Brooksby breakthrough highlights top stories of 2021

Jenson Brooksby waits to return serve during practice at the BNP Paribas Open
in Indian Wells in October. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Amid the ongoing pandemic, it was a banner year in Northern California tennis.

   Two players won prestigious ATP awards, and a former Sacramento Capital in World TeamTennis reached the French Open final.

   A coach with strong NorCal ties helped a WTA player soar into the top 10 and reach the title match in the WTA Finals, and two doubles stars qualified for the season-ending tournament for the first time.

   A Sacramento native helped his team win the NCAA team championship, then snagged the singles title.

   And more.

   Here are my picks for the top 10 stories of 2020 with 10 honorable mentions:

   1. Brooksby voted ATP Newcomer of Year — Jenson Brooksby, a lifelong Sacramento-area resident who turned 21 in October, skyrocketed from No. 307 to No. 56 in 10 months. He reached his maiden ATP Tour final in Newport, R.I., in his first tournament ever on grass, losing to two-time Grand Slam runner-up Kevin Anderson, and the round of 16 in the U.S. Open, steamrolling Novak Djokovic 6-1 in the first set before falling in four sets.

   Fifteen days after the Newport final, Brooksby beat the 6-foot-8 (2.03-meter) Anderson en route to the semifinals in Washington, D.C. Brooksby also advanced to the Antwerp semis in October as a qualifier.

Mackenzie McDonald lines up a forehand during his first-
round victory over James Duckworth in the BNP Paribas
Open. Photo by Paul Bauman

   2. McDonald voted ATP Comeback Player of Year — Mackenzie McDonald, a 26-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, underwent right hamstring surgery in June 2019 and fell as low as No. 272 in March 2020.

   This year, McDonald reached the round of 16 in the Australian Open, advanced to his first ATP final in Washington, D.C., and climbed to a career-high No. 54 on Nov. 1.

   3. Ex-Capital reaches French Open final — Unseeded Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic outlasted No. 31 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 in the first Grand Slam final for both players.

   Pavlyuchenkova, who played for the Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis as the world's top junior at 15 in 2006, hurt her left leg late in the second set.

   4. Kontaveit cracks top 10, reaches WTA Finals title match under Tursunov — After hiring coach Dmitry Tursunov in August, Anett Kontaveit of Estonia won four titles, jumped from No. 30 to No. 7 and advanced to the WTA Finals for the first time.  

   Garbiñe Muguruza, seeded sixth, defeated Kontaveit, seeded eighth, 6-3, 7-5 in the final of the season-ending tournament in Guadalajara, Mexico. Tursunov, a 39-year-old Moscow native, trained in Northern California as a junior and professional. 

   5. Shibahara, Olmos qualify for WTA Finals — Doubles specialists Ena Shibahara, who was born in the Bay Area, and Giuliana Olmos, who grew up there, qualified for the season-ending tournament for the first time separately. Second-seeded Shuko Aoyama and Shibahara advanced to the semifinals, while eighth-seeded Sharon Fichman and Olmos were eliminated in round-robin play. 

   Aoyama and Shibahara won a tour-leading five titles, including the Miami Open, in 2021. They also reached the Wimbledon semifinals and Australian Open quarterfinals. Fichman and Olmos won the Italian Open, gained the Australian Open quarterfinals and advanced to the round of 16 at Wimbledon.

Sam Riffice, far left, poses 10 years ago at age 12 with Roger
Federer at the La Quinta Resort in the Palm Springs area. Also
shown are Riffice's coach, Amine Khaldi (second from left), and
Khaldi's friend Steve Mohibi. Photo courtesy of Amine Khaldi

   6. Riffice helps Florida win NCAA title, adds singles crown — Sam Riffice, who was born in Sacramento and grew up in suburban Roseville, won at No. 2 singles and doubles as the top-seeded Gators beat second-seeded Baylor 4-1 in Orlando, Fla., for the NCAA championship. 

   The sixth-seeded Riffice then topped second-seeded Daniel Rodrigues of South Carolina 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 for the singles title.

   7. Wimbledon champ commits to Stanford — Samir Banerjee, who won the Wimbledon boys singles title in July, verbally committed to Stanford.

   Banerjee, from Basking Ridge, N.J., defeated Victor Lilov of Raleigh, N.C., 7-5, 6-3 in the Wimbledon final. Both players were unseeded.

   8. Cal men's coach retires after 29 years — Peter Wright, a Berkeley native who turned 58 on Dec. 8, amassed a 383-256 record at Cal. He guided the Bears to the NCAA Championships 25 times, including a semifinal berth in 2016, and four appearances in the top 10.

   USC associate head coach Kris Kwinta, a 41-year-old Poland native, was chosen as Wright's replacement.

Fiery Danielle Collins exults after winning a point during the final of the
Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif. Photo by Mal Taam

   9. Collins claims crown in San Jose — No. 7 seed Danielle Collins of St. Petersburg, Fla., defeated No. 4 seed Daria Kasatkina of Russia 6-3, 6-7 (10), 6-1 to win the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif.

   Collins, who turned 28 on Dec. 13, won her second consecutive title and the second of her career. She had surgery for endometriosis, a painful disorder in which tissue inside the uterus grows outside of it, in early April. Doctors removed a cyst the size of a tennis ball from her ovary.

Emon van Loben Sels poses with his trophy
at the USTA Level 1 Spring Individual Cham-
pionships in Mobile, Ala. Photo courtesy of
Emon van Loben Sels

   10. van Loben Sels ranked No. 1 nationally in 16s — The pandemic gave Emon van Loben Sels of Sacramento a needed break last year. He won a USTA Level 2 tournament in Newport Beach, Calif., in February and the Level 1 Spring Individual Championships in March in Mobile, Ala.

   Van Loben Sels' biggest asset is his passion for tennis, according to Kiryl Harbatsiuk, one of his coaches. The high school junior has verbally committed to UCLA.

   Honorable mention — Cameron Norrie, who won back-to-back Northern California Challengers in Tiburon and Stockton in 2017, won the prestigious BNP Paribas Open as the No. 21 seed.

   —Qualifier Mariia Kozyreva, a fifth-year senior at Saint Mary's College in Moraga in the Bay Area, shocked top-seeded Zheng Saisai, ranked No. 75, in the first round of the $60,000 Berkeley (Calif.) Challenger.

   —Katie Volynets, a resident of Walnut Creek in the Bay Area who turned 20 today, won her first professional title to crack the top 200.

   —Former Stanford star Nicole Gibbs retired at 27. The three-time NCAA champion (twice in singles and once in doubles) reached a career-high No. 68 in the world in 2016.

   —Johanna Konta, who won the 2016 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, retired at 30.

   —Unseeded Usue Arconada won the Berkeley Challenger.

   —The Stanford women ended their longest losing streak in 40 years, three matches, with a 6-1 victory over USC in Los Angeles. 

   —Ethan Quinn of Fresno, Calif., reached the doubles final in the USTA Boys 18 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich., with Sebastian Gorzny and in the Orange Bowl in Plantation, Fla., with Nicholas Godsick.

   —Van Loben Sels advanced to the singles quarterfinals and doubles semifinals (with Dylan Tsoi of El Dorado Hills in the Sacramento area) in the USTA Boys 16 National Championships in Kalamazoo.

   —Wayne Thiebaud, a world-renowned artist from Sacramento who played tennis until just after his 100th birthday, died on Christmas at 101.

Bay Area product to make WTA Finals debut in doubles

Giuliana Olmos, who grew up in Fremont in the
San Francisco Bay Area, practices during the re-
cent BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Photo
by Paul Bauman

   The WTA announced the last three doubles teams in the WTA Finals today.

   Earning berths in the year-end finale, Nov. 10-17 in Guadalajara, are the pairings of Alexa Guarachi and Desirae Krawczyk, Darija Jurak and Andreja Klepac, and Sharon Fichman and Giuliana Olmos. All but Klepac will make their tournament debut. 

   Jurak and Klepac won the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif., in August. Olmos was born in Austria, grew up in Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area and represents Mexico.

   The three teams will join Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara, Hsieh Su-Wei and Elise Mertens, Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Demi Schuurs, and Samantha Stosur and Zhang Shuai.

   Shibahara was born in Mountain View in the Bay Area. Melichar-Martinez won the 2019 San Jose title with Kveta Peschke, then 44. 

   The pairings of Coco Gauff and Caty McNally and Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani also qualified for the WTA Finals but will not compete, according to the WTA, allowing Fichman and Olmos to play. Dabrowski and Stefani reached this year's San Jose final. 

   WTA Tour — No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia defeated Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals of the Transylvania Open, an indoor hardcourt tournament in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

   Kontaveit, ranked a career-high No. 14, has won her last seven matches and 23 of 27 with three titles under her new coach, Dmitry Tursunov, a 38-year-old Moscow native who trained in Northern California as a junior and professional. Van Uytvanck won the 2016 Stockton Challenger. 

   USTA Pro Circuit — No. 2 seed Claire Liu of Thousand Oaks in the Los Angeles region beat Katie Volynets, 19, of Walnut Creek in the Bay Area 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 to advance to the quarterfinals of the $80,000 Christus Health Pro Challenge in Tyler, Texas.

   Both Liu and Volynets qualified for Wimbledon this year. Liu reached the second round of the main draw, while Volynets lost in the first round.

   In the Tyler doubles quarterfinals, No. 2 seeds Olmos and Marcela Zacarias of Mexico topped Amercans Alexa Glatch and Quinn Gleason 2-6, 6-3 [10-6]. Zacarias reached the singles final in the recent $60,000 Berkeley (Calif.) Challenger.

   Meanwhile, No. 4 seed Govind Nanda of Sacramento, Calif., and Stanford teammates Tristan Boyer of Altadena and Max Basing, a qualifier from Great Britain, advanced to the singles quarterfinals of the $25,000 USTA Men's Pro Tennis Championship of Calabasas. Altadena and Calabasas are in the L.A. area.

   Another Stanford player, Arthur Fery, and Mark Whitehouse, both of Great Britain, moved into the Calabasas doubles semifinals as the No. 2 seeds.

   In Austin, Texas, unseeded Americans Elysia Bolton and Maegan Manasse, a University of California, Berkeley assistant coach and former Bears All-American, cruised into the doubles semifinals of a $25,000 tournament.

Volynets, 19, pulls off big comeback for first pro title

Katie Volynets, a 19-year-old wild card from Walnut Creek in the San Francisco
Bay Area, outlasted fifth-seeded Irina Maria Baria of Romania in 3 hours, 14 min-
utes. 2019 photo courtesy of JFS Communications

   Displaying her indomitable will, Katie Volynets wore down Irina Maria Bara physically and mentally for her first professional title.

   Volynets, a 19-year-old wild card from Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area, outlasted the fifth-seeded Bara, a 26-year-old Romanian, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2), 6-1 in 3 hours, 14 minutes today in the $100,000 Finemark Women's Pro Tennis Championship on green clay in Bonita Springs, Fla.

   Bara, who reached the third round of the French Open as a qualifier last October, led by two service breaks at 4-1 in the second set and was two points from the title while serving at 6-5, 30-30. But she committed two backhand errors to force a tiebreaker, and Volynets dominated the rest of the match. An incredibly hard worker, she never seemed to tire in the heat and humidity.

   Volynets pulled off a similar comeback in her 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 semifinal victory over Hanna Chang in 2 hours, 46 minutes. Chang had three break points to lead by two service breaks at 4-1 in the second set, but Volynets held. Volynets trailed 0-2 in the third set but reeled off the next four games.

   Volynets, who routed No. 6 seed Renata Zarazua in the second round and No. 1 seed Madison Brengle in the quarterfinals, skyrocketed 99 places to a career-high No. 200. Bara improved 12 spots to No. 121, six off her career high.

   It's no stretch to project the petite Volynets as a top-100 or even top-50 player. Top 10? Let's just say 5-foot-7 (1.70-meter) Sofia Kenin — who won Northern California Challengers as a teenager in 2016, 2017 and 2018 — has shown how far impeccable groundstrokes and fierce determination can take you. No. 1 Ashleigh Barty, No. 3 Simona Halep, No. 7 Bianca Andreescu and No. 9 Iga Swiatek are no giants, either. All have won at least one Grand Slam singles title, as has No. 5 Kenin.

  Volynets is following in the footsteps of CiCi Bellis, another undersized Bay Area product who skipped college. Hopefully, Volynets will avoid the injuries that have derailed the 22-year-old Bellis' promising career.

   Volynets pocketed $15,200 for the Bonita Springs title, and Bara earned $8,107.

   In the first round of qualifying for the $25,000 Legacy Pro Classic on green clay in Pelham, Ala., 18-year-old identical twins Allura and Maribella Zamarripa of St. Helena in the Napa Valley each advanced in straight sets.

   WTA Tour — Alternates Sharon Fichman of Canada and Giuliana Olmos — who was born in Austria, grew up in Fremont in the Bay Area and plays for Mexico — won twice to claim their first WTA 1000 title.

    In the Italian Open final on red clay in Rome, Fichman and Olmos saved two championship points in a 4-6, 7-5 [10-5] victory over Kristina Mladenovic of France and Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic. Mladenovic won the 2015 title with Timea Babos of Hungary.

   Earlier, Fichman and Olmos dispatched fourth-seeded Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan 6-3, 6-2 in a rain-delayed semifinal. Shibahara was born in Mountain View in the Bay Area and starred at UCLA.

   Four of Fichman and Olmos' five matches in the tournament went to match tiebreakers, including in the second round against Elise Mertens and Hsieh Su-Wei, ranked Nos. 1 and 2, respectively.

   ATP Tour — Second-seeded Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic of Croatia beat fifth-seeded Rajeev Ram, a volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley from Carmel, Ind., and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain 6-4, 7-6 (4) to win the Italian Open. 

   Mektic and Pavic collected their sixth doubles title of the year. Ram and Salisbury fell to 0-2 in 2021 finals, including the Australian Open as the defending champions.

   In the first round of singles qualifying for the Geneva Open on red clay, fifth-seeded Mackenzie McDonald, a 26-year-old product of Piedmont in the Bay Area, beat Prajnesh Gunneswaran of India 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

   NCAA Tournament — The top-seeded North Carolina women (29-0) blanked 16th-seeded California (19-7) 4-0 in the round of 16 in Orlando, Fla. On Court 1, second-ranked Sara Daavettila defeated No. 31 Haley Giavara 6-4, 6-3.

Bay Area native suffers first doubles loss of year

   The doubles winning streak of Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara ended with a thud tonight.

   Second-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus routed seventh-seeded Aoyama and Shibahara of Japan 6-2, 6-0 in 53 minutes in the Australian Open quarterfinals in Melbourne.

   The 5-foot-1 (1.54-meter) Aoyama, 33, and Shibahara, a 22-year-old native of Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area, fell to 12-1 this year. They won titles in Abu Dhabi last month and Melbourne two weeks ago. 

   Aoyama and Shibahara were playing in their second Grand Slam quarterfinal. Aoyama also reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 2013 with Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa.

   Also tonight, third-seeded Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic beat unseeded Sharon Fichman of Canada and Giuliana Olmos, a product of Fremont in the Bay Area who plays for Mexico, 7-5, 5-7, 6-2.

   Fichman, 30, and Olmos, 27, had never advanced past the second round in a major, separately or together, before this year's Australian Open.

   In the women's singles quarterfinals, third-seeded Naomi Osaka dismissed unseeded Hsieh Su-Wei of Chinese Taipei 6-2, 6-2 in 56 minutes.

   Osaka, the 2019 champion, will face 10th seed and seven-time champion Serena Williams, who dominated second-seeded Simona Halep 6-3, 6-3. Osaka is 2-1 against Williams, including a victory in the turbulent 2018 U.S. Open final. 

   Williams, 39, is making her 11th attempt to tie Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles. Osaka made her WTA main-draw debut at age 16 at Stanford in 2014, when Williams won the last of her three titles there.

   In the men's singles quarterfinals, qualifier Aslan Karatsev of Russia beat 18th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2. Dimitrov, a three-time Grand Slam semifinalist, began suffering back spasms late in the second set and played half-heartedly the rest of the way.

   Karatsev, 27, became the first man in the Open Era to reach the semifinals in his Grand Slam main-draw debut. At No. 114, he is the lowest-ranked man to reach a major semifinal since Goran Ivanisevic at Wimbledon in 2001.

   Karatsev will face top-ranked Novak Djokovic, who outlasted sixth-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (6), for the first time.

   Djokovic, seeking his third consecutive Australian Open title and ninth overall, suffered an abdominal muscle injury in his five-set victory over Taylor Fritz in the third round.

Medvedev masters McDonald to reach AO quarterfinals

Mackenzie McDonald had been the only re-
maining U.S. man in the Australian Open.
2018 photo by Paul Bauman

   Fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev of Russia dispatched Mackenzie McDonald, a 25-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 in 1 hour, 29 minutes today in the fourth round of the Australian Open in Melbourne.

   Medvedev, the runner-up in the 2019 U.S. Open, advanced to his first Australian Open quarterfinal. He has won all nine sets in his four career matches against McDonald, who had been the only remaining U.S. man in Australian Open singles.

   McDonald, now based in Orlando, Fla., equaled his best result in a Grand Slam tournament. He also advanced to the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2018 before undergoing right hamstring surgery in June 2019 and missing seven months.

   The women's quarterfinals will feature an all-American matchup between 22nd-seeded Jennifer Brady and unseeded Jessica Pegula. 

   Brady, who swept the singles and doubles titles in the 2014 Redding, Calif., Challenger, beat 28th-seeded Donna Vekic of Croatia 6-1, 7-5. Vekic reached the semifinals of the 2019 Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif.

   Pegula, the 26-year-old daughter of Buffalo Bills and Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula, surprised fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to reach her first major quarterfinal.

   Pegula advanced to the final of the 2012 Sacramento, Calif., Challenger at 18 and the semifinals of the 2018 Stockton, Calif., Challenger.

   Advancing to the doubles quarterfinals were fifth seeds and defending champions Rajeev Ram, a volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley, and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain as well as unseeded Sharon Fichman and Giuliana Olmos, a product of Fremont in the Bay Area who plays for Mexico. 

   Ram and Salisbury topped 10th-seeded John Peers of Australia and Michael Venus of New Zealand 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4).

   Ram and Salisbury will meet unseeded Marcus Daniell of New Zealand and Philipp Oswald of Austria. Daniell, 31, announced last month that he will donate 10 percent of his prize money for the rest of his career to charity.

   Fichman and Olmos — who had never advanced past the second round in a major, separately or together — dominated unseeded Leylah Fernandez, 18, of Canada and Heather Watson of Great Britain 6-3, 6-2.

   Fichman and Olmos will face third-seeded Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic.

   Krejcikova and Siniakova won the French Open and Wimbledon in 2018. Krejcikova also captured the Australian Open mixed doubles title in 2019 with Ram and last year with Nikola Mektic of Croatia.

   In the second round of mixed doubles, sixth-seeded Krejcikova and Ram are tied with Ena Shibahara and Ben McLachlan (Cal, 2011-14) of Japan 6-4, 3-6. Shibahara and McLachlan, whose mother is Japanese, are natives of the Bay Area and New Zealand, respectively.

Bay Area's Olmos captures Acapulco doubles title

Giuliana Olmos, left, and Desirae Krawczyk pose after winning the doubles
title in the 2017 Sacramento (Calif.) Challenger. Photo by Rob Vomund

   Giuliana Olmos, a 26-year-old product of Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area, won her second career WTA doubles title today.
   Second-seeded Olmos, who plays for Mexico, and Desirae Krawczyk of Palm Desert, Calif., beat unseeded Kateryna Bondarenko, a 33-year-old mother from Ukraine, and Sharon Fichman of Canada 6-3, 7-6 (5) in Acapulco.
   Olmos and Krawczyk, last year's runners-up to Victoria Azarenka and Zheng Saisai, served for the match at 5-4 in the second set but were broken.
   Olmos, who was born in Austria, will rise five spots to No. 71 in the world doubles rankings on Monday. She also won the Nottingham title on grass with Krawczyk last June and climbed to a career-high No. 65 in September.
   Olmos and Krawczyk – former Pacific-12 Conference rivals at USC and Arizona State, respectively – split $13,580. Bondarenko and Fichman shared $7,200.

Bay Area's Olmos claims first WTA doubles title

Giuliana Olmos, left, and Desirae Krawczyk pose after winning the doubles title
in the 2017 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger in the Sacramento area. Photo
by Rob Vomund

   Giuliana Olmos, from Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area, won her first WTA doubles title on Sunday.
   In a battle of unseeded teams, Olmos and Desirae Krawczyk from Palm Desert, Calif., beat Ellen Perez and Arina Rodionova of Australia 7-6 (5), 7-5 in the final of the Nature Valley Open in Nottingham, England.
   Krawczyk and Olmos -- former Pacific-12 Conference rivals at Arizona State and USC, respectively -- did not lose a set in their four matches in the grass-court tournament.
   Olmos, a 26-year-old Austria native who plays for Mexico, rose eight spots to a career-high No. 67 in doubles.

U.S. trails 2-0 in Fed Cup; Gibbs reaches Las Vegas final

Sofia Kenin, shown in July, narrowly lost in her Fed
Cup debut today. Photo by Paul Bauman

   The Czech Republic almost certainly will win the Fed Cup title for the fourth time in five years and sixth time in eight years on Sunday.
   The Czechs' "B" team leads the defending champion United States' "C" team 2-0 in the best-of-five competition in Prague.
   It's very unlikely that the Americans will win both reverse singles matches to tie the final, and even if they do, the Czechs will send the No. 1 doubles team in the world against two players debuting in the Fed Cup in the deciding match.
   Barbora Stycova, ranked 33rd, topped 52nd-ranked Sofia Kenin 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-4 in the opening rubber today on an indoor hardcourt. Kenin, who will turn 20 on Wednesday, also debuted in the Fed Cup.
   "It's funny because it's her first tie and my last one," the 32-year-old Strycova, who improved to 11-7 in Fed Cup singles (she's 11-4 in doubles), told reporters. "On one hand it's sad, but on the other, I experienced so many amazing moments with this team. I played with so many different players, both opponents and teammates. I will never forget this, because it was really special."
   Katerina Siniakova, ranked 31st, then defeated 63rd-ranked Alison Riske 6-3, 7-6 (2). Siniakova, 22, is now 2-1 in Fed Cup singles (she's 1-2 in doubles).
   Eighth-ranked Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic withdrew from the final with calf and wrist injuries. Seventh-ranked Petra Kvitova sat out today with a fever but could play on Sunday. The left-hander won Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014 before suffering severe injuries to her left hand in a December 2016 knife attack,
   Kenin and Riske are ranked sixth and seventh, respectively, in singles in the United States. Absent are No. 6 Sloane Stephens, No. 16 Serena Williams, No. 17 Madison Keys and No. 40 Venus Williams. No. 36 Danielle Collins is scheduled to play doubles only.
   Siniakova and Kenin will meet for the first time on Sunday at 3 a.m. PST (Tennis Channel), followed by Strycova against Riske. Strycova leads the head-to-head series 2-0. Then Barbora Krejcikova and Siniakova are set to play Collins and Nicole Melichar, a Czech native.
   Pliskova reached the final of the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, losing to Angelique Kerber, and Siniakova was the doubles runner-up at Stanford in 2014 with Paula Kania of Poland. The tournament moved to San Jose this year under a new sponsor.
   Riske advanced to the 2016 semifinals and 2015 quarterfinals at Stanford.
   Collins, who won the 2014 and 2016 NCAA singles titles while attending Virginia, reached the semifinals of the inaugural Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose in August.
   Kenin has won a Northern California Challenger in each of the past three years, including the $60,000 Berkeley Tennis Club Challenge in July.
   The United States and the Czech Republic lead all nations with 18 and 10 Fed Cup titles, respectively.
   USTA Pro Circuit -- Eighth-seeded Nicole Gibbs (Stanford, 2011-13) of Venice in the Los Angeles area beat qualifier Giuliana Olmos, a San Francisco Bay Area product who plays for Mexico, 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinals of the $80,000 Red Rock Pro Open in Las Vegas.
   Gibbs, 25, will face top-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland for the title. The 21-year-old Bencic, who reached a career-high No. 7 in February 2016, outplayed unseeded Kurumi Nara of Japan 6-1, 6-4.
   In the doubles final, second-seeded Asia Muhammad of Las Vegas and Maria Sanchez, a Modesto product, will play unseeded Americans Sophie Chang and Alexandra Mueller.
   College -- Bjorn Thomson and Parker Wynn of Texas Tech defeated Yuta Kikuchi and Jacob Brumm of Cal 6-3, 6-4 in a matchup of unseeded teams in the semifinals of the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships in Surprise, Ariz.

Roundup: Fed Cup, $80K Las Vegas, ITA Fall Nationals

Petra Kvitova will miss the opening day of the
Fed Cup with a fever. File photo by Paul Bauman

   The Czech Republic, which already had lost No. 8 Karolina Pliskova, also will be without No. 7 Petra Kvitova on Saturday in the Fed Cup final against the defending champion United States in Prague.
   Two days after Pliskova withdrew with calf and wrist injuries, the Czechs announced that Kvitova will miss at least the first day with a fever.
   Kvitova, 28, hopes to play in Sunday's reverse singles. The left-hander won Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014 before suffering severe injuries to her left hand in a December 2016 knife attack and undergoing surgery.
   The Czechs remain heavy favorites against the United States, which is missing four of its top five singles players. Absent are No. 6 Sloane Stephens, No. 16 Serena Williams, No. 17 Madison Keys and No. 40 Venus Williams.
   No. 33 Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic will face No. 52 Sofia Kenin in the opening rubber, followed by No. 31 Katerina Siniakova against No. 63 Alison Riske, a member of last year's team that beat host Belarus in the Fed Cup final.
   The top-ranked player on the U.S. team, No. 36 Danielle Collins, apparently will sit out Saturday. Three of the United States' four players -- Kenin, Collins and doubles No. 15 Nicole Melichar, a Czech native -- have never competed in the Fed Cup.
   Pliskova reached the final of the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, losing to Angelique Kerber, and Siniakova was the doubles runner-up at Stanford in 2014 at age 18 with Paula Kania of Poland. The tournament moved to San Jose under a new sponsor this year.
   Collins advanced to the semifinals of the inaugural Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose in August.
   Kenin, who will turn 20 on Wednesday, has won a Northern California Challenger in each of the past three years, including the $60,000 Berkeley Tennis Club Challenge in July.
   Riske reached the 2016 semifinals and 2015 quarterfinals at Stanford.
   The United States leads all nations with 18 Fed Cup titles. The Czech Republic is next with 10, including five in the last seven years.
   Tennis Channel will televise the best-of-five-match series on an indoor hardcourt beginning at 5 a.m. PST on Saturday.
   USTA Pro Circuit -- Nicole Gibbs and Giuliana Olmos, 25-year-old former Pacific-12 Conference stars with strong Northern California ties, are scheduled to meet for the first time in the semifinals of the $80,000 Red Rock Pro Open in Las Vegas.
   The eighth-seeded Gibbs, who won three NCAA titles (two in singles and one in doubles) at Stanford, beat fellow Los Angeles-area resident Danielle Lao 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-3.
   Olmos, a qualifier and former USC All-American, was born in Austria, grew up in Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area and plays for Mexico. She eliminated third-seeded Fanni Stollar of Hungary 6-4, 6-2 to reach her first semifinal in a tournament larger than $15,000.
   In the other semifinal, top seed and former world No. 7 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland will meet sixth-seeded Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic.
   Second-seeded Asia Muhammad of Las Vegas and Maria Sanchez, a Modesto product, will play unseeded Americans Sophie Chang and Alexandra Mueller in Sunday's doubles final.
   College -- Jacob Brumm and Yuta Kikuchi of Cal defeated Brian Berdusco and Johannes Ingildsen of Florida 7-5, 6-4 in a matchup of unseeded teams in the quarterfinals of the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships in Surprise, Ariz.
   In the women's doubles quarterfinals, second-seeded Makenna Jones and Cameron Morra of North Carolina beat Cal's Anna Bright and Jasie Dunk 6-1, 6-4.

Rare walkover gives Anisimova, 15, her first pro title

Amanda Anisimova, a potential superstar from Hallandale Beach, Fla., won her
first professional title when Ajla Tomljanovic withdrew from the final of the
$60,000 Sacramento Challenger with a shoulder injury. Photo by Rob Vomund

   GOLD RIVER, Calif. -- Yes, it was anticlimactic.
   Still, it could be historic.
   Fifteen-year-old Amanda Anisimova, a potential superstar from Hallandale Beach, Fla., won her first professional title on Sunday when Croatia's Ajla Tomljanovic (pronounced Eye-la Tom-yawn-o-vich) withdrew from the final of the $60,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger with a right shoulder injury.
   Anisimova had been 0-3 in finals, all on clay this year. She said the title at the Gold River Racquet Club in the Sacramento area "means a lot. I was in two different (U.S.) finals before, $80,000 and $60,000. I was pretty unhappy that I lost both of those, but I came in here wanting to get my first title. I'm just really happy I finally got it. Maybe this will give me some more confidence and I can win next week, too."
   Anisimova, who will head to Lexington, Ky., for the $60,000 Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships, admitted that the walkover made the title less satisfying.
   "Yeah, I guess a little bit because I didn't earn it and we didn't have the match," she said. "At the same time, I had a couple tough matches. I played some really good players, so it feels pretty good that I got past that."
   Anisimova won three-setters against qualifier Chanel Simmonds, a left-hander from South Africa, in the quarterfinals and second-seeded Kristie Ahn, a former Stanford star based in Orlando, Fla., in the semifinals.
   Anisimova turned pro last September shortly after turning 15 and made her Grand Slam main-draw debut in May at the French Open. She became the youngest player to compete at Roland Garros since France's Alize Cornet also was 15 in 2005. Anisimova, who was profiled in The New York Times before the tournament, lost in the opening round to Kurumi Nara of Japan 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.
   The right-handed Tomljanovic, a former top-50 player, underwent surgery on her right shoulder in February 2016 and missed the rest of the year. She had treatment on the shoulder twice during her 6-4, 6-0 victory over eighth seed and defending champion Sofia Kenin, 18, of Pembroke Pines, Fla., in the semifinals on Saturday night. Kenin took a medical timeout for a left calf injury after Tomljanovic held serve for 2-0 in the second set.
   The final was going to be an enticing first-time meeting between tall power players. The 24-year-old Tomljanovic is 5-foot-11 (1.80 meters), one inch (2.54 centimeters) taller than Anisimova. Both were unseeded.
   Missy Malool said the walkover is only the second she has experienced in a final in her 21 years as a USTA on-site supervisor. Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia pulled out against Laura Granville, another ex-Stanford star, in a $50,000 clay-court tournament in Charlottesville, Va., in 2006 with a leg injury.
    "Right before the singles final, she came to me in tears and said she couldn't play," Malool recalled. "She walked out and spoke to the crowd, and everybody understood."
   Cibulkova, now 28, is ranked No. 11 after reaching a career-high No. 4 in March.
    Anisimova learned of Tomljanovic's withdrawal at about noon but stayed at the club until after the 5 p.m. doubles final to receive her trophy. Helping her celebrate were her Russian parents, Konstantin Anisimov and Olga, and her new coach, Henner Nehles, a German-born former UNLV star.
   Anisimova, a native of Freehold Township, N.J., speaks Russian at home but has never been to her parents' homeland.
   She soared from No. 250 in the world to No. 188 to become the youngest woman by far in the top 200. Next are three 17-year-olds: No. 129 Kayla Day of Santa Barbara, Calif., No. 147 Sofya Zhuk of Russia, No. 153 Destanee Aiava of Australia and No. 167 Bianca Andreescu of Canada.
   Anisimova beat Day 6-3, 7-5 in the first round of the Gold River Challenger.
   Grace Kim remains the youngest player to win a tournament on the USTA Pro Circuit. She was 13 years, 8 months and 16 days when she triumphed in Flemington, N.J., in 1982.
   Tomljanovic jumped from No. 270 to No. 228. She left the Gold River Racquet Club early to begin treatment at Stanford, the site of this week's Bank of the West Classic in the major leagues of women's tennis.
   A quarterfinalist at Stanford two years ago, Tomljanovic is scheduled to play 2012 runner-up CoCo Vandeweghe, seeded sixth and ranked 24th, in the first round on Tuesday or Wednesday.
   Anisimova took home $9,119, but that's likely pocket change for her. When asked if she has endorsement contracts, Anisimova said, "Um, I'm sponsored by Nike and Babolat, but I'd rather not say ... for personal reasons."
   Tomljanovic collected $4,863.

Giuliana Olmos, left, from Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Desirae
Krawczyk won the doubles title. Photo by Rob Vomund

   In the doubles final, second-seeded Desirae Krawczyk from Palm Desert, Calif., and Giuliana Olmos from Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area routed top-seeded Jovana Jaksic of Serbia and Vera Lapko of Belarus 6-1, 6-2.
   It was the fifth and biggest ITF (minor-league) title for Krawczyk and Olmos together, all this year. Olmos, a 24-year-old former USC All-American, plays for Mexico. Krawczyk, a 23-year-old left-hander, starred at Arizona State.
   Serbian Vlade Divac, the general manager of the NBA's Sacramento Kings, attended the doubles final.
   Here are the complete Sacramento singles and doubles draws.

Olmos captures doubles title in Oracle/ITA Masters

   USC's Giuliana Olmos, a senior from Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Gabby Smith defeated Mami Adachi and Aldila Sutjiadi of Kentucky 6-2, 6-2 on Sunday to win the women's doubles title in the inaugural Oracle/ITA Masters in Malibu, Calif.
   Both teams were unseeded.
   Olmos and Smith never lost more than three games in a set in their three matches.
   "We came in with not many expectations and just tried to get off to a fast start in every match," Olmos said on itatennis.com.
   Fourth-seeded Danielle Collins of Virginia won the women's singles title by walkover. Unseeded Hayley Carter of North Carolina was unable to play after suffering a wrist injury on Saturday.
   Collins captured last year's NCAA title, beating Cal's Lynn Chi in the final in Athens, Ga.
   Cameron Norrie of Texas Christian won the Oracle/ITA Masters men's singles title with a 6-3, 7-6 (2) victory over Nicolas Alvarez of Duke. Both players were unseeded.
   In the men's doubles final, second-seeded Luca Corinteli and Ryan Shane of NCAA champion Virginia topped unseeded Guilherme Hadlich and Gabriel Sidney of Pepperdine 7-5, 6-4. Shane won the NCAA singles title in May in Waco, Texas.

Cal's Manasse falls in Oracle/ITA Masters semis

   Danielle Collins of Virginia again dashed Cal's hopes on Saturday.
   The fourth-seeded Collins beat top-seeded Maegan Manasse 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-4 to reach the final of the inaugural Oracle/ITA Masters in Malibu, Calif.
   Earlier Saturday in the quarterfinals, Manasse defeated Luisa Stefani of host Pepperdine 7-5, 6-2, and Collins trounced Sinead Lohan of Miami 6-1, 6-0.
   Collins defeated two Cal players, Anett Schutting in the second round and Lynn Chi in the final, at the 2014 NCAA Championships in Athens, Ga. Schutting has completed her eligibility, but Chi is a senior.
   Collins will face Hayley Carter of North Carolina in today's final. Carter beat Giuliana Olmos, a USC senior from Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area, 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals and Joana Eidukonyte of Clemson 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinals. Olmos ousted second-seeded Stephanie Wagner of Miami in the first round on Friday.
   Olmos will play for the doubles title with fellow Trojan Gabby Smith. They defeated No. 2 seeds Sydney Campbell and Courtney Colton of reigning NCAA champion Vanderbilt 6-2, 6-3.
   Olmos and Smith will meet Mami Adachi and Aldila Sutjiadi of Kentucky. Adachi and Sutjiadi toppled No. 1 seeds Manasse and Denise Starr 7-6 (3), 6-3.

Fremont's Olmos ousts second seed in ITA Masters

   Giuliana Olmos, a USC senior from Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area, upset second-seeded Stephanie Wagner of Miami 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3 on Friday in the first round of the inaugural Oracle/ITA Masters in Malibu, Calif.
   Olmos, ranked 10th nationally, fought off a match point in the second set. Wagner, a senior from Germany, is ranked sixth. She reached the NCAA singles semifinals in Waco, Texas, in May.
   Olmos will face Haley Carter of North Carolina in today's quarterfinals. Carter defeated Ronit Yurovsky of Michigan 6-4, 7-6 (4).
   Top-seeded Maegan Manasse of Cal defeated Kiah Generette of Baylor 7-5, 6-4. Manasse, a junior from Redondo Beach, Calif., will meet Luisa Stefani of host Pepperdine. Stefani beat Astra Sharma of reigning NCAA champion Vanderbilt 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.
   Klara Fabikova of Cal lost to Joana Eidukonyte of Clemson 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-2.
   In the first round of the eight-team doubles event, top-seeded Manasse and Denise Starr crushed Sinea Lohan and Wagner 6-1, 6-0.
   Also, Olmos and Gabby Smith outclassed Saska Gavrilovska and Rachel Pierson of Texas A&M 6-2, 6-3.