Barty voted Player of Year; Stanford commit ousted

Ashleigh Barty won Wimbledon and, for the third consecutive season, ended the
year at No. 1 . 2019 photo by Harjanto Sumali

   International journalists voted Ashleigh Barty as the WTA Player of the Year for the second time, the organization announced Monday.

   Barty, a 25-year-old Australian, won her second Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon, led all players with five singles titles and ended the year at No. 1 for the third consecutive season.

   Also winning awards were Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova (Doubles Team of the Year), Krejcikova (Most Improved Player), Emma Raducanu (Newcomer of the Year) and Carla Suarez Navarro (Comeback Player of the Year). 

   Krejcikova and Siniakova, Czechs who also were voted as the Doubles Team of the Year in 2018, won their third Grand Slam crown in the French Open and triumphed in the WTA Finals. Siniakova finished the year at No. 1.

   Krejcikova won the first three singles titles of her career, including the French Open, and soared from No. 65 to No. 5 in the year-end rankings.

   Raducanu, now 19, of Great Britain became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam tournament in the U.S. Open. She did not drop a set in her 10 matches.

   Raducanu, ranked No. 343 at the beginning of 2021, ended the year at No. 19. She lost in the first round in San Jose after, at age 18, becoming the youngest British woman to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon.

   Suarez Navarro, from Spain, overcame Hodgkin's lymphoma to play in five tournaments before retiring at 33. She won only one match, against current No. 10 Ons Jabeur in the first round of the Tokyo Olympics, but extended Sloane Stephens and Barty to three sets at the French Open and Wimbledon, respectively.

   Suarez Navarro captured the doubles title in the 2014 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford with compatriot Garbiñe Muguruza.

   ATP Tour — Northern California products Mackenzie McDonald and Jenson Brooksby were nominated for Comeback Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year, respectively. Results of the playing voting will be announced this month.

   Both players skyrocketed to the top 60 in the rankings, reached their first ATP final and advanced to the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament. McDonald underwent hamstring surgery in June 2019.

   Juniors — No. 1 seed Samir Banerjee, a Stanford commit from Basking Ridge, N.J., and No. 14 seed Ethan Quinn, a Georgia signee from Fresno, Calif., lost in the first round of the Orange Bowl boys 18-and-unders on clay in Plantation, Fla.

   Switzerland's Kilian Feldbausch, the runner-up in last week's Eddie Herr International Championships in Bradenton, Fla., ousted Banerjee, the reigning Wimbledon boys singles champion, 6-3, 6-2. Henrique Rocha of Portugal edged Quinn 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (4).

   Michael Zheng, a Stanford commit from Montville, N.J., advanced with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Alvaro Guillen Meza of Ecuador. Zheng reached the Eddie Herr doubles final with Benjamin Kittay of Potomac, Md.

   In other opening-round matches:

   —Rebecca Munk Mortensen of Denmark topped No. 16 seed Alexis Blokhina, a Stanford signee from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in the girls 18s. 

   —No. 15 seed George Lazarov of Bulgaria defeated wild card Rudy Quan of Sacramento, Calif., 7-5, 6-3 in the boys 16s. Quan won the Eddie Herr 16s.

   —Adhithya Ganesan of Clarksburg, Md., and Quan beat Gevorg Mnatsakanyan of Gaithersburg, Md., and Jonathan Soeth of Great Britain 6-2, 6-2 in the boys 16s.

Qualifier Raducanu, 18, beats Fernandez for Open title

Emma Raducanu, shown in San Jose last month, did not lose a set in 10 matches
at Flushing Meadows. Only once, in the second round of qualifying, did she drop
as many as five games in a set. Photo by Mal Taam

   Emma Raducanu burst onto the scene at Wimbledon in July. Only two months later, she became a Grand Slam singles champion.

   The first qualifier in tennis history to reach a major final, the 18-year-old Briton beat unseeded Leylah Fernandez, a Canadian who turned 19 on Monday, 6-4, 6-3 today to win the U.S. Open. Neither finalist had been born on 9/11, which occurred exactly 20 years ago.

   It was the first all-teenage final in a Grand Slam tournament since Serena Williams, 17, defeated Martina Hingis, 18, in the 1999 U.S. Open.

   "Everything came together today," Raducanu told reporters. "To pull off some of the shots I did in the big moments was just an accumulation of everything I've learned in the past five weeks."

   Fernandez said the loss "definitely stings, but it will just make me want to work harder."

   Raducanu, ranked No. 338 before Wimbledon, skyrocketed 127 places to No. 23 with the title. She became the first British woman to win a major singles crown since Virginia Wade in 1977 and the first to capture the U.S. Open since Wade in 1968, the first year of Open tennis. Wade, 76, attended today's final. 

   Raducanu, the youngest Grand Slam champion since Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon at 17 in 2004, did not lose a set in 10 matches at Flushing Meadows. Only once, in the second round of qualifying, did she surrender as many as five games in a set.

   Raducanu was born in, ironically, Toronto to a Romanian father and Chinese mother and moved to England when she was 2. In July, she became the youngest British woman to advance to the round of 16 at Wimbledon in the Open Era. Under massive pressure in her home country, Raducanu retired because of an anxiety attack while trailing Ajla Tomljanovic 4-6, 0-3.

   In Raducanu's first match after Wimbledon, she lost to Zhang Shuai of China 6-3, 6-2 in the opening round of the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose as a wild card.

   Fernandez, who soared from No. 73 to No. 28, was trying to become the second 19-year-old Canadian in three years to win the U.S. Open. Bianca Andreescu stunned Serena Williams for the 2019 title.

   Fernandez advanced to the final with four consecutive three-set victories over seeds. She ousted No. 3 seed Naomi Osaka, who won her second U.S. Open title last year, in the third round, No. 16 seed Angelique Kerber, the 2016 U.S. Open champion, in the round of 16, No. 5 seed Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals and No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals.

   Raducanu saved eight of 10 break points in the first set, winning it on a forehand passing shot down the line on her fourth break point of the game. She broke for 4-2 in the second set with a forehand passing shot down the line and held for 5-2. Fernandez then saved two championship points and held for 3-5. 

   Raducano took a medical timeout for a cut below her left knee while serving at 5-3, 30-40. She escaped two break points and converted her third championship point with an ace.

   Mixed doubles — No. 2 seeds Desirae Krawczyk of Palm Desert, Calif., and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain defeated unseeded Giuliana Olmos, an Austria native who grew up in Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area and represents Mexico, and Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador 7-5, 6-2 in the final.

   Krawczyk, a 27-year-old left-hander, won her third consecutive Grand Slam mixed doubles title. She captured the French Open with Salisbury and Wimbledon with Neal Skupski of Great Britain this year.

   Salisbury became the first player to win the men's doubles and mixed doubles titles in the same year at the U.S. Open since Bob Bryan (Stanford, 1997-98) in 2010.

   Krawczyk and Olmos claimed the doubles title in the last (2017) Sacramento (Calif.) Challenger.

   Boys doubles — No. 8 seeds Viatcheslav Bielinskyi of Ukraine and Petr Nesterov of Bulgaria defeated wild cards Nicholas Godsick of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and Ethan Quinn of Fresno, Calif., 7-6 (2), 6-3 on Friday in the semifinals.

   Godsick's parents are Mary Joe Fernandez, a former top-five player in singles and doubles who now works as an ESPN commentator, and Tony Godsick, Roger Federer's agent.

Teens Raducanu, Fernandez advance to U.S. Open final

Emma Raducanu lost in the first round of last month's Mubadala Silicon Valley
Classic in San Jose. Photo by Mal Taam

   Emma Raducanu, 18, of Great Britain became the first qualifier in tennis history to reach a Grand Slam final, outslugging No. 17 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece 6-1, 6-4 tonight in the U.S. Open.

   Raducanu, ranked No. 150, has not lost a set in her nine matches at Flushing Meadows. Only once, in the second round of qualifying, has she dropped as many as five games in a set.

   Raducanu is scheduled to face unseeded Leylah Fernandez, a Canadian left-hander who turned 19 on Monday, for the first time as professionals on Saturday at 1 p.m. PDT (ESPN). It will be the first all-teenage major final since Serena Williams, 17, defeated Martina Hingis, 18, in the 1999 U.S. Open.

   Fernandez, ranked No. 73, topped No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-4 for her fourth consecutive three-set victory over a seed. Fernandez ousted No. 3 seed Naomi Osaka, who won her second U.S. Open title last year, in the third round, No. 16 seed Angelique Kerber, the 2016 U.S. Open champion, in the round of 16 and No. 5 seed Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals.

   The steady Fernandez broke at love for the match with the help of two consecutive double faults. Sabalenka, powerful but mercurial, led 3-0 and 4-1 in the first set and had a set point with Fernandez serving at 5-6 but netted a forehand. 

   Fernandez will try to become the second 19-year-old Canadian in three years to win the U.S. Open. Bianca Andreescu stunned Serena Williams in 2019.

   Raducanu beat Fernandez 6-2, 6-4 in the second round of the Wimbledon juniors in 2018.

   Neither Raducanu nor Fernandez has come out of nowhere.

   In July, Raducanu became the youngest British woman to advance to the round of 16 at Wimbledon in the Open Era, which began in 1968. Under massive pressure in her home country, she retired while trailing Ajla Tomljanovic 4-6, 0-3 because of difficulty breathing.

   In her first match after Wimbledon, Raducanu lost to Zhang Shuai of China 6-3, 6-2 in the opening round of the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic as a wild card.

   Fernandez reached a WTA final at 17 and won one at 18.

   Sakkari and Sabalenka —San Jose runners-up in 2018 and 2019, respectively — fell to 0-2 in Grand Slam semifinals. Sakkari had a match point in a marathon loss to eventual champion Barbora Krejcikova in the French Open in June, and Sabalenka also lost 6-4 in the third set to Karolina Pliskova at Wimbledon in July.

   Men's doubles — Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury reached their third Grand Slam final but first outside of Australia.

   The fourth-seeded Ram, a 37-year-old volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley from Carmel, Ind., and Salisbury, 28, of Great Britain beat wild cards Steve Johnson of Redondo Beach in the Los Angeles region and Sam Querrey, a 33-year-old San Francisco native, 7-6 (5), 6-4.

   Ram and Salisbury, the Australian Open champions in 2020 and runners-up this year, won their previous two matches in third-set tiebreakers. They saved four match points against unseeded Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell of Australia in the quarterfinals.

    Ram and Salisbury are set to play No. 7 seeds Jamie Murray of Great Britain and Bruno Soares of Brazil on Friday at 9 a.m. PDT (ESPN2). Murray, Andy's older brother, and Soares topped No. 8 seeds John Peers of Australia and Filip Polasek of Slovakia 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

   Soares is playing in his first tournament since Wimbledon. He underwent an appendectomy upon arriving at the Tokyo Olympics.

   Murray and Soares won the Australian Open and U.S. Open in 2016. Soares also prevailed at Flushing Meadows last year with Mate Pavic of Croatia.

   Ram and Salisbury beat Murray and Soares 6-4, 7-6 (2) in the semifinals of this year's Australian Open in their only previous meeting.

   Salisbury is trying to become the first man to win the men's doubles and mixed doubles titles in the same year at the U.S. Open since Bob Bryan (Stanford, 1997-98) in 2010, according to atptour.com. 

   Boys doubles —Wild cards Nicholas Godsick of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and Ethan Quinn of Fresno, Calif., will have to wait one day to play their quarterfinal against No. 3 seeds Sean Cuenin and Sascha Gueymard Wayenburg of France. The match was postponed by rain.

   Godsick's parents are Mary Joe Fernandez, a former top-five player in singles and doubles who now works as an ESPN commentator, and Tony Godsick, Roger Federer's agent.

Raducanu, 18, beats gold medalist to make Open history

Emma Raducanu, 18, of Great Britain plays in last month's Mubadala Silicon
Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif. Photo by Mal Taam

   Emma Raducanu, 18, of Great Britain defeated No. 11 seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 6-3, 6-4 today to become the first qualifier, female or male, to reach the U.S. Open semifinals.

   Bencic, 24, won the gold medal in women's singles in the Tokyo Olympics last month.

   Raducanu has not lost a set in her eight matches in the tournament. Only once, in the second round of qualifying, has she dropped as many as five games in a set. 

   In July, Raducanu became the youngest British woman to advance to the round of 16 at Wimbledon in the Open Era, which began in 1968. Under massive pressure in her home country, she retired while trailing Ajla Tomljanovic 4-6, 0-3 because of difficulty breathing.

   As a wild card in San Jose last month, Raducanu lost to Zhang Shuai of China in the opening round.

   Raducanu, ranked No. 150, is scheduled to face No. 17 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece for the first time on Thursday. Sakkari, who reached her first Grand Slam semifinal in the French Open in June, beat No. 4 seed Karolina Pliskova, the runner-up in the 2016 U.S. Open and at Wimbledon in July, 6-4, 6-4.

   The 5-foot-8 (1.73-meter) Sakkari, a finalist in the inaugural (2018) Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, won 24 of 26 points (92 percent) on her serve, including 22 in a row.

   Pliskova advanced to the final of the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.

   In Thursday's first semifinal at 4 p.m. PDT (ESPN), No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka, the San Jose runner-up in 2019, is set to meet Leylah Fernandez, an 18-year-old left-hander from Canada, for the first time.

   On the men's side, No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany extended his winning streak to 16 matches with a 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-4 victory over unseeded Lloyd Harris of South Africa.

   Zverev earned the gold medal in men's singles in the Tokyo Olympics, ending Novak Djokovic's bid for a Golden Slam in the semifinals, and won Cincinnati last month. Zverev also advanced to last year's U.S. Open final, losing to Dominic Thiem after leading two sets to none.

   Harris won a Northern California Challenger and reached the final of another in 2018.

   Zverev, who has denied allegations of domestic abuse, is set to play the top-ranked Djokovic in Friday's semifinals. Djokovic defeated No. 6 seed Matteo Berrettini of Italy 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 in a rematch of this year's Wimbledon final, which the 34-year-old Serb won 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.

   For the third consecutive match in the U.S. Open, Djokovic lost the first set and surrendered no more than three games in a set the rest of the way.

   Djokovic needs two more victories to complete the first calendar-year Grand Slam since 1969 and break the record of 20 Grand Slam men's singles titles he shares with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Djokovic is 6-3 against Zverev, 24.

   In Friday's other men's semifinal, No. 2 seed and 2019 runner-up Daniil Medvedev, 25, of Russia is scheduled to meet No. 12 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, a 21-year-old Canadian.

   Medvedev edged Auger-Aliassime 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7) in the second round in Montreal in 2018 in their only previous meeting.

   Mixed doubles — Giuliana Olmos, an Austria native who grew up in Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area and represents Mexico, and Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador topped Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine and Max Purcell of Australia 4-6, 6-4 [10-6] in a battle of unseeded teams to reach the final.

   Olmos and Arevalo, who have survived three consecutive match tiebreakers, are slated to play either No. 2 seeds Desirae Krawczyk, a native of Palm Desert, Calif., and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain or unseeded Americans Jessica Pegula and Austin Krajicek. 

   Olmos and Krawczyk won the doubles title in the last (2017) Sacramento (Calif.) Challenger.

   Boys doubles — Wild cards Nicholas Godsick of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and Ethan Quinn of Fresno, Calif., surprised No. 5 seeds Gonzalo Bueno of Peru and Adolfo Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay 6-3, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals.

   Godsick's parents are Mary Joe Fernandez, a former top-five player in singles and doubles who now works as an ESPN commentator, and Tony Godsick, Federer's agent.

British teen star Raducanu receives San Jose wild card

   Emma Raducanu, 18, of Great Britain accepted a wild card in next month's Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif., tournament officials announced today.

   Raducanu this month became the youngest British woman to reach the round of 16 at Wimbledon in the Open Era, which began in 1968. She soared from No. 338 in the world to No. 179.

   Raducanu retired from her fourth-round match at Wimbledon against Ajla Tomljanovic, the runner-up in the last (2017) Sacramento (Calif.) Challenger, because of difficulty breathing. Tomljanovic led 6-4, 3-0 at the time. 

   The Silicon Valley Classic is scheduled for Aug. 2-8 at San Jose State University, 

   ATP Tour — Austin Krajicek of Plano, Texas, and Vasek Pospisil of Canada ousted top-seeded Marcus Daniell of New Zealand and Ben McLachlan (University of California, Berkeley, 2011-14) of Japan 7-5, 6-3 in the first round of the Hall of Fame Open on grass in Newport, R.I.

   Both Krajicek and Pospisil have reached singles finals in Northern California Challengers. At Wimbledon, Pospisil won the doubles title with Jack Sock in 2014 and advanced to the singles quarterfinals in 2015. Pospisil had surgery for a herniated disk in 2019.

   Also in the opening round of Newport doubles, wild cards Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan and Dennis Novikov of San Jose, Calif., edged Robert Galloway of Greenville, S.C., and Alex Lawson of Tempe, Ariz., 4-6, 7-6 (2) [10-8]. Bublik wo the singles title in the 2017 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger.

   In the first round of doubles in Bastad, Sweden, Swedish wild cards Filip Bergevi (Cal, 2014-17) and Markus Eriksson beat Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Purav Raja of India 5-7, 6-3 [10-6]. Raja reached the doubles final of the 2014 Aptos Challenger with countryman Sanam Singh.

   WTA Tour — Wild card Panna Udvardy of Hungary dispatched Mayar Sherif (Fresno State, 2015-16) of Egypt 6-3, 6-1 in the opening round of the Hungarian Grand Prix on clay in Budapest. 

   USTA Pro Circuit — Ivana Corley, a rising senior at the University of Oklahoma from Albuquerque, N.M., eliminated Sabastiani Leon (San Jose State, 2011-14) of San Diego 6-4, 6-1 in the final-round qualifying for the $25,000 Women's Hospital Classic in Evansville, Ind.

   In the opening round of doubles, Jessica Failla, a graduate student at Pepperdine University last season from Ramona, Calif., in the San Diego area, and Katarina Jokic of Serbia surprised third-seeded Allura and Maribella Zamarripa, 18-year-old identical twins from St. Helena in the Napa Valley, 6-2, 4-6 [10-3].

   Also, Abigail Forbes, a rising junior at UCLA from Raleigh, N.C., and Katrina Scott, 17, of Woodland Hills, Calif., in the Los Angeles region defeated Nadia Echevarria of Venezuela and Leon by walkover.

   World TeamTennis — Mackenzie McDonald, a 26-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, will play for the Springfield Lasers. The season is scheduled for Nov. 13-28 in Indian Wells, Calif.  

   Juniors — The second-round match between top-seeded Emon van Loben Sels of Sacramento and 33rd-seeded Dillon Beckles of Round Rock, Texas, in the USTA Boys 16 National Clay Court Championships in Delray Beach, Fla., was postponed by rain. There is a 70 percent chance of rain on Wednesday. 

Past Sacramento finalist reaches Wimbledon round of 16

Ajla Tomljanovic advanced to the round of 16 in a Grand Slam tournament
for the second time. 2017 photo by Rob Vomund

   Ajla Tomljanovic, the runner-up in the last Sacramento (Calif.) Challenger in 2017, defeated Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 today in a third-round matchup of unseeded players at Wimbledon.

   Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion, led 2-0 in the second set and took an off-court medical timeout at 0-4 in the third set. She said she pulled an abdominal muscle in the second set.

   Tomljanovic (pronounced Tom-yon-o-vich), a 28-year-old Australian originally from Croatia, reached the round of 16 in a Grand Slam tournament for the second time. She also advanced to the fourth round of the 2014 French Open.

   Tomljanovic had shoulder surgery in early 2016 and missed the rest of the year. In February, she led second-ranked Simona Halep 5-2 in the third set in the second round of the Australian Open but dropped the next five games.

   Tomljanovic is scheduled to meet Emma Raducanu, an 18-year-old British wild card born in Canada, on Monday. Raducanu, ranked No. 338, eliminated unseeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-3, 7-5. 

   Also advancing were top seed Ashleigh Barty; No. 14 seed Barbora Krejcikova, the recent French Open champion; No. 20 seed Coco Gauff, 17; and No. 25 seed Angelique Kerber, the only remaining past Wimbledon women's singles champion.

   In the men's draw, No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia overcame No. 32 seed and 2017 runner-up Marin Cilic of Croatia 6-7 (3), 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time.

   Recovering from two sets down in a major for the first time, Medvedev extended his winning streak to seven matches. He won his first grass-court title last week in Mallorca.

   No. 6 seed Roger Federer, who will turn 40 next month, beat No. 29 seed Cameron Norrie of Great Britain 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. Norrie, a 25-year-old left-hander, won back-to-back Northern California Challengers in Tiburon and Stockton in 2017.  

   In the second round of women's and men's doubles:

   —No. 5 seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan routed Tereza Martincova and Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-2. Shibahara, 23, was born in Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area and starred at UCLA.

   —No. 9 seeds Sharon Fichman of Canada and Giuliana Olmos, a 28-year-old product of Fremont in the Bay Area who represents Mexico, defeated Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine and Ostapenko by walkover.

   —No. 6 seeds Rajeev Ram, a volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley from Carmel, Ind., and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain dispatched Marton Fucsovics of Hungary and Stefano Travaglia of Italy 6-3, 6-4.

   —No. 14 seeds Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Ben McLachlan (Cal, 2011-14) of Japan outlasted Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania and Dominik Koepfer of Germany 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. Koepfer advanced to the singles final in the 2019 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger.

   In mixed doubles:

   —No. 5 seeds Ram and Bethanie Mattek-Sands of Phoenix topped Nick Monroe of Austin, Texas, and Renata Voracova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the second round after receiving a first-round bye.

   —Alternates Arthur Fery, who recently completed his freshman year at Stanford, and Tara Moore of Great Britain edged Ken Skupski of Great Britain and Jessica Pegula of Boca Raton, Fla., 6-1, 5-7, 7-5 in the opening round.