Raonic, Hewitt, Verdasco enter SAP Open

Milos Raonic, serving in this year's SAP Open final in San Jose, will try
to win his third consecutive title in the tournament in February.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Andy Roddick didn't do it. Nor did Andy Murray, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi or John McEnroe.
   Milos Raonic will try to become the first player since Tony Trabert (1953-55) to win the San Francisco Bay Area stop on the men's tour for three years in a row.
   Organizers recently announced that Raonic, former champions Lleyton Hewitt of Australia and Fernando Verdasco of Spain and the top-ranked doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan have entered the 2013 SAP Open, Feb. 11-17 at HP Pavilion in San Jose.
   It will be the 125th and last SAP Open, the second-oldest tennis tournament in the United States. Rio de Janeiro, the site of the 2016 Summer Olympics and a co-host of the 2014 World Cup soccer tournament, will replace San Jose on the ATP World Tour beginning in 2014.
   Raonic (pronounced Rau-nitch), a 21-year-old Canadian, defeated Verdasco in the 2011 final for his first ATP World Tour title and Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in last year's championship match.
  Roddick (2004-05), Murray (2006-07), Sampras (1996-97) and McEnroe (1978-79) each won the Bay Area tournament twice in a row. McEnroe triumphed five times overall, Roddick three and Murray and Sampras twice each. Agassi prevailed five times but never consecutively.
   Raonic, 6-foot-5 (196 centimeters), is ranked a career-high 13th in the world with three career singles titles. He is 9-0 in singles in San Jose.
   Hewitt, the 2002 SAP Open champion, plans to return for the sixth time. A likely International Tennis Hall of Famer, the 31-year-old veteran ranks fourth among active players with 28 singles titles. He trails Roger Federer (76), Rafael Nadal (50) and Novak Djokovic (33).
   Hewitt has won two Grand Slam singles crowns, the U.S. Open in 2001 and Wimbledon in 2002. Ranked No. 1 in 2001, he has plummeted to No. 80.
   Verdasco, a 28-year-old left-hander, has played in the SAP Open twice. He won it in 2010, becoming the first Spaniard to do so since Manuel Santana in 1964, and fell to Raonic 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5) in the 2011 final.
   The loss to Raonic was marred by controversy. With Raonic serving on match point, a spectator yelled, and a distracted Verdasco netted the return.
   Verdasco is ranked 24th after reaching a career-high No. 7 in 2009.
   The 34-year-old Bryan twins have won 82 career doubles titles, an Open Era record. Twelve have come in Grand Slam tournaments, tying the all-time mark of Australians John Newcombe and Tony Roche from 1965 to 1976.
   The Bryans also won the Olympic gold medal in men's doubles this summer in London. But they have never won the SAP Open in nine attempts, even though they attended college a few miles up the road at Stanford. They have reached the final only once, losing to former Stanford stars Scott Lipsky and David Martin in 2008.
   The SAP Open has struggled to attract top players and big crowds in recent years. Roddick's career steadily declined after he won his last SAP title in 2008, and he retired in September, one week after his 30th birthday. No American man has won a Grand Slam singles title since Roddick captured the 2003 U.S. Open for his only major crown.
   France's Gael Monfils, then ranked 13th in the world, was seeded first in last year's tournament but withdrew with a knee injury. Roddick was second and Raonic third. The final drew an announced crowd of 5,682.
   The tournament has been held at HP Pavilion, the home of the National Hockey League's San Jose Sharks, since it opened in 1994. That has forced the Sharks to take an extended road trip each February.
   The event began in Monterey in 1889 and also has been held under various names in Berkeley, San Francisco, Alamo and Daly City. Other past champions include legends Don Budge, Jack Kramer, Rod Laver, Arthur Ashe and Jimmy Connors.
   Ticket packages and group tickets are available by calling (408) ACE-2121. Individual session tickets will go on sale in January. For more information, visit www.sapopentennis.com.

Serving sensationally, Raonic repeats in SAP Open

   SAN JOSE — Don't be deceived by Milos Raonic's modest seven aces and 62 percent conversion rate on first serves.
   The 21-year-old Canadian star put on the most dominant serving display in memory Sunday.
   Dropping only four points on his serve, the third-seeded Raonic wore down unseeded Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 7-6 (3), 6-2 at HP Pavilion for his second straight SAP Open title.
   Raonic won 28 of 31 points, including 17 straight, on his serve in the first set and 16 of 17 in the second set. He never surrendered more than one point in a service game. 
   Asked if he could serve any better, Raonic said: "I don't think so. I hope so. I served pretty flawlessly all week but sometimes lost focus on the next shot."  
   Raonic, who won his first career ATP World Tour title last year in San Jose, became the seventh player in the Open Era (since 1968) to win back-to-back championships in the Bay Area tournament. All the others — Andy Murray (2006-07), Andy Roddick (2004-05), Mark Philippoussis (1999-2000), Pete Sampras (1996-97), John McEnroe (1978-79) and Stan Smith (1968-69) — are multiple Grand Slam singles champions or finalists.
   There is no reason — other than injuries — to think Raonic won't wind up in Grand Slam finals, too. He missed two months after undergoing hip surgery last July and withdrew from a Davis Cup singles match eight days ago with knee pain. Raonic said it was "a big sigh of relief" that he would be able to defend his SAP Open crown.
   Largely because of the hip operation, it took Raonic 11 months to win his second ATP title (Chennai, India, in the first week of this year). It took him only six weeks to win his third.
   "I'm a much better tennis player this year," said Raonic, who's 11-1 this season and the first two-time winner of 2012 on the ATP circuit. "I'm hitting well from the baseline and constructing points. My tennis sense is better. I understand my game and my opponent's game better."
   Raonic, ranked 35th, improved to 9-0 in the SAP Open without losing a set. He held his serve 42 of 43 times last year and 41 of 42 times this year.   
   Istomin, a 25-year-old Russia native who fell to 0-2 in ATP finals, said the 6-foot-5 Raonic's serve is the best he has faced.
   "It's harder, he's taller, and the ball is jumping high. Five times I saw 145 (on the radar gun). It's really difficult to face this kind of serve," said Istomin, an SAP Open semifinalist in 2010 and quarterfinalist last year.
   In the middle of the first set, Raonic uncorked a 150-mph ace that Istomin challenged for the heck of it.
   "I didn't see it at all," Istomin, who rose 12 spots to No. 49 in the world with his runner-up finish, admitted with a chuckle. "That's why I challenged, to be sure it was in or no."
   But Raonic is hardly a one-dimensional player. Like a cagey veteran pitcher, he changes speeds on  his serve, often slicing the ball wide in the deuce court. He moves surprisingly well for his size, has a powerful baseline game and can volley deftly. He says his return of serve needs the most work. 
   Not that Raonic needed any help during the week, but he had plenty.
   Gael Monfils, seeded second last year and first this year, withdrew with an injury in Raonic's half of the draw for the second consecutive year. Second seeded Andy Roddick, a three-time SAP Open champion, struggled with hamstring and ankle injuries and lost to Istomin in the quarterfinals.
   Raonic also was fresher for Sunday's 3 p.m. final than Istomin. Raonic beat U.S. teenager Ryan Harrison in straight sets in 1 hour, 18 minutes Saturday afternoon, whereas Istomin labored for 2 hours, 20 minutes to beat fifth-seeded Julien Benneteau on Saturday night.  
   In the final, Istomin held his serve throughout the first set to force a tiebreaker. Raonic bolted to a 6-1 lead and held on to improve his career tiebreaker record in the tournament to 8-0. After drawing a first-round bye this year, he won one tiebreaker in each of his four matches.
   Errors crept into Istomin's game in the second set, when he was broken at 1-2 and 2-5.
   "The first set I was playing really good on my serve," he said. "In the second set, I was a little tired. I had a long match (Saturday night)."
   In doubles, Mark Knowles became the first player 40 years or older to win an ATP title since McEnroe, at 47, captured the 2006 SAP Open doubles crown with Jonas Bjorkman.
   The fourth-seeded team of Knowles, a 40-year-old Bahamian and Sacramento Capitals veteran in World TeamTennis, and Belgium's Xavier Malisse outlasted unseeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa and Frank Moser of Germany 6-4, 1-6, 10-5 tiebreak. 
   "To be in a sentence with John McEnroe is pretty cool," said Knowles, who won his 55th career ATP doubles title (tied for 15th in the Open Era and fourth among active players). "I’ll take that. I didn’t realize that. To win a title at 40 years old is far beyond anything I could have dreamed of. When you first turn pro, you never really dream of playing 20-plus years on tour.
   "I’ve been fortunate enough to stay fairly healthy and have had some great partners who have helped me win a lot of titles over the years. It’s helped me to have a family. I spend a lot of time with my wife and three kids. I really enjoy tennis a lot more than I did in the beginning when it was just myself."
   Knowles has won a doubles crown for 13 straight years, including 2001 in San Jose (with former Capitals teammate Brian MacPhie), and every year since 1993 except 1999.
  "It’s amazing," he said. "You don’t really keep track of that until somebody points it out. Now I’m a little bit bummed I didn’t win that one title."
   Malisse, a relative youngster at 31, played in his fourth straight doubles final in California. He was the runner-up in last year's SAP Open (with Alejandro Falla of Colombia, beating top-seeded Knowles and Michal Mertinak of Slovakia in the semifinals) and won titles at Indian Wells last March (with Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine) and Los Angeles (with Knowles) last July.
   "Maybe I should move to California," Malisse joked.   
   WTA Tour — Top-seeded Liezel Huber of Houston and Lisa Raymond of Wayne, Pa., breezed past unseeded Raquel Kops-Jones, a former Cal All-American from Fresno, and Abigail Spears of San Diego 6-3, 6-1 to win the $2,168,400 Qatar Total Open in Doha.
   Huber, 35, became the 15th player in the Open Era to win at least 50 WTA doubles titles. Raymond, 38, tied Jana Novotna for sixth place on that list with 76 crowns.
   Huber and Raymond reached the final of last year's Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, falling to Victoria Azarenka and Maria Kirilenko.
   Women's Challenger —  Fourth-seeded Maria Sanchez of Modesto and Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove in the Sacramento area won their second doubles title of the year, beating third-seeded Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania and Valeria Solovieva of Russia 6-4, 6-3 in the $25,000 City of Surprise (Ariz.) Women's Tennis Classic. Schnack also won a doubles crown this year with Whitney Jones of St. Louis.
   Fifth-seeded Michelle Larcher de Brito, a former Capital from Portugal, won the Surprise singles title with a 6-1 6-3 victory over eighth-seeded Claire Feuerstein of France.
   College — Cal freshman Zsofi Susanyi was named to the all-tournament team at No. 2 singles after helping the Bears reach the semifinals of the ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championship in Charlottesville. Susanyi, from Hungary, also was chosen as the Pacific-12 Conference Player of the Week for Feb. 6-12.

Hard-serving Raonic eyes a repeat in SAP Open

   There are some things players on the ATP World Tour just don't want to do.
   They don't want to fly economy to Australia. They don't want to answer stupid questions at post-match news conferences. And they don't want to face Milos Raonic's blistering serve indoors (outdoors is no picnic, either).
   Hammering deliveries at up to 150 mph, the 6-foot-5 Canadian defeated promising U.S. teenager Ryan Harrison 7-6 (4), 6-2 Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the $531,000 SAP Open at HP Pavilion in San Jose.
   Raonic, 21, pounded 20 aces and evened his professional record against Harrison, 19, at 1-1.
   "If he served like that against anybody, it’s going to be a nightmare to break,” Harrison told reporters. “It doesn’t matter who he plays. Whenever he’s serving like that, it’s going to be a tough match for any of the top guys – Roger, Rafa, Novak – all the guys that are the best in the game."
   Harrison beat Raonic 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-4 in a third-round thriller at Indian Wells last March. But that was outdoors. At HP Pavilion, the home of the NHL's San Jose Sharks, Raonic doesn't have to contend with wind or the sun.
   Raonic, who won his first ATP title in last year's SAP Open, is 8-0 (including a walkover) in the tournament.
  “It was all really new to me last year," said Raonic, who underwent hip surgery in July and missed two months. "I felt it all flew by really quickly. "Whereas now, going through all these things again and playing well and everything, I feel like I know how to deal with it all. There’s not stress around it.”
   Raonic, seeded third at No. 32 in the world rankings, will try for a repeat, his second title of the year and the third of his career when he meets unseeded Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan today at 3 p.m. (Comcast SportsNet California, CSN Plus in Sacramento and Tennis Channel).
   Istomin, ranked No. 61, outlasted fifth-seeded Julien Benneteau of France 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3 in 2 hours, 20 minutes Saturday night to reach his second ATP final. Istomin lost to Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine at New Haven in 2010.
   In the doubles final at 1 p.m., fourth-seeded Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and Xavier Malisse of Belgium will face unseeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa and Frank Moser of Germany.
   The 40-year-old Knowles, who played his 10th season with the Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis last July, and Malisse eliminated unseeded Gilles Muller of Luxembourg and Olivier Rochus of Belgium 7-6 (4), 6-3. Malisse and Rochus won the 2004 French Open men's doubles title.
   Anderson, 6-8, and Moser, 6-5, upset second seeds and defending champions Scott Lipsky of Huntington Beach and Rajeev Ram of Carmel, Ind., 7-6 (5), 6-4. Lipsky and former Stanford teammate David Martin reached the NCAA doubles final in 2002 and won the SAP Open doubles crown in 2008.
   WTA tour -- Raquel Kops-Jones, a former Cal All-American from Fresno, and Abigail Spears of San Diego edged fifth-seeded Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain and Anastasia Rodionova, a Russian-born Australian and former Capital, 3-6, 6-1, 10-8 tiebreak in the doubles semifinals of the $2,168,400 Qatar Total Open in Doha.
   Kops-Jones and Spears will face top-seeded Liezel Huber, an American citizen orginally from South Africa, and Lisa Raymond of Wayne, Pa., for the title. Huber and Raymond coasted past Germany's Kristina Barrois and Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-2, 6-3.  
   Women's Challenger -- Qualifier Maria Sanchez of Modesto lost to eighth-seeded Claire Feuerstein of France 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 in the semifinals of the $25,000 City of Surprise (Ariz.) Women's Tennis Classic.
   Feuerstein will meet fifth-seeded Michelle Larcher de Brito, a former Capital from Portugal, in today's final.
   College men -- Ninth-ranked Stanford (7-4) lost 4-1 to No. 2 Virginia (7-0) in the quarterfinals of the ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championship at Charlottesville, Va. No. 13 Cal (5-3) beat No. 12 Pepperdine (3-6) in the consolation quarterfinals.

Hobbling Roddick falls to Istomin in SAP quarterfinals

   He could have withdrawn before the SAP Open like Lleyton Hewitt, Bernard Tomic and James Blake.
   He could have quit Wednesday night like Gael Monfils.
   And he could have pulled out before his quarterfinal on Friday night.
   But second-seeded Andy Roddick, battered like an NFL player, soldiered on and predictably lost to unseeded Denis Istomin 6-2, 6-4 at HP Pavilion.
   As usual, Roddick didn't exactly go down gracefully. The Associated Press reported that he "slammed one racket, broke another, argued with the chair umpire and shouted back at his own box. At one point, he smacked a ball high into the black curtains behind the far baseline grandstand."
   The three-time SAP Open champion, still recovering from a partially torn tendon in his right hamstring suffered during the Australian Open last month, twisted his right ankle during his second-round victory Wednesday night.
   "It would be abnormal if you weren't frustrated," Roddick, who still plans to defend his title next week in Memphis, told reporters after losing to Istomin. "The question is, how do you figure your way through it?"
   Istomin, a 25-year-old Russia native who plays for Uzbekistan, reached the SAP Open semifinals for the second time in three years. Also a quarterfinalist last year, he will meet fifth-seeded Julien Benneteau of France at 7:30 tonight (Comcast SportsNet Bay Area and Tennis Channel) for a berth in the final.
   Benneteau, a 30-year-old veteran playing in the SAP Open for the first time this year, eliminated unseeded Steve Darcis of Belgium 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
   Benneteau is 2-0 against Istomin, winning all five of their sets 6-4. That includes a three-set triumph in the second round of last year's U.S. Open.
   In today's 1 p.m. semifinal (Comcast SportsNet California and Tennis Channel), third seed and defending champion Milos Raonic, 21, of Canada will face unseeded Ryan Harrison, 19, of Bradenton, Fla.
   Raonic, 6-foot-5, edged sixth-seeded Kevin Anderson, a 6-8 South African, 7-5, 7-6 (3). Raonic pounded 16 aces to Anderson's 14 and never faced a break point.
   Harrison downed qualifier Dimitar Kutrovsky 6-1, 6-4 to become the first teenager to reach the SAP Open semifinals since Andy Murray won the 2006 and 2007 titles at 18 and 19, respectively.    
   Harrison beat Raonic 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-4 in the third round at Indian Wells last year in their only previous meeting.
   Sanchez stays hot -- Maria Sanchez of Modesto reached the singles semifinals and doubles final at the $25,000 City of Surprise (Ariz.) Women's Tennis Classic.
   Sanchez, a singles qualifier, beat unseeded Olga Puchkova of Russia 4-6, 6-0, 6-2 to advance to a meeting with eighth-seeded Claire Feuerstein of France.
   In doubles, fourth-seeded Sanchez and Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove in the Sacramento area dominated top-seeded Wan-Ting Liu and Shuai Zhang of China 6-2, 6-0. Sanchez and Schnack -- former rivals at USC and UCLA, respectively -- will take on third-seeded Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania and Valeria Solovieva of Russia in Sunday's final.
   Stanford men advance -- No. 9 Stanford beat No. 7 Baylor 4-2 in the first round of the National Men's Team Indoor Championship at Charlottesville, Va.
   Bradley Klahn, the 2010 NCAA singles champion who had missed Stanford's first nine matches with an undisclosed injury, defeated Marko Krickovic 6-3, 6-2 at No. 3 singles and teamed with Ryan Thacher to beat Roberto Maytin and Mate Zsiga 8-6 at No. 1 doubles. Klahn and Thacher reached the NCAA doubles final at Stanford last May, losing to Jeff Dadamo and Austin Krajicek of Texas A&M.
   No. 13 Cal (4-3) lost 4-0 to No. 4 Georgia (7-0). Stanford (7-3) will face host Virginia today in the quarterfinals.
   Other colleges -- The Sacramento State women defeated visiting Portland State 7-0 in a Big Sky Conference match and host UC Davis 5-2. The Hornets improved to 4-3 (1-0 in the Big Sky), and the Aggies fell to 3-7.
   The UC Davis men (3-4) routed visiting Weber State 6-0.

Former champ Stepanek, Russell ousted in San Jose

   Age caught up with two 33-year-olds Thursday in the SAP Open.
   In the second round at HP Pavilion in San Jose, fourth-seeded Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic lost to Steve Darcis of Belgium 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2), and Michael Russell of Houston fell to Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-2, 6-2.
   Stepanek swept the 2009 SAP Open singles and doubles titles, teaming with Tommy Haas of Germany, and lost to Andy Roddick in the 2008 singles final. But Stepanek has not won a singles match in San Jose since 2009, losing in the first round in 2010, skipping last year's event and drawing a first-round bye this year. He won his first Grand Slam title last month, pairing with Leander Paes of India in men's doubles at the Australian Open.
   Russell, seven months older than Stepanek, is the oldest player in this year's singles draw. He lost to Istomin in the second round of the SAP Open for the second consecutive year after falling 7-6 (7), 7-6 (4) in 2011.
   Istomin reached the San Jose semifinals in 2010 and quarterfinals last year, losing to Fernando Verdasco of Spain each time. Verdasco, the 2010 champion and 2011 runner-up, did not return this year.
   In Thursday night's featured match, 19-year-old Ryan Harrison saved two match points and beat fellow American Robby Ginepri, a 29-year-old wild card, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (0). Harrison won the last 10 points of the two-hour, eight-minute battle.
   Highlighting today's quarterfinals will be the first career meeting between Canada's Milos Raonic, the No. 3 seed and defending champion, and South Africa's Kevin Anderson, the No. 6 seed. Both are tall (Anderson is 6-8 and Raonic 6-5) with booming serves,  ranked in the 30s (Raonic is No. 32 and Anderson No. 35) and possibly headed to the top 10.
   Anderson, though, is four years older at 25. He starred at Illinois for three years, whereas Raonic turned pro out of high school.
   “It’ll come down to just a few opportunities,” Anderson told reporters about today's matchup. “Service game is going to be a big focus, so hopefully I’ll be able to serve well and capitalize on a few opportunities.”
   Also in the top half of the draw, Harrison will meet qualifier Dimitar Kutrovsky of Bulgaria. In the bottom half, No. 2 seed Roddick will take on Istomin, and fifth-seeded Julien Benneteau of France will play Darcis.
   Roddick, a three-time SAP Open champion, is still recovering from a partially torn tendon in his right hamstring and twisted his right ankle during his second-round victory over 19-year-old American qualifier Denis Kudla on Wednesday night.
   In the doubles quarterfinals, fourth-seeded Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and Xavier Malisse of Belgium dispatched James Cerretani of Reading, Mass., and Matthew Ebden of Australia 6-3, 6-2. The 40-year-old Knowles, a longtime Sacramento Capitals star in World TeamTennis, won the 2001 SAP Open doubles title with former Capitals teammate Brian MacPhie.
   Ex-Cal star reaches doubles semis -- Raquel Kops-Jones, a former NCAA doubles champion from Cal, and fellow Californian Abigail Spears defeated Vera Dushevina of Russia and Shahar Peer of Israel 6-0, 7-6 (5) in the quarterfinals of the $2,168,400 Qatar Total Open in Doha.
   Sanchez stuns top seed -- Qualifier Maria Sanchez of Modesto recorded her first victory over a top-100 player when she shocked top-seeded Irina Falconi of Atlanta 6-2, 7-5 to reach the quarterfinals of the $25,000 City of Surprise (Ariz.) Women's Tennis Classic.
   Falconi is ranked No. 100 after climbing to a career-high No. 73 last October. Sanchez, a 22-year-old former USC All-American, jumped from No. 699 to a career-high No. 605 this week. She beat her doubles partner, qualifier Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove in the Sacramento area, 6-3, 6-1 in the first round.
   Sanchez and Schnack, seeded fourth in doubles, will meet top-seeded Wan-Ting Liu and Shuai Zhang of China in today's semifinals.
   Former Sac State standout eyes return -- Ex-Sacramento State star Kiryl Harbatsiuk hopes to return to the Futures circuit next month after a long bout with the flu, Sac State director of tennis Bill Campbell said.
   Harbatsiuk, a 24-year-old native of Minsk, Belarus, is training in Sacramento. He has not played in a tournament since the first week of November.
   Stanford women rise to No. 1 -- The Stanford women replaced Florida at No. 1 in the nation after beating the Gators 5-2 Sunday at Stanford in a rematch of the past two NCAA team finals. The Cardinal had been No. 2.
   No. 3 Allie Will of Florida defeated No. 5 Nicole Gibbs 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 at No. 1 singles. Stanford's Kristie Ahn, playing for the first time since suffering an ankle injury last May, beat Alex Cercone 2-6, 7-5, 1-0 (4) at No. 4 singles.   
  Stanford won the 2010 NCAA title but, playing without then-No. 15 Ahn, lost to Florida 4-3 last year as the Gators snapped the Cardinal's NCAA-record 184-match home winning streak.  

Monfils withdraws from SAP Open; Roddick survives

   SAN JOSE -- First, it appeared that the SAP Open's second seed would quit with an injury.
   Minutes later, its top seed did.
   On a bizarre night at HP Pavilion, Andy Roddick overcame a sprained ankle to beat qualifier Denis Kudla 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-4 Wednesday in the second round, and Gael Monfils withdrew during the tournament for the second straight year.   
   Third seed and defending champion Milos Raonic, who pulled out of his Davis Cup singles match Sunday with a knee injury, defeated Tobias Kamke 6-2, 7-6 (7) late Wednesday night in a matchup of the last two ATP World Tour Newcomers of the Year. Raonic, 21, of Canada won the award last year. 
   Monfils, a 25-year-old Frenchman considered the best athlete in men's professional tennis, announced at a news conference that he had withdrawn with patellar inflammation in his right knee. After drawing a first-round bye, he had been scheduled to play qualifier Dimitar Kutrovsky of Bulgaria on Thursday night.
   Kutrovsky, a 5-foot-9 former Texas All-American who uses two hands on both sides, instead will face lucky loser Blake Strode, who has deferred his acceptance to Harvard Law School to play pro tennis.  
   Last year, Monfils withdrew before his semifinal in the SAP Open with a wrist injury.
   Roddick, 29, was playing in his first match since retiring from his second-round match in the Australian Open on Jan. 19 with a partially torn tendon in his right hamstring.
   With Kudla, a 19-year-old Ukrainian-born American serving at 7-6 (5), 4-5, 15-0, Roddick twisted his right ankle while going wide for a forehand, went down in a heap and briefly lay motionless on his side.
   Worried that he might have suffered another serious injury, the three-time SAP Open champion yelled in frustration, then sat up and pounded his fist on the court. But after getting the ankle taped during a medical timeout and donning a brace, he decided to continue.
   "When you first go down, you don't know how it feels until you take the first few steps," he said. "It was all too familiar. I didn't want to stop. I'm sick of that."
   Kudla proceeded to win the game at love to even the second set 5-5 and take the first three points on Roddick's serve. Roddick, though, managed to hold serve, pull out the tiebreaker with the help of a Kudla double fault at 4-5 and overcome a 2-0 deficit in the third set.
   "It got away from me," said the 5-foot-11 Kudla, who had frustrated Roddick before the injury with laser forehands and two-handed backhands. "I pressed a little on a couple of shots. I lost a great opportunity to win a match like that, but I'll try to take the positives from it and move on."
   Roddick advanced to Friday's quarterfinals against either Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin, an SAP Open semifinalist in 2010 and quarterfinalist last year, or 33-year-old American Michael Russell.
   As for his hamstring, Roddick said: "It's not going to be perfect for a while, but I'm not going to get into a day-by-day analysis. I don't like it when other guys do that. It's good enough. I'm going to play on it."
   Earlier Wednesday, 19-year-old wild card Ryan Harrison of Bradenton, Fla., knocked off eighth-seeded Olivier Rochus of Belgium 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the first round.
   Harrison, who won his Davis Cup debut Sunday after the United States had clinched its series against host Switzerland on indoor clay, won the last four games of the second set and last five games of the third set. The 6-foot-1 rising star blasted 27 aces to none for Rochus, the shortest man in the top 100 at 5-6 and the 2004 French Open men's doubles champion with countryman Xavier Malisse.
   Harrison, the second-youngest man in the top 100 at No. 94 behind fellow 19-year-old Bernard Tomic (No. 36) of Australia, will meet American veteran Robby Ginepri in the second round.
   Istomin outlasted San Francisco native Sam Querrey 5-7, 6-3, 7-5.The right-handed Querrey, who has fallen from a career-high No. 17 in January 2011 to No. 85 after undergoing surgery on his right elbow last June, pounded 15 aces to Istomin's six but committed eight double faults to his opponent's none.
    It was Querrey's second consecutive first-round loss in the SAP Open after appearances in the 2010 semifinals and 2009 quarterfinals. Istomin led Uzbekistan to a 3-2 victory over host New Zealand in the Davis Cup last weekend.
   For full SAP Open results and Thursday's schedule, go to www.sapopentennis.com.

Capitals land Fish again; Young upset in SAP Open

   Mardy Fish will try again.
   The Sacramento Capitals protected Fish, the top-ranked American at No. 8 in the world, with the seventh pick in Tuesday's World TeamTennis marquee draft.
   Fish was scheduled to play one match for the Capitals last year but withdrew with an abdominal injury. This year, the 30-year-old Los Angeles resident is set to play two matches, both at  home, for Sacramento during the July 9-29 regular season. Dates for all marquee player appearances will be announced when the league schedule is released next month.

   Visiting Capitals Stadium at Sunrise Mall will be 35-year-old retired stars Lindsay Davenport, chosen third by the Orange County Breakers, and Mark Philippoussis, picked first by the Philadelphia Freedoms. 
   Davenport, a Laguna Beach resident formerly ranked No. 1 in singles and doubles, was named WTT's 1993 Female Rookie of the Year at 17 and 1997 Female MVP as a member of the Capitals. Philippoussis, an Australian living in Las Vegas, reached the singles final at the U.S. Open in 1998 and at Wimbledon in 2003. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of No. 8 in 1999.
   Returning marquee players are former Stanford stars John McEnroe of the New York Sportimes and Bob and Mike Bryan of the Kansas City Explorers, Serena and Venus Williams of the defending champion Washington Kastles, Martina Hingis of the Sportimes and John Isner of the Boston Lobsters. Also, James Blake will play for Philadelphia. The Springfield (Mo.) Lasers did not make a selection, and the St. Louis Aces folded after last season.
   Team lineups will be finalized in the WTT roster draft on March 13.  Marquee players typically play a limited schedule, while roster players play the full season.  Additional marquee players could be added before the start of the season. 

   Young upset in SAP Open -- Thirty-three-year-old Michael Russell, 5-foot-8, upset fellow American Donald Young, seeded seventh, 6-1, 7-6 (6) Tuesday night in the first round of the $531,000 SAP Open at HP Pavilion in San Jose.
   Young, 22, made his ATP World Tour debut seven years ago in the SAP Open as the future of U.S. men's tennis. The gifted left-hander from Atlanta has failed to achieve stardom, although he did soar from No. 127 to No. 39 in the world rankings last year.
   Russell could meet another American, Sam Querrey, in the second round. Querrey, 6-6, beat Russell 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the 2010 SAP Open.
   In a matchup of former SAP Open semifinalists, 29-year-old wild card Robby Ginepri of Kennesaw, Ga., dismissed 31-year-old Xavier Malisse of Belgium 6-1, 6-2. Ginepri has fallen from No. 15 in the world in 2005, when he reached the semifinals of the U.S. Open, to No. 235. The right-hander broke his left elbow in a bicycle accident in September 2010 and missed 10 months.
   In a battle of 19-year-old American prospects, qualifier Denis Kudla of Arlington, Va., outlasted wild card Jack Sock of Overland Park, Kan., 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3. Kudla, who avenged a loss to Sock in the 2010 U.S. Open junior final, is scheduled to meet second-seeded Andy Roddick, a three-time SAP Open champion, tonight at 7 in the second round.
   Ex-Cal star advances in doubles -- Raquel Kops-Jones, a former NCAA doubles champion from Cal, and fellow Californian Abigail Spears dominated Eleni Daniilidou of Greece and Monica Niculescu of Romania 6-1, 6-1 in the first round of the $2,168,400 Qatar Ladies Open in Doha.

SAP OPEN

In San Jose

First-round singles

   Dimitar Kutrovsky, Bulgaria, def. Dennis Lajola, United States, 6-7 (7), 6-3, 7-6 (3).
   Gilles Muller, Luxembourg, def. Tim Smyczek, United States, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3.
   Denis Kudla, United States, def. Jack Sock, United States, 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3.
   Steve Darcis, Belgium, def. Steve Johnson, United States, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5).
   Robby Ginepri, United States, def. Xavier Malisse, Belgium, 6-1, 6-2.
   Michael Russell, United States, def. Donald Young (7), United States, 6-1, 7-6 (6).

   First-round doubles

   Kevin Anderson, South Africa, and Frank Moser, Germany, def. Lukas Dlouhy, Czech Republic, and Igor Zelenay, Slovakia, 6-2, 6-3.
   Defending champions Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram (2), United States, def. Julien Benneteau and Gael Monfils, France, 6-3, 7-6 (6).  

Today's schedule

(First-round matches unless noted)

Stadium Court

(Beginning at 9:30 a.m.)

   Matthew Ebden, Australia, vs. Dudi Sela, Israel.
   Denis Istomin, Uzbekistan, vs. Sam Querrey, United States.
   Ryan Harrison (wild card), United States, vs. Olivier Rochus (8), Belgium.
   Julien Benneteau (5), France, vs. Ryan Sweeting, United States
   James Cerretani, United States, and Matthew Ebden, Australia, vs. Robby Ginepri and Travis Rettenmaier (wild cards), United States.

(Beginning at 7 p.m.)

   Denis Kudla (qualifier), United States, vs. Andy Roddick (2), United States, second round.
   Defending champion Milos Raonic (3), Canada, vs. Tobias Kamke, Germany, second round.

Courtside Club in Los Gatos

(Beginning at 1 p.m.)

   Santiago Gonzalez, Mexico and Christopher Kas (1), Germany, vs. Grigor Dimitrov, Bulgaria, and John Paul Fruttero, United States.
   Kevin Anderson, South Africa, and Frank Moser, Germany, vs. Paul Hanley, Australia, and Jamie Murray (3), Great Britain, quarterfinals.
   Mark Knowles, Bahamas, and Xavier Malisse (4), Belgium, vs. Mikhail Elgin, Russia, and Denis Istomin, Uzbekistan.
   Gilles Muller, Luxembourg, and Olivier Rochus, Belgium, vs. Carsten Ball, Australia, and Treat Conrad Huey, Philippines.

  To be arranged

  Sam Querrey and Jack Sock (wild cards), United States, vs. defending champions Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram (2), United States, quarterfinals.

Ex-champions highlight SAP Open entry list

   Four former SAP Open singles champions are on the entry list announced Friday for next month's tournament in San Jose.
   Set to play in the Feb. 13-19 tournament at HP Pavilion are Andy Roddick (2004, 2005 and 2008) of Austin, Texas, Radek Stepanek (2009) of the Czech Republic, Milos Raonic (2011) of Canada and Lleyton Hewitt (2002) of Australia.
   Roddick, who turns 30 in August, and Hewitt, who turns 31 on Feb. 24, formerly were ranked No. 1 in the world. Raonic, who celebrated his 21st birthday on Dec. 27, was named the 2011 Newcomer of the Year on the ATP World Tour.
   Roddick skipped the tournament last year for the first time since 2003 so he could accompany his wife, model-actress Brooklyn Decker, to appearances for Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue and her feature film debut in "Just Go With It."
   Entrants in this year's SAP Open also include:
   --Six-foot-eight Kevin Anderson, the 2007 Sacramento Futures champion.
   --James Blake, the 2011 Sacramento Challenger runner-up and 2004 SAP Open doubles winner (with Mardy Fish).
   --Donald Young, the 2008 Sacramento Challenger champion who made his ATP World Tour debut in San Jose at 15 years old in 2005.
   --Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native and the 2010 SAP Open doubles titlist with Fish.
   --Tommy Haas, the 2009 SAP Open doubles winner with Stepanek.
   Conspicuously absent from the entry list is Spain's Fernando Verdasco, the 2010 champion and 2011 runner-up in singles in San Jose.
   On Raonic's third match point in last year's final, the 6-5 right-hander pounded a 138-mph serve to Verdasco's forehand. Suddenly, a fan shouted "Yes," and the distracted Verdasco netted the return. The chair umpire refused to replay the point, and Raonic walked off with a 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-5) victory for his first ATP World Tour title.
   John McEnroe and Raonic will face Gael Monfils of France and Blake on Feb. 13 at 7 p.m. in a doubles exhibition. McEnroe, who will turn 53 on Feb. 16, won five SAP Open and seven Grand Slam singles titles during his International Tennis Hall of Fame career.
   The 32-year-old Blake, formerly ranked No. 4 in the world, is scheduled to play his first singles match on Feb. 14 at 7 p.m., followed by Querrey's opener. Roddick and Raonic highlight the Feb. 15 schedule with consecutive night matches.
   Tickets are available at HP Pavilion, ticketmaster.com, (800) 745-3000 or http://www.sapopentennis.com/.
   Following are the 24 entrants for the SAP Open with world rankings in parentheses:
   Andy Roddick (14), Austin, Texas
   Gael Monfils (16), France
   Radek Stepanek (28), Czech Republic
   Milos Raonic (31), Canada
   Kevin Anderson (32), South Africa
   Donald Young (39), Atlanta
   Bernard Tomic (42), Australia
   Xavier Malisse (49), Belgium
   Julien Benneteau (52), France
   Gilles Muller (54), Luxembourg
   James Blake (59), Tampa, Fla.
   Olivier Rochus (67), Belgium
   Ryan Sweeting (72), Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
   Denis Istomin (73), Uzbekistan
   Alejandro Falla (74), Colombia
   Grigor Dimitrov (76), Bulgaria
   Ryan Harrison (79), Bradenton, Fla.
   Dudi Sela (83), Israel
   Matthew Ebden (86), Australia
   Steve Darcis (88), Belgium
   Sam Querrey (wild card), United States
   Lleyton Hewitt (wild card), Australia
   Jack Sock (wild card), Overland Park, Kan.
   Tommy Haas (injury protected ranking), Germany
   ATP World Tour -- Raonic, seeded fourth, and Japanese qualifier Go Soeda, who won the 2009 Tiburon Challenger, reached the semifinals of the $398,250 Aircel Chennai (India) Open. Raonic will face second-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain, and Soeda will meet top-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia.
   Top-seeded Andy Murray, the SAP Open champion in 2006 and 2007, will play third-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine in the final of the $434,250 Brisbane (Australia) International.
   WTA -- Fifth-seeded Kim Clijsters, a four-time Bank of the West Classic titlist at Stanford, retired from her semifinal match against unseeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia with a left hip injury while leading 7-6 (4), 1-3 in the $655,000 Brisbane International. Clijsters hopes to play in the Australian Open, which begins Jan. 16. Hantuchova will face unseeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia for the Brisbane title.
   Thirteenth-seeded Vania King of the Sacramento Capitals moved into the final round of qualifying for the $637,000 Apia International Sydney.

Bryan brothers end drought with Vienna title

   It was an eternity for the Bryan brothers.
   The top seeds and former Stanford All-Americans won their first title since Wimbledon, beating second-seeded Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor 7-6 (10), 6-3 Sunday in the $905,000 Erste Bank Open in Vienna.
   It was the seventh title of the year and record 74th overall for the Bryans, the 33-year-old identical twin sons of longtime Capitals coach Wayne Bryan. Both teams already had qualified for next month's Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London.
   "It feels good to get back in the winner's circle," Mike Bryan said on the ATP World Tour's Web site. "We haven't won a title since Wimbledon. Hopefully, it bodes well for the rest of the indoor season, and hopefully we continue playing well and build toward London."
   The Bryans had gone six tournaments without a crown since winning their second Wimbledon title in July. Included in the drought was an opening-round loss in the U.S. Open, the first time they had fallen that early in a Grand Slam tournament in 10 years.
   The pair almost lost in the first round in Vienna, too, saving one match point in a 6-7 (9), 7-6 (4), 11-9 tiebreak victory over Christopher Kas of Germany and Alexander Peya of Austria. The Bryans played in Vienna for the first time since losing in the first round of their inaugural appearance in 200
   "It feels good to come back to Vienna since we haven't been back since 2002," Mike said. "I thought we played really well all week. We escaped a scare in the first round and felt we had no pressure the rest of the week. I thought today was great tennis and it came down to a few points in that first-set tiebreaker and we had a little luck and carried the momentum."
   During a break after the U.S. Open, the Bryans visited San Quentin State Prison near San Francisco last month. In other words, they went from a Slam to the slammer. To read about the experience, go to: www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2011/09/Features/Bryans-Put-On-Clinic-At-San-Quentin-Prison.aspx.
   Ex-Capital wins title -- Third-seeded Michelle Larcher De Brito of Portugal beat eighth-seeded Monica Puig of Puerto Rico 6-3, 6-2 to win the Puerto Rico $25,000 Women's Challenger in Bayamon.
   It was the second career singles title for the 18-year-old Larcher De Brito, a former Sacramento Capital. She also won a $25,000 tournament in Rancho Santa Fe in February.
   At 14 in 2007, Larcher De Brito helped the Capitals win the last of their record six World  TeamTennis titles. She was the youngest player in WTT history at the time, but 14-year-old Madison Keys of the Philadelphia Freedoms surpassed her by 19 days in 2009.
   The 5-foot-10 Keys, who reached the second round of the U.S. Open in August, is considered the top prospect in U.S. women's tennis.
   Hewitt, Sock in SAP Open -- Former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt and promising American teenager Jack Sock accepted wild cards into the 2012 SAP Open in San Jose, tournament officials announced.
   Hewitt, a 30-year-old Australian, reached No. 1 in the world 10 years ago and won the SAP Open in 2002. Sock, a 19-year-old resident of Overland Park, Kan., won this year's U.S. Open mixed doubles title with Melanie Oudin and reached the singles quarterfinals and doubles final at last month's $100,000 Sacramento Challenger.
   They will join defending champion Milos Raonic of Canada, three-time SAP Open champion Andy Roddick of Austin, Texas, 10th-ranked Gael Monfils of France, former world No. 4 James Blake of Tampa, Fla., and San Francisco native Sam Querrey in the SAP Open, scheduled for Feb. 13-19 at HP Pavilion.
   Tennis legend John McEnroe is scheduled to headline a doubles exhibition match on Feb. 13 at 7 p.m.
   For more information, go to http://www.sapopentennis.com/.

TEB BNP PARIBAS WTA CHAMPIONSHIPS

In Istanbul

Singles final

   Petra Kvitova (3), Czech Republic, def. Victoria Azarenka (4), Belarus, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.

Doubles final

   Liezel Huber, Houston, and Lisa Raymond (2), Wayne, Pa., def. Kveta Peschke, Czech Republic, and Katarina Srebotnik (1), Slovenia, 6-4, 6-4.