman

   No. 21 seed Cameron Norrie reached his first ATP Masters 1000 semifinal today, routing No. 11 seed Diego Schwartzman 6-0, 6-2 in 73 minutes in the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif.

   Masters 1000 tournaments are the highest level besides the Grand Slams.

   All three of Norrie's previous matches against Schwartzman had gone the distance, including a first-round victory in last year's U.S. Open.

   Norrie, a 26-year-old left-hander, was born in South Africa, grew up in New Zealand, starred at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, and represents Great Britain. He improved to 3-1 against the 5-foot-7 (1.70-meter), 141-pound (64-kilogram)  Schwartzman, 29, of Argentina.

   "Everything went my way today," Norrie, who won back-to-back Northern California Challengers in Tiburon and Stockton in 2017, said in an on-court interview. "Right from the beginning, I was timing the ball well. I thought I was in for a long match because the previous times we have played have been so long and so physical, so I was ready for that. I hit a lot of lines in the first set and stayed tough in the second and served well when I needed to. I am so happy to be through; it is such a big win for me."

   Norrie, who was 0-2 in the main draw in Indian Wells before this year, is scheduled to face No. 23 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria on Saturday. Dimitrov, who ousted top-seeded Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday, edged No. 8 seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2).

   Norrie is projected to improve at least six notches to a career-high No. 20 on Monday. He will pocket a minimum of $335,000 (plus $8,435 as a first-round loser in doubles).

   On the women's side, No. 12 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia defeated No. 18 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia 7-5, 6-3 to reach her first WTA 1000 semifinal. 

   Jabeur, who will become the first Arab (male or female) to crack the top 10 on Monday, is slated to meet No. 21 seed Paula Badosa of Spain after Friday's 6 p.m. semifinal between No. 24 seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and No. 27 seed and two-time Indian Wells champion Victoria Azarenka (Tennis Channel).

   Badosa, a quarterfinalist in this year's French Open and Tokyo Olympics, eliminated No. 10 seed Angelique Kerber, the 2019 BNP runner-up to Bianca Andreescu, 6-4, 7-5. Badosa beat another Grand Slam champion, No. 3 seed Barbora Krejcikova, in the round of 16.

   In the women's doubles semifinals, No. 2 seeds Hsieh Su-Wei of Chinese Taipei and Elise Mertens of Belgium overwhelmed No. 3 seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan 6-2, 6-0 in 54 minutes.

   Hsieh won the Indian Wells doubles title in 2014 with Peng Shuai of China and in 2018 with Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic. Mertens took the last (2019) crown with Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka, who missed this year's tournament because of COVID. 

   Hsieh and Mertens are set to meet unseeded Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elena Rybakina, a Moscow native who plays for Kazakhstan, on Saturday.

   USTA Pro Circuit — No. 3 seed Katie Volynets, 19, of Walnut Creek, Calif., routed Fernanda Contreras Gomez of Mexico 6-3, 6-0 to reach the quarterfinals of the $25,000 Florence (S.C.) Open on hardcourts.

Former Pacific star falls in Los Cabos doubles final

Sem Verbeek returns serve in doubles in the 2016 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger.
Verbeek starred at the University of the Pacific in Stockton. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Hans Hach Verdugo of Mexico and John Isner of the United States beat Hunter Reese of Knoxville, Tenn., and Sem Verbeek (University of the Pacific, 2013-16) of the Netherlands 5-7, 6-2 [10-4] tonight in the Mifel Open, an ATP 250 hardcourt tournament in Los Cabos, Mexico.

   Both teams were unseeded. Reese, 28, and Verbeek, 27, played in their first ATP final, together or separately.

   The 6-foot-10 (2.08-meter) Isner, 36, made his pro debut in a $15,000 Futures tournament in the Sacramento, Calif., suburb of Shingle Springs in 2007 and won the singles title. Hach Verdugo took the doubles crown in the 2018 Tiburon Challenger in the San Francisco Bay Area with Luke Saville of Australia. 

   In the Los Cabos singles final, top-seeded Cameron Norrie of Great Britain dominated unseeded Brandon Nakashima, 19, of San Diego 6-2, 6-2 for his first ATP title.

   Norrie, who won back-to-back Northern California Challengers in Tiburon and Stockton in 2017, will rise only one notch to a career-high No. 29. 

   Olympics — In the first round of doubles, Belinda Bencic and Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland stunned No. 2 seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan 6-4, 6-7 (5) [10-5] on a hardcourt in Tokyo. Shibahara, 23, was born in Mountain View in the Bay Area, starred at UCLA and lives in Rancho Palos Verdes in the Los Angeles area.

   Paula Badosa and Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain eliminated Giuliana Olmos and Renata Zarazua of Mexico 6-2, 6-7 (4) [10-7]. Olmos, 28, was born in Austria, grew up in Fremont in the Bay Area and played at USC.

   Sorribes Tormo earlier ousted top-ranked Ashleigh Barty, coming off her Wimbledon title, 6-4, 6-3 in the opening round of singles. Badosa, 23, reached the singles quarterfinals of the French Open and the fourth round at Wimbledon this year. 

   ATP Challenger Tour — Dennis Novikov of San Jose, Calif., won his third Cary (N.C.) Challenger title and second straight in doubles.

   Top-seeded Novikov and Christian Harrison of Bradenton, Fla., outclassed unseeded Petros Chrysochos of Cyprus and Michail Pervolarakis of Greece 6-3, 6-3 on a hardcourt in the $52,080 Atlantic Tire Championships.

   Novikov won his ninth Challenger doubles championship, first of the year and first with Harrison. Novikov won the Cary doubles title last November with Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia and took the singles title in 2015.

Spaniard nips NorCal nonpareil Norrie in Estoril final

Albert Ramos-Vinolas serves during the 2016
U.S. Open. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Seventh-seeded Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain edged unseeded Cameron Norrie of Great Britain 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3) today in a battle of left-handers to win the Millennium Estoril Open, an ATP 250 tournament on red clay in Estoril, Portugal.

   Ramos-Vinolas, 33, trailed by a break in the second set against the 25-year-old Norrie, who won back-to-back Northern California Challengers in Tiburon and Stockton in 2017 before prevailing in 2 hours, 44 minutes for his third ATP singles title.

   Ramos-Vinolas improved to 16-5 on clay this year and 3-0 against Norrie. Ramos-Vinolas owns seven more clay-court victories than any other player on the ATP Tour this season, according to atptour.com.

   Norrie — who was born in South Africa, grew up in New Zealand, played at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, and has represented Great Britain since 2013 — fell to 0-2 in ATP singles finals. He lost to American Tennys Sandgren, whom he had beaten in the Tiburon final, 6-4, 6-2 in the 2019 Auckland title match.

   Norrie, who won the Estoril doubles crown in 2018 with countryman Kyle Edmund, defeated second seed Cristin Garin of Chile in the quarterfinals and sixth seed Marin Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion, of Croatia in the semifinals.

   "I had some good wins," Norrie, who has been called a lefty Andy Murray, said on atptour.com. "It is obviously disappointing to come unstuck today, but I am playing well on the clay and moving better and better. ... It was a great week, and I can take a lot of positives, but (there) is a lot of stuff to work on as well."

   Ramos-Vinolas, who reached a career-high No. 17 in the world in 2017, will jump nine places to No. 37 on Monday. Norrie will rise two notches to No. 48, seven spots off his career high in 2019.

   WTA Tour — Ons Jabeur of Tunisia defeated Sloane Stephens, a 28-year-old Fresno, Calif., product, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 on Saturday in a second-round clash of unseeded players in the Mutua Madrid Open on red clay.

NorCal Challenger star eyes second career WTA title

Sofia Kenin, shown en route to the Berkeley title last July, will play
Wang Yafan of China on Saturday for the Acapulco title on the WTA
tour. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Sofia Kenin will play for her second WTA tour singles title this year and of her career.
   The 20-year-old American, seeded fifth, outlasted unseeded Bianca Andreescu, an 18-year-old Canadian, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in 2 hours, 14 minutes tonight in the semifinals of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco.
   Andreescu, ranked No. 71, lost her serve in the last game on a backhand long to fall to 21-3 in singles this year. Kenin, a great fighter ranked 35th, also defeated former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka 7-5 in the third set in the quarterfinals.
   Kenin, who won Hobart in January, is scheduled to play unseeded Wang Yafan of China for the first time on Saturday at 4 p.m. California time (Tennis Channel).
   The 24-year-old Wang, ranked No. 65, beat third-seeded Donna Vekic of Croatia 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 to reach her first WTA final.
   Kenin dominated Northern California Challengers, winning Sacramento in 2016, Stockton in 2017 and Berkeley last year.
   In the Acapulco men's final, second-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany will face unseeded Nick Kyrgios of Australia on Saturday not before 7 p.m. (Tennis Channel).
   Zverev beat unseeded Cameron Norrie of Great Britain 7-6 (0), 6-3. Norrie won back-to-back Challengers in Tiburon, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, and Stockton in 2017.
   Kyrgios topped third-seeded John Isner 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 (7) in 2 hours, 21 minutes in a match that ended at 1:05 a.m. Saturday Acapulco time.
   Kyrgios also ousted top-seeded Rafael Nadal, the Acapulco champion in 2005 and 2013, in the second round and three-time Grand Slam singles champion Stan Wawrinka, who's rebounding from knee surgery, in the quarterfinals.
   Giuliana Olmos, a 25-year-old product of Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area who plays for Mexico, reached the Acapulco doubles final. Third-seeded Desirae Krawczyk, from Palm Desert, Calif., and Olmos will meet unseeded Azarenka of Belarus and Zheng Saisai of China.
   Azarenka and Zheng edged unseeded Sharon Fichman of Canada and Maria Sanchez, who was born and raised in Modesto, 6-7 (3), 6-2 [13-11]. When Sanchez was 10, she lived in Guadalajara, Mexico, for a year with her family.
   Krawczyk and Olmos won the $60,000 Sacramento Challenger in 2017.
   Women's Challenger -- Nicole Gibbs' singles winning streak ended at eight matches.
   The ex-Stanford star lost to fellow American Jennifer Brady 7-5, 6-0 in a quarterfinal matchup of unseeded players in the $162,480 Oracle Challenger Series Indian Wells.
   Gibbs, who will turn 26 on Sunday, won last week's $25,000 Shoebacca Women's Open in the San Diego suburb of Rancho Santa Fe.
   Gibbs also lost in the Indian Wells doubles semifinals with countrywoman Asia Muhammad. They fell to Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic and Evgeniya Rodina of Russia 7-5, 6-3 in a clash of unseeded teams.
   Gibbs and Muhammad won the inaugural $60,000 Berkeley Tennis Club Challenge last July.

NorCal Challenger stars reach Acapulco semifinals

Sofia Kenin, playing in the Berkeley Tennis Club Challenge
last July, beat former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka to reach
the semifinals of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Between them, Sofia Kenin and Cameron Norrie have won five Challenger singles titles in Northern California.

   Both reached Friday's semifinals in the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco in the major leagues of tennis.

   The fifth-seeded Kenin, from Pembroke Pines, Fla., outlasted wild card and former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 tonight in 2 hours, 32 minutes on the WTA tour.
   Kenin captured the title in Sacramento in 2016, Stockton in 2017 and Berkeley last July. Azarenka won the 2010 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in 2010.
   Great Britain's Norrie continued his mastery of Mackenzie McDonald, from Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, with a 6-3, 6-2 victory in a matchup of unseeded 23-year-olds and former college stars.
   Norrie, a left-hander who won back-to-back titles in Tiburon and Stockton in 2017, has not lost more than three games in a set in three career matches against McDonald.
   Norrie ended his collegiate career at Texas Christian as the No. 1 player in the nation in 2017. McDonald swept the 2016 NCAA singles and doubles titles as a UCLA junior. Both turned pro after their junior year.

Cameron Norrie, addressing the crowd after
winning the 2017 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger,
continued his domination of San Francisco
Bay Area product Mackenzie McDonald.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Kenin, ranked No. 35 at age 20, will play Bianca Andreescu, an 18-year-old Canadian. In the other semifinal, third-seeded Donna Vekic of Croatia will play Yafan Wang of China.

   Norrie will face second-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany, and unseeded Nick Kyrgios will meet third-seeded John Isner of Dallas.
   Isner won his first professional title in the 2007 Shingle Springs Futures in the Sacramento area.
   In an all-brothers doubles quarterfinal tonight, Alexander Zverev and Mischa Zverev edged second-seeded Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan 5-7, 6-4 [10-7]. The Bryan twins led Stanford to the NCAA team title in both of their years there (1997 and 1998) and won the Acapulco title in 2002 and 2004.
   In the women's doubles quarters, unseeded Sharon Fichman of Canada and Maria Sanchez, a 29-year-old Modesto product, nipped second-seeded Dalila Jakupovic of Slovenia and Irina Khromacheva of Russia 5-7, 6-2 [11-9].
   When Sanchez was 10, she lived in Guadalajara, Mexico, for a year with her family.
   In the other half of the draw, third-seeded Desirae Krawczyk from Palm Desert, Calif., and Giuliana Olmos from Fremont in the Bay Area routed Laura Pigossi of Brazil and Wang 6-3, 6-0. 

Berkeley champion Kenin earns first WTA singles title

Sofia Kenin, playing in Berkeley last July, routed Anna Karo-
lina Schmiedlova 6-3, 6-0 today to win the Hobart (Australia)
International. Photo by Paul Bauman

   You might say Sofia Kenin is in good form entering the Australian Open.
   Ditto for Ben McLachlan.
   One week after claiming her first WTA doubles title, Kenin did the same in singles.
   The 20-year-old American routed Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia 6-3, 6-0 in 71 minutes today to win the Hobart (Australia) International.
    McLachlan, a 26-year-old former Cal star, and Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany beat third-seeded Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Michael Venus of New Zealand 6-3, 6-4 to capture the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand.
   McLachlan, a New Zealand native who plays for his mother's native Japan, and Struff reached the Australian Open semifinals last year in their first tournament together.
   In the Auckland singles final, unseeded Tennys Sandgren of Gallatin, Tenn., topped wild card Cameron Norrie, a New Zealand product who plays for Great Britain, 6-4, 6-2.
   Sandgren, a surprise quarterfinalist in last year's Australian Open, avenged a 6-2, 6-3 loss to Norrie in the final of the $100,000 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger in 2017. The left-handed Norrie also won the $100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger the following week, beating Darian King of Barbados.
   Kenin reeled off the last nine games against Schmiedlova in a matchup of unseeded players to become the first American champion in Tasmania since Amy Frazier in 2004. Kenin and Eugenie Bouchard of Canada won last week's women's ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand.
   "I feel in great form, and I'm really proud of myself," Kenin, who won the inaugural $60,000 Berkeley Tennis Club Challenge last July for her third title in Northern California in three years, told reporters. "I'm so happy with my start and will try to keep the momentum going."
   Kenin did not lose a set in the tournament, upsetting top-seeded Caroline Garcia of France 6-3, 6-2 in the first round, seventh-seeded Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium 7-5, 7-5 in the quarterfinals and sixth-seeded Alize Cornet of France 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinals.
   Kenin also dismissed Garcia 6-3, 6-3 on grass in Mallorca in June for her first victory over a top-10 player and her first berth in a WTA semifinal.
   Kenin will make her top-40 debut on Monday, jumping from No. 56 to No. 37. She is scheduled to play Veronika Kudermetova, a 21-year-old Russian qualifier, in the first round of the Australian Open on Monday (California time). Kenin was born in Moscow and moved to the United States as a young child.
   It will be Kenin's second main-draw appearance in Melbourne. She lost to 12th-seeded Julia Goerges of Germany 6-4, 6-4 in the opening round last year.

Norrie overcomes wind, King for second straight title

Cameron Norrie, left, defeated Darian King 6-1, 6-3 today to win
the $100,000 Stockton Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   STOCKTON, Calif. — When Cameron Norrie was asked Friday what his greatest strength is, he mentioned his two-handed backhand and mental toughness.
   The latter was critical today as the wind, which plagued the $100,000 Stockton Challenger early in the week, returned with a vengeance.
   Making the best of the situation, the eighth-seeded Norrie routed sixth-seeded Darian King 6-1, 6-3 in 68 minutes at the University of the Pacific's Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center for his second title in two weeks.
   "I feel like I'm a rock mentally," trumpeted Norrie, a 22-year-old left-hander from Great Britain. "I knew it would be tough in the wind, and I don't want to complain about it, so I think I used it to my advantage. It definitely does favor the person that's mentally tougher."
   Norrie, who pocketed $14,400, won his third Challenger singles title since turning pro in May after his junior year at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. He has played in three consecutive finals, winning 14 of 15 matches, since losing to eventual semifinalist Pablo Carreno Busta in the second round of the U.S. Open as a qualifier.
   But Norrie, the champion in last week's $100,000 Tiburon Challenger, will not try to match Sam Querrey's 2014 feat of sweeping the three-week Northern California swing. Norrie withdrew from next week's $100,000 Fairfield Challenger at Solano Community College with a left shoulder strain.
   Today, Norrie won the first five games and the last four.
   "I think I played very smart at the start," said Norrie, who improved to 2-0 against King. "I played pretty safe, and I was winning a lot of the longer rallies. I used my drop shot pretty well today into the wind. He was standing pretty far back, so it was pretty effective for me. I'm playing great tennis."
   Norrie showed no signs of frustration during the match. King, in contrast, at various times muttered to himself, shook his head, put his hands on his hips, threw up his arms, almost slammed his racket on the court and, on a changeover, struck his racket bag with his racket. Of course, it's a lot easier to stay composed when you're winning.
   "It was my first time playing a left-hander the whole week," moianed the 25-year-old King of Barbados, a small Caribbean island nation with a population of only 292,000. "Obviously, he handled (the wind) much better. Obviously, it's tough playing a left-hander in these conditions.
   "I had better chances in the second set. He was coming to the net and made some great passing shots at the right time, and I messed up a volley or two because of the conditions. That's how tennis goes. It's mental, and you have to try to adapt to all the circumstances."

Joe Salisbury, left, and Brydan Klein won the Stockton
doubles title. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Norrie, who was born in South Africa and grew up in New Zealand, will jump 25 more places to No. 111 in Monday's updated rankings. But he's not concerned about cracking the top 100 for the first time and gaining direct entry into the Australian Open in January.
   "No, not at all," he said. "I'm just trying to get better every day. I don't really have any ranking goals. Me and my coach, Facu (Facundo Lugones), are just going to keep working every day. If I get top 100, if I get top 60, it doesn't really make a difference as long as I'm getting better."
   King, who collected $8,480, will improve from No. 207 to No. 181. He reached a career-high No. 106 last year in May and later won Tiburon.
   Norrie completed a British sweep of the Stockton titles. In the doubles final, fourth-seeded Brydan Klein and Joe Salisbury beat qualifiers Denis Kudla of Arlington, Va., and Tampa, Fla., and Mikelis Libietis of Latvia 6-2, 6-4. Klein, a 27-year-old Australia native who plays for Great Britain, and Salisbury, 25, split $6,200.
   Here are the completed Stockton singles and doubles draws.
   Here are the Fairfield singles qualifying draw, singles and doubles main draws and Monday's schedule.

With incredible turnaround, Norrie reaches final

   STOCKTON, Calif. -- It was the biggest turnaround since Donald Trump succeeded Barack Obama.
   Cameron Norrie was two points from getting bageled in the first set of his semifinal against Michael Mmoh on Saturday in the $100,000 Stockton Challenger.
   From there, Norrie won 11 consecutive games in a 7-5, 6-2 victory at the University of the Pacific's Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center.
   As if that's not amazing enough, Norrie defeated Mmoh by the same score in the quarterfinals of last week's $100,000 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger en route to the title.
   In an effort to change that outcome, the third-seeded Mmoh was determined to play more aggressively this time. He did just that initially, throwing the eight-seeded Norrie off his game and bolting to a 5-0 lead.
   But Mmoh, for all his firepower at a chiseled 6-foot-1 (1.85 meters) and 187 pounds (85 kilograms), likes to use his tremendous athleticism to play defense. He lapsed back into that mode, which proved fatal against Norrie and his precise groundstrokes.
   It didn't help that Mmoh double-faulted on the first of his three set points at 5-3 in the first set, on break point at 5-5 in that set and on break point at 2-4 in the second set.
   "He actually played really well to start off with, hitting the ball everywhere, and I was a little off," said Norrie, a 22-year-old left-hander from Great Britain. "My racket was strung dead, but I'm not making any excuses. He was playing great tennis. I just tried to take it one point at a time, and he stopped being as aggressive. That allowed me to play my game and dictate play a little more."
   Mmoh, 19, of Bradenton, Fla., agreed with Norrie's assessment.
   "I thought I was playing pretty solid and that was part of the reason I was up 5-0," said Mmoh, the son of former journeyman pro Tony Mmoh from Nigeria. "Then everything clicked (for Norrie), and I slowed down a little bit. He found his rhythm and built off that. He played really well the rest of the match after 5-0."
   Norrie, ranked No. 136, will face sixth-seeded Darian King of Barbados today after the 11 a.m. doubles final. King, ranked No. 207, defeated Tim Smyczek of Tampa, Fla., 6-1, 6-4.
   "I was expecting a long match, but I got a couple of errors from Tim to get an early break, and I guess I rode that wave," said King, 25. "Also in the second set, he got some early breaks, and I was getting a little tight trying to win the match. I was playing someone for the first time and trying to get into my first final in a long time."
   Norrie has played King once, winning 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the final round of qualifying for the $100,000 Dallas Challenger in February 2015. Norrie also practiced with King in Barbados while visiting a friend there the week before Tiburon last month.                    
   Norrie seeks his third Challenger title since turning pro in May after his junior year at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.
   Since reaching the second round of the U.S. Open as a qualifier, Norrie has played in three consecutive Challenger finals. In the first one, he lost to unheralded American Kevin King in a $50,000 Challenger in Cary, N.C.
   "I've still got a lot of things to work on," said Norrie, who reached No. 1 nationally at TCU. "It's exciting that I'm winning and not playing my best tennis."
   King will play in his first final since beating Mmoh in last year's Tiburon Challenger.
   Here are the Stockton singles and doubles draws and today's schedule. The tournament is being streamed live.
   Also, here are the singles qualifying draw, singles main draw and today's schedule for the $100,000 Northbay Healthcare Men's Pro Championships at Solano Community College in Fairfield, Calif.

'Lefty Andy Murray' advances to Stockton semis

   STOCKTON, Calif. — If Michael Mmoh is right, Cameron Norrie has a very bright future.
   When it was suggested to Mmoh that the left-hander's game resembles his British countryman Andy Murray's, Mmoh replied: "Lefty Andy Murray is a pretty good comparison. He has a really good backhand and a pretty good forehand. He's very talented at moving you around the court and really dictating that baseline, so he'll just push you from corner to corner. He can do that all day. He has very good precision."
   That doesn't necessarily mean Norrie, who will face Mmoh today in the semifinals of the $100,000 Stockton Challenger, will ascend to No. 1 and win three Grand Slam singles titles like Murray.
   Norrie, 22, is far behind Murray at the same age. Murray won the first of his 45 ATP titles, 14th in the Open era (since 1968) and fourth among active players, in the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose at 18 years old in 2006 and repeated in 2007. Norrie is ranked No. 136 and could crack the top 100 by the end of the year. That would be an impressive feat, considering he turned pro only four months ago after his junior year at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.
   Norrie, seeded eighth, beat Tennys Sandgren, seeded second, 6-3, 7-6 (5) on Friday at the University of the Pacific's Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center.
   The third-seeded Mmoh, 19, of Bradenton, Fla., led 34-year-old Russian qualifier Dmitry Tursunov, a former top-20 player who has been plagued by injuries, 6-3 when Tursunov retired with a hamstring injury.
   It's the third consecutive tournament in which Tursunov, who trained in Northern California from age 12 into his 30s, has retired and the second straight because of a hamstring problem.
   In the other semifinal, sixth-seeded Darian King of Barbados will meet unseeded veteran Tim Smyczek of Tampa, Fla., for the first time.
   King, 25, defeated fourth-seeded Stefan Kozlov, 19, of Pembroke Pines, Fla., 6-4, 6-4. Smyczek, 29, eliminated Elias Ymer, a 21-year-old Swede, by the same score.
   Both King and Smyczek qualified for the U.S. Open in August and lost in the first round.   
   Sandgren, 26, of Gallatin, Tenn., in the Nashville area was the only top-100 player in the Stockton Challenger at No. 97. Top-seeded Ruben Bemelmans, a Belgian who lost to Ymer in the first round, dropped from No. 92 when the draw came out last Saturday to No. 101 in the latest rankings on Monday.
   Norrie's victory wasn't really an upset. He improved to 3-0 against Sandgren, including a 6-2, 6-3 victory in the final of the $100,000 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger on Sunday.
   "I think I've had a little bit of luck (against Sandgren)," the 6-foot-2 (1.88-meter) Norrie said modestly. "I've been winning the long rallies against him, and that's what he usually does well. That's paid dividends, and I've been coming forward when I've needed to and knocking off some volleys when he's on the run and slices. I've been staying positive and staying tough."
   Sandgren led 4-1 (one service break) in the second set, but Norrie broke back for 3-4 when Sandgren sailed a high backhand volley long. Both players then held serve to force the tiebreaker, in which Norrie bolted to a 5-1 lead and held on for the match.
   "He played a good game to break me (early in the second set)," said Norrie, who reached the second round of the U.S. Open as a qualifier before losing to eventual semifinalist Pablo Carreno Busta. "I felt like I was playing well. I just tried to focus on the present. Then I fought back and played a very good tiebreaker and served really well. It's the best I've served the last two weeks. I'm feeling really good about the match."
   Mmoh, the son of former journeyman pro Tony Mmoh from Nigeria, skipped college and turned pro last year. He was happy that his match against Tursunov lasted only 39 minutes.
   Mmoh was coming off a 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4) victory over Mackenzie McDonald, who grew up in Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, on Thursday. Mmoh saved two match points in the 2-hour, 34-minute battle.
   "I had a super-long match yesterday and was pretty sore this morning," conceded Mmoh, who was named after Michael Jordan and has much of his namesake's athleticism. "Having a 30-minute match or whatever it was is going to help me the rest of the tournament and if I decide to play Fairfield (next week) as well."
   Norrie is 2-0 against Mmoh, including a 7-5, 6-2 win last week in the Tiburon quarterfinals.
   "I need to be a little more aggressive and take my chances," said the 6-foot-1 (1.85-meter) Mmoh, ranked No. 156. "I don't think I'm going to have a lot of success just putting the ball in play and hoping he's going to miss because he can make a ton of balls. I'm going to look to use my firepower and take it upon him."
   Here are the Stockton singles and doubles draws and today's schedule. The tournament is being streamed live.
   Also, here are the singles qualifying draw and today's schedule for the $100,000 Northbay Healthcare Men's Pro Championships at Solano Community College in Fairfield, Calif.

Britain's Norrie rises to the occasion in Tiburon

Cameron Norrie defeated Tennys Sandgren 6-2, 6-3
on Sunday to win the $100,000 Tiburon (Calif.)
Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   TIBURON, Calif. -- Cameron Norrie earned more than a title and $14,400 on Sunday.
   The 22-year-old South African/Kiwi/American/Briton gained redemption with his 6-2, 6-3 victory over Tennys Sandgren in the $100,000 Tiburon Challenger.
   "Obviously, it was a big match for me," crowed Norrie, who won his second and biggest Challenger singles title only four months after turning pro out of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. "My last final, I had a terrible performance. I wanted to make sure I got every detail right.
   "I stuck to my game plan. I tried to be aggressive and be the one dictating play. I played really well when I needed to. My serve went (away) a little bit at the start of the second set, but it started coming around. I really wanted to win, and I'm happy I beat him today."
   Two weeks ago in the final of a $50,000 hard-court tournament in Cary, N.C., Norrie lost to unheralded American Kevin King 6-4, 6-1. In the second round, Norrie defeated Sandgren 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 to even their head-to-head series at 2-2.
   This time, Norrie was fresher than Sandgren on a typically gorgeous fall day at the Tiburon Peninsula Club in the hills across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. While the eighth-seeded Norrie dispatched unseeded Prajnesh Gunneswaran of India 6-3, 6-2 in 57 minutes in Saturday's semifinals, the second-seeded Sandgren needed 1 hour, 48 minutes to subdue local favorite Mackenzie McDonald 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3).
   "Cam played too good today," conceded Sandgren, a 26-year-old American. "I feel like my legs are a little tired from yesterday's match. It kind of took a lot out of me against Mackie yesterday, but Cam played too good. He came up with some fantastic shots on some big points. I feel like the longer the points went, the better it was for him, but he's not a particularly easy guy to finish points off quickly against. All credit to him."
   The 1-hour, 16-minute final was more competitive and entertaining than the score indicates. Norrie and Sandgren engaged in many long, athletic points, eliciting "oohs" and "aahs" from the estimated crowd of 600.
   Both players, however, had serving issues.
   Norrie overcame eight double faults, including three in a game twice. He managed to hold serve the first time his serve deserted him but was broken the second time in the opening game of the second set. It was the only time Norrie lost his serve in the match, as he saved five of six break points against him.

Tennys Sandgren received a check for $8,480 from Wells Fargo executive
Thomas Sands, left, and tournament director Brendan Curry. Photo by
Paul Bauman

   Sandgren was called for two foot faults. Even though he lost his serve both times, once in each set, he said the miscues were not a factor in the outcome of the match.
   Norrie, a left-hander, was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, to a Scottish father and Welsh mother. The family moved to New Zealand, and Norrie starred at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth for three years. He reached the NCAA quarterfinals in 2015 and semifinals in 2016, and also was the runner-up to British countryman Daniel Evans in the $100,000 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger last year. Aptos is a two-hour drive south of affluent Tiburon.
   After leading the Horned Frogs to the NCAA quarterfinals in May as a junior, Norrie bypassed the individual tournament and turned pro.
   "I thought I was going to get into the French Open (qualifying)," he explained. "I ended up missing out my a couple of spots (in the rankings), and I needed a break before the grass-court season. It was the smartest move possible for my pro career, and I couldn't really gain anything from winning (the NCAA singles title), so there was no point in playing the individual tournament for me."
   Norrie said he "feels British. My parents are both British, and I lived in London for three or four years before college. I feel at home there. My dad has a filthy Scottish accent, so I feel British."
   Norrie receives financial support from the British federation, but that's only one reason he plays for Great Britain.
   "No one cares about tennis in New Zealand," Norrie groused. "All the money goes into rugby, and New Zealand is so far away to play tournaments, and there's no tournaments in New Zealand. To me, it was a no-brainer to move (to Great Britain)."

Former Cal stars Florian Lakat, left, and Andre Goransson
won the doubles title. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Sandgren has his own family story. For the record, he was not named after tennis. He was given his great grandfather's Swedish name. Tennys, however, is from Tennessee. He rebounded from 2014 hip surgery to crack the top 100 for the first time in June. Sandgren was seeking his fourth Challenger singles title and third this year.
   Both Norrie and Sandgren played in their first two Grand Slam singles main draws this year. Norrie lost in the first round at Wimbledon and reached the second round of the U.S. Open. Sandgren fell in the first round of the French Open and U.S. Open.
   Both players also attained career-high rankings with their Tiburon results. Sandgren, who earned $8,480, improved seven places to No. 97. Norrie jumped 29 spots to No. 136.
   Wild cards Andre Goransson and Florian Lakat, both of whom completed their eligibility at Cal in May, surprised top-seeded Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela of Mexico 6-4, 6-4 for the doubles title.
   Goransson, from Sweden, and Lakat, from France, collected $3,100 each.
   Here are the completed Tiburon Challenger singles and doubles draws.
   Also, here are the $100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger singles qualifying draw, singles and doubles main draws and Monday's schedule. The tournament is being held at the Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center at the University of the Pacific.