Stephens wins Auckland title under new coach

Sloane Stephens hired Kamau Murray as her coach after recently
splitting with Nick Saviano, a former Stanford All-American.
2012 photo by Paul Bauman

   A coaching change paid immediate dividends for Sloane Stephens.
   The 22-year-old American, seeded fifth, beat unseeded Julia Goerges of Germany 7-5, 6-2 on Friday (PST) to win the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand.
   Earlier Friday, Stephens completed a rain-delayed 6-2, 7-6 (3) victory over third-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark.
   Stephens earned her second career title. She prevailed in Washington, D.C., last summer.
   Nick Saviano, a 59-year-old former Stanford All-American, announced last week that he was splitting with Stephens after one year. Stephens, who improved from No. 37 to No. 30 under Saviano, hired Kamau Murray as her new coach.
   "Coaching Sloane this past year at the major events and having her achieve outstanding results, in particular winning her first WTA tour event in Washington, D.C., was extremely rewarding and enjoyable," Saviano, who had coached Eugenie Bouchard for eight years, said in a Dec. 28 press release on his website. "She has been a joy for me to work with since she was 11 years old. I expect her to have a great year in 2016 and wish her all the best."
   In 2013, Stephens reached the semifinals of the Australian Open, upsetting Serena Williams, and the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. She climbed to a career-high No. 11 in October of that year.
   Stephens' late father, John Stephens, played running back for the New England Patriots.

Saviano to begin coaching Stephens next week

Sloane Stephens will begin working with Nick Saviano
next week in Hobart. 2012 photo by Paul Bauman

   It didn't take long for Nick Saviano to find another promising young woman to coach.
   The 58-year-old former Stanford All-American will begin working with Sloane Stephens next week in Hobart, tennis.com reported recently.
   Saviano announced in late November that he and Canadian Eugenie Bouchard had split after eight years.
   It was a surprising development, considering that Bouchard, who will turn 21 next month, reached her first Grand Slam final (Wimbledon) and cracked the top 10 in the world for the first time last year.
   Stephens, a 21-year-old American, slumped last year after reaching the semifinals of the 2013 Australian Open and climbing to a career-high No. 11 in October of that year. A right-hander with a two-handed backhand, she struggled with a left wrist injury.
   Stephens worked with Paul Annacone, the former coach of Pete Sampras and Roger Federer, for eight months and briefly with Thomas Hogstedt, the ex-coach of Maria Sharapova, Li Na and Caroline Wozniacki.
   Ranked No. 35, Stephens returned to the circuit for the first time since mid-September in this week's ASB Classic in Auckland. Seeded sixth, she lost to 5-foot-2 (1.57-meter) countrywoman Lauren Davis 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the second round.

Ex-Stanford star Saviano, Bouchard part ways

Eugenie Bouchard of the visiting Texas Wild warms up
before a World TeamTennis match against the Sacramento
Capitals last year. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Nick Saviano, a two-time Stanford All-American in the 1970s, announced last week that he and Eugenie Bouchard have agreed to end their coach-player relationship after eight years.
   “Genie and I have decided that it is best for us to end our player-coach relationship and to move in different directions for 2015," said Saviano, 58. "Helping Genie grow from an ambitious 12-year-old to No. 5 in the world has been an exciting journey.”
   Bouchard was named the WTA's Newcomer of the Year in 2013 and Most Improved Player this year. Ranked No. 32 at the beginning of 2014, she reached her first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon and the semifinals of the Australian Open and French Open. She also won her first WTA title at Nurnberg in May.
   “This past year, traveling with Genie to all of the majors has been a wonderful experience with memories I will cherish for a lifetime," Saviano said. "I have no doubt that Genie will accomplish great things. I wish her all the best."
    The 20-year-old Canadian's season, however, ended on a disappointing note. She lost all three of her matches in the WTA Finals in Singapore, never winning more than three games in a set. 
   Saviano, who has coached numerous top tour players, will continue to work with professionals and world-class juniors at his Saviano High Performance Tennis program in Plantation, Fla.

College, NorCal halls name new inductees

   Former Stanford stars David Wheaton and Patrick DuPre and four other luminaries will be inducted in the Men's Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame on May 23 during the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Tennis Championships at the University of Georgia in Athens, Ga.
   Also immortalized will be coaches Chuck Kriese, Paul Scarpa and Ron Smarr and contributor Jon Vegosen.

  DuPre, a native of Anniston, Ala., helped Stanford win NCAA titles in 1973 and 1974 and reached the 1976 NCAA singles final. As a pro, he advanced to the Wimbledon semifinals and U.S. Open quarterfinals in 1979 and attained a career-high ranking of No. 14 in 1980.

  Wheaton, originally from Excelsior, Minn., led the Cardinal to the 1988 NCAA crown in his only season at Stanford before turning pro. He reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 12 in 1991 and played on the  1993 United States Davis Cup Team.

   Kriese, led Clemson to 10 Atlantic Coast Conference championships as the Tigers' coach from 1975 to 2008. He holds the ACC record of 685 wins.

   Scarpa coached at Furman in South Carolina for 48 years, finishing with a Division I men's record of 853 victories. He also helped introduce the team format currently used in collegiate tennis.

   Smarr totaled 855 wins in 41 years at Rice, Colorado, South Carolina and Wingate. He is one of only two men's coaches to take three schools to the round of 16 at the NCAAs.

   Vegosen, the chairman of the board and president of the USTA, chaired the college varsity committee and served as the liaison to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
   NorCal Hall of Fame -- The Northern California Tennis Hall of Fame will add four members, including ex-Stanford All-American Nick Saviano, on July 12 during the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
   Joining Saviano will be volunteer Andrea Norman; Steve Cornell, an accomplished junior, collegiate and senior player and tennis advocate; and Martha Downing, a gifted senior player, teaching pro and volunteer.  
   Saviano has coached more than 50 ATP and WTA players. He helped Stanford win NCAA titles in both of his years there (1974 and 1975) before he turned pro. Saviano peaked at No. 48 in the world in 1978 and reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon in 1980 and 1982.
   Norman directed the USTA Girls 18 National Championships in Berkeley, started a tennis-based non-profit organization and participated on national and regional committees aimed at making tennis accessible to everyone.
   Cornell played on UCLA's national championship teams in 1970 and 1971. His teammates included Jimmy Connors, Jeff Borowiak of Berkeley and Jeff Austin.Cornell, a founding member of the Berkeley Tennis Club Foundation, is a USTA committee member and an avid volunteer.
   Downing, a retired teaching pro and tennis director at Sacramento-area clubs for more than 35 years, holds 27 national senior titles and represents the United States in international competitions. A member of the inaugural class of the Sacramento Tennis Hall of Fame in 2009, she has been named the NorCal Senior Player of the Year four times.
   Men's Challenger in Sarasota, Fla. -- Sixth-seeded Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native living in Las Vegas, outlasted qualifier Brian Baker of Nashville, Tenn., 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 on clay in the second round of the $100,000 Sarasota Open.
   Querrey will face Michael Yani of Durham, N.C., in the quarterfinals. Yani, who won the 2008 Yuba City Challenger as a qualifier and the 2006 Woodland Futures, upset second-seeded Go Soeda of Japan 6-3, 6-4.
   Soeda, the 2009 Tiburon Challenger champion, needed 2 hours, 41 minutes to subdue Jesse Levine 7-6 (4), 2-6, 7-6 (5) Tuesday in the first round.  
   Men's Futures in Little Rock, Ark. -- Pedro Zerbini, a former Cal standout from Brazil, lost to eighth-seeded John Peers of Australia 6-3, 6-3 in the first round of the $15,000 St. Vincent Tour De Paul Tournament. Zerbini, who completed his eligibility last year, was the runner-up as a qualifier last week in Oklahoma City.  
   Women's Challenger in Dothan Ala. -- Coco Vandeweghe of the Sacramento Capitals in World TeamTennis and Maria Sanchez of Modesto dropped opening-round singles matches in the $50,000 Dothan Pro Classic.
   Vandeweghe, a resident of Rancho Santa Fe in the San Diego area and niece of former NBA star Kiki Vandeweghe, lost to qualifier Sharon Fichman of Canada 6-2, 7-5. Sanchez, a qualifier, lost to second-seeded Edina Gallovits-Hall of Romania 6-0, 6-3.
   College report -- Stanford's Bradley Klahn and Ryan Thacher, last year's runners-up in the NCAA championships on the Farm, played the final home matches of their collegiate careers as the No. 12 Cardinal (15-7, 4-2 Pacific-12 Conference) coasted to a 7-0 win over Pacific (8-12).
   Klahn routed Ivan Castro 6-2, 6-1 at No. 1 singles, and Thacher outplayed Ben Mirkin 6-4, 6-3 at No. 2. Klahn and Thacher played doubles separately.
   The No. 10 Cal women (17-5, 8-1 Pac-12) rolled to a 7-0 victory over No. 53 Fresno State (11-8, 3-0 Western Athletic Conference) on senior day Tuesday in Berkeley. Bears seniors Jana Juricova, Catalina Visico and Stephany Chang played the last regular-season home match of their collegiate careers.
   Juricova, the reigning NCAA singles champion who's ranked sixth, outslugged No. 38 Marianne Jodoin 6-1, 7-5 at the top position. At No. 1 doubles, 15th-ranked Juricova and Zsofi Susanyi downed Jodoin and Laura Pola 8-4. Visico and Chang did not play.
   The UC Davis men (5-14) won 6-1 against Hawaii-Hilo (3-14) in the Aggies' home finale. Junior Toki Sherbakov led the way for the Aggies, beating Carlos Quijano 6-1, 6-3.