Serena tops Riske in Wimbledon quarterfinals

Serena Williams, playing in Indian Wells in March, appears headed for a record-
tying 24th Grand Slam singles title. Photo by Harjanto Sumali

   It will take a big upset to prevent Serena Williams from winning a milestone Grand Slam title.
   Of course, it has happened before.
   The 11th-seeded Williams, a part-time Silicon Valley resident, outplayed unseeded Alison Riske of Nashville, Tenn., 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 today in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
   Williams, who's trying to tie Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam singles title, is 16-2 combined against the other semifinalists. She has never lost a set in three career matches (all in majors) against her next opponent, Barbora Strycova, is 9-1 against Simona Halep and is 4-1 against Elina Svitolina.
   The unseeded Strycova beat 19th-seeded Johanna Konta 7-6 (5), 6-1, and the seventh-seeded Halep downed unseeded Zhang Shuai 7-6 (4), 6-1. Svitolina, seeded eighth, stopped unseeded Karolina Muchova 7-5, 6-4.
   Strycova, a 33-year-old Czech, and Svitolina, a 24-year-old Ukrainian, reached their first Grand Slam semifinals.
   Svitolina is 4-3 against Halep, 27. They have never met on grass.
   Williams won three singles titles (2011, 2012 and 2014) and Konta one (2016) in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
   Svitolina, a semifinalist in her only Bank of the West appearance in 2015, is scheduled to play in the second annual Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic, July 29-Aug. 4 at San Jose State.
   Williams was two victories from pulling off the first calendar-year Grand Slam since Steffi Graf's in 1988 when she lost to unseeded Roberta Vinci in the 2015 U.S. Open semifinals.
   In today's match, Williams had 19 aces and two double faults to Riske's one and six, respectively.
   With Riske serving at 3-4, 30-30 in the third set, she played two terrible points in a row. Riske hit down the line instead of into the open court, allowing Williams to put away a forehand volley, and double-faulted. Williams closed out the match with -- what else? -- an ace down the middle.
   In the men's doubles quarterfinals, 11th-seeded Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France ousted top seeds and 2017 champions Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Marcelo Melo of Brazil 7-6 (3), 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3.
   Mahut and Roger-Vasselin were coming off a four-set victory over seventh seeds and three-time champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, 41-year-old ex-Stanford stars.
   In the second round of mixed doubles, Andy Murray and Williams beat 14th-seeded Fabrice Martin of France and Raquel Atawo (Cal, 2001-04) of San Jose 7-5, 6-3.
   Murray won the first of his 45 tour-level singles titles at 18 in the 2006 SAP Open in San Jose and repreated the following year.

Barty, Pliskova, Gauff lose in fourth round at Wimbledon

Alison Riske, playing in the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at
Stanford, shocked top-ranked Ashleigh Barty 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to-
day at Wimbledon to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
Photo by Mal Taam

   Two of the top three women's seeds lost today at Wimbledon.
   That leaves No. 7 Simona Halep, who ended 15-year-old Coco Gauff's impressive run, as the highest seed in the quarterfinals. No. 11, however, is seven-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams.
   Unseeded American Alison Riske shocked top-ranked Ashleigh Barty 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
   Also, unseeded Karolina Muchova, making her Wimbledon main-draw debut this year at 22, outlasted third seed and fellow Czech Karolina Pliskova, the runner-up at the U.S. Open in 2016 and the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, 4-6, 7-5, 13-11 in 3 hours, 17 minutes. And Halep dispatched Gauff 6-3, 6-3.
   Riske, who won a Wimbledon tuneup tournament last month in s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, for her second WTA singles title, has needed three sets to prevail in all four of her matches at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. She also has eliminated 13th-seeded Belinda Bencic and 22nd-seeded Donna Vekic.
   "I'm so thrilled," the 55th-ranked Riske, who reached the Stanford semifinals in 2016 and quarterfinals in 2015, told reporters. "I think honestly the biggest key for me has just been to battle from start to finish of every match that I've been part of. Judging by the scoreline, they haven't all gone perfect.
   "I feel like I've been there in every moment, looking to impose myself. I'm really most proud about that. I think just being tough has been the key."
   Riske snapped Barty's winning streak at 15 matches, including titles in the French Open and on grass in Birmingham, England.
   "I think I started well," Barty said. "I was sticking to how I wanted to play. Then in the second set, I think my serve let me down. I let Alison get back into the match too many times, having looks at second serves.
   "Overall, I didn't play a poor match. When I needed to, when the big moments were there, Alison played better today. Tough one to swallow, but I lost to a better player."
   Riske, 29, is scheduled to play Williams, 37, for the first time on Tuesday at 5 a.m. PDT (ESPN). Williams routed 30th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 6-2 in 64 minutes.
   Williams – the Stanford champion in 2011, 2012 and 2014 – has never lost more than three games in a set in seven career matches against the 5-foot-4 (1.62-meter) Suarez Navarro, who won the Stanford doubles title in 2014 with fellow Spaniard Garbine Muguruza. In fact, Williams demolished Suarez Navarro 6-0, 6-0 in the quarterfinals of the 2013 U.S. Open.
   In the other Wimbledon women's quarterfinals, Halep will face unseeded Zhang Shuai, eighth-seeded Elina Svitolina will meet Muchova, and 19th-seeded Johanna Konta will face unseeded Barbora Strycova, a 33-year-old Czech.
   Konta, who reached the Wimbledon semifinals and won the Stanford title in 2017, outlasted No. 6 seed Petra Kvitova, the champion in 2011 and 2014 at the All England Club, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
   Whereas four unseeded women advanced to the quarterfinals, only one unseeded man did. Sam Querrey, a 31-year-old San Francisco native, topped Tennys Sandgren 6-4, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) to reach the quarters or better at Wimbledon for the third time in four years.
   The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Querrey, now based in Las Vegas, pounded 25 aces in the first match between U.S. men in the second week of a Grand Slam tournament since 2007 and the first at Wimbledon since 2000.
   No. 26 seed Guido Pella, a 29-year-old left-hander from Argentina, subdued No. 15 seed Milos Raonic, the Wimbledon runner-up to Andy Murray in 2016, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3), 8-6 in 3 hours, 42 minutes. The 6-foot-5 (1.96 meters) Raonic fired 33 aces.
   Raonic never lost a set in three appearances in the SAP Open in San Jose, winning the title in 2011, 2012 and 2013 before the tournament moved to Rio de Janeiro.
   The top three Wimbledon men's seeds – No. 1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic, No. 2 Roger Federer and No. 3 Rafael Nadal – coasted in straight sets.
   The matchups in Wednesday's men's quarterfinals are Djokovic against 21st-seeded David Goffin, Pella vs. 23rd-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut, Nadal against Querrey, and Federer vs. eighth-seeded Kei Nishikori.
   Nadal is 4-1 against Querrey. They will meet on grass for the first time.
   In the third round of men's doubles, 11th-seeded Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France beat seventh-seeded Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan 7-6 (3), 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (5).
   The 41-year-old Bryan twins (Stanford, 1997-98) were seeking their fourth Wimbledon title and first major crown together since the 2014 U.S. Open.
   Mike Bryan won last year's Wimbledon title with Jack Sock while Bob Bryan was sidelined with a hip injury that required replacement surgery.

Collins, Kenin head U.S. team for Fed Cup final

Danielle Collins, playing at Indian Wells in March, and two other Americans
will make their Fed Cup debut in the Nov. 10-11 final against the Czech Republic
in Prague. Photo by Mal Taam

   Danielle Collins, a semifinalist at the inaugural Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose in August, will lead the defending champion United States against the Czech Republic in the Fed Cup final Nov. 10-11 in Prague.
   The 35th-ranked Collins and No. 48 Sofia Kenin will make their Fed Cup debuts, as will Nicole Melichar, a Czech native ranked 15th in doubles. Joining them will be Alison Riske, a member of last year's team that beat host Belarus in the final. She is ranked 63rd in singles.
   Absent will be the United States' top three singles players -- No. 6 Sloane Stephens, No. 15 Serena Williams and No. 16 Madison Keys -- as well as No. 40 Venus Williams and 2017 team members CoCo Vandeweghe and Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
   Kenin, the youngest player in the top 50, will turn 20 three days after the final. She 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 semifinals of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in 2016 and the quarterfinals there in 2015.
   The Czech Republic will field a formidable team with No. 7 Petra Kvitova, No. 8 Karolina Pliskova, doubles No. 1 Katerina Siniakova and doubles No. 5 Barbora Strycova. All four played in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford before it moved to San Jose this year. Pliskova advanced to the 2015 final, losing to Angelique Kerber, and Siniakova was the doubles runner-up in 2014 at age 18 with Paula Kania of Poland.
   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 a hard court in Prague's 10,700-seat O2 Arena, beginning at 5 a.m. PST on Nov. 10.

Venus, Konta to meet in Bank of the West final

   Venus Williams will seek her 50th career tour-level title today in the tournament where she began her career 22 years ago.
   Johanna Konta, meanwhile, will play in her first such final.
   But the final of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford is no mismatch. Konta stunned the eighth-seeded Williams 6-4, 6-2 in their last meeting in the first round of the Australian Open in January en route to her first Grand Slam semifinal.
   Williams, seeded No. 1 in the Bank of the West Classic, held off unseeded Alison Riske 6-1, 7-6 (2) in an all-American semifinal on Saturday night.
   Earlier, No. 3 Konta of Great Britain defeated No. 2 Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-2. Cibulkova, the 2013 champion, played in her first tournament since getting married on July 9 in Bratislava.
   Williams, 36, is 1-1 against Konta, 25. They will meet at 2 p.m. PDT in a match televised by ESPN2.
   Afterward, No. 2 seeds Raquel Atawo (formerly Kops-Jones) of San Jose and Abigail Spears of Colorado Springs, Colo., will try to win their second Bank of the West title. The 2013 champions will face No. 3 seeds Darija Jurak of Croatia and Anastasia Rodionova of Australia.
   Jurak and Rodionova topped unseeded Konta and Maria Sanchez, who was born and raised in Modesto, 6-4, 6-2.
   Here are links to the singles and doubles draws and today's schedule.

Bellis, 17, eclipsed by Venus in Bank of the West

CiCi Bellis, shown Tuesday after upsetting No. 6 seed
Jelena Ostapenko, said she "can take so many positives
away from this week." Photo by Paul Bauman

   CiCi Bellis fared better against a Williams sister this time.

   Not well enough to win, but, hey, one step at a time.

   Bellis, a 17-year-old wild card playing five minutes from home, battled Venus Williams in the first set before falling 6-4, 6-1 in one hour in the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.

   "I learned a lot; it was a lot better than when I played Serena," Bellis, referring to her 6-1, 6-1 loss in 41 minutes in the third round at Miami last year, told reporters. "I just have to focus on the key points; there were a couple in the first set that, had I played more aggressively, I might have won them. But she's the No. 1 seed here and No. 7 in the world, so it's unbelievable getting to play someone like her.

   "Playing a tournament like this is such a great opportunity for me ... I can take so many positives away from this week. I won two matches and reached my first quarterfinal of a Premier. I'm really happy about that."

   Bellis, a home-schooled high school senior from Atherton, said she verbally committed to Stanford on Thursday. She can sign a letter-of-intent in November, but that only means she couldn't play for another school. 

   Bellis still could turn pro, which she has said she will if she cracks the top 100 in the world by the fall of 2017. By reaching the Bank of the West quarters, she will jump from No. 203 to about No. 156. Bellis also could attend Stanford for one year and then turn pro.

   "I think she has a good head on her shoulders for her age," said Venus Williams, 36. "She has a weapon, tries to control the point with her forehand. She only has room to grow; you can imagine that she's going to get a lot better."

   Williams will play American Alison Riske in today's second semifinal at 7 p.m. (ESPN2). Riske, ranked 79th, led No. 4 seed CoCo Vandeweghe 6-3, 0-1 when Vandeweghe, the 2012 Bank of the West runner-up to Serena Williams, retired with an ankle injury and left the court in a wheelchair.

   Williams defeated Riske 6-4, 6-2 on clay in the second round at Charleston in April in their only previous meeting.   

   In today's first semifinal at 2 p.m. (ESPN2), No. 2 seed and 2013 champion Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia will face No. 3 Johanna Konta of Great Britain.

   Cibulkova defeated No. 5 Misaki Doi of Japan 7-5, 6-0, winning the last 11 games after trailing 5-2 in the first set. Cibulkova, who got married on July 9 in Bratislava, will return to the top 10 for the first time in more than 18 months on Monday.

   Konta, playing in the Bank of the West Classic for the first time this year, beat Zheng Saisai of China 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

   Cibulkova is 1-0 against Konta, winning 7-6 (6), 7-5 in the first round at Hobart in January.  

   In the women's doubles quarterfinals, No. 2 seeds and 2013 champions Raquel Atawo (formerly Kops-Jones) of San Jose, Calif., and Abigail Spears of Colorado Springs, Colo., edged Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and Arina Rodionova of Australia 2-6, 7-5 [10-7]. 

Bellis, 17, overcomes scary injury to upset seed

Playing in her home  tournament, CiCi Bellis upset No. 6
seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia one day after getting
  struck in the left eye with an overhead in doubles.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   STANFORD, Calif. -- After suffering a frightening injury in doubles on Monday, CiCi Bellis didn't know if she could play in tonight's featured match in her home tournament.
   The teenager not only played, she pulled off one of her biggest victories in a professional tournament.
   Bellis, a 17-year-old wild card from neighboring Atherton, shocked sixth-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
   Bellis, who lives a five-minute drive from Stanford, won the last four games of the first set and the last five games of the second set. After Ostapenko slugged a forehand way long on Bellis' second match point, Bellis looked stunned, as if to say, "What have I done?" and pointed to her head to indicate mental toughness. 
   The hard-hitting Ostapenko -- the runner-up in Doha, a WTA premier-level tournament like the Bank of the West Classic, in February -- is ranked No. 38 in the world at 19 years old.
   Bellis, an amateur ranked No. 203, recorded her third win over a top-40 player. She defeated No. 13 Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia in the 2014 U.S. Open and No. 32 Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan in Miami last year.
   It was also Bellis' first victory in her home tournament. She debuted in the Bank of the West Classic last year and lost to Misaki Doi of Japan in the opening round.
   In a first-round doubles loss on Monday, Bellis was clocked in the left eye by an overhead from Olga Savchuk of Ukraine.
   "I think it was actually one of the scariest moments of my life," Bellis, who cried during her post-match on-court interview when discussing the injury, calmly told reporters later. "She was on top of the net, and she went right at my face. It hit me right in the eye. I have this huge cut over my eye.
   "Last night, it was so swollen. When she hit me, I could not see out of my eye for probably 10 seconds. I thought I was blind. So just to be able to come out and play today was unbelievable. (I'm) so lucky."
   Bellis did not need stitches and said her vision was fine in the match. She has a good chance to reach the quarterfinals, in which she could meet top seed and two-time champion Venus Williams.
   Bellis will play qualifier Sachia Vickery, a 21-year-old American, in the second round for the second consecutive week on Thursday. Bellis won 6-4, 6-0 in the $50,000 Stockton Challenger en route to the semifinals.
   Bellis attended the Bank of the West Classic annually as a child.
   "This is by far the closest tournament to me," she said. "It's my home tournament. I live literally five minutes away, so to sleep in my own bed during the tournament and go home every single night is the best feeling of all time. I love this tournament so much."
   Asked how many family members and friends she had in the announced crowd of 1,483, Bellis cracked, "Probably half."           
   The home-schooled Bellis, who will be a high school senior, said she will receive her SAT results in a couple of days and hopes to commit to Stanford next week. She said last week during the Stockton Challenger, however, that she will turn pro instead if she reaches the top 100 by the fall of 2017.

Jelena Ostapenko complained about the conditions, the
balls and her preparation, and she was unimpressed
with Bellis' game. Photo by Paul Bauman

 Bellis, the world's top junior in 2014, evened her career record against Ostapenko, the 2014 Wimbledon girls champion, at 1-1. Ostapenko coasted 6-3, 6-2 in the final round of qualifying at last year's U.S. Open. 
   The 5-foot-10 (1.77-meter) Ostapenko has much more power than the 5-foot-7 (1.68-meter) Bellis, but Bellis was more consistent than Ostapenko on a cool night at Stanford.
   "It's such a great match for me coming back in both sets, especially the second. I just thought to myself, 'You have to stay with her on every single point and try as hard as you can.'
   "I knew I had to serve well today because she was attacking my serve last time. I was just trying to attack her serve as much as I could and get the point started in my favor." 
   Ostapenko committed nine double faults, including seven in the second set. She later complained about the conditions, the balls and her preparation, and she was unimpressed with Bellis' game.
   On the conditions: "Everything is so weird here. It's my first time here. The balls are Penn, which are never played anywhere, maybe only the American series. Not amazing conditions."
   On the balls: "They are so hard, and they are totally different from other balls, so I don't like them."
   On her preparation: "I just came like a couple of days ago. Jet lag is still on, so it's difficult to get used to this time (zone). During the night, I wake up like five times, so I cannot sleep, really. You have to (arrive sooner) because two days are not enough. But I didn't have a chance because I played semis in mixed doubles in Wimbledon."
   On Bellis' game: "Nothing special. I think she's more of a defensive player. I just played one of my worst matches this year, so that's the difference."
   Earlier today, Pittsburgh native Alison Riske upset eighth-seeded Varvara Lepchenko, an American citizen from Uzbekistan, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
   Lepchenko, a 30-year-old left-hander ranked No. 52, had reached the Bank of the West semifinals the past two years and the quarterfinals in 2013.
   Riske, 26, advanced to the Bank of the West quarterfinals last year in her tournament main-draw debut. She defeated Carla Suarez Navarro, ranked 10th at the time, in the second round for her second career top-10 win. The other was against No. 10 Petra Kvitova in the 2013 U.S. Open. Riske, ranked No. 78, is 2-13 overall against top-10 players.
   Julia Boserup, a 24-year-old wild card from Newport Beach, Calif., making her tournament main-draw debut, continued her strong play with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over 18-year-old Naomi Osaka of Japan. Both are hard hitters at 5-foot-11 (1.80 meters).
   Boserup was coming off her breakthrough tournament, a third-round appearance at Wimbledon. A dual citizen of the United States and Denmark, she won the $25,000 Redding Challenger in 2011 and was the runner-up to Olivia Rogowska of Australia in the $50,000 Sacramento Challenger in 2014.
   Osaka reached the third round of this year's Australian Open, as a qualifier in her Grand Slam main-draw debut, and the French Open, in which she stunned No. 6 seed and 2014 runner-up Simona Halep. Osaka skipped Wimbledon with a right knee injury.
   Osaka, who has a Haitian father and Japanese mother, qualified for the 2014 Bank of the West Classic and shocked 2011 U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur in the first round before losing to eighth-seeded Andrea Petkovic of Germany in the second round.
   Maria Sanchez, who was born and raised in Modesto, and Johanna Konta of Great Britain beat Xinyun Han and Chen Liang of China 7-5, 7-6 (4) in the first round of doubles.

BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC

At Stanford

Singles

First round

   Urszula Radwanska, Poland, def. Kateryna Bondarenko, Ukraine, 6-4, 7-5.
   Julia Boserup, United States, def. Naomi Osaka, Japan, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
   Magda Linette, Poland, def. Kristyna Pliskova, Czech Republic, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5.
   Alison Riske, United States, def. Varvara Lepchenko (8), United States, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
   CiCi Bellis, Atherton, Calif., def. Jelena Ostapenko (6), Latvia, 6-4, 6-4.
   Sachia Vickery, United States, def. Elitsa Kostova, Bulgaria, 6-1, 6-2.

Doubles

First round

   Johanna Konta, Great Britain, and Maria Sanchez, United States, def. Xinyun Han and Chen Liang, China, 7-5, 7-6 (4).
   Asia Muhammad and Taylor Townsend, United States, def. Misaki Doi and Nao Hibino, Japan, 6-2, 2-6 [12-10].
   Yifan Xu and Saisai Zheng (1), China, def. Yuliya Beygelzimer, Ukraine, and Kristyna Pliskova, Czech Republic, 7-5, 6-1.

Wednesday's schedule

Stadium

(Starting at 11 a.m.)

   Alize Cornet (7), France, vs. Saisai Zheng, China.
   Johanna Konta (3), Great Britain, vs. Julia Boserup, United States (not before 1 p.m.).
   Misaki Doi (5), Japan, vs. Nao Hibino, Japan.
   Venus Williams (1), United States, vs. Magda Linette, Poland (not before 7 p.m.)
   Darija Jurak, Croatia, and Anastasia Rodionova (3), Australia, vs. Kateryna Bondarenko and Olga Savchuk, Ukraine.

Court 6

(Starting at 3:30 p.m.)

   Nicole Gibbs, United States, and Carol Zhao, Canada, vs. Jelena Ostapenko, Latvia, and Arina Rodionova, Australia.

Kerber outlasts Radwanska in Stanford thriller

Angelique Kerber beat Agnieszka Radwanska in one
of the best matches of the year. Photo by Mal Taam

   The quarterfinal between Angelique Kerber and Agnieszka Radwanska lived up to its billing, and then some.
   In a matchup of the last two Bank of the West Classic runners-up, the fifth-seeded Kerber outlasted the second-seeded Radwanska 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in 2 hours, 26 minutes on Friday night at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
   Kerber, a 27-year-old German, and Radwanska, a 26-year-old Pole, have several similarities. They're both 5-foot-8 (1.73-meter) counterpunchers. Kerber even lives in Poland. The biggest difference is that Kerber is left-handed and Radwanska right-handed.
   They thrilled an announced crowd of 2,424 with many long, spirited rallies in one of the best matches on the WTA tour this year.
   Radwanska finally gave Kerber an opening, double-faulting at 4-4, 30-30 in the third set. Kerber then won a long point to break and held serve at love for the match. 
   "I think we both played close to perfect tennis," Kerber, last year's runner-up to Serena Williams, said after leveling her record against Radwanska at 5-5. "I was happy to win the match, but at the end, I think we both should have won."
   Radwanska couldn't capitalize on a break point at 4-3 in the second set.

Radwanska lamented her missed oppor-
tunities. Photo by Mal Taam

   "In a tight (match) where your opponent is playing great tennis, there are always turnarounds," said Radwanska, who lost to Dominika Cibulkova in the 2013 final. "I just needed those few important points that were there, and I didn't take them. Otherwise, it was a great match."
   Kerber will face eighth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in today's second semifinal at 4 p.m. (ESPN2). The 20-year-old Svitolina, a French Open quarterfinalist in June, defeated American Alison Riske 4-6, 7-5, 6-1. Riske, 25, served for the match at 6-4, 5-4.
   Kerber and Svitolina have split their four matches, but Svitolina has won the last two.
   In the first semifinal at noon (ESPN2), fourth-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic will meet unseeded Varvara Lepchenko of the United States.
   Pliskova, 6-foot-1 (1.86 meters), beat Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia 6-2, 6-4. The 11th-ranked Pliskova will debut in the top 10 when the new rankings are released on Monday.
   Lepchenko, a native of Uzbekistan who became a U.S. citizen in 2011, downed Mona Barthel of Germany 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-3 to reach the Bank of the West semifinals for the second straight year.
   Pliskova is 2-0 against Lepchenko, but both matches have gone three sets.

BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC

At Stanford

Singles quarterfinals

   Karolina Pliskova (4), Czech Republic, def. Ajla Tomljanovic, Croatia, 6-2, 6-4.
   Elina Svitolina (8), Ukraine, def. Alison Riske, United States, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.
   Varvara Lepchenko, United States, def. Mona Barthel, Germany, 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-3.
   Angelique Kerber (5), Germany, def. Agnieszka Radwanska (2), Poland, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Doubles quarterfinal

   Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja (2), Spain, def. Chin-Wei Chan, Taiwan, and Darija Jurak, Croatia, 6-3, 7-5.

Today's schedule

Stadium Court

(Starting at noon)

   Karolina Pliskova (4), Czech Republic, vs. Varvara Lepchenko, United States.
   Kateryna Bondarenko, Ukraine, and Tatjana Maria, Germany, vs. Yi-Fan Xu and Saisai Zheng, China (possible court change).

(Not before 4 p.m.)

   Angelique Kerber (5), Germany, vs. Elina Svitolina (8), Ukraine.
   Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja (2), Spain, vs. Gabriela Dabrowski, Canada, and Alicja Rosolska (3), Poland.

Three seeds, local favorite lose in Bank of the West

Qualifier Nicole Gibbs, a 22-year-old ex-Stanford
star, lost to eighth-seeded Elina Svitolina of
Ukraine in the second round. Photo by Mal Taam

   STANFORD, Calif. -- Area fans and Bank of the West Classic organizers got every upset but the one they really wanted today.
   No. 3 Carla Suarez Navarro, No. 6 Andrea Petkovic and No. 7 Madison Keys fell in the second round at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium on the campus of Stanford University.
   But eighth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine beat local favorite Nicole Gibbs 6-3, 7-6 (5) in the last match of the night in front of most of an announced crowd of 2,415.
   Gibbs, a 22-year-old qualifier, won three NCAA titles (two in singles and one in doubles) before giving up her senior year at Stanford and turning pro in 2013. Svitolina, 20, reached the French Open quarterfinals in June.
   "It's disappointing to take a loss anywhere," Gibbs said, "but especially in front of a home crowd like that. You hate to disappoint them.
   "I had moments throughout the week when I was playing some pretty good tennis. I have a lot of takeaways that hopefully will help start a good hardcourt season for me."  
   At least American Alison Riske pulled off an upset. A Pittsburgh native living in Atlanta, she defeated Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals.
   Suarez Navarro, who won her first WTA doubles title in last year's Bank of the West Classic with countrywoman Garbine Muguruza, took a medical timeout before serving at 1-2 in the second set.

Svitolina, 20, follows through on a forehand against Gibbs. Svitolina
reached the French Open quarterfinals in June. Photo by Mal Taam

   Suarez Navarro -- distinctive for her sensational one-handed backhand; small size (5-foot-4 or 1.62 meters); and short, dark hair -- didn't move well or chase balls in the corners late in the match.
   Earlier, 6-foot-1 (1.85-meter) Mona Barthel edged Petkovic, a Bank of the West semifinalist last year, 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (4) in a 2-hour, 33-minute battle of Germans.
   In tonight's first match, Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia overcame a horrendous start and a pro-American crowd to beat her close friend Keys of Boca Raton, Fla., 1-6, 6-4, 6-1. The first set lasted 22 minutes and the last one 25 minutes.
   Keys, 20, was the only U.S. seed in the Bank of the West Classic. She has had a breakthrough year, advancing to the Australian Open semifinals and Wimbledon quarterfinals.   
   Riske and Barthel, both 25, are playing in the main draw at Stanford for the first time this year. Tomljanovic (pronounced Tom-lee-ann-o-vich), 22, on Tuesday won her first main-draw match in five Bank of the West appearances.

   Barthel, ranked 63rd after reaching a career-high No. 23 in early 2013, made her Bank of the West Classic debut on Monday.
   Riske, No. 59 after climbing as high as 40th last year in June, is playing at Stanford for the second time after losing in the second round of qualifying in 2010.
   Riske cracked a smile when asked why she decided to return to the Bank of the West, which runs concurrently with the Citi Open in Washington, D.C.
   "I haven't won a match in D.C.," Riske said, exaggerating slightly. "No, but I always liked playing Indian Wells out here. I wish they would bring more events to California.

American Alison Riske defeated ailing Carla Suarez Navarro,
seeded third, to reach the quarterfinals. Photo by Mal Taam

   "I played (the Bank of the West) my first year on tour, and I remember enjoying it. The weather is perfect, the people are so nice, and the tournament is run so well. I decided, all right, we're changing it up this year. It can't get worse."
   The Tomljanovic-Keys match was what tennis commentator Mary Carillo calls "big-babe tennis." The  5-foot-11 (1.80-meter) Tomljanovic and the 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) Keys both crush the ball, although Keys has a bigger serve.
   "That was tough," Tomljanovic, who moved to Australia in November and speaks English like a native, said of the first set. "I really thought I'd be off that court in like 35 minutes. I'm not even joking.
   "I just tried to hold serve. That was my biggest thing. It felt really tough on her serve. When I was getting into the points, I was kind of getting just overpowered. I just had to go one point at a time. I knew there would be times when she would give me some free points, and she did, so I just tried to go along with that, and that's when my game started coming together."
   When Tomljanovic wasn't making errors in the first set, Keys was ripping passing shots or winners. But Tomljanovic countered Keys' power in the second set, and Keys unraveled in the third.

Mona Barthel edged fellow German Andrea Petkovic, seeded sixth,
5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (4) in 2 hours, 33 minutes. Photo by Mal Taam

   "I think mostly it was just getting myself going more in between points and once the point started staying lower and just trying to get the ball back for a change," said the 69th-ranked Tomljanovic, who staged a similar turnaround in the first round as she defeated Vitalia Diatchenko of Russia 3-6, 6-0, 6-0. "She played well in the first set. I felt like I wasn't even in it. She was too good at times."
   But Keys eventually grew frustrated.
   "It's never easy feeling like you were playing so well the round before and even playing so well in the first set, and then things kind of get away from you," said Keys, who dismantled Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 6-3, 6-0 in the first round. "It's definitely tough to always keep yourself in the moment and get yourself to be able to come back and calm down, and tonight I wasn't able to. That's something that I'm working on, so I just have to learn from it and move on."  
   Tomljanovic awaits the winner of Thursday's match between fourth-seeded Karolina Pliskova and 44-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan. Win or lose, the 6-foot-1 (1.86-meter) Pliskova will become the eighth Czech to crack the top 10 in the world on Monday.

   Riske will meet Svitolina, and Barthel will play the survivor of Thursday night's match between top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki and Varvara Lepchenko, a U.S. citizen from Uzbekistan. Both Wozniacki, a former world No. 1 who will make her Bank of the West debut after receiving a first-round bye, and Barthel were born on July 11, 1990.

Ajla Tomljanovic overcame a horrendous start to beat her close
friend Madison Keys, seeded seventh. Photo by Mal Taam

   Second-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, the runner-up at Wimbledon in 2012 and Stanford in 2013, was scheduled to play tonight against qualifier Misaki Doi of Japan. However, the match was moved to Thursday's day session at the request of medical staff, according to tournament officials, to give Poland's Radwanska more time to recover from a lower back injury.
   Pliskova, currently ranked 11th, will give the Czech Republic three players in the top 10 for the first time. Left-handers Petra Kvitova and Lucie Safarova are No. 4 and No. 8, respectively.
   Other Czechs who have accomplished the feat are Martina Navratilova, Hana Mandlikova, Helena Sukova, Jana Novotna and Nicole Vaidisova. The latter was named the 2004 World TeamTennis Female MVP and Rookie of the Year for the now-defunct Sacramento Capitals at age 15.
   Also losing today was the fourth-seeded doubles team of Raquel Kops-Jones and Maria Sanchez. The Northern California pair fell to Barthel and countrywoman Sabine Lisicki 6-3, 7-6 (2) in the first round.
   Kops-Jones, 32, grew up in Fresno, starred at Cal and lives in San Jose. She won the 2013 Bank of the West doubles title with her regular partner, Abigail Spears, who is recovering from a torn calf muscle. 
   Sanchez, 25, was born and raised in Modesto.

BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC

At Stanford

Second-round singles

   Mona Barthel, Germany, def. Andrea Petkovic (6), Germany, 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (4).
   Alison Riske, United States, def. Carla Suarez Navarro (3), Spain, 6-4, 7-5.
   Ajla Tomljanovic, Croatia, def. Madison Keys (7), United States, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1.
   Elina Svitolina (8), Ukraine, def. Nicole Gibbs, United States, 6-3, 7-6 (5).

 First-round doubles

   Chin-Wei Chan, Taiwan, and Darija Jurak, Croatia, def. Vitalia Diatchenko, Russia, and Anna Tatishvili, United States, 6-4, 7-5.
   Mona Barthel and Sabine Lisicki, Germany, def. Raquel Kops-Jones and Maria Sanchez (4), United States, 6-3, 7-6 (2).

Thursday's schedule

Stadium Court

(Starting at 11 a.m.)

   Angelique Kerber (5), Germany, vs. Ana Konjuh, Croatia.

(Not before 1 p.m.)

   Agnieszka Radwanska (2), Poland, vs. Misaki Doi, Japan.
   Karolina Pliskova (4), Czech Republic, vs. Kimiko Date-Krumm, Japan.

(Not before 7 p.m.)

   Caroline Wozniacki (1), Denmark, vs. Varvara Lepchenko, United States.
   Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan (1), Taiwan, vs. Kateryna Bondarenko, Ukraine, and Tatjana Maria, Germany.

Court 6

(Starting at 12:30 p.m.)

   Mona Barthel and Sabine Lisicki, Germany, vs. Yi-Fan Xu and Saisai Zheng, China.
   Gabriela Dabrowski, Canada, and Alicja Rosolska (3), Poland, vs. Asia Muhammad, United States, and Ajla Tomljanovic, Croatia.