Wolf, 19, ousts No. 3 seed to reach first Challenger QF

JJ Wolf, a 19-year-old wild card, surprised third-seeded Noah Rubin 6-3, 6-2
today in the second round of the $100,000 Fairfield (Calif.) Challenger.
Photo by Cornelia Grimes 

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   FAIRFIELD, Calif. -- Dean O'Brien of South Africa had just left the trainer's room before his doubles match today when a reporter approached him.
   "Are you JJ?" the reporter asked.
   "I wish I was," quipped O'Brien, 28.
   JJ Wolf, a promising 19-year-old wild card from Cincinnati, displayed a powerful serve and forehand during his 6-3, 6-2 victory over the third seed, ailing Noah Rubin of Long Island, N.Y., in the second round of the $100,000 NorthBay Healthcare Pro Championship at Solano Community College.
   Wolf, a 6-foot (1.83-meter) junior at Ohio State, won a preposterous 24 of 25 points on his first serve and never faced a break point as he reached a quarterfinal on the Challenger circuit, equivalent to Triple A in baseball, for the first time.
   Playing Challengers, Wolf said, "is just a great opportunity for me. I'm just enjoying every minute out here and trying to get better and not worrying about winning or losing too much, just working on my game."
   On Monday in Tulsa, Okla., Wolf became the first Ohio State player to win the singles title in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American Championships. He flew to the San Francisco Bay Area that night.
   "I got in a couple good warmup matches for this," Wolf said. "I'm playing solid tennis trying to get my game better for the future."
   Wolf will meet fifth-seeded Adrian Menendez-Maceiras, a 32-year-old Spaniard, on Friday. Menendez-Maceiras, ranked No. 132, beat former top-40 player Thiemo de Bakker, a 30-year-old Dutchman, 6-4, 6-3.
   In the other quarterfinal in the top half of the draw, top-seeded Jordan Thompson of Australia will play unseeded Bjorn Fratangelo of Orlando, Fla.
   Thompson, ranked No. 105 after reaching a career-high No. 63 in February 2017, beat hard-hitting Maxime Janvier of France 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-0 in a matchup of semifinalists in last week's $100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger. The 6-foot-4 (1.93-meter) Janvier, 21, was breathing heavily on a cold night.
   Fratangelo, who was named after Bjorn Borg, defeated Germany's Dominik Koepfer, the runner-up in the indoor $100,000 San Francisco Challenger in February, 7-5, 6-3 to reach the Fairfield quarterfinals for the second consecutive year.
   Koepfer, a former All-American at Tulane in New Orleans, argued vociferously about a line call while serving at 5-5 in the first set and appeared to be justified. He then lost the game.
   Wolf already has cracked the top 500 at No. 499 and owns a victory over a top-100 player. He knocked off No. 86 Jozef Kovalik of Slovakia in the first round of qualifying in Wolf's hometown Western & Southern Open on the ATP World Tour, the major leagues of men's tennis, in August. Wolf then lost to No. 92 Marius Copil of Romania.
   "He's a good player," Rubin, a 22-year-old product of the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in New York, said of Wolf. "He's young, he's up and coming, hits the ball very clean, so I'm excited to see where he goes."

Noah Rubin praised JJ Wolf but complained of headaches and dizziness.
Photo by Cornelia Grimes

   The 5-foot-9 (1.75-meter) Rubin, who reached the singles quarterfinals and won the doubles title in Stockton, complained of headaches against Wolf.
   "I don't really get headaches too often," said Rubin, who had no aces and five double faults after the match played in 70-degree (21.1 Celsius) weather. "I think exhaustion took place. My coach (Carlos Benatzky) didn't really want me to play this tournament. I wanted to because it was just an hour away (from Stockton).
   "In the second or third game, I was just like, 'I'm not really moving to the left.' I was kind of seeing a few balls (at once). There was just a lot of dizziness going on. It's just one of those things that takes place. I just need a week without a racket and see what I can do at the end of the year."
   In steamy Washington on the ATP tour over the summer, Rubin toppled 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) John Isner for his first top-10 win before losing to 20-year-old Russian phenom Andrey Rublev in the third round.
   "This is the first (year) I've been healthy," said Rubin, ranked a career-high No. 125. "I've never really experienced a full year before and don't know what it really encompasses mentally and physically. That being said, it's fortunate I had a successful summer. Most tournaments, I was playing three matches minimum. It's taken a lot out of me.
   "Today was just a mixture of being mentally exhausted and (getting) headaches. I was doing my best, but it felt like his serve was coming at me 180 (mph). I couldn't see anything. It was just one of those things."
   Rubin wore a Minnesota Wild (NHL) sweatshirt as he spoke after the match.
   "My girlfriend goes to vet school in Minnesota," he explained. "I'm a huge hockey fan. It's probably the only sport I really follow, and (the Wild) is a great team. The (New York) Islanders aren't doing so well, and it's fun to watch a really exciting team."
   Here are the Fairfield singles and doubles draws and Friday's schedule. The tournament is being streamed live.

Veteran Granollers, promising Mmoh reach Tiburon final

   TIBURON, Calif. -- Marcel Granollers has reached the top 20 in the world in singles.
   Michael Mmoh could get there.
   Granollers, a 32-year-old Spaniard, and Mmoh, a 20-year-old American, will meet for the first time today in the final of the $100,000 Wells Fargo Tiburon Challenger.
   The top-seeded Granollers, ranked No. 104, outclassed sixth-seeded Noah Rubin, a 5-foot-9 (1.75-meter) American, 6-2, 6-2 with his impressive all-around game on Saturday at the Tiburon Peninsula Club.
   "It was not easy; it was a bit windy today," said the 6-foot-3 (1.91-meter) Granollers, who has fallen from career highs of No. 19 in singles in 2012 and No. 4 in doubles in 2013 to No. 104 and No. 22, respectively. "I think I played a very solid match, a smart match with no mistakes."
   The fifth-seeded Mmoh, ranked a career-high No. 108, coped with not only the wind but Australian alternate James Duckworth's unusual game to prevail 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in a matchup of the last two Challenger champions.
   Mmoh won last week's $75,000 tournament in Columbus, Ohio, and the Duckworth triumphed as a qualifier in a $50,000 tourney in Cary, N.C., two weeks ago in his comeback from five operations (three on his right foot and one each on his right shoulder and right elbow).
    "I hadn't really played a guy with that type of game style in a very long time, if ever," said Mmoh, the Tiburon runner-up two years ago as a qualifier. "Some of the plays he was coming up with I've never seen. He has a really good short slice where he kind of baits you. He hits it short and wants you to come in; he has pretty good passing shots. Nobody really uses that play except for maybe (Roger) Federer.
   "And it's a different slice. He puts a lot of undercut on it. In this wind, it's pretty tough to play against his slice. The stuff he does with his slice and sometimes with his drop shots, his volleys ... he's a very creative, crafty tennis player."
   Mmoh said Duckworth did not play the same way in their only other match, which the Aussie won  6-3, 6-4 two years ago in the first round of qualifying in Winston-Salem (N.C.) on the elite ATP World Tour.
     "I think two years ago he was just better than me.," Mmoh admitted. "He was beating me from the back, but I feel like I've improved a lot, so he felt he had to change it up, and it almost threw me off guard."
   This time, Mmoh served and returned better than Duckworth, 26, in a match that featured many long rallies. Mmoh's first-serve percentage for the match was almost double Duckworth's: 70 to 38.
   After Mmoh broke serve to lead 3-2 in the third set, Duckworth pleaded, "One first serve, one first serve!"
   The sixth game of the second set was almost a match in itself. It went to 13 deuces, and Duckworth saved seven break points before holding serve for 4-2.
   "I couldn't believe I didn't win it," Mmoh said. "I thought I played a good game, had so many chances. I felt like every single break point he was down he was playing a very tough point. He made sure he hit that slice with a lot of undercut and just didn't miss. Sometimes on the deuce point, he wasn't doing that. He was little streaky.
   "That game was a momentum changer. It gave him a lot of confidence and kind of defeated me in a way."

   But only temporarily. Mmoh recovered in the third set to advance.
   Not only are Mmoh and Granollers ranked near each other now, they were No. 175 and No. 177, respectively, at the beginning of the year.
   Granollers, who has earned $9.74 million in career prize money, attributed his rise to "playing more matches, and this gives you more confidence. Last year, I lost many first rounds, so I don't play many matches during the week, and you are out of your rhythm."
   Mmoh, meanwhile, credited "a lot of hard work last offseason" with his former coach, Glenn Weiner, and help from his new coach, Alexander Waske, a 43-year-old former pro from Germany.
   "He's taken my game to the next level," said Mmoh, who played in the main draw at Wimbledon for the first time as a qualifier in July and reached his second career ATP quarterfinal at Los Cabos later in the summer. "The fact I've been doing so well so consistently the second half of the year is all due to him, honestly."
   Mmoh, a chiseled 6-foot-2 (1.88 meters) and 198 pounds (98 kilograms), added that Waske has helped him add offense.
   "I'm a very good defensive player. It's tough to get by me and whatnot, but my offensive tennis wasn't fully developed, and I didn't exactly know how to execute it. I felt like he gave me a very good template," Mmoh said.
   Waske, who peaked at No. 16 in doubles in 2007 and No. 89 in singles in 2006, agreed that "offense is the thing that's missing in order to do the next step. There's a couple more steps he needs to do in order to get even higher -- get to top 50, top 20, whatever -- but Michael has incredible potential. His physical abilities are very strong. He has a lot of power, and he hasn't been using his power for offense, only for defense. In my opinion, he's too strong and too big to play defensive tennis purely. He will never be a chip-charger, but he needs to realize in which situation to play what. If he has a good serve and gets a short return, he needs to play offensive.
   "He's a smart guy. We had a lot of video analysis and looked at certain things. He's worked on it, and it's getting better."
   It figures that Mmoh, a one-man United Nations, would hire a non-American.
   Mmoh was born in Saudi Arabia to Tony Mmoh, a former journeyman professional and Olympian from Nigeria, and Geraldine O'Reilly, an Irishwoman who moved to Australia in 2016.
   Tony was coaching the Saudi Arabian Davis Cup team, and Geraldine, an avid tennis fan, was working in Saudi Arabia as a nurse at the time.
   Michael was named after Michael Jordan. Tony had become infatuated with the NBA legend while attending St. Augustine's College (now St. Augustine's University) in North Carolina and becoming a U.S. citizen. Michael moved from Saudi Arabia to Bradenton, Fla., at 12 to train at the IMG Academy and still is based there.
   Here are the Tiburon singles and doubles draws and today's schedule. The tournament is being streamed live.
   Here are the singles qualifying and main draws and today's schedule in the men's $100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger and the singles qualifying draw and today's schedule in the Stockton Women's $60K.

Mmoh tops Paul in dramatic clash of U.S. prospects

No. 5 seed Michael Mmoh held off wild card Tommy Paul 7-6 (7), 2-6,
6-3 today in the quarterfinals of the $100,000 Wells Fargo Tiburon
Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Note to readers: If you enjoy my coverage of Northern California tennis, please donate on my homepage. Even $5 or $10 will help. Here's why I need your support. Thank you.
   TIBURON, Calif. -- If today's match between Michael Mmoh and Tommy Paul is any indication, American fans have a lot to look forward to.
   In a dramatic battle between two of the United States' many men's prospects, the fifth-seeded Mmoh held off Paul, a wild card, 7-6 (7), 2-6, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the $100,000 Wells Fargo Tiburon Challenger on a chilly evening at the Tiburon Peninsula Club.
   Mmoh saved four set points and Paul two in the first set, which lasted 1 hour, 13 minutes. Mmoh bolted to a 5-0 lead in the third set before Paul reeled off the next three games to make matters interesting. Mmoh needed five match points, including four in the last game, to prevail in 2 hours, 37 minutes.
   Mmoh, 20, said it was the highest-quality match in which he has ever played.
   "I've played a lot of great players, and that was a really high level," he asserted.
   Mmoh attributed his victory to "mental toughness. I think he sometimes went through waves in the match where he was super locked-in and he wouldn't miss a ball, then at the beginning of the third set where he literally couldn't make a ball for five games. I think I was mentally locked in the entire time. I think that was the difference."
   Mmoh improved to 3-0 against the 21-year-old Paul, who was not available for comment. Each match has gone three sets.
   "I think Tommy Paul is going to be a name to remember in years to come just like my name, and I think we're going to have a lot of great battles in the future as well," said Mmoh, who was born in  Saudi Arabia to Nigerian pro Tony Mmoh and an Irish mother and named after Michael Jordan. "I'm looking forward to it."

Tommy Paul saved four match points before
succumbing. Photo by Paul Bauman

   And it's hardly just Mmoh, ranked No. 108, and Paul, ranked No. 343 after reaching a career-high No. 149 in January and then missing 4 1/2 months with a right elbow injury.
   The United States has four players 23 or younger in the top 100 -- No. 41 Frances Tiafoe (20), No. 62 Taylor Fritz (20), No. 80 Mackenzie McDonald (23) from Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area and No. 99 Jared Donaldson (21) -- and 11 more in the top 350. Two of them -- No. 138 Noah Rubin and No. 223 Christopher Eubanks, both 22 -- met earlier today in Tiburon.
   The 5-foot-9 (1.75-meter) Rubin, seeded sixth, beat the 6-foot-7 (2.01-meter) Eubanks 6-4, 6-3 in a matchup of the shortest and tallest players in the draw.
   "I don't think there are too many of us (little guys) left (on the pro tours)," Rubin said with a laugh. "The small guys coming out now are like 6-1 (1.85 meters). That's considered small, so 5-9 is incredibly small. It's tough, but at the same time, I'm willing to work to get where I need to be."
   Beating giants is nothing new for Rubin, a product of the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in New York. He toppled 6-foot-10 (2.08-meter) John Isner 6-4, 7-6 (6) in the second round in Washington, D.C., on the elite ATP World Tour this summer for his first victory over a top-10 player. Rubin then lost to 20-year-old Russian Andrey Rublev.
   Asked how he beats players like Isner and Eubanks in an era of power, Rubin said: "I think my power is underestimated. For a guy my size, I can come up with the goods. I can still attack if needed, but when I need to dig down balls for six straight games, my legs are able to do it. It's kind of the best of both worlds. I might not get the aces on big points, but at the same time, I'm going to steal some points."
   In Saturday's semifinals, which follow an 11 a.m. doubles match, Rubin will face top-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain for the first time, and Mmoh will play Australian alternate James Duckworth in a matchup of the last two Challenger champions.

Tommy Paul tries to stay warm during one of Michael Mmoh's
two medical timeouts. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Duckworth won a $50,000 tournament in Cary, N.C., two weeks ago in his comeback from five operations (three on his right foot and one each on his right shoulder and right elbow), and Mmoh triumphed in last week's $75,000 tourney in Columbus (Ohio). In their only previous meeting, Duckworth won 6-3, 6-4 two years ago in the first round of qualifying for Winston-Salem on the ATP World Tour.
   "He was just coming out of juniors then, so he wasn't playing anywhere near the level he's playing at now," Duckworth said after beating Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador 7-5, 6-3. "He's obviously pretty confident coming off a win in Columbus."
   Granollers, who reached career highs of No. 19 in singles in 2012 and No. 4 in doubles in 2013, dismissed John-Patrick Smith of Australia 6-2, 6-3.
   Smith, a 29-year-old left-hander, had beaten the 32-year-old Granollers 6-3, 6-4 on grass in the second round of qualifying at Wimbledon in June.
   "Every match is different," explained Granollers, now ranked No. 104. "At Wimbledon, he played a really good match. Today I served very good, I was aggressive, and I was very focused on the return also. I knew he's a great server, so I'm very happy to be in the semifinals."
   The first set of the Mmoh-Paul match featured two long, breathtaking rallies, including one on the last point that Mmoh won with a spectacular backhand passing shot down the line to elicit a roar from the crowd.
   Mmoh said he had "no idea" how many balls he and Paul, who won the Columbus doubles title with Peter Polansky of Canada, hit during the rallies.
   "It was just a blur, honestly. I don't even remember a lot of the points that I played. Every single point was a grind, and the whole match was a battle," said Mmoh, who reached his first Challenger final in Tiburon two years ago as a qualifier.

Top-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain exults
during his 6-2, 6-3 victory over John-Patrick
Smith of Australia. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Mmoh lost his serve in the opening game of the second set on a double fault, and Paul coasted the rest of the set.
   "I didn't feel like I could have hung in that set and been ready for the third," Mmoh said. "I was competing in the second set but getting ready for the third. I knew I had to ramp it up, and that's what I did."
   But Paul wouldn't go quietly. He came up with one tremendous shot after another on the first four match points, prompting Mmoh to yell at his coach, Alexander Waske, in frustration. Finally, Mmoh pounded a service winner to end matters.
   "I felt like I was playing just as good when it went to 5-3 as when I went up 5-0," Mmoh said. "I didn't think I did anything wrong, especially on all those match points. I thought I did the right thing and played well. He just came up with the goods."
   Mmoh, a right-hander with a two-handed backhand, took medical timeouts at 3-2 in the first set for a dried skin on his left little finger that had split and after the second set for a tight right shoulder.
   Paul, meanwhile, continually patted his lower back and tweaked his left ankle in the second game of the third set but never called for the trainer in the match.
   Here are the Tiburon singles and doubles draws and Saturday's schedule. The tournament is being streamed live. Admission is $30 on Saturday and $35 on Sunday ($55 for both days).
   Here are the singles qualifying draw and Saturday's schedule in the $100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger.

Tiburon players divided on new Davis Cup format

Liam Broady, 24, of Great Britain said making his
Davis Cup debut in February at Spain "was prob-
ably one of the best experiences of my life."
Photo by Paul Bauman

   TIBURON, Calif. -- Liam Broady has played on Centre Court at Wimbledon in his home country.
   But making his Davis Cup debut for Great Britain in February meant more to him.
   "It was probably one of the best experiences of my life, to be honest, and I've played a fair few matches on a fair few big courts in my time," the top-seeded Broady said after losing to eighth-seeded Steven Diez of Canada 6-1, 6-3 today in the final round of qualifying for the $100,000 Wells Fargo Tiburon Challenger at the Tiburon Peninsula Club. "It's a different feeling to play for your country. I know each week obviously every player represents their country in a way. There's a 'GBR' next to my name on every drawsheet, but actually playing with 'Great Britain' on the scoreboard instead of your name gives you chills.
   "Players grow up wanting to play Davis Cup for their country, and that was certainly one of my dreams. I'll never have that experience again, I suppose, because it's changing now."
   In an effort to boost stars' participation in the Davis Cup and increase global interest and revenue, the International Tennis Federation voted last month to revamp the 118-year-old competition beginning next year.
   Teams will play during one week in November at one site instead of four weeks spread throughout the year at host nations, countries will play the best of three matches (two singles and one doubles) instead of the best of five (four singles and one doubles), and matches will be the best of three sets instead of the best of five.
   Kosmos, a European investment group led by Spanish soccer star Gerard Pique, will invest $3 billion over 25 years in the new Davis Cup. Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who owns the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, also has pledged financial support.
   When asked if he favors or opposes the new format, Broady said: "It's quite a tricky one, isn't it? I'm quite old-fashioned. I think the tradition and history behind the Davis Cup is something that probably needed protecting a little bit more. Quite a few players made that obvious, but obviously players didn't really get a say in it this time, which was a shame.
   "I saw (Roger) Federer kind of said, 'Obviously there's going to be more money with the new backers and new way it's going to be played, and hopefully that money will go to the players.' So if it does, I guess I've got to support that as well."

Sixth-seeded Noah Rubin serves during his 6-0, 6-0
victory over Thiemo de Bakker, a former top-40 player,
today in the first round of the $100,000 Wells Fargo
Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

    Two years ago at Wimbledon, Broady lost to countryman and eventual champion Andy Murray 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 on Centre Court in the first round.
   "Obviously, it's another dream for any player to play on Centre Court," said Broady, a 24-year-old left-hander whose older sister, Naomi, plays on the women's tour. "I can't take anything away from that, but my instant reaction is to play Davis Cup. Again, to represent your country in that way and to have your teammates by your side and on the side of the court, and to play for your captain with the badge on your chest, there's nothing like it because you're part of something bigger, which is an incredible experience."
   Broady got his chance when injuries knocked out Murray, a three-time Grand Slam singles champion and former world No. 1, and Kyle Edmund, who had reached the Australian Open semifinals the previous week. Broady fell to Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (6) in the first rubber of host Spain's 3-1 victory on outdoor clay in Marbella. It was Broady's only match during the competition, which Rafael Nadal also missed.
   "I think there were two or three thousand Brits (in the crowd) because there are quite a few ex-pats in and around Marbella from the (United Kingdom), and we had the Stirling Barmy Army, which is a fantastic fan group," recalled Broady, the runner-up in last year's $100,000 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger as a qualifier. "We bring crazy fan support no matter where we play. It was amazing. The first day, the Spanish crowd didn't really turn out, but then the next day and the third day, they made a real effort to get more fans because I don't think they expected so many Brits.
   "Again, you never play in front of a crowd as passionate as a Davis Cup crowd, which I think is one of the reasons so many upsets happen."
   By losing to Spain, Great Britain was relegated to the World Group playoffs, in which it beat Uzbekistan 3-1 on Sept. 14-16 in Glasgow, Scotland.
   "Dan Evans (of Great Britain) won his tie on the first day against (Denis) Istomin, and he was crying," Broady marveled. "There was another guy playing for Hungary (Zsombor Piros) who beat (the Czech Republic's Jiri) Vesely, and he was on the floor after a (4-hour, 20-minute) match."

Top-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain cele-
brates his 6-2, 7-5 victory over Evan King
in the first round of the Tiburon Challenger.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Two seeds who won their first-round matches in the main draw of the Tiburon Challenger today agreed with the ITF that Davis Cup changes were necessary. But 22-year-old American Noah Rubin, a Davis Cup practice partner in 2014, was more supportive than 32-year-old Marcel Granollers, who played on Spain's Davis Cup championship teams in 2008 and 2011.
   "I think tennis needs some changes, and this is one of them," the sixth-seeded Rubin said after demolishing Thiemo de Bakker, a former top-40 player from the Netherlands, 6-0, 6-0 in 46 minutes in a matchup for former Wimbledon boys champions. "They're going in the right direction toward making it better for spectators. Obviously there's tradition involved in the old format that people are going to be upset about. With change comes rejection, and you have to deal with that and move forward."
   Playing Davis Cup, added the runner-up in the $100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger in 2016, "is a tremendous dream of mine. The Olympics and Davis Cup have always been a dream of mine, seeing the incredible ties that have been played against the U.S. and the victories we've had. Hopefully soon."         
   Granollers, who reached career highs of No. 19 in singles in 2012 and No. 4 in doubles in 2013, has some reservations about the new Davis Cup format.
   "I think we need some changes in the Davis Cup," he conceded after defeating Evan King, a 26-year-old left-hander from Chicago, 6-2, 7-5. "I don't know if this is the right one or not, but I think we have to give at least one chance to see how it goes next year because with the old system, the best players are not playing."
   Under the current format, the four rounds of the Davis Cup immediately follow, in order, the Australian Open, the Miami Open, the U.S. Open and the ATP Finals, leaving many top players unwilling to play for their countries.
   Granollers likes golf's system of playing the Ryder Cup every other year.
   "The (current Davis Cup) system, you cannot play every year," Granollers maintained. "It's too much, too much traveling, and the best players are focusing on their (individual) careers. I think at least we have to play every two or three years."
   Granollers ranks his Davis Cup championships with his four ATP singles titles, especially Valencia on an indoor hardcourt in 2011, as the highlights of his career. He also owns 15 doubles crowns and doubles runner-up finishes with countryman Marc Lopez at the French Open and U.S. Open in 2014.
   "For sure, one of the top," Granollers said of the Davis Cup titles. "When you represent your country, it's one of the best feelings you can have -- more exciting feelings on the court. But also the titles I won in singles are one of my best memories. Same level.
   "Grand Slam finals in doubles is good, but I'm more proud of my singles titles. Valencia was in my country, 500 (level), so it was a big tournament for me and the best week in my life."
   Here are the Tiburon singles qualifying, singles main and doubles main draws and Tuesday's schedule. The tournament is being streamed live.
   Admission is $20 through Thursday (free for club members), $25 on Friday, $30 on Saturday and $35 on Sunday ($55 for a Saturday-Sunday pass).

Four unseeded players oust seeds in S.F. quarters

   Seedings meant nothing on an extraordinary day in the $100,000 San Francisco Open.
   An unseeded player beat a seed in every quarterfinal today in the indoor tournament at the Bay Club SF Tennis Center. Falling were No. 3 Michael Mmoh, No. 5 Bradley Klahn, No. 6 Noah Rubin and No. 7 Filip Peliwo.
   Miomir Kecmanovic, an 18-year-old Serb, outslugged Mmoh, a semifinalist last year at 19 years old, 7-6 (3), 6-7 (4), 6-1 in 2 hours, 38 minutes. The match featured an epic 53-point rally. Both players train in Bradenton, Fla.
   Germany's Dominik Koepfer, a former Tulane All-American, beat Southern California's Klahn, a 2012 Stanford graduate, 6-2, 7-6 (6) in a matchup of left-handers.
   Jason Jung, a Los Angeles-area native who plays for Taiwan, routed New York-area resident Rubin, the 2014 Wimbledon boys singles champion, 6-3, 6-1 in 52 minutes.
   And Dennis Novikov, a 24-year-old San Jose product, held off Canada's Peliwo, the 2012 Wimbledon boys singles champion, 7-5, 7-5.
   In Saturday's semifinals, the 215th-ranked Novikov will meet No. 285 Koepfer for the first time at 5:30 p.m., followed by No. 194 Kecmanovic vs. No. 205 Jung.
   Jung crushed Kecmanovic 6-1, 6-1 in 48 minutes last week in the quarterfinals of the $125,000 Dallas Challenger in their first meeting. Kecmanovic was coming off a 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4) victory over American Austin Krajicek, also in 2 hours, 38 minutes.
   Here are the San Francisco singles and doubles draws and Saturday's schedule.

Radwanska tops Bellis; Mackie wins in Open qualies

Agnieszka Radwanska evened her record against CiCi Bellis at 1-1 with
a 7-6 (4), 6-0 victory today in the second round of the Sydney International.
File photo by Mal Taam

   Agnieszka Radwanska got even with CiCi Bellis.
   The fourth-seeded Radwanska beat the 18-year-old qualifier, who was born and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, 7-6 (4), 6-0 today in the second round of the Sydney International.
   In the players' only previous meeting, Bellis defeated Radwanska 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 in the third round at Dubai last February for the first top-10 victory of her career. Bellis now has two of them, having beaten Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round at Toronto last August en route to being named the WTA Newcomer of the Year.
   Radwanska's ranking equals her age -- 28. She reached a career-high No. 2 in 2012 after advancing to the Wimbledon final, in which she lost to -- surprise! -- Serena Williams. Bellis' ranking is double Radwanska's at 56.
   Radwanska, the 2013 Sydney champion and last year's runner-up to Johanna Konta, will play either two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova or qualifier Camila Giorgi of Italy in the quarterfinals.
   Australian Open qualifying -- In a matchup of young, diminutive Americans, Bay Area native Mackenzie McDonald crushed Noah Rubin 6-1, 6-0 in 49 minutes in the first round in Melbourne.
   The 5-foot-9 (1.75-meter) Rubin, 21, apparently suffered a major letdown after defeating 20-year-old American Taylor Fritz to win last week's $75,000 Noumea (New Caledonia) Challenger.
   Rubin, the 2014 Wimbledon junior champion, reached the second round of the main draw in the Australian Open in each of the past two years. He stunned 17th-seeded Benoit Paire of France in 2016 and, as a qualifier last year, lost to Roger Federer 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (3). Federer, then 35, went on to end his Grand Slam singles title drought at almost five years.
   The 22-year-old McDonald, 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters), made his Australian Open men's debut, although he reached the junior semifinals in Melbourne in 2012.
   Dennis Novikov of Milpitas in the Bay Area beat 32-year-old Australian Marinko Matosevic, a former top-40 player, 6-3, 7-6 (3). Novikov, 6-foot-4 (1.93 meters) and 200 pounds (91 kilograms), pounded 12 aces and committed four double faults.
   Former Stanford star Bradley Klahn, rebounding from his second back operation, lost to 28th-seeded Ramkumar Ramanathan of India 6-7 (8), 7-6 (3), 6-2. Ramanathan, ranked No. 139 at age 23, had 10 aces and no double faults.

Mmoh mauls Rubin in matchup of U.S. prospects

Michael Mmoh, shown in last year's Tiburon final, coasted to a 6-1, 6-2 victory
over Noah Rubin today. Photo by Getty Images

   Michael Mmoh had little trouble with Noah Rubin this time.
   In a matchup of top U.S. prospects, the fourth-seeded Mmoh routed Noah Rubin 6-1, 6-2 in 1 hour, 6 minutes today in the first round of the $100,000 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger.
   Mmoh, last year's runner-up to Darian King of Barbados, won all 20 points on his first serve against Rubin, 21, at the Tiburon Peninsula Club in the San Francisco Bay Area.
   Rubin, the 2014 Wimbledon boys champion, defeated Mmoh 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals of last year's $100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger in their only previous meeting. Mmoh aggravated an abdominal strain at 2-2 in the first set. Rubin, only 5-foot-9 (1.75 meters) and 150 pounds (68 kilograms), went on to lose to U.S. phenom Frances Tiafoe in the final.
   Mmoh, the 19-year-old son of former journeyman pro Tony Mmoh, will play Tobias Kamke, the 2010 Tiburon champion, on Wednesday in the second round. Kamke, a 31-year-old German, dismissed Christian Garin of Chile 6-3, 6-1 in one hour.
   Meanwhile, Mitchell Krueger of Orlando, Fla., defeated Sam Groth of Australia 6-4, 7-5. Groth, unofficially the world's fastest server, had eight aces and five double faults.
   In the final round of qualifying, Sekou Bangoura of Bradenton, Fla., defeated 2015 champion Tim Smyczek of Tampa, Fla., 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.
   However, Smyczek (pronounced SMEE-check) advanced to the main draw as a lucky loser when Dennis Novikov of Milpitas in the San Francisco Bay Area withdrew with an ankle injury.
   Novikov reached the singles quarterfinals and doubles final (with Quentin Halys of France) last year.
   Smyczek will play fellow American and friend Denis Kudla on Tuesday in a rematch of the 2015 final, a thriller won by Smyczek.
   Here are the singles qualifying draw, singles and doubles main draws, and Tuesday's schedule. Live streaming of the tournament is available.

U.S. prospects Mmoh, Rubin to meet in Tiburon

   Two of the United States' top men's prospects will meet on Monday in the first round of the $100,000 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger.
   Fourth-seeded Michael Mmoh, 19, will face Noah Rubin, 21, for the second time not before 3 p.m. at the Tiburon Peninsula Club in the San Francisco Bay Area.
   Rubin won 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals of last year's $100,000 Stockton Challenger as Mmoh aggravated an abdominal strain at 2-2 in the first set. Rubin, only 5-foot-9 (1.75 meters) and 150 pounds (68 kilograms), went on to lose to U.S. phenom Frances Tiafoe in the final.
   Mmoh, the 6-foot-1 (1.85-meter) son of former journeyman pro Tony Mmoh, was the runner-up to Darian King at Tiburon last year as a qualifier.
   Rubin reached the second round of the Australian Open as a qualifier in January, losing to eventual champion Roger Federer 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (3). As a junior, Rubin played at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in New York and won the 2014 Wimbledon boys title.
   Mmoh is ranked No. 142 to Rubin's No. 195.
   Also on Monday, 2010 Tiburon champion Tobias Kamke of Germany will play Christian Garin of Chile. 
   In today's second round of qualifying, top seed and 2015 champion Tim Smyczek beat Greg Jones of Australia 6-4, 6-1.
   Smyczek will play fellow American Sekou Bangoura, who defeated former Cal star Andre Goransson of Sweden 6-2, 6-4, for a berth in the main draw.
   Here are the singles qualifying draw, the singles and doubles main draws, and Monday's schedule.

Rubin: 'Tennis players have to be unique people'

Noah Rubin is shown during his loss to fellow U.S. pros-
pect Frances Tiafoe in the final of last month's $100,000
Stockton (Calif.) Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   This is the second of a three-part series on the bright future of U.S. men's tennis.
   Noah Rubin reacted philosophically after losing to fellow U.S. prospect Frances Tiafoe in the final of last month's $100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger.
   "Tennis players have to be unique people," mused the 20-year-old resident of Long Island, N.Y. "We lose every week. And I'm not taking anything away from Frances. He won this week; he's not going to win every week. So there are going to be weeks where we're just going to be unhappy. It's very tough to consistently lose at a sport."
   Continued the 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter), 155-pound (70-kilogram) Rubin, who missed much of the summer with a sprained ankle: "Everybody will say, 'Noah, you had a great week.' Yeah, but the last thing I remember is losing. Obviously, there's a lot to take away. My mentality definitely is back on track to playing better tennis and getting where I need to be, but obviously there's still room to improve.
   "So yes, it's going to be tough going (to his host family's) home tonight and thinking about the match. Luckily, my next match starts in less than 48 hours."
   Rubin, however, lost to seventh-seeded Grega Zemlja of Slovenia 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4) in the first round of the $100,000 Fairfield (Calif.) Challenger.

Rubin addresses the crowd after the Stockton final.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Tiafoe, 18, not only fell in the second round in Fairfield but in the opening round the following week in the $50,000 Las Vegas Tennis Open.
   Tiafoe and Rubin — at No. 102 and No. 169, respectively — are among 23 U.S. men ranked in the top 250 in the world. Almost one-third of those players, seven, are 21 or younger.

   Now for the bad news:
    —The United States, which had four of the top five men and seven of the top 10 in the 1979 year-end singles rankings -- has no one in the top 20. Jack Sock leads the way at No. 24.
    —No American man has won a Grand Slam singles title since Andy Roddick in the 2003 U.S. Open.
    —With the retirement of Robby Ginepri last year, no active American man has even reached a major semifinal in singles.
   Rubin is cautiously optimistic about the future of U.S. men's tennis.
   "We have countless — 30 — guys inside the top 250 in the world," he estimated. "The stats are in our favor for having a top-10 or many top-50 players. Where they go from here is up to them.

   "We try to push each other and have that camaraderie because every player that's been top 10 in the world has had friendly competition that pushes them each and every day. It's great that we have that, and I think we're really supportive of one another. Then again, we're going to face a lot more obstacles. I promise you, a lot of guys will not make it through. That's just how it is. It's not an easy sport."

Rubin poses with his runner-up trophy
in Stockton. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Rubin was introduced to the game at age 1 by his father and later coach, Eric. Training at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in New York, Noah reached No. 6 in the world junior rankings at 16. During his dream summer of 2014, he won the Wimbledon boys singles title and the USTA boys 18 national title.
   Rubin turned pro last year after reaching the NCAA singles final as a freshman at Wake Forest. He won the $50,000 Charlottesville (Va.) Challenger indoors as a qualifier one year ago this week and stunned then-No. 18 Benoit Paire of France in the first round of the Australian Open in January.
   McEnroe said several years ago that Rubin, who lost to seventh-seeded Peter Polansky of Canada today in the first round in Charlottesville, has at least top-50 potential. Rubin sees less of McEnroe these days because of conflicting schedules.
   "He has a perspective not everybody else has," Rubin said of the 17-time Grand Slam champion (seven singles, nine doubles and one mixed doubles). "He won 10 Grand Slams or whatever, not counting doubles. There's something to be said for that. You can't take that away from anybody. You just ask him what it's like to be there."
   Rubin, wearing a necklace with a small Wimbledon pendant, added that McEnroe looks at tennis "very differently. It's almost not what he's more comfortable with. It's trying to make it most uncomfortable for his opponent. Obviously, he has incredible hands, which can't be taught, but he explains it in a way where you look at it from a different angle, so it is helpful."
   As a professional tennis player, Rubin will take all the help he can get.
   Next: U.S. veteran Tim Smyczek assesses five American hopefuls.

Tiafoe, 18, cracks top 100 with Stockton title

Third-seeded Frances Tiafoe, right, beat unseeded Noah Rubin
6-4, 6-2 in a matchup of U.S. prospects in the final of the
$100,000 Stockton Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   STOCKTON, Calif. -- Northern California fans might want to check out this week's $100,000 Fairfield Challenger at Solano Community College.
   It probably will be their last chance to see Frances Tiafoe in person. Barring injury or a prolonged slump, the 18-year-old phenom will graduate to Grand Slam and ATP World Tour events next year. So far, Tiafoe has only dabbled in the major leagues of men's professional tennis.
   By outclassing fellow American prospect Noah Rubin 6-4, 6-2 Sunday to win the $100,000 Stockton Challenger at the new Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center at the University of the Pacific, the third-seeded Tiafoe cracked the top 100 in the world for the first time.
   "It's an unbelievable feeling, something you always dream of and work as hard as you can to achieve," gushed Tiafoe, who jumped 17 spots to No. 100. "It (helps immensely) to be inside the top 100, getting in the main draw of Grand Slams and tour events. It definitely makes your life much easier; you don't have to play so many of these (Challenger) events."

   Tiafoe becomes the youngest player, fourth teenager and second American teen in the top 100. Alexander Zverev, 19, of Germany is No. 21; Borna Coric, 19, of Croatia is No. 41; and Taylor Fritz, 18, of Rancho Santa Fe in the San Diego area is No. 71. Fritz will turn 19 on Oct. 28, and Tiafoe will follow on Jan. 20.
   American Jared Donaldson, who turned 20 Sunday, dropped from No. 98 to No. 108 in the new rankings. Fritz won the singles titles in last year's Sacramento and Fairfield Challengers with victories over Donaldson and Dustin Brown of Germany, respectively. The Sacramento tournament moved to Stockton.

   Although Tiafoe eventually could reach the top 10, his immediate task is staying in the top 100. He will drop unless he at least matches his 2015 appearance in the semifinals in Fairfield, where he's the top seed, and runner-up finish in the $50,000 Knoxville (Tenn.) Challenger, scheduled for the first week of November.

Tiafoe didn't face a break point in the final.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Tiafoe has ideal size (6-foot-2 and 170 pounds or 1.88 meters and 77 kilograms) with power, touch, quickness -- you name it. His serve and forehand, both hit with a distinctive loose wrist, are devastating. His two-handed backhand is textbook perfect. And he has a deft volley.
   Weaknesses? Tiafoe has had temper problems (it was not an issue against Rubin), his concentration wanes at times (whose doesn't?), and his second serve needs improvement (according to Isner).
   Tiafoe's father, Constant, emigrated from Sierra Leone in West Africa to the Washington, D.C., area, where Frances was born, in the late 1990s. Constant helped build the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Md., and stayed as the head of maintenance.
   Frances and his twin brother Franklin, who attended the Stockton Challenger, began playing at 3 or 4. Frances won the prestigious Orange Bowl at 15 in 2013 to become the youngest boys 18 champion in the tournament's 67-year history. He was profiled in Sports Illustrated in 2014 and turned pro last year.
   As a wild card the recent U.S. Open, Tiafoe led 6-foot-10 (2.08-meter) veteran John Isner, seeded No. 20 and ranked No. 1 in the United States at the time, two sets to none in the first round before falling in a fifth-set tiebreaker.
   Rubin, only 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters) and 155 pounds (70 kilograms), doesn't have as much of an upside as Tiafoe but well could join him in the top 100 next year. With his runner-up finish, he improved 25 places to No. 167.
   A counterpuncher who relies on quickness, Rubin stunned then-No. 18 Benoit Paire of France in the first round of the Australian Open in January but missed much of the summer with a sprained ankle.

   A native of Long Island, N.Y., Rubin trained at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in New York as a junior. During his dream summer of 2014, he won the Wimbledon boys and USTA 18 national singles titles.
   Rubin then attended Wake Forest University for one year, falling in the 2015 NCAA singles final to 6-foot-4 (1.93-meter) junior Ryan Shane of Virginia, before turning pro.

Rubin could join Tiafoe in the top 100 next year.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Tiafoe and Rubin, 20, met as pros for the first time. Rubin was 3-0 in ITF junior tournaments against Tiafoe.
   This time, Tiafoe broke the unseeded Rubin in the first game of each set and broke again to lead 4-1 in the second set. Rubin double-faulted on key points in both of the second-set breaks. Tiafoe, meanwhile, never faced break point en route to his second Challenger title in his seventh final.
   "He was pretty nervous," declared Tiafoe, who earned $14,400. "He made a lot of mistakes. He obviously didn't play his best, but I thought I played my game about as well as I can play. I played pretty aggressive, took the strikes early and didn't really let him stay steady and try to make balls the way he usually plays. I thought I did a great job of putting a lot of pressure on him early."
   Tiafoe won the coin toss and elected to receive.
   "I always do that," he noted. "I don't want to come out and play a loose game in the opening game, so if I win the coin toss, I always receive.
   "I knew he was going to be a little nervous. It was only his second (Challenger) final, and I've been in quite a few finals, so I was pretty comfortable today."
   Rubin, who won his only previous Challenger final, denied he was nervous.
   "Actually, that did not affect me," said Rubin, wearing a necklace with a small Wimbledon pendant. "I was way more nervous to play the first round of this tournament. Maybe there was some internal, subconscious thing I can't even tell you. Yeah, I was a little slower than normal, but it happens."
   Instead, Rubin attributed his slow starts in each set to physical and mental fatigue. He won his first three matches in three sets before coasting past ailing Michael Mmoh, another 18-year-old American, 6-2, 6-3 in Saturday's semifinals.
   "It could be just cumulative," suggested Rubin, who collected $8,480. "It's a lot of matches, a lot of games. I put a lot of pressure on myself at the beginning of the tournament, more than at the end, because I was not playing my best tennis coming into this tournament. I was just working hard and putting in a lot of hours, and sometimes it wears on you."

   Against Tiafoe, there would be no Noah's bagels.
   "He played good tennis," said Rubin, who also is entered in Fairfield. "He mixed it up well. I think what hurt me the most was my movement was not (up to) par, which usually helps me get back into matches.

Second-seeded Sam Groth, left, and Brian Baker won the
doubles title in their first tournament together. Photo by
Paul Bauman

   "He kept me on my toes and didn't play loose points. I've been watching some of his matches, and sometimes he gives away loose points. He was pretty controlled today and consistent. It was good to see. He's in the top 100 now, and hopefully I'll see him there soon."
   Second-seeded Brian Baker and Sam Groth, playing their first tournament together, beat fourth-seeded Matt Reid and John-Patrick Smith 6-2, 4-6 [10-2] for the doubles title. All except Baker, from Nashville, Tenn., are Australian.
   Baker, 31, and Groth, who will turn 29 on Oct. 19, ended Reid and Smith's winning streak at seven matches. They won the title in the previous week's $100,000 Tiburon Challenger.
   Baker has come back from 11 operations (both hips, right elbow, back, sports hernia and four repairs of his right knee). Groth set an unofficial world record with a 163.7-mph (263.4-kph) serve in the 2012 Busan (South Korea) Challenger.
   Here are:
   --The complete Stockton singles and doubles draws.
   --The Fairfield singles qualifying draw, singles and doubles main draws, and Monday's schedule.
   --The complete Redding (Calif.) women's singles and doubles draws.

Tiafoe, Rubin have extra motivation in Stockton final

   STOCKTON, Calif. -- More than a title will be on the line today in the $100,000 Stockton Challenger.
   Frances Tiafoe, 18, hopes to beat fellow American Noah Rubin for the first time and reach a career milestone. Rubin, 20, wants to distinguish himself among the United States' many top prospects.
   They will meet for the first time as professionals after the 11 a.m. doubles final at the new Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center at the University of the Pacific. Both matches will be streamed live.
   Tiafoe, seeded third, beat Mackenzie McDonald, a native of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, 7-6 (4), 6-3 on Saturday. Tiafoe had lost to McDonald 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5 in the quarterfinals of last week's $100,000 Tiburon Challenger.
   McDonald had two set points serving at 5-3, 40-15 in the first set.
   "He played two loose points, and I made him pay," Tiafoe said. "I played a good breaker, then made sure I won the second set. I was up a set and a break last week and let it go. I'm happy I stuck to it and got the win today."
   When asked if the Tiburon loss gave him extra motivation, the 117th-ranked Tiafoe said: "Definitely. Also, winning this tournament would put me in the top 100, and I really want that. Obviously, I want to beat (Rubin), but I want to win this tournament, so I'm going to compete as hard as I can to do it."
   Rubin, only 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters) and 155 pounds (70 kilograms), defeated 18-year-old American Michael Mmoh 6-2, 6-3. Mmoh aggravated an abdominal strain at 2-2 in the first set.
   "I think I tried to go for a little too much on one of the serves," said Mmoh, the Saudi Arabia-born son of Nigeria native and former journeyman pro Tony Mmoh. "It was a long game, and I kind of felt it tug and pull on me. The abdomen is a very sensative area. It's not something you can really push through, but all credit to Noah. He played fantastic today, better than I was expecting him to play. I'm happy for him. Hopefully, he keeps it going."
   Rubin, Tiafoe and Mmoh have won the last three USTA boys 18 national titles, in that order, in Kalamazoo, Mich., to earn automatic wild cards in the main draw of the U.S. Open. Rubin also captured the Wimbledon boys singles title during his dream summer of 2014.
   Rubin turned pro last year after reaching the NCAA final as a freshman at Wake Forest and stunned then-No. 18 Benoit Paire of France in the first round of Australian Open in January.
   But Rubin missed much of this past summer with a sprained ankle. That, plus facing a fellow young American, gave him added incentive on Saturday.
   "Yeah, of course. You want to prove yourself," said the 192nd-ranked Rubin, a product of the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in New York. "You don't want to be thrown into the pack and be forgotten about, especially since I went to school for a while and I was injured, so I want to make my mark again.
   "Also, I just want to get back to a place where I'm comfortable with my game and feel like I'm moving well and ready to play every match. I feel confident right now."
   Rubin was 3-0 against Tiafoe in ITF junior tournaments, including in the round of 16 en route to his USTA boys 18 and Wimbledon titles.
   "He moves extremely well and competes extremely hard," said the 6-foot-2 (1.88-meter), 170-pound (77-kilogram) Tiafoe, who will counter with a big serve, a devastating forehand and an outstanding two-handed backhand. "It's going to be tough, but hopefully my weapons can take him down."
   They almost took down 20th-seeded John Isner in the first round of the recent U.S. Open. Tiafoe led the 6-foot-10 (2.08-meter) Isner, the top-ranked American at the time, two sets to none before falling in a fifth-set tiebreaker. Tiafoe embraced Isner at the net afterward.
   Both Rubin and Tiafoe have won one Challenger singles title.
   Here are:
   --The Stockton singles and doubles draws and today's schedule.
   --The Fairfield (Calif.) singles qualifying and main draws and today's schedule. The $100,000 men's tournament is being held at Solano Community College.
   --The Redding (Calif.) singles and doubles draws and today's schedule. The $25,000 women's tournament is being played at Sun Oaks Tennis & Fitness.

Help! It's on the way for American men

Paul McCartney, performing live at left and right, and The Beatles, middle,
are shown on giant video screens during the first event at Golden 1 Center
in downtown Sacramento on Tuesday. Photo by Paul Bauman

   STOCKTON, Calif. — Former Beatle Paul McCartney christened Golden 1 Center in downtown Sacramento this week with two concerts.
   Forty-six miles (74 kilometers) to the south, the long-suffering United States has its own Fab Four in the semifinals of the $100,000 Stockton Challenger.

Michael Mmoh, 18, rips a leaping forehand dur-
ing his win over Darian King on Friday in the
Stockton Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Michael Mmoh will face Noah Rubin today at 11 a.m. at the new Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center at the University of the Pacific, followed by third-seeded Frances Tiafoe against Mackenzie McDonald, the old man of the group at 21. The matches will be streamed live.
   No American man has won a Grand Slam singles title since Andy Roddick in the 2003 U.S. Open. With the retirement of Robby Ginepri (who's in Stockton as a USTA coach) last year, no active U.S. man has even reached a Grand Slam singles semifinal.
   But there's hope. A lot of it.
   The Stockton semifinalists are among 10 Americans age 21 or younger ranked in the top 400, headed by 18-year-old Taylor Fritz at No. 58 and 19-year-old Jared Donaldson at No. 98. With a little help from their friends, they could spark a revolution.
   Fritz defeated Donaldson during this week last year to win the Sacramento Challenger, which subsequently moved to Stockton. Donaldson reached the third round of the recent U.S. Open as a qualifier, stunning David Goffin and Viktor Troicki. They were ranked No. 14 and No. 32, respectively, at the time.
   These days, players typically peak in their late 20s. It's a long and winding road in pro tennis. It takes time for everything to come together.

   Mmoh, who won the USTA boys 18 national title in August to earn an automatic berth in the U.S. Open, pronounced the future of American men's tennis "very bright. It's a very good effort that we have four up-and-comers in the semis, and last week we had seven (U.S. players) out of eight in the (Tiburon) quarters. That's a good sign, and hopefully we can keep it going."

Noah Rubin, the 2014 Wimbledon boys champion, beat Frank Dancevic
of Canada for the first time in six matches. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Mmoh, 18, beat Darian King 6-4, 6-4 Friday to avenge a 7-6 (2), 6-2 loss to the 24-year-old veteran from Barbados in Sunday's final of the $100,000 Tiburon Challenger.
   The powerful Mmoh was fresher this time, getting straight into the main draw after qualifying in Tiburon, and he learned from the loss to the steady King.
   "I'm really happy with the way I stuck to my game plan," said the 6-foot-1 (1.85-meter) Mmoh, the Saudi Arabia-born son of Nigeria native and former journeyman pro Tony Mmoh. "I wanted to play the match on my terms, really make him pay for any short balls he was giving me. Make them or miss them, that was my plan. I was just going to go out there swinging. If I lose the match doing that, it's too good, but I'm not going to lose the match how it was last time with 30-ball rallies, that kind of jazz."
   Rubin, a 20-year-old product of the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in New York, beat Frank Dancevic, a 32-year-old Canadian, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. It was Rubin's first victory over Dancevic, who reached a career-high No. 65 in 2007, in six matches.
   Rubin, only 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters) and 155 pounds (70 kilograms), won the Wimbledon boys singles title in 2014, reached the NCAA singles final as a freshman at Wake Forest before turning pro, and stunned then-No. 18 Benoit Paire of France in the first round of the Australian Open in January.

No. 3 seed Frances Tiafoe, 18, will try to avenge a loss to
Mackenzie McDonald last week. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Rubin, ranked No. 192, and Mmoh, ranked No. 264, have met once. Rubin won 7-6 (1), 2-6, 7-5 in the quarterfinals of the 2014 USTA Boys 18 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich. Rubin was 18 and Mmoh 16 at the time, but it seems like yesterday.
   King and Rubin are similar players, according to Mmoh.
   "Both move very well — not the most aggressive players but tricky," he said.
   McDonald, a native of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, upset fifth-seeded Denis Kudla of Arlington, Va., and Tampa, Fla., 3-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4. The 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter), 145 (66-kilogram) McDonald turned pro in June, forgoing his senior year at UCLA, after becoming the first man in 15 years to sweep the NCAA singles and doubles titles.
   McDonald outlasted Tiafoe 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5 last week in the Tiburon quarterfinals. It was their first meeting.
   "Mackie played well last week," Tiafoe, 18, said after topping sixth-seeded Alessandro Giannessi of Italy 7-6 (5), 6-3. "I definitely thought it was still my match to win. I had a lot of break points at 5-all to serve for the match, and I definitely let him get out of there."
   The 6-foot-2 (1.88-meter) Tiafoe was the youngest man in the main draw of this year's U.S. Open (he was born 10 days after Mmoh). He led No. 20 seed John Isner, 6-foot-10 (2.08 meters), two sets to none before falling in a fifth-set tiebreaker to the No. 1 American at the time in the first round at Flushing Meadows. Afterward, all Tiafoe could do was let it be.

   Although the 117th-ranked Tiafoe is an explosive shotmaker, McDonald is most impressed by his heart.

   "He never really gives up," said McDonald, ranked No. 371. "Even last week, I was serving for the match, and he got back into it. Luckily, I broke right back and held.

McDonald, a Piedmont native, upset fifth-seeded
Denis Kudla of Arlington, Va., and Tampa, Fla.,
3-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4. Photo by Paul Bauman

   "He's come out with a lot of fire and confidence and has pulled out a lot of big matches. I think that's what a lot of the guys talk about on tour with him."
   In tennis, all you need is love.
   In the doubles semifinals, fourth-seeded Matt Reid and John-Patrick Smith of Australia beat local wild cards Jose Chamba Gomez and Sem Verbeek 6-4, 6-3.
   Chamba Gomez, who serves right-handed and hits forehands left-handed, and Verbeek were teammates at Pacific last season. Chamba Gomez, from Ecuador, is a junior. Verbeek, from the Netherlands, completed his eligibility in June.
   Reid and Smith, who won the Tiburon doubles title, will face second-seeded Brian Baker of Nashville, Tenn., and Sam Groth of Australia in Sunday's final.
   Here are:
    —The Stockton singles and doubles draws and today's schedule.
    —The Redding singles and doubles draws and today's schedule. The $25,000 tournament is being held at Sun Oaks Tennis & Fitness.

NorCal's Novikov earns firsts in French Open qualifying

Dennis Novikov, playing in the Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger
last September, beat fellow American Noah Rubin in the first
round of French Open qualifying. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Dennis Novikov achieved two firsts on Monday.

   The 22-year-old resident of Milpitas in the San Francisco Bay Area earned his maiden French Open victory, albeit in qualifying, and beat countryman Noah Rubin for the first time in three matches.

   Novikov, seeded No. 32, defeated the 20-year-old Rubin 6-3, 6-4 in Paris in a matchup of contrasting players.
   Novikov looks like a linebacker at 6-foot-4 (1.93 meters) and 200 pounds (91 kilograms). Rubin, a product of the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in New York, looks like a jockey at 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters) and 155 pounds (70 kilograms).
   Novikov had lost in the first round of three straight Challengers on clay coming into Roland Garros, where he fell in the first round of qualifying last year in his tournament debut.
   Rubin, the 2014 Wimbledon junior champion, toppled then-No. 18 Benoit Paire of France in the first round of the Australian Open in January as a wild card before losing to Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
   Novikov, ranked No. 146, will face Marco Trungelliti, another 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) player who gained the second round of the Australian Open this year (as a qualifier), on Wednesday. But Trungelliti, 26, grew up on clay in Argentina and is heavier than Rubin at 172 pounds (78 kilograms).
   Trungelliti -- ranked No. 167, one spot above Rubin -- beat Matthias Bachinger of Germany 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-3.
   Novikov defeated Trungelliti 6-1, 7-6 (7) in the second round of qualifying at Miami, a hardcourt tournament, in March in their only previous meeting.
   Women's qualifying at Roland Garros begins today. Kristie Ahn, a 23-year-old former Stanford star, will face Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand. Kumkhum stunned Petra Kvitova in the first round of the 2014 Australian Open.

Wave of U.S. men's prospects could make big splash

Taylor Fritz won back-to-back Challengers in Northern Cali-
fornia just before his 18th birthday. 2015 photo
 by Paul Bauman

   The next five to 10 years are going to be mighty interesting in U.S. men's tennis.
   You remember the United States, right?
   Used to be pretty good in men's tennis.
   Cranked out Hall of Famers the way John Grisham does bestsellers.
   Twenty years ago, had the top two players in the world (Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi), three of the top five (including Michael Chang) and four of the top eight (with Jim Courier).
   Collected Davis Cups the way Meryl Streep racks up Oscar nominations.
   Now?
   Eclipsed by Spain, Switzerland, Serbia, Great Britain, Canada and Burkina Faso. Doing about as well as Detroit.
   Hasn't won a Grand Slam singles title since Harry Potter was in his fifth year at Hogwarts (2003).
   Hasn't won a Davis Cup since the U.S. economy was thriving (2007).
   Has no one in the top 10 and one player, No. 11 John Isner, in the top 25.
   Sure, the Bryan brothers have won a record 16 Grand Slam men's doubles titles, but because the top singles players rarely play doubles and it consequently receives little television exposure, few care.

   There's hope for the United States, though. A lot of it.
   Jack Sock, 23, and Steve Johnson, 25, are rising in the rankings at No. 26 and No. 32, respectively. Sock already owns two Grand Slam doubles titles: men's doubles with Vasek Pospisil of Canada at Wimbledon last year and mixed doubles with countrywoman Melanie Oudin in the 2011 U.S. Open.
   And behind Sock, who turned pro out of high school, and Johnson, who led USC to four NCAA titles, comes a wave of top U.S. teenagers.

Stefan Kozlov, 17, told The New York Times
last year, "I think the next generation is going
to be huge. And I think it's coming soon, to be
honest." 2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   "I think the next generation is going to be huge," one of them, Stefan Kozlov, told The New York Times last year. "And I think it's coming soon, to be honest."
   That would buck a trend of players peaking between 25 and 30 in today's physical game (translation: courts are slower, which means more rallies, which means higher television ratings, which means more money).
   Still, the United States has more top prospects than at any time in memory.
   It began with a trickle in December 2013 when 15-year-old Frances Tiafoe became the youngest boy to win the Orange Bowl, the most prestigious junior tournament in the world outside of the Grand Slams.
   The trickle became a stream last year when Noah Rubin, then 18, defeated Kozlov, 16 at the time, in the first all-American boys singles final at Wimbledon since 1977. Then Kozlov, playing with a sore elbow, became the third-youngest American to reach a final on the Challenger tour (equivalent to Triple A in baseball).

   This year, a deluge of promising U.S. teens has struck. The prospects have dominated Grand Slam junior tournaments and U.S. fall Challengers, and one qualified for the men's singles draw in the U.S. Open.
   Three different Americans have won the last three Grand Slam junior singles titles: Tommy Paul (French), 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) Reilly Opelka (Wimbledon) and Taylor Fritz (U.S. Open).
   In fact, only once in those tournaments has a non-American reached the final. Paul defeated Fritz to join McEnroe (1977) and Bjorn Fratangelo (2011) as the only Americans to win the French Open boys title. It was the first all-American final in the 68-year history of the junior boys event. Opelka topped Mikael Ymer of Sweden at Wimbledon, and Fritz beat Paul in the U.S. Open.
   Earlier in the U.S. Open, Paul became the only American to emerge from men's qualifying. He lost to 25th-seeded Andreas Seppi, an Italian veteran who stunned Roger Federer in the third round of the Australian Open in January, in straight sets in the first round of the main draw.
   Fritz won back-to-back Northern California Challengers in Sacramento ($100,000) and Fairfield ($50,000) in October and reached the final of last month's $50,000 Champaign (Ill.) Challenger. He became the ninth boy to win multiple Challenger titles before his 18th birthday.

Frances Tiafoe, 17, reached the semifinals of the $50,000 Fairfield (Calif.)
Challenger in October. 2015 photo by Paul Bauman 

   Sacramento, where Fritz outlasted Jared Donaldson 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 for the title, marked one of two recent all-U.S. teen Challenger finals. Rubin, a qualifier, saved two match points to beat Paul last month in a $50,000 tournament in Charlottesville, Va., for his first Challenger title.
   In the following two weeks, Tiafoe and Fritz advanced to the finals of $50,000 Challengers in Knoxville, Tenn., and Champaign, Ill., respectively.
   Meanwhile, three of the top four juniors in the International Tennis Federation's world rankings and four of the top 10 are American. Fritz is No. 1, followed by No. 3 Paul, No. 4 Opelka, and No. 10 Michael Mmoh (who was No. 2 in September before playing exclusively in pro tournaments).
  "I think (the future) looks good with everyone coming up because it's so deep," Fritz said in Sacramento. "There's not just one or two. There's a lot of people who can do well, and I think we're going to push each other. In the end, that's going to help us all."
   Denis Kudla, the only U.S. man to reach the second week of Wimbledon this year, agreed with Fritz about the young Americans.
   "I think they're very good," the 23-year-old Kudla, the sixth-ranked American at No. 69, said after falling to countryman and training partner Tim Smyczek in the final of the $100,000 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger in October. "They have all the potential in the world to get to the top of the game, but it's going to come down to if they develop in the right way, if they become stronger mentally and physically, if they understand how to play this game the right way. It's not all about ball-striking ...
   "This game is so mental. Some people don't understand how mental it is. I think it's more mental than it is ball-striking. Everyone can hit the ball well, but if you play every single point and you're there mentally, you'll shock yourself how many matches you can win. The guy who's tougher mentally will beat a better ball-striker most of the time. That's the biggest thing, and obviously being in incredible shape because the game is so physical now."

Tommy Paul, 18, was the only American man to emerge from U.S. Open
qualifying. He is shown in a loss to 25th-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy
in the first round. 2015 photo by Paul Bauman

   The USTA, faced with mounting criticism, intensified its player development efforts six years ago under general manager Patrick McEnroe. He announced in September 2014 that he was leaving the job after 6 1/2 years, and Martin Blackman was named as McEnroe's successor last April. Both are former Stanford players; Blackman is four years younger at 45.
   "We've been working a lot with this generation since they were 12, 13 years old and even before," Diego Moyano, a USTA lead national coach, said in Sacramento. "At the USTA, we've been putting a lot of attention on developing that generation and even the next one. We try to recognize talent at young ages and start working really hard helping parents and private coaches to develop them the best way we can. We started like six years ago, and we start seeing some of the results right now. It's a process that takes time.
   "We've been very strict on their development and are trying to push them to get better every day. So far, we are on the right track. Now we go to the next step, which is a very tough moment, the process of going from the best juniors to the best pro players they can."
   Indeed, success in juniors and Challengers guarantees nothing.
   Ten years ago, the Grand Slam junior boys champions were American Donald Young (Australian Open), Croatia's Marin Cilic (French Open), France's Jeremy Chardy (Wimbledon) and American Ryan Sweeting (U.S. Open). Cilic, last year's U.S. Open champion, is the only one to have reached a Grand Slam men's semifinal. Sweeting is best known as the estranged husband of "Big Bang Theory" star Kaley Cuoco.
  The record holder for most season singles titles on the USTA Pro Circuit, of which Challengers are the highest level, is American Ben McKown with seven in 1980. Remember him? Didn't think so.

Jared Donaldson, 19, is the highest-ranked U.S. teenager at No. 135
in the world. 2015 photo by Paul Bauman

   The good news for the United States is that in five years, Roger Federer will be 39, Rafael Nadal 34, and Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray 33.
   The bad news is that four teenagers from around the world are far ahead of the Americans. Borna Coric, 19, of Croatia is ranked 44th and already owns victories over Nadal and Murray. Two other 19-year-olds, Hyeon Chung of South Korea and 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia, are ranked 51st and 80th, respectively. Six-foot-six (1.98-meter) Alexander Zverev, an 18-year-old German, is No. 83.
   The highest-ranked U.S. teenager is the 19-year-old Donaldson at No. 135.
   The U.S. teens come from diverse, and in many cases unusual, backgrounds. All have turned pro, and all but Mmoh have played in the Sacramento Challenger in the past three years. Tiafoe, Opelka and Paul, in addition to Fritz and Donaldson, competed there in October. Kozlov made his run last year, and Rubin appeared briefly two years ago.

The tennis family

   Pedigree, power and poise -- Fritz appears to be the whole package.
   His mother (Kathy May), father (Guy Fritz) and uncle (Harry Fritz) all played professionally. May climbed to No. 10 in the world and played in three Grand Slam quarterfinals. Guy is one of Taylor's coaches.

Fritz's serve is reminiscent of -- dare we say it? -- his idol Pete Sampras'.
2015 photo by Paul Bauman

   Taylor's parents weren't pushy, though. When asked the most important advice they have given him, Fritz said revealingly, "Have fun."
   Nor was Taylor needed as a cash cow. May comes from the family that started the May Company, a chain of Southern California department stores that merged with J.W. Robinson's in 1993 and Macy's in 2006.
   Fritz, from Rancho Santa Fe in the San Diego area, went to the USTA center in Boca Raton, Fla., two years ago to train.
   "When I first went there, there were like 16 kids, and I was the worst," Fritz said on espn.com. "There were 16 Americans, and I couldn't beat anyone. I was the worst one there. I just remember realizing that and thinking, 'Wow, I'm not as good as I thought I was.' Then I just was working insanely hard."
   Fritz developed a smooth, easy service motion reminiscent of -- dare we say it? -- Sampras'. That's no concidence; Sampras is Fritz's idol.
   "Just because he's a big-serving guy, a powerful player," the 6-foot-4 (1.93-meter) Fritz said of his fellow Southern Californian after winning the Fairfield title. "I just really like his game style. Most people think he's the best American tennis player of all time. I try to model my serve after him, too."
   Fritz, who turned 18 on Oct. 28, showed an uncanny ability to play his best under pressure en route to his titles in Sacramento and Fairfield. He saved three match points and 13 of 14 break points in his 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (7) victory over third-seeded Dustin Brown, 30, in the second round in Sacramento. Fritz then disposed of Brown in 57 minutes for the Fairfield title.

Fritz has skyrocketed from No. 694 to No. 177
in eight weeks. 2015 photo by Paul Bauman

   Brown stunned Nadal on Center Court in the second round at Wimbledon this year to improve to 2-0 lifetime against the 14-time Grand Slam singles champion.
   Fritz escaped 15 of 16 break points in his 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win over Donaldson in the Sacramento final and 13 of 14 in his five Fairfield matches combined.
   Matt Reid, a 25-year-old Australian, is 1-1 against Fritz. Reid won 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the first round of a $10,000 Futures tournament in Costa Mesa in Southern California in September 2014, when Fritz was 16. Fritz triumphed 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the Sacramento semifinals in October.
   Reid recently recalled his first match against Fritz.
   "He was unknown to me back then," Reid admitted recently in Sacramento. "I thought it was going to be a great draw, but it was an absolute battle. I told him after the match he was going to be a great player, and he's already No. 1 in the world in the juniors, so he's started pretty quick.
   "On big points, he just came up massive. He believed in himself. Massive serve, massive forehand, and he kept calm the whole time. I thought straight away he was going to be really good, and sure enough, he's killing it in the juniors. It's good to see."
   That was before Fritz won the two straight Challengers and reached another final to rise to No. 177 in the world. Eight weeks ago, he was No. 694.

Out of Africa 

   It's a classic rags-to-(potential) riches story.
   As an emigrant from Sierra Leone in West Africa in the late 1990s, Constant Tiafoe took a job helping to build the Junior Tennis Champions Center in the Washington, D.C., suburb of College Park, Md., Sports Illustrated reported in June 2014.
   His twin sons, Frances and Franklin, hung out in a 140-square-foot room at the center and started to play tennis at age 3 or 4. Frances couldn't get enough of the game and developed quickly.

Tiafoe is "an incredible talent," said No. 69 Denis Kudla, who has known
Tiafoe since the prospect was 4 years old. 2015 photo by Paul Bauman

   "I've had my eye on Tiafoe for a long time," said Kudla, who grew up in Arlington, Va., in the Washington, D.C., area. "We come from the same club, and I've known him since he was 4 years old. He's an incredible talent. He has so much going for him. He has a huge upside.
   "His ball-striking and physical abilities are pretty incredible. He's an incredible mover, he reads the game so well, and he has every shot in the book. All he needs to get to the highest level is his mind, to be able to control his emotions and learn how to play this game the right way. He has all the talent in the world."
   Tiafoe, the youngest of the group at 17 (he was born 10 days after Mmoh), has skyrocketed from No. 816 in March to No. 180. He reached the semifinals in Fairfield and held two match points in a 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7) loss to the fourth-seeded Smyczek in the first round in Sacramento.
   After that match, Smyczek compared the 6-foot-2 (1.88-meter), 170-pound (77-kilogram) Tiafoe with Donaldson and Kozlov.
   "It's a little different style," said the 5-foot-9 (1.75-meter) Smyczek, who's 1-0 lifetime against Tiafoe, 3-2 against Donaldson and 2-1 against Kozlov. "He's miles ahead of those two physically. He's built like an ox. He's really fast but maybe a little less disciplined than a Donaldson and maybe doesn't have quite the same feel as a Kozlov. But he's an unbelievable shotmaker, and he doesn't lack in confidence. All three of those kids have a lot of confidence."
   Tiafoe, with his loose wrist, has an unorthodox yet overpowering serve and forehand. His two-handed backhand is a weapon, too. His biggest issue is a volatile temper.
   "I really want to be a top-10 pro, dominate the game and hopefully win a Grand Slam," Tiafoe said in October during the Sacramento Challenger. "Obviously, that's everyone's goal, but I really think I can do that, and I work toward that every day I step on the practice court. I give it my all every day."

The gaucho

   Donaldson has always been an outsider. He grew up in Rhode Island and trained on clay in Argentina for 2 1/2 years in his early teens. He works with the father-son team of former pro players Phil and Taylor Dent in Irvine, Calif., rather than with USTA coaches.

Donaldson has devastating flat groundstrokes
 on both sides. 2015 photo by Paul Bauman

   Why did Donaldson trek to Argentina? Why not go to Florida?
   "We looked into Florida and Spain, but I had a connection to Argentina through one of my coaches in Rhode Island," Donaldson -- who lived in Buenos Aires with his father, Courtney -- explained recently in Sacramento. "He lined up a coach and a place to stay. We took the risk and went down there, and I had a really good experience."
   Donaldson returned to the United States in early 2013. Eighteen months later, he reached his first Challenger semifinal, losing to Smyczek 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in Napa. Afterward, Smyczek said the 6-foot-2 (1.88-meter) Donaldson has "a lot of potential. He's got a couple of big weapons (the serve and forehand), but the main thing is he's so solid with everything he does. You don't see that very often in a player his age.
   "Usually, good players his age have a glaring weakness, and he doesn't. He could be a heck of a player. He already is. If he keeps working hard -- he's got a great coach in Taylor Dent -- the sky's the limit. He's a great talent."
   Donaldson has a devastating flat forehand and two-handed backhand. After the seventh-seeded Donaldson's 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 victory over the top-seeded Kudla in the Sacramento semifinals in October, Kudla aptly said Donaldson "was lasering winners left and right. I did everything I could. ... "
   Though calmer than Tiafoe, Donaldson also might need to curb his emotions. Midway through the first set of the Sacramento final, he alienated the crowd by arguing with the chair umpire about line calls.

The new Isner

   Two nights before the start of qualifying for the recent Sacramento Challenger, tournament director Brian Martinez heard a loud pop on one of the courts. It was Opelka practicing with Paul.
   "He was just crushing forehands," Martinez recalled. "Very relaxed, very easy. ... He's like a young Isner who moves better. He has a better backhand than Isner does."
   Opelka, 18, has a huge upside, but at his height probably will take longer to develop than his peers. He's ranked only No. 975.
   "As tall as (Opelka) is, he's a very good athlete," Moyano stated. "He moves really well. He has a massive serve. Technically from the ground, he's very good.
   "As tall as he is, obviously there are more pieces to put together, but he understands that. He's working on his baseline game as well as his net game. That's something he needs to improve and understand -- how to move to the net and maybe accept that he's going to miss a little bit more than the other guys (from the baseline)."

The 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) Reilly Opelka
"has a massive serve," USTA coach Diego
Moyano said. 2015 photo by Paul Bauman

   Denmark's Frederik Nielsen, who won the 2012 Wimbledon men's doubles title with Jonathan Marray of Great Britain, beat Opelka 6-2, 6-4 in the second round of Sacramento qualifying in October.
   "With a serve like (Opelka's) and you're already at (the Challenger) level, you have great potential," Nielsen observed. "The top hundred is a given. From there, I find it very difficult to tell what separates the guys. The next few years will show mentally what it takes (for him) to get to the next level."
   As with the 6-foot-10 (2.08-meter) Isner and 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) Ivo Karlovic, the racket looks like a Ping-Pong paddle in Opelka's hands.
   Isner, a 30-year-old product of Greensboro, N.C., reached a career-high No. 9 in 2012. Karlovic, a 36-year-old Croatian, climbed as high as No. 14 in 2008.
   Whereas Isner played at the University of Georgia for four years, Opelka turned pro in April at 17.
   En route to becoming the only wild cards to win the Wimbledon men's doubles title, Nielsen and Marray dominated Karlovic and 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) Frank Moser of Germany 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 in the second round.
   "Karlovic has a better serve (than Opelka)," Nielsen asserted. "Opelka is better from the backcourt, especially at this age. Right now, Ivo is very good from the back, but at that age, he wasn't.
  "It's important for Opelka to be ambitious on his second serve. I felt his second serve was a little to predictable."
   Karlovic and Isner both have reached one Grand Slam singles quarterfinal, their best result in a major. Can Opelka, who was born in Michigan and moved with his family to Palm Coast, Fla., (near Daytona) at age 4, become a threat to win a Slam?
   "It's very difficult for me to say," Nielsen cautioned. "You can see even guys with big serves -- Isner and Karlovic -- none of them have really made a run in a Grand Slam yet, so it takes more than that. The game is getting more and more physical. The baseline game is very important. People have such good defense and counter-attacking abilities, it takes a lot more (than a big serve). It takes a lot of willpower; it takes a lot of mental strength.
   "I don't know (about Opelka's chances to win a Slam). Stranger things have happened."

The new Monfils

   With his powerful serve and outrageous physical ability, the 17-year-old Mmoh has been compared to former world No. 7 Gael Monfils of France.

   "Michael is one of the most athletic people you will ever see on a tennis court," Opelka, a close friend of Mmoh's, told The New York Times in September. "There is nothing he can't do out there." 

Michael Mmoh, 17, "is one of the most athletic people you will ever see
on a tennis court," Opelka told The New York Times. 2015 photo by
Garrett Ellwood/USTA

 This year, the 6-foot-1 (1.85-meter), 187-pound (85-kilogram) Mmoh:
   --Reached the boys semifinals of the Australian Open and French Open.
   --Hit with Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon.
   --Won two U.S. Futures titles.
   --Advanced to the quarterfinals of the $50,000 Las Vegas Tennis Open in October, dispatching countryman and former top-50 player Ryan Harrison, 6-2, 6-3 in the first round before losing to eventual champion Thiemo de Bakker.
   --Jumped from No. 659 in January to No. 456.
   Mmoh is a one-man United Nations. He was born in Saudi Arabia to Tony Mmoh, a former journeyman professional and Olympian from Nigeria, and Geraldine O'Reilly, an Irishwoman who also holds Australian citizenship.
   Tony was coaching the Saudi Arabian Davis Cup team, and Geraldine, an avid tennis fan, was working in Saudi Arabia as a nurse at the time, the Times reported.
   Michael was named after Michael Jordan. Tony became infatuated with the NBA legend while attending St. Augustine's College (now St. Augustine's University) in North Carolina and becoming a U.S. citizen. Michael moved from Saudi Arabia to Bradenton, Fla., at 12 to train at the IMG Academy and still is based there.
   Although Mmoh plays for the United States, he could choose to represent Nigeria, Ireland, Australia or perhaps Saudi Arabia.

How Swede it is

   After overpowering Kozlov 6-3, 6-4 to win last year's Sacramento Challenger, U.S. Davis Cup veteran Sam Querrey predicted stardom for the 16-year-old phenom.
   "He's got every shot in the book," declared the 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Querrey, who ascended to a career-high No. 17 in 2011. "If he keeps on the path he's on, he can be a top-10 player one day."
   Kozlov had earned his first win over a top-100 player in the semifinals, edging the second-seeded and 99th-ranked Smyczek 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1).
   Smyczek assessed Kozlov's game afterward.
   "He plays a real unconventional style ... " Smyczek observed. "He uses the slice a lot -- (including on) the forehand, which you don't see much -- and he's good at sneaking into the net and knocking volleys off. You don't see the variety that he brings very much."
   Three weeks before the tournament, commentator and U.S. Davis Cup captain Courier discussed Kozlov on Tennis Channel.

Kozlov has top-10 potential, according to U.S. Davis Cup veteran
Sam Querrey. 2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   "USTA coaches have been talking to me about Kozlov for three years," Courier revealed. "His biggest asset is his mind. He's a very crafty player with a lot of variety. He'll be in the top 50 by the time he's 20."
   Kozlov and his younger tennis-playing brother, Boris, were named after Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker, respectively.
   Stefan was born in Macedonia and moved to South Florida with his Russian parents when he was 1. His father, Andrei, runs the Kozlov Miami Tennis Academy in Pembroke Pines, Fla.
   "We don't live in the biggest house or have the nicest cars," Kozlov, who turned pro at 14, said after shocking Smyczek. "We grind day by day. If I do well here, I'm earning money for my family and my brother so he can travel to tournaments. I'm not playing for myself. I'm playing for my family. I'm playing for a lot of things."
   Since last year's breakthrough in Sacramento, the 6-foot (1.83-meter) Kozlov has improved from No. 443 to No. 353. He did not return to California's capital this year, opting for a series of Futures tournament in Europe.
   Kozlov recorded his second career win over a top-100 player three weeks ago, routing then-No. 97 Malek Jaziri of Tunisia 6-1, 6-2 in the first round in Knoxville before losing to Dennis Novikov of Milpitas in the San Francisco Bay Area in the second round.

You Cannot Be Serious

   Rubin, 19, grew up playing at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in the New York area.
   McEnroe has said Rubin, only 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters) and 155 pounds (70 kilograms), has top-50 potential "at a minimum."
   As a 17-year-old wild card, Rubin lost in the first round of the 2013 Sacramento Challenger to Smyczek, the second seed and eventual runner-up to Young, 7-6 (3), 6-0.

Diminutive Noah Rubin has top-50 potential "at a minimum," his mentor,
John McEnroe, has said. 2013 photo by Paul Bauman

   Rubin turned pro in May after reaching the NCAA final as a freshman at Wake Forest. He has catapulted from No. 1,050 in June to No. 340 and won the recent Australian Open Wild Card Challenge by amassing the most points among Americans in two of three events (Charlottesville, Knoxville and Champaign).
   Rubin earned a wild card in the Australian Open in January when Fritz lost to Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland in the Champaign final two weeks ago.
   "It's probably the first time I had to rely on somebody else to lose for me to win, in a match I had nothing to do with," Rubin, who made his Grand Slam debut in the 2014 U.S. Open and lost in the first round as a wild card, told atpworldtour.com. "I didn't expect that outcome, but I'm excited to see what's going to come in the future. I've never been to the Australian Open before, even for juniors. I'm going to have to get acclimated to the temperature for sure, but I'm just excited about going there.
   "The goal is to have no goals. Anything can happen so quickly. It's just about having the mindset of being open and ready for anything. I was ranked No. 1,000 going out of school, and now I'm around No. 350 In a couple tournaments, I could be No. 250. It could happen so quickly. Just be ready for anything."

The baseline basher

   Kudla defeated the 6-foot-2 (1.88-meter) Paul 6-4, 6-2 in the second round in Sacramento in October but raved about him afterward.

Paul "hits an unbelievably big ball," Kudla marveled after beating him
in the Sacramento Challenger in October. 2015 photo by Paul Bauman

   "He hits an unbelievably big ball," Kudla marveled of the 18-year-old Paul, who has soared from No. 610 in May to No. 274. "We played in Cincinnati (in August, with Kudla winning by the odd score of 6-2, 0-6, 6-0), and I already feel like he's improved since then. It was a different scoreline, but still, he has every single shot. For him, it's a matter of keeping his game a little more organized. Then I think he can shoot through the rankings (to the top 100) pretty quick.
   "He's a little erratic out there. Some of his shots have no purpose. When those are landing in, great, but a lot of times against a higher-ranked player, they get those back, it's a little tough, and you don't really know what else you can do."
   Paul, who grew up playing on clay in North Carolina, insists that repeated reminders of the United States' Grand Slam drought don't bother him.
   Paul noted that he and the other U.S. prospects "all know it, definitely, but I'm not getting tired of it because it kind of pushes all of us to see how good we can get and see if one of us can maybe do it one day."