Former Fresno St. star advances in singles, doubles

   Maiar Sherif Ahmed Abdelaziz, a former Fresno State All-American, today advanced to the singles quarterfinals and doubles semifinals in the $100,000 LTP Tennis on clay in Charleston, S.C.

   The 24-year-old qualifier from Egypt defeated Caroline Dolehide, a 22-year-old native of Hinsdale, Ill., 7-5, 7-6 (6) in singles. Dolehide crushed sixth-seeded Kristie Ahn, a 28-year-old Stanford graduate, 6-1, 6-0 in 47 minutes in the first round on Wednesday.

   Abdelaziz also paired with Astra Sharma of Australia to edge Kateryna Bondarenko, a 34-year-old mother of two from Ukraine, and Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-1, 3-6 [10-6] in a matchup of unseeded teams.

   Abdelaziz made her Grand Slam main-draw debut in September, qualifying for the French Open in September and extending second-seeded Karolina Pliskova to 6-4 in the third set in the opening round of singles. 

   Abdelaziz reached the NCAA doubles quarterfinals in 2016 as a Fresno State sophomore with her sister Rana before transferring to Pepperdine and advancing to the NCAA singles semifinals in 2018 as a senior.

   Ranked No. 164 in singles, Abdelaziz is scheduled to meet Romanian qualifier Gabriela Talaba, ranked No. 217, for the first time on Friday.

   Talaba, a 25-year-old left-hander who won the $25,000 Redding (Calif.) Challenger last fall, beat top-seeded Shelby Rogers of Charleston by walkover. The reason for Rogers' withdrawal was not available.

   Rogers, 28, nipped qualifier Kyoka Okamura of Japan 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (5) in the opening round after serving for the match twice in the third set and trailing 2-5 in the tiebreaker. 

   Rogers stunned Serena Williams in the quarterfinals at Lexington, Ky., in August and reached her second Grand Slam quarterfinal in September in the U.S. Open.

   Meanwhile, two former top-35 players lost today.

   Renata Zarazua, a 5-foot-3 (1.60-meter) Mexican who advanced to the second round of the French Open as a qualifier, dismissed third-seeded Madison Brengle, 30, of Bradenton, Fla., 6-2, 6-1. Brengle won Northern California Challengers in 2018 and 2019.

   Katarzyna Kawa, 27, of Poland eliminated CiCi Bellis, a 21-year-old wild card who was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, 7-6 (4), 6-4.

   Both Brengle and Bellis have been slowed by injuries since achieving career highs of No. 35. They climbed that high at age 25 in 2015 and 18 in 2017, respectively.

   Second-seeded Lauren Davis, ranked No. 73, dominated Hailey Baptiste, a 19-year-old qualifier, 6-2, 6-1 in an all-American encounter. 

   The 5-foot-2 (1.57-meter) Davis reached a career-high No. 26 in 2017. Baptiste shocked second-seeded Madison Keys, the U.S. Open runner-up in 2017, in the opening round in Baptiste's native Washington, D.C., last year. 

   Fourth-seeded Misaki Doi, a 5-foot-3 (1.59-meter) left-hander from Japan, advanced by walkover against Sara Errani, a 34-year-old Italian formerly ranked No. 5.

   On Center Court on Friday, Davis is scheduled to face Kawa at 7 a.m. PST, followed by Doi against eighth-seeded Ann Li, a 20-year-old American who won an $80,000 hardcourt tournament in Tyler, Texas, last week. Both matches will be streamed live.

   Abdelaziz and Sharma, a 25-year-old former Vanderbilt All-American, are set to play wild cards Allura and Maribella Zamarripa, 18-year-old identical twins from St. Helena in the Napa Valley. 

   The Zamarripas, who saved two championship points and won the Tyler title last week as alternates, beat Dolehide and Rogers by walkover.  

Top seed Rogers averts early upset; Bellis stays hot

   Top-seeded Shelby Rogers came within two points of losing early today to a qualifier for the second consecutive week, this time in her hometown.

   Rogers, 28, edged Kyoka Okamura, 25, of Japan 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (5) in the first round of the $100,000 LTP Tennis on clay in Charleston, S.C.

   Rogers, who fell to 17-year-old phenom Clara Tauson of Denmark in the second round of an $80,000 hardcourt tournament in Tyler, Texas, last week, served for the match against Okamura at 5-4 and 6-5 in the third set and trailed 2-5 in the tiebreaker.

   Rogers stunned Serena Williams in the quarterfinals at Lexington, Ky., in August and reached her second Grand Slam quarterfinal in September in the U.S. Open. Ranked 58th in the world and 10th in the United States, she is scheduled to meet another qualifier, Gabriela Talaba of Romania, on Thursday.

   Talaba, a 25-year-old left-hander with a one-handed backhand, won the $25,000 Redding (Calif.) Challenger last fall. 

   CiCi Bellis, a 21-year-old wild card who was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, beat fifth-seeded Aliona Bolsova Zadoinov, a 22-year-old Spanish citizen from Moldova, for the second time in two weeks, 7-6 (0), 6-0. 

   Bellis has won nine of her last 10 matches, including the title on hardcourts in Macon, Ga., two weeks ago. She withdrew from the Tyler semifinals after playing six sets the previous day in the rain-delayed tournament.

   Bellis is set to play Katarzyna Kawa, a 27-year-old Pole, for the first time. Kawa reached the Tyler quarterfinals and teamed with compatriot Magdalena Frech to win the Macon doubles title and oust top-seeded Coco Gauff and Caty McNally of the United States 7-5 3-6 [10-3] in the first round in Charleston. 

   Caroline Dolehide, a 22-year-old native of Hinsdale, Ill., overwhelmed sixth-seeded Kristie Ahn, a 28-year-old Stanford graduate from Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 6-1, 6-0 in 47 minutes.

   Ahn, who advanced to the round of 16 in last year's U.S. Open, has won only five games in her last two matches.

   Dolehide, who won a $60,000 clay-court tournament in Charleston last October, will meet qualifier Maiar Sherif Ahmed Abdelaziz of Egypt. Abdelaziz, a 24-year-old former Fresno State All-American who transferred to Pepperdine, routed Kristina Kucova, 30, of Slovakia 6-2, 6-1. Kucova, 5-foot-4 (1.63 meters), won a $125,000 clay-court tournament in Prague in early September.

   In the first round of Charleston doubles, wild cards Allura and Maribella Zamarripa, 18-year-old identical twins from St. Helena in the Napa Valley, dispatched Naomi Broady, a 6-foot-2 (1.89-meter) Briton, and New Zealand's Erin Routliffe, a former two-time NCAA doubles champion from the University of Alabama, 6-4, 6-3.

   The Zamarripas won the Tyler crown as alternates, saving two championship points. They are scheduled to meet third-seeded Dolehide and Rogers at about 11 a.m. PST in the Charleston quarterfinals. Live streaming will be available.

Kratzer suspended; McDonald falls; Bellis wins twice

Ashley Kratzer, playing in Berkeley, Calif., in 2018, tested
positive for a growth hormone. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Ashley Kratzer, who has excelled in Northern California Challengers, was suspended for four years after failing a drug test in January, the International Tennis Federation announced Thursday.

   Kratzer, the Stockton runner-up to Sofia Kenin in 2017 and a Berkeley semifinalist in 2018, provided a urine sample on Jan. 27 during a $125,000 hardcourt tournament in her hometown of Newport Beach, Calif., and tested positive for a growth hormone.

   The 21-year-old left-hander has immense talent but is highly volatile on the court. After Nicole Gibbs beat Kratzer in the Berkeley semifinals in 2018, the former Stanford star was asked if the upstart needs to work on her attitude the most.

   "Absolutely," Gibbs asserted. "She's one of the most talented players out here. If she can pull it together a little bit more consistently mentally, I think she's going to be a really big threat on tour — top 50 for sure, if not top 20, soon."

   Kratzer began playing pro tournaments at 14, skipping the juniors and then college. She turned pro at 17 in 2016, won the USTA Girls 18 National Championships in San Diego in 2017 and reached a career-high No. 200 in the world in August 2018. 

   Kratzer, who hasn't played since losing in the first round of qualifying in Newport Beach in January, can appeal her suspension to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

   ATP Tour — Third-seeded Adrian Mannarino of France beat Mackenzie McDonald, a 25-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, 6-1, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Astana Open in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.

   McDonald, who returned in January from hamstring surgery, is projected to rise 18 places to No. 191 on Monday. Only 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters), he reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2018 and climbed to a career-high No. 57 in April last year. 

   In the doubles quarterfinals, fourth-seeded Ben McLachlan (University of California, Berkeley, 2011-14), a New Zealand product who plays for his mother's native Japan, and Franko Skugor of Croatia eliminated Sander Arends of the Netherlands and Artem Sitak, a Russia native who plays for New Zealand, 6-3, 7-6 (4). 

   McLachlan, 28, won the Cologne title last week with Raven Klaasen, 38, of South Africa in their first tournament together.

   USTA Pro Circuit — Unseeded CiCi Bellis, a 21-year-old Bay Area product, extended her winning streak to eight matches with two victories in the rain-delayed $80,000 Bellatorum Resources Pro Classic on hardcourts in Tyler, Texas. 

   Bellis defeated qualifier Jamie Loeb of Ossining, N.Y., 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the second round and fourth-seeded Aliona Bolsova Zadoinov of Spain 6-0, 2-6, 7-5 in the quarterfinals.

   Loeb, a 25-year-old product of the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in New York, won the 2015 NCAA singles title as a North Carolina sophomore and promptly turned pro. Bolsova Zadoinov reached the fourth round of last year's French Open as a qualifier.

   Bellis is scheduled to face eighth-seeded Marta Kostyuk, 18, of Ukraine on Saturday at 10 a.m. PDT in a rematch of last week's final in the $80,000 Mercer Tennis Classic on hardcourts in Macon, Ga. Bellis prevailed 6-4, 6-7 (4), 0-0, retired (leg cramps).

   In Saturday's second semifinal, seventh-seeded Ann Li, a 20-year-old native of King of Prussia, Pa., will play unseeded Greet Minnen of Belgium. Both semis will be streamed live.

   Clara Tauson, a 17-year-old qualifier from Denmark, ousted top-seeded Shelby Rogers of Charleston, S.C., 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 in 3 hours, 7 minutes in the second round. Tauson, formerly the top-ranked junior in the world, then lost to Li 6-3, 7-5.

   Tauson qualified for the recent French Open and knocked off 21st-seeded Jennifer Brady, a U.S. Open semifinalist, in the first round before losing to American Danielle Collins.

   Rogers, ranked No. 58, stunned Serena Williams in Lexington, Ky., in August and reached her second Grand Slam quarterfinal last month in the U.S. Open.

   In the Tyler doubles quarterfinals, alternates Allura and Maribella Zamarripa, 18-year-old identical twins from St. Helena, Calif., in the Napa area, stunned top-seeded Caroline Dolehide, a 22-year-old native of Hinsdale, Ill., and Caty McNally, an 18-year-old Cincinnati native, 6-4, 4-6 [10-4]. 

   Dolehide and countrywoman Vania King, a former Sacramento Capital in World TeamTennis, reached the doubles semifinals in last year's U.S. Open. McNally and compatriot Coco Gauff, then 15, advanced to the doubles quarterfinals in this year's Australian Open.

   Kateryna Bondarenko, a 34-year-old mother of two from Ukraine, and Olga Govortsova of Belarus routed Kristie Ahn, a 28-year-old Stanford graduate from Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and Naomi Broady of Great Britain 6-1, 6-1 in 59 minutes in a clash of unseeded teams. 

Brady beats Gauff, 16, to reach first WTA final

Jennifer Brady, playing in the 2017 Sacramento (Calif.) Challenger, will face
Jil Teichmann of Switzerland in the final of the Top Seed Open in Lexington, Ky.
 Both players are unseeded. Photo by Rob Vomund

This week's Top Seed Open in Lexington, Ky., featured plenty of star power.

Four Grand Slam singles champions — Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Sloane Stephens — inhabited the top quarter of the draw, and 16-year-old U.S. phenom Coco Gauff occupied the bottom quarter.

Meeting in Sunday's final (8 a.m. PDT, Tennis Channel), however, will be two rising unseeded players.

Jennifer Brady, a 25-year-old former UCLA star from Boca Raton, Fla., overpowered Gauff 6-2, 6-4 to reach her first WTA final. 

Gauff had ousted second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, the runner-up in San Jose, Calif., last August, in the second round and eighth-seeded Ons Jabeur, an Australian Open quarterfinalist in January, in the quarters.

Jil Teichmann, a 23-year-old left-hander from Switzerland, dismissed Shelby Rogers, a 27-year-old wild card from Charleston, S.C., 6-3, 6-2. Rogers was coming off a three-set victory over top-seeded Serena Williams, who has a residence in Silicon Valley, on Friday.

Teichmann, who was born in Barcelona and lived there until she was 14, is 2-0 in WTA finals, winning on clay in Prague and Palermo last year, and 1-1 against Brady.

Neither finalist has lost a set in four matches in the first WTA tournament in North America in almost one year. Brady has dropped 17 games and Teichmann 22. 

"I don't have an answer for that, why I don't lose any sets," Teichmann, who also reached the doubles final, said in an on-court interview. "I just feel very good. I'm playing very consistent, and I feel great on court. I guess that's the main reason."

Brady played at UCLA for two years (2014-15), helping the Bruins win the NCAA title as a freshman. She won the singles and doubles titles in the 2014 Redding (Calif.) Challenger and reached the fourth round of the 2017 Australian Open and U.S. Open.

Brady won 85 percent of the points (22 of 26) on her first serve in her first career match against Gauff and faced only one break point, which she saved. Brady had eight aces and two double faults. 

Both Brady, a semifinalist in Dubai as a qualifier in February, and Gauff, who won the title in Linz, Austria, last October as a lucky loser, will ascend to career-high rankings on Monday. Brady is guaranteed to rise six places to No. 43, and Gauff will improve five notches to No. 48.

In another first-time matchup, Teichmann converted only 46% of her first serves (to Rogers' 74%) but won 80 percent of those points (20 of 25). She will jump at least nine places in the rankings to tie her career high of No. 54.

Rogers made numerous unforced errors in the match but will return to the top 100 for the first time since April 2018, vaulting 21 places to No. 95. 

Rogers reached the quarterfinals of the 2016 French Open and climbed to a career-high No. 48 the following January. However, she hurt her left knee in a first-round loss at Indian Wells in March 2018, had surgery and sat out for one year.

In the doubles semifinals, unseeded Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic and Teichmann edged top-seeded Alexa Guarachi, a native of Fort Walton Beach, Fla., who plays for Chile, and Desirae Krawczyk, a left-hander born in Palm Desert, Calif., 6-2, 3-6 [10-4].

Bouzkova and Teichmann will play fourth-seeded Hayley Carter, a native of Chattanooga, Tenn., and Luisa Stefani of Brazil after the singles final. Carter and Stefani starred at North Carolina and Pepperdine, respectively. 

Carter won the doubles title in the 2018 Stockton, Calif., Challenger with Ena Shibahara, a native of Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area who plays for Japan.

Serena falls to No. 116 Rogers; Gauff, 16, rallies; Bellis out

Serena Williams lost to wild card Shelby Rogers 1-6, 6-4,
7-6 (5) today in the quarterfinals of the inaugural Top Seed
Open in Lexington, Ky. File photo by Paul Bauman

Serena Williams lost to a player ranked in triple digits for the first time in more than eight years today.

Of course, Shelby Rogers is not really that caliber.

Rogers, a wild card ranked No. 116, stunned Williams, seeded first and ranked ninth, 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) in an all-American quarterfinal in the inaugural Top Seed Open in Lexington, Ky.

"It's every kid's dream when they're growing up watching her play to do something like that," the 27-year-old Rogers, a former top-50 player rebounding from knee surgery, said in an on-court interview. "Weird circumstances, weird setting, but a win is a win, and I know that we're all just happy to be back playing. It's great to see everyone fit and playing well." 

There is little seating at the site, which isn't a problem because no fans are allowed at the tournament, the first on the WTA tour in North America in almost one year, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The tournament featured four Grand Slam singles champions (Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Fresno, Calif., product Sloane Stephens), all in Rogers' quarter of the draw.

Rogers is scheduled to face unseeded Jil Teichmann of Switzerland for the first time on Saturday at 8 a.m. PDT (Tennis Channel). Teichmann, 23, needed seven match points to subdue CiCi Bellis, a 21-year-old San Francisco native who grew up in nearby Atherton, 6-2, 6-4.

Teichmann, who has not lost a set in three matches, will be Rogers' third left-handed opponent this week.

"I'm not sure I've ever done that before," said Rogers, who beat lefties Misaki Doi of Japan in the first round and Leylah Fernandez, a 17-year-old qualifier from Canada, in the second round. "It's definitely rare."

After the Rogers-Teichmann match, Coco Gauff will meet Jennifer Brady for the first time in a showdown of unseeded Americans.

Gauff, a 16-year-old phenom ranked No. 53, defeated Tunisia's Ons Jabeur, seeded eighth and ranked a career-high 39th, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. Gauff trailed 2-4 in the second set but won 10 of the last 11 games.

Brady, ranked No. 49, drubbed unseeded Marie Bouzkova, a Czech ranked one notch higher, 6-1, 6-2. Brady, who reached the Dubai semifinals as a qualifier in February, has lost only 11 games in her three matches this week.

Williams, a 38-year-old part-time resident of Silicon Valley, suffered her first loss to a player ranked No. 100 or below since falling to No. 111 Virginie Razzano of France in the first round of the 2012 French Open.

Rogers, meanwhile, recorded her third victory over a top-10 player. She defeated No. 8 Eugenie Bouchard of Canada in the second round at Montreal in 2014 and ousted No. 4 Simona Halep in the first round of the 2017 Australian Open.

Rogers reached the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2016 and climbed to a career-high No. 48 the following January. However, she suffered a knee injury in a first-round loss at Indian Wells in March 2018, had surgery and sat out for one year.  

All three of Williams' matches in the tournament went to three sets, including her emotional win over Venus Williams on Thursday.

Against Rogers, Serena Williams led 3-1 in the tiebreaker and netted a putaway forehand that would have made it 4-1. Rogers won the next three points to lead 5-3. 

Williams made it 4-5 with a swinging forehand volley but netted a backhand to give Rogers two match points. Williams saved the first one with a service winner but then slugged a backhand long. 

"I was definitely a little bit overwhelmed in the first set with the pace, heavy spin and serve," Rogers admitted after playing Williams for the first time and reaching her first WTA semifinal in more than four years. "I just tried to make a few more balls, make one more, one more, run down a few more."

Rogers converted only 45 percent of her first serves in the match.

"The serve was a struggle for me today, but the second serve came through when I needed it," she said. "Then (on the second) match point, I made a first serve, so that's all that matters, I guess."

Gauff, coming off a three-set victory over second-seeded and 11th-ranked Aryna Sabalenka on Wednesday, reached her second WTA semifinal. She won the title in Linz, Austria, last October as a lucky loser.

Gauff, who advanced to the fourth round at Wimbledon last year and the Australian Open in January, is guaranteed to rise to a career-high No. 48 on Monday. 

Jabeur won the French Open girls singles title in 2011 and reached her first career Grand Slam quarterfinal in the Australian Open in January, ending former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki's career in the third round.

Bellis survived all six match points with Teichmann serving at 5-3 in the second set and finally broke on a double fault. But Teichmann, who has one of the best returns-of-serve in women's tennis, broke serve for the sixth time to close out the match. 

"That was tough," Teichmann said of the next-to-last game. "I was serving very well from this side, but obviously when you serve for the match, it's a bit different. You start thinking a bit, and she was starting to play a bit more aggressive. She hit a few lines, and I was hitting a little bit out, so it was a very close game. I'm happy to close it in the next game."

Teichmann lost the first two games of the match but won the next nine en route to her first WTA hardcourt semifinal. Bellis converted only 22 percent of her first serves in the first set and 43 percent overall.

"I started a little bit slow, and CiCi started very well," said Teichmann, who will rise at least five places to No. 58, four spots off her career high in July 2019. "I just knew I had to get into a rhythm, and I was lucky to get it in the third game. After that, I played very consistent." 

Teichmann, who was born in Barcelona and lived there until she was 15, and Bellis met for the first time as professionals. Bellis routed Teichmann 6-2, 6-1 in the 2015 French Open girls quarterfinals. 

Curiously, Teichmann decided to play in Lexington rather than defend her title on clay, her favorite surface, in Prague. Her other WTA singles title also came last year on clay, in Palermo.

Bellis was seeking her first WTA semifinal since the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, a five-minute drive from her childhood home, in August 2017. The 5-foot-7 (1.68-meter) right-hander missed almost two years, from March 2018 to November 2019, while undergoing three operations on her right wrist and one on her right elbow.

Lexington was the fifth tournament of Bellis' comeback. Ranked a career-high No. 35 in August 2017, she will jump from No. 302 to No. 250 after reaching her first WTA quarterfinal since Doha in February 2018.

Serena subdues Venus; Andreescu pulls out of U.S. Open

The Williams sisters met for the 31st time today, but this one was unlike any of the others.

Rather than competing in front of a raucous crowd at the U.S. Open, for instance, they played with no fans in attendance at the Top Seed Open in Lexington, Ky., because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Top-seeded Serena Williams, who has a residence in Silicon Valley, prevailed 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a more intense match than usual between the sisters to reach the quarterfinals of the first WTA tournament in North America in almost one year. 

Serena won the last four games, breaking serve on a backhand passing shot down the line to lead 5-4 and holding serve on Venus' long forehand for the victory.

"I said I really need to try to win this for my game and confidence, so I really tried to focus on those last two games," Serena said in a post-match interview. 

Serena added that she enjoys the low-key atmosphere this week.

"There are no crowds, so it's super-relaxing," she said.

In today's match, ninth-ranked Serena blasted 14 aces and committed six double faults. Venus, ranked No. 67, had six aces and 11 double faults.

It was the earliest meeting between the sisters since their first one in 1998, a 7-6 (4), 6-1 victory by Venus in the second round of the Australian Open. They were supposed to play each other in the second round of last year's Italian Open, but Serena withdrew because of a left knee injury.

Serena, 38, improved to 19-12 against Venus, 40, with 10 victories in their last 12 matches.

Serena won three singles titles and Venus two in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford before the tournament moved to nearby San Jose as the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in 2018. Venus made her professional debut indoors in Oakland at 14 in 1994.

Serena is scheduled to play Shelby Rogers, a 27-year-old wild card from Charleston, S.C., for the first time on Friday not before 9:30 a.m. PDT (Tennis Channel). Rogers, ranked No. 116, defeated qualifier Leylah Fernandez, a 17-year-old left-hander from Canada, 6-2, 7-5 to reach a WTA quarterfinal for the first time in more than three years.

Rogers advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2016 French Open and attained a career-high No. 48 in 2017. She had knee surgery in May 2018 and missed the rest of the season.

Fernandez, the runner-up in Acapulco in February as a qualifier, ousted seventh-seeded Sloane Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion, in the first round.

CiCi Bellis, a 21-year-old San Francisco native who grew up in nearby Atherton, dominated Jessica Pegula, the 26-year-old daughter of Buffalo Bills and Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula, 6-3, 6-2. 

Bellis, playing in her first tournament since reaching the third round of Australian Open in January, reached her first quarterfinal since Doha in February 2018. The 5-foot-7 (1.68-meter) right-hander then underwent three operations on her right wrist and one on her right elbow. Ranked as high as No. 35 in 2017, she will jump from No. 302 to at least No. 250 on Monday.

Bellis avenged a 6-0, 6-4 loss to Pegula in the first round at Auckland in January in their only previous meeting. Pegula advanced to the final, in which she lost to Serena Williams.

Bellis is set to play unseeded Jil Teichmann, a 23-year-old left-hander from Switzerland, for the first time on Friday at 8 a.m. Teichmann, ranked No. 63, dispatched fifth-seeded Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-2, 6-2.

The only remaining singles seeds are Williams and No. 8 Ons Jabeur, a 25-year-old Tunisian who will meet 16-year-old U.S. phenom Coco Gauff in the bottom half of the draw at about 2 p.m.

U.S. Open – Bianca Andreescu withdrew from the U.S. Open, meaning the Aug. 31-Sept. 13 tournament in New York will have two new singles champions.

"Unforeseen challenges, including the Covid pandemic, have compromised my ability to prepare and compete to the degree necessary to play at my highest level," Andreescu, ranked sixth, wrote on Instagram.

Andreescu became the fourth woman in the top seven to pull out of the U.S. Open, joining No. 1 Ashleigh Barty, No. 5 Elina Svitolina and No. 7 Kiki Bertens. The men's defending champion, Rafael Nadal, also has withdrawn because of coronavirus concerns.

Andreescu, 20, has not played a match since October because of a knee injury and the pandemic.

Novak Djokovic, a three-time U.S. Open champion, confirmed he will play in the tournament.

Volynets, 18, earns her first tour-level victory

Katie Volynets, playing in the Berkeley, Calif.
Challenger last July, surprised Shelby Rogers
6-2, 7-6 (5) tonight in the first round in Acapulco.
Photo by Paul Bauman 

   Katie Volynets achieved the biggest win of her brief career tonight.

   The 18-year-old wild card from Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area defeated American Shelby Rogers 6-2, 7-6 (5) in the first round of the Abierto Mexicano in Acapulco on the WTA Tour.
   Volynets, who won the USTA 18 National Championships last August and turned pro in December, converted her second match point. The first came while she was serving at 6-5 in the second set.
   It was Volynets' first tour-level victory in four appearances (three in the main draw).
   Rogers, at No. 114, is by far the highest-ranked player Volynets, No. 384, has beaten. Her previous best victory came in her last tournament, a $100,000 Challenger in Nicholasville, Ky., two weeks ago, against No. 256 Catherine Harrison of the United States.
   Rogers reached the quarterfinals of the 2016 French Open and attained a career-high ranking of No. 48 in 2017. She had knee surgery in May 2018 and missed the rest of the season.
   Volynets is scheduled to face wild card Renata Zarazua, ranked No. 270, for the first time on Wednesday. The 22-year-old Mexican, 5-foot-3 (1.60 meters), stunned top-seeded Sloane Stephens, who grew up in Fresno, Calif., 6-4, 6-2. Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion and 2018 French Open runner-up, fell to 0-4 this year.
   College rankings – The Stanford women (8-1), who have won the last two NCAA team titles and three of the last four, jumped from No. 12 to No. 6 after beating No. 3 Texas 4-3 in Austin, Texas, on Saturday. The Longhorns (8-2) slipped one spot.
   California (1-3) dropped out of the rankings from No. 18 after losing at No. 2 UCLA 7-0 and No. 12 Pepperdine 5-0.
   On the men's side, Stanford (7-3) remained No. 8, and Cal (5-2) fell four notches to No. 26.

Bellis, 17, reaches third round of U.S. Open

CiCi Bellis of Atherton defeated 49th-ranked Shelby Rogers,
a French Open quarterfinalist in June, tonight in the U.S. Open.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   NEW YORK — Stanford women's coach Lele Forood shouldn't get too excited about CiCi Bellis' recent verbal commitment to enroll at the university in the fall of 2017.
   It appears more and more likely that the 17-year-old resident of nearby Atherton will turn pro before then.
   Bellis reached the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time tonight, upsetting Shelby Rogers 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 in an all-American matchup at the U.S. Open.
   Bellis literally jumped for joy, while pumping her arms, after beating the 49th-ranked Rogers, a French Open quarterfinalist in June.
   "I can't believe it," Bellis, a qualifier, breathlessly told the crowd at the new, 8,125-seat Grandstand in an on-court interview. "I played Shelby a couple of months ago, and she was much better than me. I got the best of her tonight."
   Bellis was referring to Rogers' 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 victory on clay in the first round of a $75,000 tournament in Indian Harbour Beach, Fla., in May. It was their only previous meeting.
   Bellis used her sensational groundstrokes to subdue Rogers -- who had upset 27th-seeded Sara Errani, a  French Open finalist and U.S. Open semifinalist in 2012 -- in the first round. The 5-foot-7 (1.68-meter), 110-pound (50-kilogram) Bellis' serve, however, hovered in the 90s.

   Rogers, a 23-year-old right-hander from Charleston, S.C., took a medical timeout to have her right bicep taped after she held serve at love for 1-4 in the second set.       
   Bellis recorded her fourth victory over a top-50 player. She knocked off No. 13 Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia in the first round of the 2014 U.S. Open, No. 32 Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan in the second round in Miami last year and No. 38 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in the opening round of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in July.
   Now it really gets tough for Bellis, She will meet No. 2 seed and reigning Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber on Friday.
   Bellis has said she will turn pro if she cracks the top 100 in the world before she is scheduled to enroll at Stanford. Assuming she loses to Kerber, Bellis will jump from No. 158 to about No. 123.
   Third-round losers in singles at the U.S. Open receive $140,000, but Bellis can accept only expense money unless she changes her mind and suddenly turns pro.

Former Stanford stars Bob and Mike
Bryan, seeded third, celebrate their
first-round win with their trademark
chest bump. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Meanwhile, two high seeds, one men's and one women's, were upset today.
   Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia ousted third-seeded Garbine Muguruza, who won her first Grand Slam title in the French Open in June, 7-5, 6-4.

   Qualifier Ryan Harrison of Austin, Texas, eliminated fifth-seeded Milos Raonic, the runner-up to Andy Murray at Wimbledon last month, 6-7 (4), 7-5, 7-5, 6-1. Raonic, a three-time champion in the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose, began cramping in his arms and legs in the middle of the second set in the muggy 84-degree heat.

   The new $150 million retractable roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium was closed for the first time when rain began to fall during fourth seed and two-time champion Rafael Nadal's 6-0, 7-5, 6-1 victory over Andreas Seppi of Italy in the featured night match. 
   In doubles, three former Stanford stars won their openers.

   Third-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan, the 1998 NCAA doubles champions for the Cardinal and five-time U.S. Open men's doubles champs, dominated Martin Klizan of Slovakia and Adil Shamasdin of Canada 6-1, 6-3.
   Nicole Gibbs, a 2012 NCAA doubles champion from Stanford, and Nao Hibino of Japan topped Mariana Duque-Marino of Colombia and Monica Puig of Puerto Rico 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. Puig won the Olympic gold medal in singles this month in Rio de Janeiro, and Hibino took the singles crown in the inaugural $50,000.Stockton Challenger last year.
   Wild cards Mackenzie McDonald, who grew up in Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Martin Redlicki of Boca Raton, Fla., fell to top seeds and defending champions Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut of France 7-6 (8), 6-1.
   In mixed doubles, fourth-seeded Raquel Atawo (formerly Kops-Jones) of San Jose and Jean-Julien of the Netherlands lost to Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands and Dominic Inglot of Great Britain 7-6 (4), 5-7 [10-4].

French Open Day 11 highlights: Three U.S. women fall

No. 8 seed Timea Bacsinszky of Switzer-
land eliminated No. 9 Venus Williams
in the fourth round of the French Open.
2015 photo by Paul Bauman

   Five highlights from Day 11 of the French Open in Paris:
   1. Three U.S. women fell on a full day of play after the tournament lost almost two full days because of rain.
   No. 8 seed Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland defeated No. 9 Venus Williams 6-2, 6-4 in the fourth round.
   Unseeded Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands eliminated No. 15 Madison Keys 7-6 (4), 6-3 in the fourth round for her 11th straight victory.
   And No. 4 Garbine Muguruza of Spain outplayed unseeded Shelby Rogers 7-5, 6-3 to reach the French Open semifinals to the first time after two straight quarterfinal appearances.
   Muguruza, the Wimbledon runner-up to Serena Williams last year, is scheduled to meet No. 21 Samantha Stosur, the 2010 French Open runner-up to Francesca Schiavone and 2011 U.S. Open champion, on Friday.
   The 32-year-old Stosur, who will be playing in her first Grand Slam semifinal since the 2012 French Open, beat unseeded Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 6-4, 7-6 (2). Pironkova ousted second-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska in the drizzle on Tuesday.
   Bacsinszky, seeking her second straight semifinal berth at Roland Garros, will play Bertens, who will be playing in her first major quarterfinal. Bertens, 24, swept the singles and doubles titles in Nuremberg (qualifying in singles) the week before the French Open.
   2. No. 2 seed Andy Murray and No. 3 Stan Wawrinka set up a blockbuster semifinal.
   Murray, a two-time Grand Slam champion, wore down No. 9 Richard Gasquet of France 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-0, 6-2 to reach the French Open semis for the third straight year and fourth time in six years.
   Wawrinka, the defending champion, beat unseeded Albert Ramos-Vinolas, a 28-year-old Spanish left-hander, 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (7).
   3. No. 1 seeds Novak Djokovic, attempting to become the eighth man to achieve a career Grand Slam in singles, and Serena Williams, trying to tie Steffi Graf for second place all-time with 22 major singles titles, advanced to the quarterfinals.
   Djokovic completed a rain-suspended 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-5 victory over No. 14 Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain. Djokovic reached his 28th consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal and became the first player to surpass $100 million in career prize money. He will face No. 7 Tomas Berdych.
   Williams dismissed No. 18 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-1, 6-1 in 62 minutes to set up a match against unseeded Yulia Putintseva, a 21-year-old Moscow native who plays for Kazakhstan. Putintseva, only 5-foot-4 (1.63 meters), upset No. 12 Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 7-5, 7-5.
   4. No. 12 David Goffin of Belgium and No. 13 Dominic Thiem of Austria will meet in their first Grand Slam quarterfinals.
   Goffin, only 5-foot-11 (1.80 meters), topped unseeded Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3, and Thiem completed a 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-1, 6-4 victory over unseeded Marcel Granollers of Spain.
   5. The top seeds lost in men's doubles and mixed doubles.
   Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut of France fell to No. 15 seeds Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez (no relation) of Spain 7-6 (7), 6-1.
   Also, Hao-Ching Chan of Taiwan and Jamie Murray of Great Britain bowed out to No. 6 Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 6-4, 6-4.

Northern California results

Men's doubles

Quarterfinals

   Former Stanford stars Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan (5), United States, def. Marcin Matkowski, Poland, and Leander Paes (16), India, 7-6 (12), 6-3.

Mixed doubles

Quarterfinals

   Kristina Mladenovic and Pierre-Hugues Herbert (3), France, def. CoCo Vandeweghe and former Stanford star Bob Bryan (8), United States, 2-6, 6-2 [13-11]. 

Girls singles

   Michaela Gordon, Saratoga, def. Amina Anshba (16), Russia, 6-2, 6-3.

Girls doubles

   Tatiana Pieri and Lucrezia Stefanini, Italy, def. Michaela Gordon, Saratoga, Calif., and Maria Mateas, United States, 6-4, 6-3.

Boys doubles

   Riccardo Balzerani, Italy, and Yuta Shimizu, Japan, def. Liam Caruana, United States, and Sam Riffice, Roseville, Calif., 6-2, 6-2.

French Open Day 8 highlights: Rogers in first Slam QF

   Five highlights from Day 8 of the French Open in Paris:
   1. Roger is absent, but Rogers remains.
   Roger Federer withdrew before the French Open with back problems. Meanwhile, unseeded Shelby Rogers of Charleston, S.C., reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over No. 25 seed Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania.
   The 23-year-old Rogers, ranked No. 108, knocked off a seed for the third time in the tournament. She beat No. 17 Karolina Pliskova in the first round and No. 10 Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion, in the third round.
   Rogers will meet No. 4 Garbine Muguruza, who eliminated No. 13 Svetland Kuznetsova, the 2009 champion at Roland Garros, 6-3, 6-4 to gain her third consecutive French Open quarterfinal.
   2. No. 2 seed Andy Murray ousted the last remaining U.S. man, No. 15 John Isner, 7-6 (9), 6-4, 6-3. The 6-foot-10 (2.08-meter) Isner squandered three set points in the first set.
   Murray, who defeated 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) Ivo Karlovic in the third round, will face No. 9 Richard Gasquet of France in a bid for his third straight French Open semifinal and fourth in six years.
   Gasquet, who will turn 30 on June 18, ousted No. 5 Kei Nishikori 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 to reach his first French Open quarterfinal.
   3. Unseeded Albert Ramos-Vinolas, a 28-year-old Spaniard left-hander who had won one match in five appearances at Roland Garros, knocked off No. 8 Milos Raonic of Canada 6-2, 6-4, 6-4.
   Ramos-Vinolas, ranked 55th, will play third seed and defending champion Stan Wawrinka, who wore down 22nd-seeded Viktor Troicki of Serbia 7-6 (5), 6-7 (7), 6-3, 6-2.
   4. A pair of unseeded 20-year-old Czechs, Barbora Krejcikova and Katarina Siniakova, stunned top-seeded Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals. Hingis and Mirza had won the last three Grand Slam titles.
   5. Unseeded Serena Williams and Venus Williams lost to Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands and Johanna Larsson of Sweden 6-3, 6-3. The Williams sisters had completed a three-set victory over Vitalia Diatchenko of Russia and Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan earlier in the day.

Northern California results

Men's doubles

Third round

   Former Stanford stars Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan (5), United States, def. Radek Stepanek, Czech Republic, and Nenad Zimonjic (12), Serbia, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-3.

Mixed doubles

Second round 

   CoCo Vandeweghe and ex-Stanford star Bob Bryan (8), United States, def. Chia-Jung Chuang, Taiwan, and Henri Kontinen, Finland, 6-3, 6-3.

French Open Day 6 highlights: Nadal withdraws

Nine-time champion Rafael Nadal pulled out of the French
Open with a left wrist injury. 2016 photo by Paul Bauman

   Five highlights from Day 6 of the French Open in Paris:
   1. Novak Djokovic's bid to become the eighth man to achieve a career Grand Slam in singles is looking better all the time. Nine-time champion Rafael Nadal withdrew because of a left wrist injury. He was scheduled to play fellow Spaniard Marcel Granollers in the third round.
   "I have to retire from the tournament because of a problem in my wrist that I have had for a couple of weeks," the left-hander, who will turn 30 next Friday, said at a news conference. "Yesterday I played with an injection in my wrist. Last night I started to feel more and more pain. I did an MRI and an echography, and the results were not positive. It's not broken, but if I keep playing, something will break in the next couple of days. Every day the image as gotten a bit worse.
   "I came here to win the tournament, and that means playing five more matches. Accoring to the doctor, that would be impossible, as there is a 100 percent chance something will break. I know that I cannot finish the tournament. It's part of life, and I hope to be back at Roland Garros for many years to come."
   Nadal lost only nine games in his two matches (six sets). Tied for second place with 14 Grand Slam singles titles, he has not won one since the 2014 French Open.
   Roger Federer withdrew before the French Open, saying he was not 100 percent. The 2009 champion at Roland Garros underwent knee surgery on Feb. 3 and pulled out of Madrid this month because of a recurring back problem.
   2. No. 21 seed Samantha Stosur ousted No. 11 Lucie Safarova, last year's runner-up to Serena Williams and doubles champion with Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 6-3, 6-7 (0), 7-5 in the third round.
   Safarova, a 29-year-old left-hander, has been plagued by injury and illness since last summer. She has suffered an abdominal strain, a bacterial illness, a wrist injury and, after winning the Prague title in her native Czech Republic in late April, food poisoning.
   Stosur, a 32-year-old Australian, won the 2011 U.S. Open and reached the final of the 2010 French Open.
   3. Unseeded Shelby Rogers of Charleston, S.C., toppled No. 10 Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion, 6-0, 6-7 (3), 6-0 to reach the fourth round of a Slam for the first time. The 23-year-old Rogers, ranked No. 108, will face No. 25 Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania.
   4. No. 3 Stan Wawrinka, the defending champion, defeated No. 30 Jeremy Chardy of France 6-4, 6-3, 7-5. Wawrinka will play No. 22 Viktor Troicki of Serbia in the round of 16. Troicki eliminated No. 16 Gilles Simon of France 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.
   5. No. 2 seeds Andy Murray and Agnieszka Radwanska advanced in consecutive matches on Court Suzanne-Lenglen. Murray will face No. 15 John Isner, and Radwanska will meet unseeded Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria.

Northern California results

Men's doubles

Second round

   Former Stanford stars Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan (5), United States, def. Oliver Marach, Austria, and Fabrice Martin, France, 6-3, 7-6 (1). 

Women's doubles

Second round

   Aleksandra Krunic, Serbia, and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, Croatia, def. San Jose resident and former Cal star Raquel (Kops-Jones) Atawo and Abigail Spears (8), United States, 7-6 (6), 6-3.

Mixed doubles

First round

   CoCo Vandeweghe and former Stanford star Bob Bryan (8), United States, def. Virginie Razzano and Vincent Millot, France, 6-3, 7-5.

   Jelena Jankovic and Nenad Zimonjic, Serbia, def. San Jose resident and former Cal star Raquel (Kops-Jones) Atawo and Raven Klaasen, South Africa, 7-6 (5), 6-4.

Roundup: Bellis wins her biggest doubles title

CiCi Bellis, 16, of Atherton won the doubles title in the $100,000
Dow Corning Tennis Classic in Midland, Mich., with Ingrid Neel,
17, of Rochester, Minn. 2015 photo by Paul Bauman

   CiCi Bellis and Ingrid Neel might want to stick together.
   Playing in their first professional tournament together, the American teenagers won the doubles title in the $100,000 Dow Corning Tennis Classic on Sunday in Midland, Mich.
   Wild cards Bellis, 16, of Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area and Neel, 17, of Rochester, Minn., beat second-seeded Naomi Broady of Great Britain and Shelby Rogers of Charleston, S.C., 6-2, 6-4.
   Bellis, an amateur, won her biggest doubles title in only her seventh pro doubles event and first since an opening-round loss with Jacqueline Cako of the United States in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford last August. Bellis lives minutes from Stanford.
   Bellis and Neel defeated the top three seeds in Midland. They routed No. 1 Asia Muhammad and Maria Sanchez, a Modesto product, in the quarterfinals and edged No. 3 Nicole Gibbs, a former Stanford All-American, and Taylor Townsend in the semifinals.
   Bellis also upset No. 2 singles seed and defending champion Tatjana Maria of Germany in the first round before losing to wild card Robin Anderson of Matawan, N.J.
   The unseeded Broady won the singles title, defeating Anderson 6-7 (6), 6-0, 6-2. The 6-foot-2 (1.89-meter) Broady towered over the 5-foot-3 (1.61-meter) Anderson.

Ingrid Neel returns a shot in the first round of women's
doubles in the U.S. Open last September. Neel lost
with fellow American teenager Tornado Alicia Black.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Broady, who will turn 26 on Feb. 28, qualified in Auckland on the elite WTA tour last month and stunned former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic in the first round en route to the quarterfinals.
   Broady also won the doubles title in the $50,000 Sacramento Challenger in 2013 with Storm Sanders of Australia.

   Fed Cup in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii -- Venus Williams overpowered Magda Linette 6-1, 6-2 in 60 minutes to give the United States an insurmountable 3-0 lead over Poland in World Group II.
   The United States also won in doubles behind Bethanie Mattek-Sands and CoCo Vandeweghe to beat Poland 4-0. The final singles match was not played.
   The United States advances to the World Group playoffs in April for a chance to compete for the Fed Cup title in 2017. The draw for the playoffs will be held Tuesday.
   Williams, 35, has won the Bank of the West Classic twice (2000 and 2002) and reached the final five other times (1998, 1999, 2004, 2005 and 2009).
   Williams' younger sister, top-ranked Serena Williams, and No. 4 Agneiszka Radwanska of Poland skipped this weekend's competition.
   Fed Cup in Quebec City, Canada -- Stanford junior Carol Zhao of Canada didn't exactly ease into the Fed Cup.
   The World Group II tie between Canada and Belarus came down to doubles, with Gabriela Dabrowski and Zhao, playing her first Fed Cup match, falling to Olga Govortsova and Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-2, 6-4. That gave Belarus a 3-2 victory.
   The 6-foot (1.82-meter) Govortsova reached the Bank of the West quarterfinals in 2007 (as a qualifier) and 2013.
   Neither Belarus' Victoria Azarenka nor Canada's Eugenie Bouchard -- formerly ranked No. 1 and No. 5, respectively -- played in the tie.    

   ITA Women's Team Indoors in Madison, Wis. -- Karla Popovic defeated Olivia Sneed 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 on Court 6 to give sixth-ranked Cal a 4-3 victory over No. 16 Ohio State in the semifinals of the ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championship.
   Cal (5-0) will play defending champion North Carolina, ranked fifth, for the title today at 9 a.m. PST. It will be the Bears' second appearance in the final. They lost to Stanford in 2000 in Madison.

Qualifier stuns top-seeded Fish in Houston

   Mardy Fish's disappointing year hit a new low Thursday.
   It wasn't just that Fish lost his opening match at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship in Houston. Seeded first, he was trounced by a 33-year-old pipsqueak qualifier who had never beaten a top-10 player.
   Wait, there's more. Fish, ranked ninth, could fall out of the top 10 and be replaced by No. 10 John Isner as the top American when the new rankings are released Sunday night. The 6-foot-10 Isner, seeded second in Houston after leading the U.S. Davis Cup team over host France last week, will meet defending champion Ryan Sweeting of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., today in the quarterfinals.    
   In an All-American encounter, 5-foot-8 Michael Russell stunned Fish 6-3, 6-1 in the second round. Fish, who's scheduled to play two home matches for the Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis in July, had received a bye in the first round.
   Of course, Russell did have a few things going for him. The clay reduced the 6-foot-2 Fish's power, Russell was playing in his adopted hometown, and he compensates for his small size with an indomitable will.
   Fish, 30, suffered his second consecutive one-sided loss. He fell to Juan Monaco of Argentina 6-1, 6-3 on hardcourt in the quarterfinals at Key Biscayne, Fla., two weeks ago. Fish then withdrew from the Davis Cup with fatigue.
   Key Biscayne marked the first time Fish had won consecutive matches since reaching the Tokyo semifinals last October. He did, however, rally to beat then-No. 28 Stanislas Wawrinka 9-7 in the fifth set to help the visiting United States beat Switzerland, which also had Roger Federer, on clay in the first round of the Davis Cup in February.
   Russell, who had been 0-12 against top-10 players, advanced to his first tour-level quarterfinal of the year. He will meet Ryan Harrison, a 19-year-old Austin, Texas, resident who replaced Fish on the Davis Cup team and went 0-2 in singles (one loss coming after the United States had clinched victory).
   Also in the second round at Houston, 6-foot-6 San Francisco native Sam Querrey lost to Kevin Anderson, a 6-foot-8 South African, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 7-6 (2).  But James Blake and Querrey upended No. 1 seeds Alex Bogomolov Jr. of Russia and Scott Lipsky, a former Stanford All-American, 6-3, 6-3 in the doubles quarterfinals. Blake won the 2004 title with Fish.
   Second-seeded Mark Knowles, a Capitals veteran from the Bahamas and two-time Houston champion with Daniel Nestor, and Xavier Malisse of Belgium also lost in the doubles quarters. They were edged by Treat Conrad Huey of the Philippines and Dominic Inglot of Great Britain 3-6, 6-4, 10-8 tiebreak.
   Other pro results -- Jean-Julien Rojer, a Capital from the Netherlands Antilles, and Robin Haase of the Netherlands ousted second-seeded Eric Butorac, a former Capital from Rochester, Minn., and Bruno Soares of Brazil 7-5, 6-0 in the quarterfinals of the Grand Prix Hassan II on clay in Casablanca, Morocco. Rojer and Butorac are former partners who reached the semifinals of last year's Australian Open.
   Eighth-seeded Coco Vandeweghe, a Capital from Rancho Santa Fe in the San Diego area, defeated 19-year-old qualifier Shelby Rogers of Charleston, S.C., 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals of the $25,000 Challenger in Pelham, Ala. Rogers won the USTA girls 18 singles title in 2010 in San Diego.
   Qualifier Pedro Zerbini, a former Cal star from Brazil, shocked top-seeded Stefan Seifert of Germany 7-6 (0), 7-6 (5) to gain the quarterfinals of the $15,000 Oklahoma City Open. However, Zerbini and Dean O'Brien of South Africa lost in the doubles semifinals to second-seeded Edward Corrie of Great Britain and Vahid Mirzadeh of Wellington, Fla. 6-4, 6-1.
   Sac State women -- In the final regular-season home matches of their careers, Tatsiana Kapshai, Clarisse Baca and Maria Meliuk won in singles to help the No. 59 Sacramento State women (13-9) win 5-1 over No. 66 UC Irvine (13-6).
  Kapshai, from Belarus, won in straight sets at No. 1 singles. Baca, from Mexico, triumphed 6-0 in the third set at No. 3, and Meliuk of Belarus prevailed 7-6 (5) in the third set at No. 5.
   UC Irvine's Kat Facey, a freshman from Cameron Park in the Sacramento area, lost to Sophie Lohsheidt 7-5, 6-2 at No. 4 singles. 
   Easter Bowl -- Piedmont's Mackenzie McDonald, seeded third in the boys 18s, and Atherton's Catherine Bellis, seeded 17th in the girls 14s, remained alive in singles at the Easter Bowl in Rancho Mirage.
   McDonald crushed unseeded Justin Butsch of Miami Beach 6-0, 6-2 in the round of 16, but No. 8 Trey Strobel, a Stanford-bound resident of Bradenton, Fla., lost to No. 9 Stefan Kozlov of Pembroke Pines, Fla., 6-4, 7-6 (5). Bellis dominated unseeded Adriana Reami of Miami 6-2, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.
   Caroline Doyle of San Francisco fell to Mayo Hibi of Irvine 6-3, 7-5 in a clash of unseeded players in the girls 18 quarterfinals. Losing in the boys 16 round of 16 were unseeded Logan Staggs of Tracy, Kial Kaiser of Saratoga and Cameron Klinger of San Jose.
   In the boys 16 doubles semifinals, Klinger and Jake Devine of Boca Raton, Fla., will face Winston Limhengco of Sacramento and Cody Rakela of Scotts Valley.
   Reaching the boys 14 doubles semis in opposite halves of the draw were seventh-seeded Lane Leschly of Atherton and Victor Pham of Saratoga and unseeded Alexander Hwang of Orinda and Sreyas Kolachalam of Campbell.
   Advancing to the girls 16 doubles quarters were ninth-seeded Hadley Berg of Greenbrae and Kristina Hovsepyan of Danville and unseeded Paige Cline of Kentfield and Annika Ringblom of Palos Verdes Estates.
   In the girls 14 doubles semis, top-seeded Bellis and Helen Altick of Monroe, La., lost to No. 8 Sofia Kenin of Pembroke Pines, Fla., and Parris Todd of Irvine 6-2, 7-5.