Australia's Rogowska stars in the late show

No. 1 seed Olivia Rogowska, right, of Australia defeated No. 7 Julia Boserup
  of Newport Beach 6-2, 7-5 to win the $50,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger.

   GOLD RIVER, Calif. — There's nothing unusual about night matches in professional tennis.
   Night finals are another matter.
   The $50,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger, which began in 2012, had one Saturday for the second straight year to avoid Sacramento's sweltering summer heat.
   Furthermore, the doubles final was played first.
   And rather than conduct a brief awards ceremony between matches and save the formalities for later, the emcee thanked everyone except John Sutter for discovering gold in nearby Coloma in 1848.
   By the time the singles final started, it was 8:33 p.m. And it easily could have been later, as the doubles final lasted only 51 minutes.
   Top-seeded Olivia Rogowska handled the day-long wait much better than seventh-seeded Julia Boserup to triumph 6-2, 7-5 at the Gold River Racquet Club. Rogowska has exceptional mental toughness and far more big-match experience than Boserup.
   Incredibly, the 5-foot-11 (1.80-meter), 145-pound (66-kilogram) Boserup missed her opening 10 first serves and 13 of her first 14. In the opening game, she double-faulted three consecutive times and was broken. Of her first seven serving points spanning two games, four were double faults.

   Boserup, 22, of Newport Beach converted only 30.4 percent of her first serves in the opening set and was broken three of four times.
   "I was in a hurry to get on the court, excited to play tonight," said Boserup, who played in her first final since winning the $25,000 Rancho Santa Fe Challenger in the San Diego area in February 2012. "I just didn't get off to the best start, the start I was hoping for."
   Then, in a major understatement, Boserup added: "My rhythm was a little bit off on my serve. It started to get better in the second set but never came back fully. I was tying to take it one (serve) at a time, and that's how it is with tennis. Every day is different."

Storm Sanders, right, of Australia won the Gold River
doubles title for the second consecutive year, this time
with Daria Gavrilova of Russia.

   Especially when the match is at night.

   Boserup actually converted a whopping 82.4 percent of her first serves in the second set, which she led 5-2 (one break). She had two set points serving at 5-3, but the fearless Rogowska erased them with backhand and forehand winners. Boserup double-faulted twice in the game, and Rogowska broke by inducing an error with a sharply angled cross-court forehand.
   Rogowska held serve, then broke again to lead 6-5. From 30-15 in the game, Boserup sailed three consecutive groundstrokes long.
   Rogowska held again for the match with the help of two aces, including one on her second match point. Rogowska, rail thin at 5-foot-9 (1.75 meters) and 128 pounds (58 kilograms), finished with nine aces to Boserup's two and no double faults to Boserup's 10 in the players' first career meeting.
   "I just mentally really hung in there, even when I got down in the second set," said Rogowska, a 23-year-old Australian who's three months older than Boserup. "I fought extremely hard for every single point, and that pays off in the end. Once I got it back to even, the momentum went my way."
   While the quick Rogowska relentlessly chased down balls, Boserup didn't try for some shots in the corners that she might have reached.
   Rogowska has played in the main draw of singles in 10 Grand Slam tournaments (reaching the second round three times) and won 25 ITF (minor-league) singles and doubles titles combined. The corresponding figures for Boserup are none and two.
   Rogowska pocketed $7,600 for her 10th ITF singles title and second this year. She will rise from No. 127 in the world to No. 110, two spots below her career high and third in Australia behind No. 19 Samantha Stosur, the 2011 U.S. Open champion, and No. 36 Casey Dellacqua.
   Boserup, who was seeking her third ITF singles crown and third in California, earned $4,053. She  will improve from No. 222 to No. 200 on Monday.
   Boserup peaked at No. 174 in 2012 but missed the first half of last year with a bulging disc and tumbled to No. 510. She returned to action in last year's Gold River Challenger and lost to former top-20 player Alisa Kleybanova of Russia in the final round of qualifying.
   "This one stings right now," Boserup said, "but tomorrow when I look back at where I was last year, not even playing tennis, to (reaching the final), it's a good improvement to keep building on."
   Rogowska, meanwhile, showed her mental fortitude throughout the week. She won a first-set tiebreaker in a straight-set victory in the second round and prevailed in the quarterfinals and semifinals after losing the first set. In fact, Rogowska came within a tiebreaker of losing in straight sets to sixth-seeded Sachia Vickery of Hollywood, Fla., in the quarters.
   "The level of tennis, especially in the girls, is so similar (in the Challengers)," said Rogowska, whose parents moved from Poland to Australia two years before she was born. "We all hit a pretty clean ball. It's all mental, to be honest. The girls in the top 100, the top 50, are so mentally tough, so I feel like I'm getting better at being more consistent with that attitude, and hopefully I'll continue this good form."

   Another Aussie, Storm Sanders, won the doubles title for the second consecutive year. Sanders, a 19-year-old left-hander, and Daria Gavrilova, a 20-year-old Russian living in Australia, routed California products Maria Sanchez and Zoe Scandalis 6-2, 6-1. Both teams were unseeded.
   Sanders, who's named after a character in a series of popular historical novels by South African Wilbur Smith, triumphed last year with 6-foot-2 (1.88-meter) Naomi Broady of Great Britain. Broady did not return this year after reaching the Wimbledon mixed doubles quarterfinals with countryman Neal Skupski last week.
   Gavrilova played in her first tournament since undergoing reconstructive surgery on her right ACL last November. She won two Grand Slam girls titles, U.S. Open singles in 2010 and French Open doubles in 2012.
   Sanchez, 24, was born and raised in Modesto and graduated from USC in 2011. She won the singles championship and reached the doubles final in the inaugural Gold River Challenger and captured her first title on the elite WTA tour in January, teaming with Sharon Fichman of Canada for the Auckland doubles crown in January.
   Scandalis, from San Diego, will be a senior at USC in the fall.    

$50,000 FSP GOLD RIVER WOMEN'S CHALLENGER

At Gold River Racquet Club

In Gold River, Calif.

Singles final

   Olivia Rogowska (1), Australia, def. Julia Boserup (7), United States, 6-2, 7-5.

Doubles final

   Daria Gavrilova, Russia, and Storm Sanders, Australia, def. Maria Sanchez and Zoe Scandalis, United States, 6-2, 6-1.

Rogowska, Boserup reach Gold River Challenger final

Top seed Olivia Rogowska beat ailing Madison Brengle, seeded
third, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 to reach the final of the Gold River Challenger.

   Madison Brengle can't seem to stay healthy for an entire week in the $50,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger.
   One year after coming down with a stomach ailment on the day of the final and losing, the third-seeded Brengle hurt her right knee and lost to top-seeded Olivia Rogowska 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in Friday night's semifinals at the Gold River Racquet Club in the Sacramento area.
   Rogowska, a 23-year-old Australian, and Brengle, a 24-year-old American, are roommates and best friends who train in Bradenton, Fla.
   "I got revenge for the last time we played," Rogowska said. "She skunked me."
   Rogowska was referring to Brengle's 6-2, 6-0 victory in the final of a $25,000 Challenger, also on hardcourts, in Landisville, Pa., last August. It was their only previous meeting.

No. 7 seed Julia Boserup routed No. 8 Nao Hibino 6-1, 6-3.

   Rogowska, who has dropped the opening set in her last two matches, will meet seventh-seeded Julia Boserup of Newport Beach for the first time after tonight's 7 o'clock doubles final. Boserup, 5-foot-11 (1.80 meters) and 145 pounds (66 kilograms), overpowered little Nao Hibino, seeded eighth, of Japan 6-1, 6-3.

   "The score was not indicative of the match," Boserup, 22, said after her first career match against Hibino, 19. "She is a very impressive player."
   Hibino was trying to become the second consecutive Japanese teenager to win the Gold River Challenger. Mayo Hibi triumphed last year at 17 but chose to play in a $25,000 Challenger in Gatineau, Canada, this week instead. Hibi, seeded fifth, lost to top-seeded Risa Ozaki, also of Japan, in Friday's quarterfinals.
   Brengle began hobbling midway through the second set. She took a medical timeout early in the third set and had her knee taped but limped through the rest of the match.
   Rogowska played with her left thigh taped for the first time this week but didn't seem bothered.
   At first glance, the final looks like a mismatch. Rogowska is ranked almost 100 places higher in the world than Boserup, 127 to 222. Also, Rogowska has won nine career ITF (minor-league) titles in singles and 15 in doubles to Boserup's two and none, respectively.
   Rogowska hits hard for someone only 5-foot-9 (1.75 meters) and 128 pounds (58 kilograms), and she's mentally tough. She came within a tiebreaker of losing in straight sets to sixth-seeded Sachia Vickery, 19, in the quarterfinals but pulled out the match.
   But Boserup is not to be underestimated. Her ranking is deceptively low because she missed the first half of last year with a bulging disc -- returning in the Gold River Challenger and losing to former top-20 player Alisa Kleybanova in the last round of qualifying -- and tumbled to No. 510.
   This year, Boserup is showing what she can do when healthy. As a qualifier in Monterrey, Mexico, on the elite WTA tour in April, she stunned 2013 Wimbledon semifinalist Kirsten Flipkens, a Belgian ranked 25th at the time, en route to the quarterfinals of the hardcourt tournament.
   Boserup not only is more powerful than Rogowska but fresher, having not lost a set in the Gold River Challenger. Temperatures have reached the 90s (32.2-37.8 Celsius) all week.
   Also, Boserup has the homecourt advantage. Both of her titles have come in $25,000 tournaments in her native California, at Rancho Santa Fe in the San Diego area in 2012 and at Redding in 2011.
   The doubles final features two unseeded teams. Modesto product and USC graduate Maria Sanchez and current Trojan Zoe Scandalis will face Daria Gavrilova of Russia and Storm Sanders of Australia.
   In the inaugural Gold River Challenger two years ago, Sanchez won the singles title and reached the doubles final with then-Trojan Kaitlyn Christian.
   Sanders, a left-hander, won last year's doubles crown at 18 with 6-foot-2 (1.89-meter) Naomi Broady of Great Britain. Broady did not return this year after advancing to the Wimbledon mixed doubles quarterfinals with countryman Neal Skupski.
   Tickets for the finals of the Gold River Challenger are $10. The matches will be streamed live at www.goldriverchallenger.com.

$50,000 FSP GOLD RIVER WOMEN'S CHALLENGER

At Gold River Racquet Club

In Gold River, Calif.

Singles semifinals

   Olivia Rogowska (1), Australia, def. Madison Brengle (3), United States, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.   

   Julia Boserup (7), United States, def. Nao Hibino (8), Japan, 6-1, 6-3.

  Doubles semifinals

   Daria Gavrilova, Russia, and Storm Sanders, Australia, def. Jacqueline Cako and Danielle Lao, United States (3), 6-2, 7-6 (6).

   Maria Sanchez and Zoe Scandalis, United States, def. Macall Harkins and Peggy Porter, United States, 6-7 (2), 6-2 [10-7].

Today's schedule

(Starting at 7 p.m.)

Stadium

   Maria Sanchez and Zoe Scandalis, United States, vs. Daria Gavrilova, Russia, and Storm Sanders, Australia.

   Olivia Rogowska (1), Australia, vs. Julia Boserup (7), United States.

Roommates to meet in Gold River Challenger semis

Third-seeded Madison Brengle, above, of the United States
will face top-seeded Olivia Rogowska, below, of Australia
in the semifinals of the Gold River Women's Challenger.

   GOLD RIVER, Calif. -- Madison Brengle will have mixed emotions when she faces Olivia Rogowska this evening in the semifinals of the $50,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger.
   "She is my roommate and closest friend," Brengle said. "She is a great person."
   Rogowska, 23, of Australia and Brengle, a 24-year-old American, train in Bradenton, Fla. Seeded first and third, respectively, they held off young Americans in tough three-set matches on Thursday at the Gold River Racquet Club in the Sacramento area.
   In the other semifinal, seventh-seeded Julia Boserup of Newport Beach will take on eighth-seeded Nao Hibino of Japan. They eliminated promising U.S. teenagers Louisa Chirico and Jamie Loeb, respectively.
    Rogowska, ranked No. 127 in the world, edged 19-year-old Sachia Vickery of Hollywood, Fla., 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4. Rogowska saved four break points at 5-5 in the second set, won four of the last five points in the tiebreaker and overcame a 3-0 deficit (one break) in the third set.
   "At these tournaments, the level of play is similar," observed Rogowska, who has reached the second round of singles three times in Grand Slam tournaments. "The difference is all mental. You have to have self-belief."
  Vickery won the USTA National Girls 18s singles and doubles titles last August. She then beat Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, a Wimbledon semifinalist in 1999, in the first round of the U.S. Open before losing to qualifier Julia Glushko of Israel in the second round.   
   "Vickery is a very tough player," Rogowska said. "I was proud of how I held it together."
   Brengle, ranked No. 158, outlasted 5-foot-3 (1.61-meter) Danielle Lao 6-4, 6-7 (9), 6-3. Lao, a 23-year-old former USC All-American, saved two match points in the second set.
   "Danielle has a tricky game," said Brengle, the runner-up in last year's Gold River Challenger. "She's very consistent and a good mover. You have to stay very mentally tough, working to create angles."
   Brengle has played Rogowska only once in a tournament, winning by the surprisingly one-sided score of 6-2, 6-0 in the final of a $25,000 Challenger in Landisville, Pa., last August. Rogowska had been extended to 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2 in the semifinals, whereas Brengle had breezed 6-1, 6-2.
   Boserup, 22, and Hibino, 19, will meet for the first time. Boserup is ranked No. 222 and Hibino No. 227.
   Boserup, a hard hitter at 5-foot-11 (1.80 meters) and 145 pounds (66 kilograms), reached the quarterfinals as a qualifier in Monterrey, Mexico, on the elite WTA tour in April. In the first round, she beat then-No. 25 Kirsten Flipkens, a Belgian who advanced to the Wimbledon semifinals last year.
   Hibino reached the final of a $25,000 Challenger on hardcourts in Fergana, Uzbekistan, last month. She is bidding to become the second consecutive Japanese teenager to win the Gold River tournament. Mayo Hibi prevailed at 17 last year but chose to play in a $25,000 event in Gatineau, Canada, this week instead. Seeded fifth, she will meet top-seeded Risa Ozaki, another Japanese player, in today's quarterfinals.
   Boserup, who squandered a 5-0 lead in the first set against Chirico before recovering, is the only player in the Gold River Challenger who has not lost a set. Not coincidentally, she has yet to face a seed, but that will change tonight.

$50,000 FSP GOLD RIVER WOMEN'S CHALLENGER

At Gold River Racquet Club

In Gold River, Calif.

Singles quarterfinals

   Olivia Rogowska (1), Australia, def. Sachia Vickery (6), United States, 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4.

   Madison Brengle (3), United States, def. Danielle Lao, United States, 6-4, 6-7 (9), 6-3.

   Nao Hibino (8), Japan, def. Jamie Loeb, United States, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

   Julia Boserup (7), United States, def. Louisa Chirico, United States, 7-5, 6-3. 

  Doubles quarterfinals

   Macall Harkins and Peggy Porter, United States, def. Natalie Pluskota and Keri Wong (2), United States, 6-3, 5-7 [10-7].

   Maria Sanchez and Zoe Gwen Scandalis, United States, def. Jamie Loeb and Allie Will, United States, walkover.

Today's schedule

(Starting at 4 p.m.)

Stadium

   Maria Sanchez and Zoe Gwen Scandalis, United States, vs. Macall Harkins and Peggy Porter, United States.

   Olivia Rogowska (1), Australia, vs. Madison Brengle (3), United States.

   Julia Boserup (7), United States, vs. Nao Hibino (8), Japan.

Court 3

   Jacqueline Cako and Danielle Lao (3), United States, vs. Daria Gavrilova, Russia, and Storm Sanders, Australia.

Top three seeds ousted in Redding Challenger

Fifth-seeded Adriana Perez, a Venezuelan shown
on Thursday, beat top-seeded Olivia Rogowska
of Australia in the Redding quarterfinals.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   The top three seeds lost on Friday in the quarterfinals of the $25,000 The Ascension Project Women's Challenger at Sun Oaks Tennis & Fitness in Redding, Calif.
   Fifth-seeded Adriana Perez of Venezuela knocked off top-seeded Olivia Rogowska of Australia 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-0.
   Second-seeded Ksenia Pervak of Russia retired with a back injury while trailing unseeded Julia Boserup, the 2011 champion from Newport Beach, 6-4, 2-2.
   And seventh-seeded Allie Kick, 18, of Plantation, Fla., ousted third-seeded Chanel Simmonds of South Africa 6-4, 6-4.
  The only quarterfinal that held form was unseeded Robin Anderson of Matawan, N.J., beating Christina Makarova, a 17-year-old qualifier from San Diego, 6-1, 7-5.
   Rogowska eached the second round of last year's Australian Open in her hometown of Melbourne. She's ranked No. 138 in the world.
   Pervak climbed to a career-high No. 37 in 2011 after advancing to the fourth round at Wimbledon and winning the title in Tashkent on the WTA tour, the major leagues of women's tennis. Hampered by injuries this year, the 22-year-old left-hander has fallen to No. 142.
   In today's first semifinal at 11 a.m., Boserup will face Anderson for the first time.

Unseeded Julia Boserup, shown on Thursday,
advanced when No. 2 seed Ksenia Pervak retired
with a back injury. Boserup, the 2011 Redding
champion, led 6-4, 2-2 at the time. Photo by
Paul Bauman 

   Boserup, a hard hitter at 5-foot-11 (1.80 meters), missed the first six months of the year with a bulging disc. She did not have surgery.
   Anderson, only 5-foot-3 (1.61 meters), reached the round of 16 in singles and the final in doubles at the NCAA Championships in May as a UCLA sophomore.
   After the Boserup-Anderson match, Perez will take on Kiick. They have met once, with Kiick winning 7-6 (10), 6-2 on a hardcourt in the first round of the $25,000 Rock Hill (S.C.) Challenger last October. The Redding Challenger also is played on hardcourts.
   Kiick's father, Jim, was the starting halfback on the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only team in NFL history to go undefeated. Jim Kiick and his '72 teammates were honored last month at the White House.
   Macall Harkins, who moved from the Los Angeles area to Redding in March, lost in the doubles semifinals. Unseeded Jacqueline Cako and Kiick topped fourth-seeded Harkins and Sanaz Marand 6-4, 7-6 (4) in an all-American matchup.
   Cako and Kiick will meet unseeded Anderson and Lauren Embree of Marco Island, Fla., in Sunday's final. Cako and Marand won last year's title.
   The Ascension Project is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of local youth, collegiate and professional athletes through a team approach.
   Here are links to the singles and doubles draws:
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/singles_draw283.PDF
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/doubles_draw284.PDF

Redding top seed bounces back from shutout loss

Top seed Olivia Rogowska serves during her 6-4, 6-0
victory over Montserrat Gonzalez, 19, of Paraguay
in the first round of the Redding Challenger.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   REDDING, Calif. -- It took a few days, but Olivia Rogowska overcame the trauma.
   The 22-year-old Australian recently endured a tennis player's worst nightmare, a 6-0, 6-0 loss.
   Futhermore, the humiliation wasn't hidden from public view in Azerbaijan on an outside court at 10 a.m.
   No, it occurred at the U.S. Open. In Louis Armstrong Stadium. On television. In prime time.
   Ouch.
   On the bright side, Rogowska had survived qualifying to earn a berth in the main draw and a guaranteed $31,455, and the perpetrator, Sara Errani of Italy, was ranked fifth in the world.
   "I was really upset after the match, but every player has to have a tough loss to learn from," the top-seeded Rogowska said after beating Montserrat Gonzalez, 19, of Paraguay 6-4, 6-0 today in the first round of the $25,000 The Ascension Project Women's Challenger at Sun Oaks Tennis & Fitness. "It was a good experience now that I look back on it."
   It was the first time Rogowska, now ranked 138th in the world, had been shut out since she turned pro in June 2007.
   Rogowska described Errani, last year's French Open runner-up to Maria Sharapova, as "the best in the world at not missing, getting every single ball back. She's the most solid player in the world. I just have to work on attacking in the right moments and smarter shot selection against her. There were a lot of close games, and she just seemed to win the tighter points, just being a bit smarter and more solid."
   After slinking away from New York, Rogowska spent a week training at the Chris Evert Academy in Boca Raton, Fla. Evert, though, was still commentating at the U.S. Open for ESPN.
   Rogowska was not particularly pleased with her performance against Gonzalez, who has won four $10,000 tournaments (three on clay) this year.                    
   "I guess the first match is always the toughest at a tournament, just getting used to the conditions, the court," said Rogowska, who reached the second round of last year's Australian Open in her hometown of Melbourne. "The first set, I was just a bit nervous, but once I settled down, once I won the first set, I thought I started playing a bit better.
   "I started making more balls, and she started missing a bit more. Once that started, I felt like I got a bit more aggressive and a bit more dominant. I felt like I played some pretty good tennis at the end."
   Rogowska's biggest strength is her mobility.
   "I like to get a lot of balls back," said Rogowska, who's rail thin at 5-foot-9 (1.75 meters) and 125 pounds (58 kilograms). "I like to change direction sometimes. That puts my opponents off -- they don't really know where I'm hitting it.   "I feel like my serve has improved a lot. I don't think I got broken today, so I feel like my serve really helped me win that first set and in the end win the match."
   Both players grew up on clay, even though Australia is known more for hardcourts and formerly grass. Rogowska's affinity for clay showed at Sun Oaks as she often slid into shots, her shoes screeching against the hardcourt.
   "Sliding to me is pretty natural," Rogowska said. "Sometimes it's a bad habit. You shouldn't really do it all the time on hard, but it's just the way I move and feel comfortable. We have a lot of clay courts in Melbourne."
   Several times during the match, the chair umpire referred to Rogowska as "Radwanska," confusing the Aussie with Polish star Agnieszka Radwanska.
   "I actually get that quite a lot," said Rogowska, whose parents moved from Poland to Australia two years before she was born. "They struggle with my surname here in the States. It should be pronounced Ro-GOFF-ska, but I've had so many mispronunciations, I'm used to it."
   Speaking of name problems, third-seeded Chanel Simmonds narrowly avoided an upset by winning the last four games to beat qualifier Michelle Sammons 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 in a battle of South Africans.
   Sammons served for the match at 5-4 in the third set, but the 26-year-old former Texas A&M and Purdue standout choked big-time and was broken at love. She double-faulted twice to trail 0-30, hit a backhand that clipped the tape and bounced back, then double-faulted.
   In addition to facing Simmonds, Sammons later lost in doubles with American Sianna Simmons. Seriously. Unfortunately, forward John Salmons of the Sacramento Kings in the NBA didn't make the 2 1/2-hour drive up Interstate 5 for the matches.
   One seed fell for the second straight day as qualifier Anamika Bhargava knocked off fellow American Samantha Crawford, the sixth seed and last year's U.S. Open junior girls champion, 7-6 (2), 6-4. American Sanaz Marand, seeded eighth, lost to 17-year-old qualifier Christina Makarova of San Diego on Tuesday.
   Unseeded Julia Boserup, the 2011 champion, advanced easily with her laser-like groundstrokes. The Newport Beach resident, who turned 22 on Monday, missed the first six months of the year with a bulging disc.
   However, the back problems of 2005 runner-up Ivana Lisjak flared up. She retired against fifth-seeded Adriana Perez of Venezuela with the match tied 1-1 in the third set. Lisjak, a 26-year-old Croat who lives in Las Vegas, returned to the tour in July after missing almost all of a 2 1/2-year stretch with a lower-back injury.

$25,000 THE ASCENSION PROJECT WOMEN'S CHALLENGER

In Redding, Calif.

First-round singles

   Macall Harkins, United States, def. Maria-Fernanda Alves, Brazil, 6-1, 6-1.
   Chanel Simmonds (3), South Africa, def. Michelle Sammons, South Africa, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5.
   Olivia Rogowska (1), Australia, def. Montserrat Gonzalez, Paraguay, 6-4, 6-0.
   Adriana Perez (5), Venezuela, def. Ivana Lisjak, Croatia, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 1-1, retired (back injury).
   Catherine Harrison, United States, def. Angelina Gabueva, Russia, 6-4, 6-2.

   Julia Boserup, United States, def. Ulrikke Eikeri, Norway, 6-0, 6-2.
   Anamika Bhargava, United States, def. Samantha Crawford (6), United States, 7-6 (2), 6-4.
   Beatrice Capra, United States, def. Caitlin Whoriskey, United States, 6-2, 6-1.

First-round doubles

   Robin Anderson and Lauren Embree, United States, def. Roxanne Ellison and Sierra A. Ellison, United States, 6-1, 6-4.
   Ksenia Pervak, Russia, and Yasmin Schnack, Elk Grove, def. Angelina Gabueva, Russia, and Ivana Lisjak, Croatia, walkover (Lisjak back injury).
  Macall Harkins and Sanaz Marand (4), United States, vs. Michelle Sammons, South Africa, and Sianna Simmons, United States, late.
   Anamika Bhargava and Ashley Weinhold, United States, vs. Ulrikke Eikeri, Norway, and Chanel Simmonds (3), South Africa, late.

Thursday's schedule

(Starting at 10 a.m.)

Court 2

   Macall Harkins, United States, vs. Ksenia Pervak (2), Russia.
   Robin Anderson, United States, vs. Veronica Cepede Royg (4), Paraguay.
   Olivia Rogowska (1), Australia, vs. Lauren Embree, United States.
   Emily Harman and Elizabeth Lumpkin, United States, vs. Jacqueline Cako and Allie Kiick, United States.

Court 1

   Anamika Bhargava, United States, vs. Julia Boserup, United States.
   Christina Makarova, United States, vs. Jacqueline Cako, United States.
   Chanel Simmonds (3), South Africa, vs. Beatrice Capra, United States.
   Robin Anderson and Lauren Embree, United States, vs. Anamika Bhargava and Ashley Weinhold, United States.

Court 3

   Despina Papamichail, Greece, vs. Allie Kiick (7), United States.
   Catherine Harrison, United States, vs. Adriana Perez (5), Venezuela.
   Macall Harkins and Sanaz Marand (4), United States, vs. Ksenia Pervak, Russia, and Yasmin Schnack, Elk Grove.
   Erin Clark, United States, and Despina Papamichail, Greece, vs. Veronica Cepede Royg, Paraguay, and Adriana Perez (2), Venezuela.

Aussie Rogowska heads field in Redding Challenger

   Olivia Rogowska of Australia is seeded first in this week's The Ascension Project Women's Challenger in Redding, Calif.
   Main-draw play in the $25,000 tournament begins today at 10 a.m. at Sun Oaks Tennis & Fitness. The temperature is predicted to reach 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39.4 Celsius) later in the day.
   Rogowska reached the second round of last year's Australian Open in her hometown of Melbourne. Now ranked No. 137, she will face 19-year-old Montserrat Gonzalez of Paraguay on Wednesday in the first round at a time to be determined.
   Seeded second is Ksenia Pervak, who climbed to a career-high No. 37 in 2011 after advancing to the fourth round at Wimbledon and winning the WTA tournament in Tashkent. Hampered by injuries this year, the 22-year-old left-hander from Russia has fallen to No. 142.
   Pervak will take on American qualifier Rosalia Alda today at 10 a.m.
   Also seeded, in order, are Channel Simmonds of South Africa, Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay, Adriana Perez of Venezuela, and Americans Samantha Crawford, Allie Kiick and Sanaz Marand.
   Simmonds, a 21-year-old left-hander, qualified for the recent U.S. Open before losing to countrywoman Chanelle Scheepers in the first round.
   Crawford won the U.S. Open girls singles title last year. Kiick reached the USTA girls 18 singles final and won the doubles title with Sachia Vickery last month in San Diego. Both Crawford and Kiick are 18.
   Kiick's father, Jim, was a running back on the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only undefeated team in NFL history. He scored a touchdown in Miami's 14-7 victory over Washington in the 1973 Super Bowl.
   President Barack Obama honored the 1972 Dolphins, including Kiick, last month at the White House.
   See below for today's full schedule in the Redding Challenger.

$25,000 THE ASCENSION PROJECT WOMEN'S CHALLENGER

At Sun Oaks Tennis & Fitness

In Redding, Calif.

Final-round qualifying

   Catherine Harrison, United States, def. Piia Suomalainen, Finland, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.
   Anne-Liz Jeukeng, United States, def. Leila Hodzic, United States, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4.
   Michelle Sammons (3), South Africa, def. Maia Magill, United States, 6-1, 6-3.
   Denise Muresan (4), United States, def. Trelsie Sadler, United States, 6-0, 6-1.
   Christina Makarova (5), United States, def. Jessica Perez, United States, 6-3, 6-2.
   Rosalia Alda (11), United States, def. Wendy Qi-Wen Shang (6), Canada, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
   Anamika Bhargava (7), United States, def. Sophia Bursulaya, United States, 6-1, 7-6 (4).
   Beatrice Capra, United States, def. Emily Harman (9), United States, 6-1, 6-2.

 Today's schedule

(Starting at 10 a.m.)

Court 1

   Anne-Liz Jeukeng, United States, vs. Allie Kiick (7), United States.
   Sanaz Marand (8), United States, vs. Christina Makarova, United States.
   Denise Muresan and Caitlin Whoriskey, United States, vs. Veronica Cepede Royg, Paraguay, and Adriana Perez (2), Venezuela.

Court 2

   Denise Muresan, United States, vs. Jacqueline Cako, United States.
   Krista Hardebeck, United States, vs. Robin Anderson, United States.
   Maria-Fernanda Alves, Brazil, and Olivia Rogowska (1), Australia, vs. Emily Harman and Elizabeth Lumpkin, United States.

Court 3

   Elizabeth Lumpkin, United States, vs. Veronica Cepede Royg (4), Paraguay.
   Jelena Pandzic, Croatia, vs. Despina Papamichail, Greece.
   Rosalia Alda, United States, and Montserrat Gonzalez, Paraguay, vs. Jacqueline Cako and Allie Kiick, United States.

Court 4

   Rosalia Alda, United States, vs. Ksenia Pervak (2), Russia.
   Lauren Embree, United States, vs. Ashley Weinhold, United States.
   Erin Clark, United States,and Despina Papamichail, Greece, vs. Jessica Perez and Katelyn Ross, United States.