Modesto native Maria Sanchez, seeded 12th, defeated Ana Vrljic of Croatia 7-5, 6-1 today in the first round of Wimbledon singles qualifying in London.
Sanchez, a 23-year-old former All-American at USC, made her Wimbledon qualifying debut after reaching the third round of the main draw in Birmingham, England, as a qualifier last week. Ranked No. 114 in the world, she needs two more victories to earn her first berth in the main draw at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.
Vrljic, 18, is ranked No. 192.
Sanchez, who's mentored by International Tennis Hall of Famer Chris Evert, is scheduled to face Shahar Peer of Israel on Wednesday in the second round. Peer, a two-time Grand Slam singles quarterfinalist and two-time doubles champion at Stanford, routed British wild card Melanie South 6-2, 6-0.
Peer reached a career-high No. 11 in singles in 2011 but, plagued by injuries, has plummeted to No. 168. Her best singles result at Wimbledon is the fourth round of the main draw five years ago. Earlier that year, she advanced to the Australian Open women's doubles final with Victoria Azarenka.
Nicole Gibbs and Bradley Klahn, both of whom have won NCAA singles titles while at Stanford, lost in the first round of qualifying in contrasting fashion.
Gibbs, who decided to forgo her senior year after winning the last two NCAA crowns, fell to seventh-seeded Yvonne Meusberger of Austria 6-3, 6-1. Klahn, the 2010 NCAA champion as a sophomore, came up just short against wild card Filip Peliwo of Canada 6-2, 1-6, 9-7.
Peliwo, 19, became the first Canadian male and second Canadian ever to win a Grand Slam singles title when he took last year's Wimbledon boys crown. The previous day, countrywoman Eugenie Bouchard captured the girls title at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.
Peliwo made it two Grand Slam boys singles titles in a row at the U.S. Open last year.
Israeli withdraws -- Israel's Julia Glushko withdrew from the $50,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger, July 1-6 at the Gold River Racquet Club in the Sacramento suburb of Gold River.
Glushko, 23, had been the top-ranked player on the acceptance list at No. 129.
The top three players on the entry list now are No. 131 Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal, No. 135 Jessica Pegula of Boca Raton, Fla., and No. 145 Casey Dellacqua of Australia. Sanchez, who won last year's inaugural tournament, could receive a wild card.
Pegula reached last year's final at 18. Her billionaire father,
Terry, owns the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League.
Larcher de Brito played one season for the Sacramento Capitals, helping
them win the last of their record six World TeamTennis titles in 2007. At 14, she
was the youngest player
in league history until Madison Keys surpassed her by 19 days two years
later as a 14-year-old with the Philadelphia Freedoms. Keys, who also
lives in Boca Raton, is now ranked a career-high 53rd.
Dellacqua, a 28-year-old left-hander, won the 2011 French Open mixed doubles title with former
Stanford All-American Scott Lipsky and reached this year's Australian
Open doubles final with countrywoman Ashleigh Barty, then 16. It was the
first time since 1977 that two Aussie women played in the Australian
Open title match.
PRO RANKINGS
Following a
re this week's world rankings of professional players with Northern California ties (change from last week in parentheses):
Men
Bob Bryan, 1998 NCAA doubles champion from Stanford -- Career-high No. 1 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
Mike Bryan, 1998 NCAA doubles champion from Stanford --
Career-high No. 1 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
Mardy Fish, Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis (2012-13) -- No. 43 in singles (no change), No. 347 in doubles (-4).
Bradley Klahn, 2010 NCAA singles champion and 2011 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford --
Career-high No. 178 in singles (+2), No. 281 in doubles (-2).
Scott Lipsky, 2002 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford --
Career-high No. 21 in doubles (+1), unranked in singles.
Sam Querrey, San Francisco native, Capitals (2012-13) -- No. 19 in singles (no change), No. 95 in doubles (+6).
Ryan Sweeting, Capitals (2012-13) -- No. 287 in singles (-18), No. 865 in doubles (no change).
Dmitry Tursunov, Folsom resident from Russia -- No. 65 in singles (-1), No. 142 in doubles (+1).
Women
Mallory Burdette, NCAA singles runner-up in 2012 and NCAA doubles champion in 2011 and 2012 from Stanford -- Career-high No. 69 in singles (no change), No. 346 in doubles (+6).
Raquel Kops-Jones, 2003 NCAA doubles champion from Cal -- Career-high No. 12 in doubles (+2), unranked in singles.
Megan Moulton-Levy, Capitals (2013) -- Career-high No. 59 in doubles (+3), unranked in singles.
Maria Sanchez, Modesto product -- No. 114 in singles (+2), No. 113 in doubles (+7).
Taylor Townsend, Capitals (2013) --
Career-high No. 333 in singles (no change), No. 537 in doubles (-4).
TV SCHEDULE
(All times PDT)
Wednesday
Eastbourne (men), early rounds, Tennis Channel, noon-4 p.m. (delay), 4-8 p.m. (repeat).
Thursday
Eastbourne (women), quarterfinals, Tennis Channel, 5-9 a.m. (live), 9-11 a.m. (repeat), 4-8 p.m. (repeat).
Eastbourne (men), quarterfinals, Tennis Channel, noon-4 p.m. (delay), 8 p.m.-midnight (repeat).
Friday
Eastbourne (women), semifinals, Tennis Channel, 3-7 a.m. (live), 7-11 a.m. (repeat), 8 p.m.-midnight (repeat).
s'-Hertogenbosch (men), semifinals, Tennis Channel, noon-4 p.m. (delay).
Eastbourne (men), semifinals, Tennis Channel, 4-8 p.m. (delay).
Saturday
Eastbourne (women), final, Tennis Channel, 5-7 a.m. (live), 6-8 p.m. (repeat).
Eastbourne (men), final, Tennis Channel, 2-4 p.m. (delay), 8-10 p.m. (repeat).
s'-Hertogenbosch (women), final, Tennis Channel, noon-2 p.m. (delay), .
s'-Hertogenbosch (men), final, Tennis Channel, 4-6 p.m. (delay).
CALENDAR
Friday --
WIMBLEDON men's and women's singles draws announced.
Monday-July 7 --
WIMBLEDON,
www.wimbledon.com. 2012 champions: Roger Federer, Serena Williams,
Jonathan Marray-Frederik Nielsen, Serena Williams-Venus Williams.
June 29-July 6
-- $50,000 Gold River Women's Challenger, Gold River Racquet Club, Gold
River, Calif. Saturday, June 29-Sunday, June 30, qualifying; Monday,
July 1 (main draw), 10 a.m.; Tuesday, July 2-Thursday, July 4, noon and
6:30 p.m.; Friday, July 5 (semifinals), 4 p.m.; Saturday, July 6
(finals), 7 p.m. www.usta.com, www.sparetimeclubs.com.
2012 champions: Maria Sanchez, Asia Muhammad-Yasmin Schnack.
July 6-8 -- West Coast Junior Championships, Rio del Oro Racquet Club, 119 Scripps Dr., Sacramento 95825, www.norcal.usta.com.
July 7 -- Sacramento
Capitals open season vs. Texas in World TeamTennis, Capitals
Stadium at Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, Calif., 7:35 p.m.,
www.saccaps.com.
July 8 -- Capitals vs. Philadelphia, Capitals
Stadium at Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, Calif., 7:35 p.m.,
www.saccaps.com.
July 10 -- Capitals (with Mardy Fish) vs. Orange County, Capitals
Stadium at Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, Calif., 7:35 p.m.,
www.saccaps.com.
July 12 -- Capitals (with Mardy Fish) vs. Boston, Capitals
Stadium at Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, Calif., 7:35 p.m.,
www.saccaps.com.
July 13 -- Capitals (with Mardy Fish) vs. Washington, Capitals
Stadium at Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, Calif., 7:35 p.m.,
www.saccaps.com.
July 17 -- Capitals vs. Texas (with Bob and Mike Bryan)
, Capitals
Stadium at Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, Calif., 7:35 p.m.,
www.saccaps.com.
July 22 -- Capitals (with Sam Querrey) vs. Orange County, Capitals
Stadium at Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, Calif., 7:35 p.m.,
www.saccaps.com.
July 22-28 -- Bank of the
West Classic, Stanford, www.bankofthewestclassic.com. 2012 champions:
Serena Williams, Marina Erakovic-Heather Watson.
July 25 -- World TeamTennis conference championships at highest seeds, www.wtt.com.
July 28 -- World TeamTennis Finals at Eastern Conference champion, www.wtt.com.
Aug. 5-11
-- $100,00 Comerica Bank Challenger, Seascape Sports Club, Aptos,
Calif., www.seascapesportsclub.com/challenger. 2012 champions: Steve
Johnson, Rik de Voest-John Peers.
Jessica PEGULA (USA)
