Defending champ possible for Gold River Challenger

   Defending champion Maria Sanchez could receive a wild card for the $50,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger.
   The way was cleared for the 23-year-old Modesto native to return when she was eliminated from Wimbledon singles and doubles qualifying today. With a singles world ranking of No. 114, she could be seeded first in the July 1-6 tournament at the Gold River Racquet Club in the Sacramento area.
   An announcement might come Thursday, according to tournament spokesman Clint Swett.
   Sanchez's return tentatively would give the Gold River Challenger both finalists from last year's inaugural tournament. Sanchez defeated Jessica Pegula, then 18, of Boca Raton, Fla., 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
   Meanwhile, Russia's Alisa Kleybanova, a former top-20 player who has won two WTA titles, probably will play in the June 28-29 qualifying event for the Gold River Challenger, Swett announced. The 23-year-old Kleybanova has been fighting Hodgkin's lymphoma, a form of cancer, for the past two years.
   Sanchez, playing Wimbledon qualifying for the first time this year, lost to Israeli veteran Shahar Peer 6-3, 6-2 in the second round in London.
   Sanchez, a former All-American at USC who's mentored by International Tennis Hall of Famer Chris Evert, also fell in the first round of doubles qualifying. She and Olga Puchkova of Russia succumbed to fifth-seeded Raluca Olaru of Romania and Olga Savchuk of Ukraine 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
   Puchkova played two matches for the Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis in 2008 and reached the singles final of the $25,000 Oak River Rehab Challenger in Redding in 2011.
   Peer climbed to a career-high No. 11 in the world in 2011 but, hampered by injuries, has plunged to No. 168. She reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and U.S. Open in 2007 and the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2008.
   In doubles, Peer advanced to the final of the 2008 Australian Open with Victoria Azarenka and won the title at Stanford with Anna-Lena Groenefeld in 2006 and Sania Mirza in 2007.

$50,000 FSP GOLD RIVER WOMEN'S CHALLENGER

July 1-6 at Gold River Racquet Club

Updated acceptance list (subject to change)

(Rankings as of June 10)

1	Jessica PEGULA (USA)	123
2	Michelle LARCHER DE BRITO (POR)	130
3	Casey DELLACQUA (AUS)	139
4	Olivia ROGOWSKA (AUS)	146
5	Chanel SIMMONDS (RSA)	166
6	Julie COIN (FRA)	176
7	Madison BRENGLE (USA)	219
8	Petra RAMPRE (SLO)	225
9	Ivana LISJAK (CRO)	236
10	Heidi EL TABAKH (CAN)	280
11	Jarmila GAJDOSOVA (AUS)	281
12	Storm SANDERS (AUS)	282
13	Victoria DUVAL (USA)	303
14	Allie KIICK (USA)	306
15	Sanaz MARAND (USA)	324
16	Jelena PANDZIC (CRO)	329
17	So-Ra LEE (KOR)	336
18	Allie WILL (USA)	337
19	Naomi BROADY (GBR)	345
20	Mai MINOKOSHI (JPN)	347
21	Asia MUHAMMED (USA)	356
22	Peangtarn PLIPUECH (THA)	364
23	Mayo HIBI (JPN)	375
24	Ashley WEINHOLD (USA)	394

Tursunov gives Russia dramatic victory

   Dmitry Tursunov came through again for Russia.
   The longtime Sacramento-area resident defeated Ricardo Mello of Brazil 6-1, 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-3 Sunday to give Russia a dramatic 3-2 victory in Kazan, Russia, in the Davis Cup World Group playoffs. Russia will remain in the World Group next year, while Brazil will be relegated to zone competition.
   Mikhail Youzhny had kept Russia alive with a thrilling victory in Sunday's first singles match. Saving two match points, Youzhny edged Thomaz Bellucci 2-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 14-12 in five-hours.
   Igor Andreev, ranked No. 81, was scheduled to face Mello, ranked No. 120, in the deciding match. But Russia captain Shamil Tarpischev substituted Tursunov, ranked No. 41. Andreev had lost to Bellucci 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in Friday's second singles match.
   Tursunov, who struggled during the summer hardcourt season and lost in straight sets in Saturday's doubles match, said he found out "10 or 20 minutes" before Sunday's contest that he would be playing.
   "To be honest, I didn't look at it as how big the pressure is," Tursunov, 28, told Russia Today Sports. "I knew there are only two possible outcomes. I'm either going to win, or I'm going to lose. Neither of these are going to be career-ending or life-ending. The only thing my result would decide was where we would play our next match. I actually think that's a very rational way of looking at it."
   Tursunov helped Russia win the Davis Cup title five years ago. The Moscow native won clinching fourth matches against France in the quarterfinals and the United States in the semifinals and triumphed in doubles with Marat Safin in the final against Argentina. 
   Redding Challenger -- Third-seeded Julia Boserup of Boca Raton, Fla., defeated fifth-seeded Olga Puchkova of Russia 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 to win the $25,000 Oak River Rehab Challenger at Sun Oaks Tennis and Fitness in Redding.
   Boserup, a 20-year-old native of Santa Monica who turned pro last summer, earned $2,940 for her first career title. Ranked No. 297 in the world, she likely will move into the top 250.
   Meanwhile, Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove won her second consecutive Redding doubles title.  The top-seeded team of Schnack and Modesto's Maria Sanchez of Modesto -- former rivals at UCLA and USC, respectively -- edged second-seeded Brittany Augustine of Carson and Whitney Jones of St. Louis 7-6 (2), 4-6, 10-7 tiebreak.
   Schnack made her professional debut in Redding last year and won the doubles crown with Sacramento native Christina Fusano, who retired two weeks ago.
   WTA tour -- Top-seeded Raquel Kops-Jones of Fresno and Abigail Spears of San Diego beat unseeded Jamie Hampton of Auburn, Ala., and Anna Tatishvili of Georgia 6-1, 3-6, 10-6 tiebreak to win the doubles title of the $220,000 Bell Challenge in Quebec City.
   Kops-Jones, a former Cal All-American, has won four WTA doubles titles overall and two with Spears. The pair also triumphed in Estoril, Portugal, two years ago.      

Tursunov loses in Davis Cup doubles

   Even though Dmitry Tursunov and Igor Kunitsyn were playing at home in Russia, their straight-set loss Saturday in the Davis Cup came as little surprise.
   Tursunov, a longtime Sacramento-area resident, and Kunitsyn fell to Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares of Brazil 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 in Kazan, Russia.
   Brazil leads the best-of-five-match World Group playoff 2-1 entering today's reverse singles matches. The winner will play in next year's World Group, while the loser will be relegated to zone competition.
   Melo and Soares have played 42 matches together this year to Tursunov and Kunitsyn's two.
   "I think the key was we don't play much doubles together at all," Kunitsyn, formerly Tursunov's regular partner, was quoted as saying on daviscup.com. "When you get to crucial points and you don't have the experience of playing doubles on a weekly basis, you're obviously going to make some wrong decisions or not take the risk you normally would."
   Also, Tursunov and Kunitsyn, both former top-50 doubles players, have fallen to No. 93 and No. 221, respectively. In contrast, Soares is ranked 22nd and Melo 35th.
  Today's scheduled singles matches are Mikhail Youhzny of Russia against Thomaz Bellucci followed by Igor Andreev of Russia against Ricardo Mello.
   Redding Women's Challenger -- Order was restored in the $25,000 Oak River Rehab Challenger at Sun Oaks Tennis and Fitness.
   After three seeds were upset in Friday's quarterfinals, each of which lasted three sets, third-seeded Julia Boserup and fifth-seeded Olga Puchkova breezed to straight-set victories.
   Boserup defeated wild card Allie Will 6-2, 6-3 in a matchup of 20-year-old residents of Boca Raton, Fla. Puchkova, a Russian who will turn 24 on Sept. 27, dismissed Yuliana Lizarazo, 18, of Colombia 6-1, 6-2.
   Boserup and Puchkova, both 5-foot-11, will vie for the title today at noon in their first career meeting. Boserup, ranked No. 293, seeks her first career singles title and Puchkova, who reached No. 32 in 2007 but has fallen to No. 287 because of injuries, her second.
   After the singles final, Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove will play for her second consecutive Redding doubles title. The top-seeded team of Schnack and Maria Sanchez of Modesto will face second-seeded Brittany Augustine of Carson and Whitney Jones of St. Louis.
   Schnack made her professional debut in last year's tournament and won the doubles crown with Sacramento native Christina Fusano, who retired two weeks ago. 

  
 

Schnack, top two seeds upset in Redding

   Three seeds, including Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove, were upset on a wild day at the $25,000 Oak River Rehab Challenger in Redding.
   Schnack, seeded eighth, lost to unseeded Yuliana Lizarazo, 18, of Colombia 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-1 in Friday's quarterfinals at Sun Oaks Tennis and Fitness. Afterward, Schnack said she landed awkwardly on a serve in the second set and strained a hamstring.
   Every quarterfinal went three sets. Top-seeded Camila Giorgi of Italy suffered a particularly agonizing loss to fifth-seeded Olga Puchkova of Russia. Not only was the score 6-2, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5), the match ended on a net-cord winner.
   "I was feeling pretty bad for her," Puchkova, who played two matches for the Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis in 2008, told the Redding Record-Searchlight. "It was a tough match, and for it to end that way, it was unfair to her. She is a real good player, and it was a tight third set. But that's tennis."
   Puchkova, who reached No. 32 in the world in 2007, and Lizarazo will meet in one semifinal. Third-seeded Julia Boserup will face wild card and fellow Boca Raton, Fla., resident Allie Will in the other.
   Will, a junior on Florida's reigning NCAA championship team, edged second-seeded Kurumi Nara of Japan 0-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5. Will, who has lost the first set in each of her three matches, eliminated seventh seed and former Capital Tammy Hendler in the first round.
   Boserup outlasted sixth-seeded Lauren Davis, 17, of Boca Raton 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Davis, only 5-foot-2, won the girls 18 singles title in the USTA National Championships last month in San Diego.
   Schnack lost in the quarterfinals for the third straight time in Redding, the first two times as a qualifier. But the 23-year-old former UCLA All-American will play for her second consecutive doubles title in the tournament.
   The top-seeded team of Schnack and her former USC rival, Maria Sanchez of Modesto, advanced to the final with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over unseeded Boserup and Malou Ejdesgaard of Denmark. Schnack and Sanchez will play second-seeded Brittany Augustine of El Segundo and Whitney Jones of St. Louis on Sunday.
   G'day, mate -- Newly crowned U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur of Australia played one year in the Redding Challenger, losing in the first round of singles and reaching the doubles semifinals in 2003.