Garcia, Livingston take Sacramento Clay Court title

(Left to right) substitutes Justin Garcia and Whit Livingston sit on the California
Dream bench with coach David Macpherson and players Tennys Sandgren and
Neal Skupski during a World TeamTennis match in the Sacramento suburb of
Citrus Heights in July. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Justin Garcia and Whit Livingston defeated Eric Roberson and Yasmin Schnack 6-4, 6-2 after a five-hour rain delay on Sunday to win the Open Division of the ninth annual Sacramento Clay Court League.
   Garcia and the 32-year-old Livingston -- who played at UC Davis and USC, respectively -- split $1,000. They played on opposing teams in last year's final as Garcia and Jeff Shin beat Scott Colby and Livingston 6-4, 6-4.
   Roberson and Schnack, who lost together in the first round of mixed doubles in the 2013 U.S. Open, shared $500. Schnack, 27, helped UCLA win the NCAA title as a sophomore in 2008 and was named the Pacific-12 Conference Player of the Year in 2010. Roberson, 29, played at Boise State.
   Earlier Sunday, Bryan Paveglio and Chris Potthast beat Chris Evers and Dave Hagiwara 6-4, 6-4 for the 40-and-over title. Paveglio and Potthast divided $500, and Evers and Hagiwara split $250.
   Laura McGaffigan and Bella Norton won the 9.0 division to collect $100 each.
   The matches were played at the Orangevale home of Ben Combs, a former owner of the now-defunct Sacramento Capitals in World TeamTennis. He owns one of the few clay courts in the Sacramento area.

Schnack, Roberson to play for Clay Court doubles title

Eric Roberson and Yasmin Schnack pose after win-
ning the mixed doubles title in the 2013 Sacramento
Clay Court League. Earlier that year, they teamed
in the U.S. Open. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Yasmin Schnack and Eric Roberson, who played mixed doubles together in the 2013 U.S. Open, will meet Whit Livingston and Justin Garcia today in the Open Division final in the Sacramento Clay Court League.
   The match is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Ben Combs' house (8582 Westin Lane) in Orangevale. The champions will split $1,000 and the runners-up $500.
   Schnack and Roberson won a national playoff in 2013 to earn an automatic wild card in the U.S. Open. They fell in the first round to Slovakians Janette Husarova and Filip Polasek 6-4, 7-6 (3).
   Later that year, Schnack and Roberson took the mixed doubles title in the Sacramento Clay Court League.
   Play begins at 9 a.m. today with the 9.0 final. Kurt Chan and Anton Talle will face Laura McGaffigan and Bella Norton for the total first prize of $200. The second-place team will share $100.
   In the 40-and-over final at 11 a.m., Bryan Paveglio and Chris Potthast will take on Chris Evers and Dave Hagiwara. The champs will divide $500 and the runners-up $250.
   Admission and lunch, provided by Dickie's BBQ, are free. Proceeds from the tip jar will benefit the Sacramento Junior Tennis Fund.

Bellis, 16, falls in last round of U.S. Open qualifying

CiCi Bellis, serving in last month's Sacramento Challenger, lost
to 11th-seeded Jelena Ostapenko, last year's Wimbledon girls
champion, 6-3, 6-2 on Friday. Photo by Paul Bauman

   CiCi Bellis, who pulled off a monumental upset in the 2014 U.S. Open, will not play in the main draw at Flushing Meadows this year.
   Bellis, 16, of Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area lost to 11th-seeded Jelena Ostapenko, 18, of Latvia 6-3, 6-2 on Friday in the final round of qualifying. Ostapenko won the Wimbledon girls singles title last year.
   In the 2014 U.S. Open, Bellis became the youngest player to win a main-draw singles match since Anna Kournikova, also 15, in 1996.
   And Bellis didn't beat just anybody. She beat a seed. And not just any seed. She stunned 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova, last year's Australian Open runner-up to Li Na.
   Meanwhile, two former Sacramento Challenger finalists, Mayo Hibi and wild card Jessica Pegula, advanced to the main draw of the U.S. Open.
   Mayo Hibi, the 2013 Sacramento champion at 17, defeated former top-25 player Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-4, 6-4.               
   Hibi plays for her native Japan but has lived in California since she was 2 1/2. She will face 16th-seeded Sara Errani of Italy on Monday or Tuesday in the first round. Errani reached the final of the 2012 French Open, losing to Maria Sharapova.
   Pegula, the runner-up to Maria Sanchez in the inaugural Sacramento Challenger in 2012, beat 2009 U.S. Open quarterfinalist Melanie Oudin 7-6 (8), 6-0 in a matchup of Americans. Pegula's billionaire father, Terry, owns the NFL's Buffalo Bills and the NHL's Buffalo Sabres.
    Both Hibi and Pegula will play singles in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time. In doubles at the U.S. Open, Pegula reached the third round in 2011 at 17 with Taylor Townsend, then 15, and the second round in 2012 with Madison Keys, then 17.
   Two other U.S. women, 16th-seeded Anna Tatishvili and Shelby Rogers, and one American man, 18-year-old Tommy Paul, survived qualifying. In June, Paul joined John McEnroe (1977) and Bjorn Fratangelo (2011) as the only U.S. boys to win the French Open junior title in the Open era (since 1968).
   U.S. Open National Playoffs in New Haven, Conn. -- Top-seeded Julio Peralta of Chile and Matt Seeberger, a San Francisco native living in Vancouver, British Columbia, won the title to earn a wild card in the main draw of men's doubles at the U.S. Open.
   Peralta, 33, and Seeberger, 31, will make their Grand Slam debuts after defeating Australians Ashley Fisher and Nathan Healey 6-4, 6-3.
   Seeberger joined the pro circuit as a doubles specialist only last year. He won a record eight NCAA titles (three singles, three doubles and two team) at Division III UC Santa Cruz from 2004 to 2007.
   In Friday's women's final, Sacramento-area residents Yasmin Schnack and Katsiaryna Zheltova lost to University of Alabama stars Maya Jansen and Erin Routliffe 6-4, 7-5.
   Jansen and Routliffe, the two-time reigning NCAA Division I doubles champions, will receive a wild card in the main draw of women's doubles at Flushing Meadows. 

Bellis upsets seed in U.S. Open qualies; Novikov falls

CiCi Bellis, shown during this month's Bank of the West Classic
at Stanford, reached the final round of qualifying for the U.S. Open.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   San Francisco Bay Area residents CiCi Bellis and Dennis Novikov faced seeds today in the second round of qualifying for the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   Only the 16-year-old Bellis survived.
   Bellis, who lives in Atherton, upset 22nd-seeded Romina Oprandi of Switzerland 7-5, 7-5.
   Novikov, 21, of Milpitas, lost to 26th-seeded Matthew Ebden of Australia 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-2.
   "Unfortunately couldn't pull it out today," Novikov tweeted. "Live and you learn."
   Bellis will play 11th-seeded Jelena Ostapenko, 18, of Latvia on Friday for a berth in the main draw, which begins Monday. Ostapenko, who won the 2014 Wimbledon girls singles title, outlasted Julia Glushko of Israel 2-6, 6-0, 6-4.
   Bellis received a wild card in last year's U.S. Open and shocked 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova, the 2014 Australian Open runner-up, in the first round. Bellis became the youngest player to win a match at Flushing Meadows since Anna Kournikova, also 15, in 1996.
   U.S. Open National Playoffs in New Haven, Conn. -- Sacramento-area residents Yasmin Schnack and Katsiaryna Zheltova demolished Americans Josephine Cao and Dilara Spicer 6-1, 6-0 to reach the doubles final.
   Schnack and Zheltova will meet University of Alabama stars Maya Jansen and Erin Routliffe on Friday for a wild card in the main draw of women's doubles in the U.S. Open.
   Jansen and Routliffe, who have won the last two NCAA doubles titles, outclassed Americans Alexandra Anghelescu and Caroline Price 6-2, 6-2. 
   Schnack retired from the pro tour in 2012 at age 24 after winning 11 doubles titles on the ITF women's circuit and reaching a career-high No. 140 in women's doubles.
   Zheltova, a Belarus native, earned All-America honors at Sacramento State in 2008 by reaching the Sweet 16 in singles at the NCAA Championships. Also that year, Schnack helped UCLA win the team title.
   In the men's doubles semifinals of the U.S. Open National Playoffs, top-seeded Julio Peralta of Chile and Matt Seeberger of Vancouver, British Columbia, edged Americans Vahid Mirzadeh and Jesse Witten 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4).
   Peralta and Seeberger will face Ashley Fisher and Nathan Healey in Friday's final.
The Australian pair defeated Daniel Cochrane of Great Britain and Phillip Simmonds of the United States 6-4, 6-3.
   Seeberger was born in San Francisco and won a record eight NCAA titles (three singles, three doubles and two team) at Division III UC Santa Cruz.
   The champions will earn a wild card in the main draw of men's doubles in the U.S. Open.

Schnack on Slams, hellish tourney, 'stinky feet'

About two months after playing mixed doubles together in
the U.S. Open, Eric Roberson and Yasmin Schnack won the
mixed title in the Sacramento Clay Court League.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Playing in front of family and friends at the U.S. Open.
   Competing at Wimbledon with her best friend.
   A tournament that should have been heavenly but instead was hellish.
   And, of course, the "stinky feet" episode.
   Those were some of the highs and lows of Yasmin Schnack's two-plus years as a professional tennis player.
   Burdened by loneliness, financial struggles and family issues, the Sacramento-area resident retired last year at 24. The 5-foot-10 (1.77-meter) Schnack considered a comeback after playing mixed doubles in the U.S. Open as a wild card last August but decided to start nursing school in Phoenix next month.
   "I got really hyped up after the U.S. Open and really inspired to play again," said Schnack, whose father is a retired family doctor. "But I didn't fare well in Redding (in September), and my ranking has dropped so much. I'm not afraid of working hard, but I knew it would take a year or two to get my ranking back up.
   "I applied to different schools and found I could get in and start really soon. I weighed the pros and cons, my family supported me, and I decided to go to nursing school. I'm happy with my decision. It's something I've thought about off and on since college.
   "I'm glad I'm taking the step. I delayed because I was afraid to lose tennis, which has been such a huge part of my life. Once I was able to get over that fear, I was able to let go. This is a really good decision. It's a new direction, a new path."
   Schnack played on UCLA's national championship team as a sophomore in 2008 and was named the Pacific-10 Conference Women's Player of the Year as a senior in 2010. As a pro, she won 11 doubles and two singles titles and reached career highs of No. 140 and No. 371, respectively.
   Schnack might be too nice for the cutthroat world of pro tennis. She recently reflected on her career, providing a behind-the-scenes look at life on the tour and a glimpse of her warm personality.
   Most memorable match -- "Playing Madison Brengle in my first World TeamTennis season (2011), for the Sacramento Capitals. One of the big reasons -- or only reason -- I was drafted was Vania King (Schnack's best friend and the 2009 WTT Female MVP for the Springfield Lasers before being traded to Sacramento) pushed for me to be on the team. She said, 'I won't play if my friend Yasmin doesn't.' I owe her a lot for being drafted that first year.
   "I played some of my best tennis that night (against Brengle) and beat her 5-0 in front of a really big crowd (in Kansas City), all basically rooting against me, but I had my supportive teammates there. It was a great victory for me. I was able to earn respect not only from my teammates and coach but everyone in World TeamTennis."
   Biggest thrill -- "Playing U.S. Open mixed doubles this past August with Eric Roberson (of Sacramento). We've played mixed doubles together for a long, long time. When we won the wild card into mixed (by emerging from a national playoff), we were so happy. We actually came pretty close [in a 6-4, 7-6 (3) loss to Slovakians Janette Husarova and Filip Polasek in the first round].
   "What was nice was our families and friends were there. To experience that with them was definitely my biggest thrill."
   Biggest disappointment -- "I played a $50,000 tournament in Carson, California, in 2011 with (Sacramento native and doubles specialist) Christina Fusano. We played a lot of matches together. We won some tough matches to get to the final, and we ended up losing 6-2, 6-3 (to Americans Alexandra Mueller and Asia Muhammad). Neither of us played that well.
   "After the match, she gave a speech, and her whole family was there. I didn't know it beforehand, but she said she was retiring. I came off so disappointed in how I performed. I wanted her career to end with a victory. I definitely could have done a lot more, tried harder, just done something different."
   Toughest singles opponent -- "I played Jarmila Gajdosova [a 5-foot-7 (1.71-meter) Slovakia-born Australian] my first year I turned pro (in 2010). I think it was my fourth tournament. I played a 100K in Taipei, and I went through the qualifying, played really well, and bam, I got the first seed in the first round of the main draw.
   "I was nervous and really excited to play someone in the top 30. I lost 6-2, 6-3. It was indoors, so she had an advantage with serves and the fast pace of the court. She overpowered me, and not many people can do that. I'm pretty strong. I can handle difficult, hard shots."
   Toughest doubles opponent -- "Asia Muhammad and I played (Modesto native) Maria Sanchez and Irina Falconi in a $75,000 tournament in Albuquerque (last year). We had just lost in the final of World TeamTennis in Charleston (S.C.).
   "It's tough (in Albuquerque) with the altitude. Sometimes you have no idea what shot is going to come off your strings, and we had this epic doubles match against them. They were ranked 130 spots ahead of us, and we won 12-10 in the (match) tiebreaker. We were really lucky to sneak away with the 'W.' "
   Favorite tournament -- "Playing Wimbledon (last year) with (2010 women's doubles champion) Vania King, my best friend. When she asked me to play, I was beyond happy. Wimbledon has a lot of history, and there's something about playing on the grass courts. That's where it all started."
   (King and Schnack lost to eighth-seeded Czechs Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-4, 6-1 in the first round.)
   Least favorite tournament -- "I played a 100K in the Bahamas (last year). I went there thinking, Oh, it's the Bahamas. There's (the) beach. It's going to be fun. Unfortunately, it ended up being really unorganized, and ... no one got paid."
  (Schnack lost in the second round of singles qualifying to eighth-seeded Valeria Solovyeva of Russia 6-1, 6-3 and in the first round of doubles with Sanchez to fourth-seeded Jill Craybas of Huntington Beach, Calif., and Anastasia Rodionova of Australia 3-6, 6-3, 10-8 match tiebreaker. Schnack would have earned $570.)
   Best friend -- "Vania. We've known each other since she was 11 and I was 12. We were on a USTA trip to Costa Rica and Panama for ITF tournaments. It was my first time playing international tournaments, and I was really excited.
   "We roomed together that first week, and we were instant friends. We get along really well. She's my pseudo-sister, and her family is my second family."
   Funniest moment -- "Elizabeth Lumpkin, a former UCLA teammate of mine, and I roomed together at a $50,000 tournament in Raleigh (N.C.). We get back from practice, and we're sitting on the bed trying to figure out who's going to take a shower first. So she takes off her shoes and socks and goes, 'Oh, man, my feet are really stinky.' I'm like, 'Well, I can't smell anything, so it's not that bad.' She proceeds to tell me, 'Oh, no, they smell like rotten eggs,' and Jason, her husband, says the same thing, like, 'Keep your shoes on or take them outside, because if they're in the house, the whole house will be really smelly.'
   "It was hilarious. She's telling me this and looking at me, seeing the look on my face, and we just burst out laughing."
   Best thing about being a pro tennis player -- "Traveling. Staying with really awesome housing parents, as we call them. I traveled mainly in the U.S., but every place I went to, there are really no negatives. There's always something cool to see about this city, and the tennis community is really close. Everyone was just wonderful."
   Favorite destination -- "My first tournament as a professional, I went to Mazatlan (Mexico). It was just a small $10,000 tournament. I traveled with Ivana King, Vania's sister. We're also really close. We won doubles, and I lost in the final of singles. It was a fun trip because we went parasailing, we went to the beach ... We were able to do all these really fun off-court things, shopping ... It was a fun tournament."
   Worst thing about being a pro tennis player -- "Traveling alone for weeks and months on end. That's really hard. Coming out of UCLA, I had all these girls, my teammates. We used each other for support, so it was a transition to go from a team environment to traveling alone. No coach, no family. You'd meet up with the girls (on the tour), but it's a competitive environment. They're not there to pat you on the back or feed you balls. That was really tough for me."

Hacker heaven: Playing recently retired touring pro

Former touring professional Yasmin Schnack
follows through on a backhand during a recent
match against one of her pupils, Paul Bauman.
Photo by Dave Goldschmidt

   SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- For one fleeting moment, I felt as if I had just won Wimbledon.
   Or at least the Gerry Weber Open, a Wimbledon tuneup tournament in Halle, Germany. (By the way, who the hell is Gerry Weber? As a former newspaper colleague of mine used to say about any so-called bigwig, "Where did he ever tend bar?")
   I was playing Yasmin Schnack, my tennis teacher for the last six months and a recently retired professional player, on a chilly morning last week at the Rio del Oro Racquet Club.
   Late in the second set, I ripped a topspin cross-court passing shot with my one-handed backhand. My timing was perfect, for a change, and I hit a rocket a few inches over the net that left Schnack flat-footed. She had no chance.
   A wave of euphoria swept over me -- for a few seconds, anyway. It was the best I've ever felt on a tennis court, and at 58, I've been playing a long time.
   The rest of the match did not, um, go as well. I lost 6-0, 6-0. Not that that was any surprise.
   I'm a 4.0 player who didn't even play on my high school team. I got interested in tennis at the advanced age of 15, about the time of the Civil War, and I've played recreationally ever since.
   Schnack, meanwhile, played mixed doubles in the U.S. Open less than four months ago and women's doubles at Wimbledon last year. She lost in the first round each time and reached career highs of No. 140 in the world in doubles and No. 371 in singles before retiring last year at 24. (Schnack won a national playoff with Eric Roberson, a fellow pro at Rio del Oro, to earn a wild card into U.S. Open mixed doubles.)
   Schnack, 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters) and lean, won 11 doubles and two singles titles on the ITF circuit, the minor leagues in women's tennis.
   The daughter of a retired family doctor, Schnack will begin nursing school in Phoenix next month after having considered a return to pro tennis. Had she stayed on the tour, she almost certainly would have cracked the top 100 in the world in doubles.
   "I've always thought she had amazing potential from when we were little," 5-foot-5 (1.65-meter) Vania King -- Schnack's best friend, her partner at Wimbledon and a two-time Grand Slam champion in women's doubles -- said in March. "She never had proper coaching or support. She's more talented than I am."
   At UCLA, Schnack helped the Bruins win the 2008 NCAA title as a sophomore and was named the 2010 Pacific-10 Conference Women's Player of the Year.
   "She has great athletic ability," Stella Sampras Webster, Pete's older sister and the UCLA women's coach, told The Sacramento Bee in 2010. "She's a shotmaker. She has a lot of weapons and can dominate a lot of players with big groundstrokes. She's powerful but also very graceful. She moves very well. ... Her (two-handed) backhand is one of the prettiest you'll ever see." 

As Schnack has been telling me during my lessons, I need
to snap my wrist more on my serve. Maybe that's why it
lacked pop during our match. Photo by Dave Goldschmidt

   Schnack, who was born four months before my son at the same hospital in Reno, is by far the best player I've ever faced in a match. She is not, however, the best player with whom I've ever hit. I rallied with Bjorn Borg for five minutes almost exactly 24 years ago -- on Dec. 5, 1989 -- in Tokyo. I was working at an English-language newspaper there at the time, and he made a promotional appearance for his fashion company.
   Here's what I wrote in my journal about the session with Borg: "I was a little nervous. He told me I was taking my racket back late. I hit some good shots, and I don't think he missed one." 
   Schnack, in turn, used to hit with Pete Sampras at UCLA. She commented to The Bee in 2010: "At first, it was nerve-wracking and scary. I must have said "Sorry" about a hundred times. His shots have so much pace and weight -- every ball is deep -- that it's hard to control."
   I felt similarly against Schnack.
   The question wasn't whether I'd win any games. It was whether I'd win any points. There was a distinct possibility of Schnack pulling off at least one golden set -- winning all 24 points.
   That has happened only twice at the top level of men's or women's tennis. American Bill Scanlon destroyed Marcos Hocevar of Brazil 6-2, 6-0 in the first round at Delray Beach, Fla., in 1983, and 5-foot-11 (1.80-meter) Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan drubbed 5-foot-4 1/2 (1.64-meter) Sara Errani of Italy 6-0, 6-4 in the third round at Wimbledon last year.
   Shvedova and King won the women's doubles title at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2010.
   And Errani is no slouch. Ranked No. 10 in the world at the time, she's now No. 7 in singles and No. 1 in doubles with countrywoman Roberta Vinci.
   So at least I was in good company if I suffered the same fate. That's how it was looking for a while.
   Schnack reeled off the first 19 points. Finally, at 4-0, 40-0, I hit a decent first serve to Schnack's backhand that she returned wide.
   Schnack also double-faulted at 5-0, 30-0 for my only other point of the first set, which lasted all of 15 minutes, 37 seconds.
   In the second set, I managed to win five points -- a veritable bonanza as Schnack probably let down.
   Overall in the match, I reached 30 in a game only once and led in a game only once, 15-0 late in the second set.
   Basically, it was 33 minutes of target practice for Schnack, who's an inch taller than I am. She pounced on my weak first serve and took immediate control of almost every point with her impeccable groundstrokes. I spent most of the time watching passing shots whiz by, scrambling to get a racket on shots to the corners or hitting feeble replies that Schnack put away at the net.
   Most of all, Schnack is an incredible volleyer with textbook form. Twice when she was at the net, I blasted forehands at her shoetops only to watch her counter with effortless, amazing drop volleys for winners.
   Given Schnack's height and athleticism, I didn't want to lob her. But sometimes I had no choice, and I paid the price.
   With nothing to lose, I did want to play aggressively. But that's not my nature, and Schnack gave me little chance. The match was over before I knew it.
   I was fortunate to win seven points. Schnack struggled on her serve, the weakest part of her game. Her first-serve percentage was low, especially in the opening set, and although she placed her second serve well to my backhand, I usually was able to return it.
   That's more than I can say about facing Schnack's other strokes, but I've never had so much fun getting my butt kicked. It was an honor to be on the court with such a skilled player.
   And I'll always have that topspin backhand passing shot.
   Coming soon -- Schnack reflects on the highs and lows of her pro career.        

Roberson stars in Sacramento Clay Court finals

Eric Roberson, left, and Darrin Cohen won the
open division in the Sacramento Clay Court
League. Photos by Paul Bauman

   ORANGEVALE, Calif. -- Eric Roberson won two titles Sunday in the Sacramento Clay Court League.

   Top-seeded Roberson and Darrin Cohen held off third-seeded Jeff Shin and Justin Garcia 7-6 (5), 7-6 (0) in the open division of the doubles-only tournament at Ben and Mary Combs’ house.

   Roberson, a 27-year-old former Boise State player from Sacramento, and Cohen, a 30-year-old ex-Virginia star from Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area, split $800.

   Earlier, top-seeded Roberson and Yasmin Schnack, mixed doubles partners in this year’s U.S. Open, overwhelmed second-seeded Isabella Kling-Norton and Chris Gerety 6-0, 6-3 to share the $400 first prize.

   In the only other division, fourth-seeded Bryan Paveglio and Steve Scurfield outplayed second-seeded Dave Hagiwara and Chris Evers 6-3, 6-1 to divide $1,000 for the 40-and-over crown.

   Roberson and Schnack, a 25-year-old resident of Elk Grove in the Sacramento area, won a national playoff over the summer to earn an automatic wild card in the U.S. Open. They fell to Slovakians Janette Husarova and Filip Polasek 6-4, 7-6 (3) in the first round in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

   Husarova, 39, has been ranked as high as third in the world in women’s doubles and Polasek, 28, as high as No. 20 in men’s doubles.
   Schnack, the 2010 Pacific-10 Conference Women's Player of the Year at UCLA, plans to start nursing school in January after all rather than return to the professional tour.
   The Sacramento tournament featured all the trappings of a major event but in a relaxed atmosphere in the beautiful back yard of the Combs' 3,800-square-foot California Spanish-style house.
   The top recreational players in the area displayed outstanding shotmaking, including "tweeners" and sharply angled backspin volleys, and quick reflexes. All received T-shirts and gift bags.
   A USTA chair umpire and ballboys and ballgirls from the tennis teams at nearby Sierra College worked the finals. Sponsors' banners lined one side of the court, and VIP seating was provided on the other.
   About 85 fans  – including former Sacramento Capitals owners Ben Combs, Ramey Osborne and Lonnie Nielson – attended the finals free of charge and enjoyed a complimentary barbecue lunch cooked by Kenny Vowell.
   Some spectators lobbed good-natured barbs at the players during play. When Roberson served for the match in the open final, one fan yelled, "C'mon, Robo, we want to see three sets. Double-fault or something."
   Ben Combs, equipped with a microphone, presented the prize money after each final. 

   And, of course, all the details of the league can be found at www.sacramentoclaycourtleague.com. 

   It's a first-class operation all the way.

Roberson and Yasmin Schnack, mixed doubles
partners in this year's U.S. Open, coasted in the
Sacramento final.

Steve Scurfield, left, and Bryan Paveglio
split $1,000 for winning the 40-and-over
division.

Former owners of the Sacramento Capitals in World TeamTennis
(left to right)  Ben Combs, Ramey Osborne and Lonnie Nielson
attended the finals. Combs hosted the league at the clay
court in his back yard.

Schnack ends retirement on trial basis

Yasmin Schnack, 25, of Elk Grove returned to the
pro circuit last week on a six-month trial basis. She
retired at the end of last year. Photo by Paul Bauman 

   SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- It began with a spark last month at the $12,500 Macys.com Women's Tennis Open in San Rafael, Calif.
   A flame rose the next week at the U.S. Open National Playoffs in New Haven, Conn.
   And a raging fire erupted the following week at the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows.
   At that point, Yasmin Schnack was overcome by a desire to return to professional tennis.
   The 25-year-old resident of Elk Grove in the Sacramento area ended her nine-month retirement last week at the $25,000 The Ascension Project Women's Challenger in Redding, Calif. The former UCLA All-American, who reached career highs of No. 140 in the world in doubles and No. 371 in singles last year, plans to put off nursing school and play on a six-month trial basis.
   Schnack, 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters), competed only in doubles in Redding. She and Ksenia Pervak of Russia received a walkover in the first round, then lost in the quarterfinals to fourth-seeded Americans Macall Harkins and Sanaz Marand.
   Schnack won the Redding doubles title with Sacramento native Christina Fusano in 2010 and Modesto native Maria Sanchez in 2011. Marand captured it last year with Jacqueline Cako.
   At the Macys.com tournament in Brad Gilbert's hometown, Schnack won the singles and doubles titles.
   Seeded second in singles, Schnack beat seventh-seeded Katsyarina Zheltova 6-3, 6-4 in the final. Zheltova, a former All-American at Sacramento State from Belarus, had ousted Jana Juricova, the top seed and 2011 NCAA champion from Cal, 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals. Schnack and Zheltova, seeded first in doubles, demolished Lejla Hodzic and Juricova 6-1, 6-0 for the title.
   "I played well in the Macys Open in singles and doubles," Schnack said in a recent interview. "Katya is an incredible player. I felt every match I was playing well, hitting well and mentally fresh."
   In New Haven, Schnack and Eric Roberson of Sacramento won the mixed doubles title to earn an automatic berth in the main draw at the U.S. Open. The playoffs were held in conjunction with the New Haven Open on the WTA tour, the major leagues of women's tennis.
   "Being in that atmosphere, seeing (the WTA players') work ethic and training, they're so professional," marveled Schnack, who had played almost exclusively in tennis' minor leagues in her two-plus years as a professional. "To be around that atmosphere was transforming for me. It renewed my energy. I wanted to go out there and practice."
   At the U.S. Open, Schnack and Roberson lost in the first round to Slovakians Janette Husarova and Filip Polasek 6-4, 7-6 (3). Husarova, 39, reached No. 3 in the world in women's doubles in 2003. Polasek, 28, climbed to No. 20 in January 2012.
  "Playing in the Open was even more eye-opening," Schnack said. "I'm in the gym surrounded by (Rafael) Nadal and (Tommy) Robredo. They're lifting, stretching ... it's inspiring, infectious. You can't help but want to train. Eric had the same feeling: 'I want to be back here.'
   "I was bummed after our first-round loss, but Vania (King) said: 'Great playing. Your level is right here. Go for it if you want to.' It's going to take a lot of work -- my ranking has dropped so much -- but I'm not afraid of a challenge."
   King, who won the Wimbledon and U.S. Open women's doubles titles in 2010 with Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan, is Schnack's best friend. They lost in the first round of women's doubles at Wimbledon last year to eighth-seeded Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic in Schnack's only other appearance in a Grand Slam tournament as an adult.
   King said in March that Schnack "is more talented than I am. She has very clean strokes. She has a great body, great physical ability and an all-court game. She has all the tools. The game came naturally to her."
   Schnack was named after Yasmin Azir, played by Sophia Loren in the 1966 movie "Arabesque."
   As a sophomore at UCLA in 2008, Schnack helped the Bruins win their only NCAA women's team title. In 2010, she was named the Pacific-10 Conference Women's Player of the Year and graduated in sociology.
   Schnack has won 11 doubles and two singles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. She also played for Sacramento in World TeamTennis in 2011 and 2012, helping the Capitals advance to the WTT Finals in her second year.
   Citing loneliness, financial struggles and her father's declining health, Schnack left the pro circuit at the end of last year. William Schnack is a retired physician.
   Yasmin has been teaching at the Rio del Oro Racquet Club in Sacramento, applying to nursing schools and playing open tournaments in Northern California. She was accepted at Roseman University in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson, Nev. Meanwhile, her world rankings have plunged to No. 438 in doubles and No. 958 in singles.
   Schnack hopes to play singles and doubles in the $50,000 Party Rock Open in Las Vegas next week. After competing in mixed doubles with Roberson in the Sacramento Clay Court League in October, she plans to play one or two pro tournaments in November and full-time at the beginning of next year.
   "There's no pressure," Schnack said. "I can go out and have fun. I don't have to pay the bills. I can still go to school."

Veteran Harkins makes unusual career move

Macall Harkins moved from the Los Angeles
area to Redding to train under Jeremiah Walsh
and Jo Campbell. Photo by Paul Bauman

    REDDING, Calif. -- Every September for three years, Macall Harkins made the eight-hour drive up Interstate 5 from her home in the Los Angeles area to Redding for the women's Challenger.
   Even though both cities are in California, Harkins might as well have been traveling to a different planet.
   With a population of more than 13 million, sprawling Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan area in the United States behind New York. L.A. is known for freeways, smog, Hollywood, Disneyland, the Dodgers and the Lakers.
   Harkins, 27, grew up in the suburb of Palos Verdes and played at the Jack Kramer Club, the former home of Tracy Austin, Pete Sampras and Lindsay Davenport.
   Redding is (choose one):
   a. A city of 92,000 people.
   b. A furnace in the summer.
   c. An outdoor paradise.
   d. All of the above.
   If you chose "d," you win a brand new Mercedes-Benz, as Sacramento Capitals coach Wayne Bryan often jokes with players at his clinics.
   Harkins, though, doesn't have to make the trek anymore. She and her husband moved to Redding in March, Harkins said Thursday after losing to No. 2 seed Ksenia Pervak of Russia 6-2, 6-3 in the second round of the $25,000 The Ascension Project Women's Challenger at Sun Oaks Tennis & Fitness.
   Say what? Move from a tennis mecca to remote Redding?

Ksenia Pervak reached No. 37 in the world
in 2011. Photo by Paul Bauman

   At last year's Challenger, Harkins met Jeremiah Walsh and Jo Campbell, the director of tennis and tennis coordinator at Sun Oaks, respectively.
   "I believe they can take my game to the next level (so I can) play at the WTA level," Harkins explained. "We moved here so I can get more one-on-one time with (Walsh)."
   Walsh serves as Harkins' tennis coach and Campbell as her mental coach.
   Whereas Harkins was a classic small fish in a big pond in Palos Verdes, the opposite is true in Redding. And let's face it -- the cost of housing in Redding is a fraction of that in Los Angeles.
   Harkins was accorded rock-star status during her match against Pervak. A crowd of about 100 fans -- an excellent turnout for a second-round Challenger match at 10 a.m. on a weekday -- erupted with cheers for her winners and groaned after her misses.
   Despite the one-sided score, Harkins put up a good fight, engaging Pervak in many hard-hitting rallies. Unfortunately for Harkins, Pervak won most of them.
   "Her defense was incredible," Harkins said. "She got to a lot of balls that I thought were going to be unreturnable or I would get a weak ball, but she managed to get a lot of balls back. So it made me hit more and more. That was really good on her part."
   Pervak, a 5-foot-7 (1.70-meter) left-hander, climbed to a career-high No. 37 in the world in 2011 after advancing to the fourth round at Wimbledon and winning a WTA tournament in Tashkent. Hampered by injuries this year, the 22-year-old Pervak has fallen to No. 142.
   Harkins, who played at the University of Illinois and Texas Christian University, is ranked No. 249 in doubles with nine career minor-league titles and No. 761 in singles with three career minor-league crowns. She needs to crack the top 100 to play regularly on the WTA tour, the major leagues of women's tennis.
   Like Pervak, Harkins is left-handed. Plus, she's 6 feet (1.84 meters) tall. That gives her two enormous advantages, and Walsh calls her "a tremendous ball-striker."
   So what's the problem? Basically, impatience and shot selection.
   "It's at a place of decision-making," Walsh said. "We're at a place where (she's) learning how to make choices in milliseconds and process and let go of feelings and stick to plans and return to plans.
   "You watched her match? She's not far off. That gal was 37 in the world, and you can see why. The opportunities did present themselves. It's just a matter of learning how to get deeper into a match (when) things might open up for you. Some players have a hard time with that. We're getting to the place where Macall is going to recognize opportunities even if it takes a set and half to get to them."
   Harkins, added Walsh, "has spent a career hitting hard and flat. You get to a certain level, and that doesn't get you through anymore. She's learning to recognize when to change the flight patterns and how to adjust to a difficult ball.
   "Sometimes her old instinct is, 'Oh, no, I'm in trouble; I better hit this hard,' instead of, 'I'm in trouble; I better work my way out of this spot.' It's not such a panic decision. That's what I mean by decision-making in that millisecond."
   Why doesn't hitting hard and flat work?
   "Cuz there's a net, and it's three feet high," Walsh quipped. " ... You don't just get to hit hard and flat cuz you want. If the ball is low, if the ball is difficult, you may not be able to create the right trajectory with pace."
   Harkins got a measure of revenge against Pervak later Thursday. The fourth-seeded team of Harkins and American Sanaz Marand, another left-hander, defeated Pervak and Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove in the Sacramento area 6-4, 6-4 in the doubles quarterfinals.
   Harkins reached last year's doubles final with Chieh-Yu Hsu. They fell to Jacqueline Cako and Marand 7-6 (5), 7-5 in an All-American battle.
   The 25-year-old Schnack launched a comeback in Redding, where she won the doubles title in 2010 and 2011, after leaving the tour last fall. She is deferring her acceptance to nursing school for at least six months. The 2010 UCLA graduate reached career highs of No. 140 in doubles and No. 371 in singles last year.
   Unseeded Robin Anderson, who advanced to the NCAA doubles final as a UCLA sophomore in May, beat fourth-seeded Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 to reach the singles quarterfinals at Sun Oaks.
   Christina Makarova, a 17-year-old qualifier from San Diego, outlasted Cako 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 to gain her first Challenger quarterfinal.
   Top-seeded Olivia Rogowska of Australia and unseeded Julia Boserup, the 2011 Redding champion, each won 6-2, 6-0. In two matches, Boserup has lost only four games and Rogowska six.
   Boserup, who turned 22 on Monday, missed the first six months of the year with a bulging disc.
   Here are links to the singles and doubles draws and today's schedule:
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/singles_draw283.PDF
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/doubles_draw284.PDF
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/schedule284.PDF

Sacramento-area team falls in U.S. Open mixed doubles

Sacramento-area wild cards Eric Roberson and Yasmin Schnack lost
to Slovakians Janette Husarova and Filip Polasek. Photo courtesy of USTA.

   Yasmin Schnack and Eric Roberson went down fighting.
   The wild cards from the Sacramento area lost to the far more accomplished Slovakian team of Janette Husarova and Filip Polasek 6-4, 7-6 (3) Friday in the first round of mixed doubles at the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   Schnack, a 25-year-old Elk Grove resident, and Roberson, 27, of Sacramento earned a spot in the draw by winning the U.S. Open National Playoffs in New Haven, Conn., last week.

   Schnack appeared in a Grand Slam adult tournament for the second time and Roberson for the first. Schnack and her best friend, Vania King, lost in the first round of women's doubles at Wimbledon last year to eighth-seeded Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic.
   King won the Wimbledon and U.S. Open women's doubles titles in 2010 with Yaroslava Shvedova.
   Schnack helped UCLA win the NCAA team title in 2008, graduated in sociology in 2010 and reached a career-high No. 140 in the world in women's doubles in June 2012. However, she retired last September and plans to begin nursing school in the fall. Her father, William, is a retired physician.
   Roberson earned all-conference honors at Boise State (2004-08).
   Husarova, 39, reached the women's doubles final of the 2002 U.S. Open with Elena Dementieva of Russia and climbed to a career-high No. 3 in that category in 2003.
   Polasek, 28, has been ranked as high as No. 20 in men's doubles (January 2012). He advanced to the men's doubles quarterfinals of last year's U.S. Open with Julian Knowle of Austria.
   Meanwhile, top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan coasted past Eric Butorac and Frederik Nielsen 6-3, 6-2 Friday in the second round of men's doubles at the U.S. Open.
   The 35-year-old Bryan twins, who starred at Stanford, are trying to become the second team in history to win a calendar-year Grand Slam. Australians Ken McGregor and Frank Sedgman accomplished the feat 62 years ago.
   Three of the four players in Friday's match have won Wimbledon men's doubles titles. The Bryans triumphed in 2006, 2011 and this year. Nielsen, a 30-year-old Dane, and Jonathan Marray of Great Britain last year became the first wild cards to take the crown. Nielsen's grandfather Kurt was the Wimbledon singles runner-up in 1953 and 1955.
   Butorac, a 32-year-old left-hander from Rochester, Minn., won the men's doubles title in the 2007 SAP Open in San Jose with Jamie Murray, Andy's older brother, and played for the Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis in 2008.     

Sacramento-area pair to play U.S. Open mixed doubles

The Sacramento-area team of Yasmin Schnack,
above, and Eric Roberson earned a berth in the
main draw of mixed doubles at the U.S. Open.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Yasmin Schnack and Eric Roberson succeeded this time.
   The Sacramento-area pair defeated Stephanie Wetmore and Matthew Brooklyn, both of Washington, D.C., 6-1, 6-4 Saturday to win the mixed doubles title in the U.S. Open National Playoffs at New Haven, Conn.
   Schnack, from Elk Grove in the Sacramento area, and Roberson of Sacramento earned an automatic berth in the U.S. Open mixed doubles main draw, which begins Wednesday in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   They reached the mixed doubles final in the inaugural national playoffs in 2011, falling in a super tiebreaker to Christina Fusano and David Martin.
   Fusano, a Sacramento native, won the 2003 NCAA women's doubles title with Cal teammate Raquel Kops-Jones, now ranked 13th in the world in that event.
   Martin reached the 2002 NCAA men's doubles final with Stanford teammate Scott Lipsky, now ranked 26th in that category.
   The 25-year-old Schnack will appear in the main draw of a Grand Slam adult tournament for the second time and Roberson, 27, for the first.
   Schnack and her best friend, Vania King, lost in the first round of women's doubles at Wimbledon last year to eighth-seeded Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic.
   King won the Wimbledon and U.S. Open women's doubles titles in 2010 with Yaroslava Shvedova.
   Schnack helped UCLA win the NCAA team title in 2008, graduated in sociology in 2010 and reached a career-high No. 140 in the world in women's doubles in June 2012. However, she retired last September and plans to begin nursing school in the fall. Her father, William, is a retired physician.
   Roberson earned all-conference honors at Boise State (2004-08).

American Brengle suffers agonizing loss

Madison Brengle, 23, has tried to qualify for the
U.S. Open for nine straight years and come up
short each time. She's getting closer, though.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Even though Madison Brengle is only 23, she has tried and failed to qualify for the U.S. Open eight times.
   The only exception was 2007, when she received a wild card in the main draw and lost in the first round.
   Brengle, the runner-up in last month's $50,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger in the Sacramento area, came within one set of qualifying Friday before losing to 25th-seeded Ying-Ying Duan of China 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-2 at Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   It was the first time the 5-foot-4 (1.63) Brengle, ranked No. 185 in the world, has reached the third round of qualifying for the U.S. Open. The Dover, Del., native had lost in the first round for four consecutive years.
   Taylor Townsend of the Sacramento Capitals in World TeamTennis also lost Friday in the final round of qualifying for the U.S. Open. The 17-year-old Chicago native, who trains in Boca Raton, Fla., fell to Chanel Simmonds of South Africa 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.
   The 5-foot-3 (1.6-meter) Simmonds, a 21-year-old left-hander, was seeded second in the Gold River Challenger but lost to 32-year-old Alexandra Stevenson 6-2, 6-0 in the first round. Stevenson, the daughter of basketball legend Julius Erving, in 1999 became the first female qualifier to reach the Wimbledon semifinals.
   U.S. Open National Playoffs -- Eric Roberson of Sacramento and Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove in the Sacramento area will play today for a berth in the mixed doubles main draw at the U.S. Open.
   Roberson, who played at Boise State, and Schnack, who helped UCLA win the 2008 NCAA title, handled Kaitlyn Christian of Orange and Dante Cipulli of Murietta 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals at New Haven, Conn.
   Christian won the NCAA women's doubles title with USC teammate Sabrina Santamaria in May.
   Roberson and Schnack will play Matthew Brooklyn and Stephanie Wetmore, both of Washington, D.C., in today's final.
   Brooklyn and Wetmore edged Matija Pecotic of Malta and Lindsay Graff of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 6-4, 6-7 (5), 11-9 in the semifinals. Malta is a small nation south of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea. 
    Roberson and Schnack reached the final of the inaugural mixed doubles national playoffs in 2011, falling in a super tiebreaker to Christina Fusano and David Martin. Fusano, a Sacramento native, starred at Cal and Martin at Stanford.      

Querrey, Tursunov seeded in U.S. Open

Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native and part-time
member of the Sacramento Capitals for the past
two seasons, is seeded 26th in the U.S. Open.
2012 photo by Paul Bauman

   Two players with Northern California ties have received singles seedings in the U.S. Open.
   Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native and part-time member of the Sacramento Capitals in World TeamTennis for the past two seasons, is No. 26. Dmitry Tursunov, a Russian who trains in the Sacramento suburb of Granite Bay, is No. 32 and last.
  The men's and women's seedings were announced Monday and today, respectively. The year's last Grand Slam tournament is scheduled for this coming Monday through Sept. 9 in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
  The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Querrey, 25, reached the fourth round of the U.S. Open in 2008 and 2010, tying his best Grand Slam result.
   Cracking the seedings was key for Tursunov, ranked 35th, because he can't face a seed before the third round. The 30-year-old Moscow native has fought back from repeated injuries after reaching a career-high No. 20 in 2006.  
   Tursunov has not won a match in the U.S. Open in five years, losing in the first round in 2009, 2010 and 2011 and retiring from his third-round qualifying match last year with an injury. He reached the third round in 2003, 2006 and 2008 for his best results in Flushing Meadows.

Dmitry Tursunov, middle, squeaked into the U.S. Open seedings at No. 32. He is
shown with fellow players Mischa Zverev, left, and Igor Andreev. All three are
Moscow natives, although Tursunov trains in the Sacramento area and Zverev
plays for Germany. 2012 photo by Paul Bauman

   Novak Djokovic is seeded first, and defending champion Andy Murray is third. Five-time champion Roger Federer, last year’s top seed, is seeded seventh. It's his lowest seeding at the U.S. Open since 2002, when he was No. 13.
   Querrey is one of two seeded American men. John Isner is No. 13. The 6-foot-10 (2.08-meter) veteran jumped from No. 22 in the rankings to No. 14 after reaching the Cincinnati final last week. It was the first time in the 40-year history of the men's rankings that no American had appeared in the top 20. 
   Serena Williams, the defending champion and top women's seed, seeks her fifth U.S. Open and 17th Grand Slam singles title.
   Two young Americans are seeded in the U.S. Open for the first time. Sloane Stephens, 20, is No. 16, and Jamie Hampton, 23, is No. 24. Hampton is seeded in a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.
   See below for the full men's and women's seedings.
   U.S. Open qualifying -- Mackenzie McDonald faced a tall task on Tuesday.
   The 18-year-old wild card from Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay area lost to second-seeded Ivo Karlovic, 6-foot-10 (2.08 meters), 6-3, 6-4 today in the first round of qualifying for the U.S. Open.
   McDonald last week became the first unranked teenager to qualify for an ATP Masters 1000 tournament, the highest level other than the Grand Slams. He lost to David Goffin 6-1, 6-1 in the first round at Cincinnati.
   U.S. Open National Playoffs -- Mayo Hibi, the 17-year-old champion of last month's $50,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger in the Sacramento area, won the women's title in the U.S. Open National Playoffs to earn a wild card in the qualifying event.
   Hibi, a longtime Irvine resident who plays for her native Japan, defeated No. 2 seed Nicole Melichar 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 in Monday's final in New Haven, Conn. Jeff Dadamo, the runner-up in last year's $15,000 Futures tournament in Sacramento, beat unseeded Matija Pecotic 6-4, 6-4 in New Haven for the men's title.
   Hibi will face American wild card Allie Kiick, the 18-year-old daughter of former Miami Dolphins running  back Jim Kiick, on Wednesday in the first round of qualifying for the U.S. Open. Dadamo will take on Guillermo Olaso of Spain.
   Eric Roberson of Sacramento and Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove in the Sacramento area will represent Northern California in the mixed doubles national playoffs, Wednesday through Saturday in New Haven. The champions will receive a berth in the main draw of mixed doubles at the U.S. Open.
   Roberson and Schnack reached the final of the inaugural playoffs in 2011, falling in a super tiebreaker to Christina Fusano and David Martin. Fusano, a Sacramento native, starred at Cal and Martin at Stanford.

U.S. OPEN SEEDS

Men

1. Novak Djokovic, Serbia
2. Rafael Nadal, Spain
3. Andy Murray, Great Britain
4. David Ferrer, Spain
5. Tomas Berdych, Czech Republic
6. Juan Martin del Potro, Argentina
7. Roger Federer, Switzerland
8. Richard Gasquet, France
9. Stanislas Wawrinka, Switzerland
10. Milos Raonic, Canada
11. Kei Nishikori, Japan
12. Tommy Haas, Germany
13. John Isner, United States
14. Jerzy Janowicz, Poland
15. Nicolas Almagro, Spain
16. Fabio Fognini, Italy
17. Kevin Anderson, South Africa
18. Janko Tipsarevic, Serbia
19. Tommy Robredo, Spain
20. Andreas Seppi, Italy
21. Mikhail Youzhny, Russia
22. Philipp Kohlschreiber, Germany
23. Feliciano Lopez, Spain
24. Benoit Paire, France
25. Grigor Dimitrov, Bulgaria
26. Sam Querrey, United States
27. Fernando Verdasco, Spain
28. Juan Monaco, Argentina
29. Jurgen Melzer, Austria
30. Ernests Gulbis, Latvia
31. Julien Benneteau, France
32. Dmitry Tursunov, Russia

Women

1. Serena Williams, United States
2. Victoria Azarenka, Belarus
3. Maria Sharapova, Russia
4. Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland
5. Sara Errani, Italy
6. Li Na, China
7. Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark
8. Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic
9. Angelique Kerber, Germany
10. Jelena Jankovic, Serbia
11. Roberta Vinci, Italy
12. Samantha Stosur, Australia
13. Kirsten Flipkens, Belgium
14. Ana Ivanovic, Serbia
15. Maria Kirilenko, Russia
16. Sloane Stephens, United States
17. Sabine Lisicki, Germany
18. Dominika Cibulkova, Slovak Republic
19. Carla Suarez Navarro, Spain
20. Sorana Cirstea, Romania
21. Nadia Petrova, Russia
22. Simona Halep, Romania
23. Elena Vesnina, Russia
24. Jamie Hampton, United States
25. Ekaterina Makarova, Russia
26. Kaia Kanepi, Estonia
27. Alize Cornet, France
28. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia
29. Mona Barthel, Germany
30. Magdalena Rybarikova, Slovak Republic
31. Laura Robson, Great Britain
32. Klara Zakopalova, Czech Republic

Give me a break: Lawrence, 19, wins bizarre match

   GOLD RIVER, Calif. -- Tennis fans thought they had seen everything when John Isner defeated Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in the fifth set in the first round at Wimbledon three years ago.
   Not quite.
   Sunday's second-round qualifying match between sixth-seeded Jessica Lawrence and wild card Yasmin Schnack in the $50,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger began with 18 consecutive service breaks and featured 25 total.
   The players held serve only seven times in the match, won by Lawrence 6-7 (7), 7-5, 6-2 at the Gold River Racquet Club in the Sacramento area.   
   The USTA Pro Circuit record book does not include service breaks, but the tournament supervisor, Billie Lipp of the USTA, said she couldn't recall so many in a row or total. She has held her position for 24 years.
   Lawrence, a 19-year-old professional from Lake Worth, Fla., converted 77.5 percent of her first serves and double-faulted three times. Schnack, a 25-year-old former pro from Sacramento, put in only 42.9 percent of her first serves and committed six double-faults. 
   "I feel like I have a good serve, but today my serve was not on," said the 5-foot-10 (1.77-meter) Schnack, who won the doubles title in last year's inaugural Gold River Challenger with Asia Muhammad before retiring in November. "I wasn't serving well, and her serve is not a strength. She has kind of a weak second serve, and her first serve doesn't do any damage, so I felt I could really control and dictate off the returns.
   "She was doing the same on my serves. I wasn't getting a high percentage of first serves in, and my second serves were too weak, so it just led to break after break after break."
   The match began at 10:10 a.m. and ended 2 hours, 48 minutes later, including a 10-minute break after the second set because of extreme heat. The temperature peaked at 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40.6 Celsius) at 3:25 p.m., and Monday's predicted high is 110 (43.3).
   Schnack served for the match at 5-4 in the second set but -- surprise! -- was broken. She lost the last three games of the set and the first five games of the second set as she wilted in the heat.
   Until an easy victory Saturday, the former UCLA All-American hadn't played singles since early November.
   "I just wasn't in shape to play a three-set match in his heat," admitted Schnack, a teaching pro at the Rio del Oro Racquet Club in Sacramento who plans to attend nursing school in the fall. "I was trying really hard not to get to the third set, but she was tough. She made me work for it, and ultimately took the momentum and got the 'W.'
   "She played really well. She was solid and didn't make many unforced errors. I had to go out there and win it. I tried, but it didn't go my way today."
   The heat didn't seem to bother Lawrence. After actually holding serve for 3-0 in the third set, she jogged to her chair.  

   "I train a lot of hours, and I think that really helped me," said the 5-foot-4 (1.63-meter), 125-pound (56.7-kilogram) Lawrence, who wore baggy capri pants in the match. "I felt fresh. I was ready to go and play another few sets,"  she added with a laugh.

   Lawrence will face Elizabeth Profit, 16, of Bellflower in the Los Angeles area on Monday for a berth in the main draw. Profit, who has Type 1 diabetes, plays with an insulin pump attached to the waistband of her tennis skirt. She upset third-seeded Jacqueline Cako, who finished an All-America career at Arizona State in May, 6-4, 6-4.

   Cako, the Pac-12 Senior Scholar Athlete of the Year, graduated in three years with a degree in biological sciences and a 3.68 grade-point average. She plans to attend medical school after playing professionally. 

   Alisa Kleybanova, who reached No. 20 in the world in 2011, continued her comeback from Hodgkin's lymphoma with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Malika Rose, an All-Big 12 Conference selection as a senior at Oklahoma State this past season.

   Kleybanova will play top-seeded Julia Boserup of Newport Beach in Southern California. Boserup, playing her first tournament since early November after recovering from a bulging disc in her back, defeated Csilla Borsanyi of Hungary 6-2, 6-3.   

   $50,000 FSP GOLD RIVER WOMEN'S CHALLENGER

At Gold River Racquet Club in Gold River, Calif.
Singles qualifying

Second round

   Julia Boserup (1), United States, def. Csilla Borsanyi, Hungary, 6-2, 6-3.
   Robin Anderson, United States, def. Keri Wong, United States, 6-1, 7-5.
   Jessica Lawrence (6), United States, def. Yasmin Schnack, Sacramento, 6-7 (7),
7-5, 6-2.
   Anne-Liz Jeukeng (7), United States, def. Parris Todd, United States, 6-1, 6-3.
   Alisa Kleybanova, Russia, def. Malika Rose, United States, 6-2, 6-2.
   Elizabeth Profit, United States, def. Jacqueline Cako (3), United States, 6-4, 6-4.
   Mary Weatherholt, United States, def. Dianne Hollands, New Zealand, 7-5, 6-2.
   Nicole Robinson (8), United States, def. Daria Kulbikova, Russia, 6-2, 6-4.

Monday's schedule

(Beginning at 10 a.m.)

Stadium

   Julia Boserup (1) vs. Alisa Kleybanova (final round of qualifying).
   Emily Webley-Smith vs. Madison Brengel (5).
   Victoria Duval (8) vs. Mayo Hibi.

Court 3

   Elizabeth Profit vs. Jessica Lawrence (6) (final round of qualifying).
   Sanaz Marand vs. Ashley Weinhold.
   Julie Coin and Keri Wong (3) vs. Robin Anderson and Lauren Embree.

Court 4

   Robin Anderson vs. Anne Liz Jeukeng (7) (final round of qualifying).

   Ivana Lisjak vs. Natalie Pluskota.

Court 5

   Mary Weatherholt vs. Nicole Robinson (8) (final round of qualifying).
   Allie Kick vs. Brianna Morgan.
   Macall Harkins and Zoe Scandalis vs. Dianne Hollands and Kady Pooler.

Schnack gives up promising pro career

Yasmin Schnack, shown in last summer's $50,000 FSP Gold River
Women's Challenger in the Sacramento area, lost in the second
round of singles but won the doubles title with Sacramento
Capitals teammate Asia Muhammad. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Yasmin Schnack was on her way in professional tennis.
   After 2 1/2 years on the circuit, the former UCLA All-American was headed toward the top 100 in the world in doubles. She played doubles at Wimbledon with her best friend, Vania King, and helped her hometown Sacramento Capitals come within two points of winning the World TeamTennis title.
   King, a two-time Grand Slam women's doubles champion with career highs of No. 3 in doubles and No. 50 in singles, said Monday that Schnack "is more talented than I am."
   None of it was enough. Weighed down by loneliness, financial considerations and family issues, Schnack retired from pro tennis last November at age 24.
   "I'd be going out (on the minor-league tour) for three, four, five weeks at a time, and I'd be meeting up with friends and players at tournaments, but as far as having someone there with me, my parents weren't there, I didn't have a trainer, I didn't have a coach or hitting partner," Schnack said earlier this month in Sacramento during the $2,000 Rio Del Oro Open, in which she won a three-team round robin in women's doubles with roommate and former Sacramento State standout Clarisse Baca. "After a while, it took a toll on me. I felt burned out and kind of lost that passion and competitiveness to be out there.
   "That was a big factor, and financially it's difficult. Your income is based solely on how you're doing. Some weeks I had great tournaments, and then for a few weeks there was nothing. You're paying for all your expenses -- air fare, hotel, food, equipment, stringing ... Everything just kind of adds up."
   Schnack also feels she needs to be at home.
   "My dad's 82, and his health is deteriorating, so my mom's at home taking care of him," said Schnack, whose Filipina mother, Candida, is almost 30 years younger than her father. "My sister is mentally handicapped, so my mom is really busy taking care of the family. ... My family is so important to me."
   Schnack's father, a retired physician named William, has Parkinson's disease.
   "It's still in the early stages, but I can really see differences with his health," she said. "Every minute I can be at home around him, it makes me feel better, and I know he appreciates me being at home and spending time with him."  
   Schnack, 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters), reached career highs of No. 140 in doubles and No. 371 in singles. She won 11 doubles titles and two singles crowns in tennis' minor leagues.
   In Schnack's Wimbledon main-draw debut last summer, she and King lost to eighth-seeded Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, both of the Czech Republic, 6-4, 6-1 in the first round. King won the 2010 Wimbledon and U.S. Open women's doubles titles with Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan.
   Schnack played full-time for the Capitals the last two years, along with King for 10 of 14 regular-season matches in 2011 and two during last year's march to the WTT Finals.
   King, also 24, has known Schnack since they were juniors.
   "I've always thought she had amazing potential from when we were little," the 5-foot-5 (1.65-meter) King said by telephone. "She never had proper coaching or support. She's more talented than I am.
   "She has the potential to be top 100 in singles and doubles, but things don't always work out the way everyone expects. 'Potential' is a very vague word. A lot of other things come into it."
   But gifted?
   "She has very clean strokes," King said. "She has a great body, great physical ability and an all-court game. She has all the tools. The game came naturally to her."
   Maria Sanchez -- a 23-year-old rising pro from Modesto, 77 miles (124 kilometers) south of Sacramento -- has known Schnack since they were in high school. They were cross-town rivals in college -- Sanchez was an All-American at USC -- and played doubles with and against each other in the pros.
   "She's a great player, so it's sad to see her go, and she's also a good friend of mine," Sanchez said last week after winning her singles main-draw debut in the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. "But you have to do what makes you happy."
   Even if you're approaching the top 100 in doubles.
   "Everyone was saying, 'Your ranking is steadily going up. Why are you stopping?' " Schnack said. "I guess I really didn't think about my ranking so much as how I was feeling. Did I feel good on the court? Was I having fun? Was I enjoying it? Was I competing?
   "Most of the time, I was just fighting myself. Tennis is so mental. You're putting yourself at a disadvantage if you're fighting yourself and not playing against your opponent."
   Schnack's case is reminiscent of Sam Warburg's. Also citing loneliness and financial struggles, the Sacramento product retired from professional tennis at 26 in 2009 after 4 1/2 years on the circuit.
   Warburg approached the top 100 not only in doubles with a career high of No. 117, but in singles, peaking at No. 132. He played five seasons for the Capitals, helping them win the last of their record six WTT titles in 2007.
   Both Warburg and Schnack won NCAA titles at Pacific-10 Conference schools and graduated. Warburg captured the 2004 doubles title with Stanford teammate KC Corkery, and Schnack helped UCLA earn its only women's team title, in 2008. Warburg graduated in communications, Schnack in sociology.
   Warburg, 29, works as a venture capitalist in the San Francisco Bay Area. Schnack plans to attend nursing school in the fall or next January.
   The biggest difference between Warburg and Schnack, who do not know each other well, is that Warburg vowed never to return to pro tennis. Schnack already is having second thoughts.
   "I'm sad to be gone from it," she admitted. "I really do miss it, which is why I've been playing these little opens, so I still can use the competitiveness that I have in me and go out and play and have fun."
   Schnack left the door open to returning to the tour.
   "I'm young enough and still have the time to go out and give it a little while, but I'm happy with where things are in my life, and I like the direction it's heading," she said. "I wonder if I do go back and play if it's going to be an emotional roller coaster again. Of course I'll have the highs and feel great and love that I'm back playing, but then there are going to be the lows, and I'll think, Why am I wasting my time?
   "You know that cycle. I've gone through that with tennis my entire life. I think it's nice to have consistency and routine and not this up-and-down struggle."
   BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells -- Kevin Anderson and Mardy Fish, two part-time Capitals in 2012 who are coming back from health problems, won Monday.
   Anderson, playing in his second tournament after undergoing right elbow surgery, routed 31-year-old Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-3, 6-1 in the third round. Anderson, a 6-foot-8 (2.03-meter) right-hander from South Africa, will face 13th-seeded Gilles Simon of France on Wednesday.  
   Fish is competing in his first tournament in six months after battling an irregular heartbeat. The wild-card team of Fish and fellow American James Blake reached the doubles quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Feliciano Lopez of Spain and Milos Raonic of Canada.
   Fish, seeded 32nd in singles, will meet eighth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France today in the third round.
   In a second-round doubles match consisting of the entire U.S. Davis Cup team that beat Brazil last month, top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan dismissed 6-foot-9 (2.06-meter) John Isner and 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Sam Querrey 6-3, 6-3. Querrey also played part-time for the Capitals last year.
   The 34-year-old Bryan twins, who grew up about a two-hour drive west in the Los Angeles area, seek their first Indian Wells title. 

COLLEGE SCORE

Men

   Pacific def. Texas-Arlington 4-0 in Stockton. No. 1 singles: Sem Verbeek (P) led Yauheni Yakauleu 7-6 (2), 1-0 (did not finish).

Changes planned for Gold River Women's Challenger

Maria Sanchez of Modesto, Calif., won the
inaugural FSP Gold River Women's Challenger
last June. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Several changes are planned for the second annual FSP Gold River Women's Challenger, tournament director Michael Burchett said recently.
   In an effort to draw a better field, the $50,000 tournament at the Gold River River Racquet Club in the Sacramento area will be held four weeks later. The Challenger is scheduled for June 22 to June 29 or 30.
   The top seed this year was Russia's Elena Bovina, then ranked No. 243 in the world. The last direct acceptance, 17-year-old Samantha Crawford of Tamarac, Fla., was No. 877.
   The Challenger in El Paso, Texas, the following week attracted a better field despite offering half the prize money. Bovina again was seeded first, but American Whitney Jones was the last direct acceptance at No. 653.
   The problem for the Gold River Challenger was that it was held during the first week of the French Open. Most players who lost in French Open qualifying then traveled to England to play on grass and prepare for Wimbledon  a few weeks later.
   Next year's Gold River tournament is set for the first week of Wimbledon, but players who lose in qualifying there will head to the United States for the summer hardcourt circuit. Some of them figure to play at Gold River.
   Also, in an attempt to draw more fans, night matches will be played for the first time. Last year's tournament was sparsely attended as temperatures reached the high 90s and most working people were unable to attend. Organizers are even "shooting for a Saturday night final," Burchett said.
   In addition, Burchett plans to increase publicity, which was minimal for the inaugural tournament.
   Fourth-seeded Maria Sanchez of Modesto, 87 miles (140 kilometers) south of Gold River, won the singles title, and second-seeded Asia Muhammad of Henderson, Nev., and Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove in the Sacramento area took the doubles crown.
   It was the first professional singles title for the 5-foot-10 Sanchez, who commuted from home throughout the week. In her first full year as a pro, the former USC All-American has soared from No. 687 to No. 127 in the world in singles and from No. 268 to No. 115 in doubles. She will turn 23 on Nov. 26.
   Muhammad and Schnack played doubles together for the Sacramento Capitals in the World TeamTennis regular season in July and during the league playoffs in September. The Washington Kastles edged Sacramento 20-19 for their second consecutive WTT crown. 
   Mary Laver dies -- Mary Laver, the wife of legend Rod Laver, died Monday at their home in the San Diego suburb of Carlsbad after a long illness, the Associated Press reported. She was 84.
   Rod, 74, is Australian, and Mary was born in DeKalb, Ill. They were married in San Rafael, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, in 1966 and had one child, a son named Rick. Mary had three children from a previous marriage.
   Rod is the only player, male or female, to win the Grand Slam twice. He accomplished the feat as an amateur in 1962 and as a professional in 1969.

Capitals' Muhammad upsets No. 8 seed

   There will be no all-Sacramento Capitals showdown today in the quarterfinals of the $50,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger.
   However, there will be an all-Northern California matchup.

Asia Muhammad, who will play for the Sacramento
Capitals in July, serves during her first-round victory
Wednesday. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Asia Muhammad, who's scheduled to make her World TeamTennis debut for Sacramento in July, did her part Thursday night at the Gold River Racquet Club near Sacramento. The 21-year-old resident of Henderson, Nev., led eighth-seeded Gabriela Paz of Venezuela 6-1, 4-0 when Paz retired with the flu.
   But 24-year-old Yasmin Schnack, who will return for her second season with her hometown Capitals, lost to Samantha Crawford, 17, of Boca Raton, Fla., 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. The 6-foot-2 Crawford pounded serves and groundstrokes against the 5-foot-10 Schnack, an ex-UCLA All-American who upset third-seeded Marie-Eve Pelletier of Canada in the first round.
   Meanwhile, fourth-seeded Maria Sanchez of Modesto will meet Tracy resident Romana Tedjakusuma.
   The 5-foot-10 Sanchez, a 22-year-old former USC All-American, turned back 15-year-old Gabrielle Andrews of Pomona 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. Andrews won the Australian Open girls doubles title in January with Taylor Townsend, 16, of Stockbridge, Ga.

Samantha Crawford, 17, of Boca Raton, Fla., prepares for a
forehand during her second-round victory Thursday over
Yasmin Schnack, who will return for her second season
with her hometown Capitals. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Tedjakusuma, a 35-year-old Indonesian, topped American Elizabeth Lumpkin 6-4, 7-6 (0).
   In an all-Russian quarterfinal, top-seeded Elena Bovina will face seventh-seeded Valeria Solovieva. The 6-foot-2 Bovina, who reached No. 14 in the world in 2005 before injuries derailed her career, is 10 years older at 29.
   Finally, in an all-American encounter, second-seeded Ashley Weinhold will play fifth-seeded Jessica Pegula. Weinhold is 22 years old and Pegula 18.
   In two matches each, Bovina has lost only four games, Solovieva eight and Weinhold eight.
   See below for Thursday's full singles and doubles results and today's schedule.
   French Open in Paris -- No. 29 seed Julien Benneteau of France beat Sacramento-area resident Dmitry Tursunov  6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in the second round of the French Open.
   Tursunov, a 29-year-old Moscow native, had lost in the first round at Roland Garros for the last three years. However, he reached the French Open doubles quarterfinals in 2007, semifinals in 2008 and quarterfinals in 2009 with fellow Russian Igor Kunitsyn. Tursunov is not playing doubles in the tournament this year.
   Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and Xavier Malisse of Belgium defeated Michal Mertinak of Slovakia and Andre Sa of Brazil 6-3, 6-6, retired in the first round of men's doubles. Ironically, Knowles and Mertinak lost in the first round of last year's French Open to Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine and Malisse.
   Knowles and Malisse are former French Open champions with different partners. Knowles won in 2007 with Daniel Nestor of Canada and Malisse in 2004 with countryman Olivier Rochus.
   Knowles, 40, will return for his 11th season with the Capitals.
   In other opening-round matches:
   --Liga Dekmeijere of Latvia and Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand ousted 10th-seeded Raquel Kops Jones of Fresno and Abigail Spears of San Diego 6-4, 6-4 in women's doubles.
   Kops-Jones won the 2003 NCAA doubles title with Sacramento native Christina Fusano, who retired last year after eight years on the pro circuit.
   --Second-seeded Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic and Mike Bryan downed the French team of Pauline Parmentier and Benoit Paire 6-4, 6-1 in mixed doubles.
   Peschke and Bryan are longtime WTT teammates on the Kansas City Explorers. Twins Bob and Mike Bryan won the 1998 NCAA doubles title as Stanford sophomores, then turned pro.
   Bob Bryan is scheduled to play with Serena Williams in the first round of mixed doubles today. They are -- get this -- unseeded.
   Television coverage of the French Open continues today live from 2 to 7 a.m. PDT on ESPN2 and 7 a.m to 4 p.m. on Tennis Channel, which also will broadcast its daily wrapup show from 4 to 7 p.m.

FSP GOLD RIVER WOMEN’S CHALLENGER

At Gold River Racquet Club

Second-round singles

   Jessica Pegula (5), United States, def. Jennifer Elie, United States, 6-3, 7-5. 

   Valeria Solovieva (7), Russia, def. Whitney Jones, United States, 6-2, 6-3. 

   Ashley Weinhold (2), United States, def. Lena Litvak, United States, 6-4, 6-3. 

   Elena Bovina (1), Russia, def. Maria-Fernanda Alves, Brazil, 6-3, 6-0. 

   Romana Tedjakusuma, Tracy/Indonesia, def. Elizabeth Lumpkin, United States, 6-4, 7-6 (0). 

   Samantha Crawford, United States, def. Yasmin Schnack, Elk Grove/Capitals, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. 

   Maria Sanchez (4), Modesto, def. Gabrielle Faith Andrews, United States, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. 

   Asia Muhammed, United States/Capitals, def. Gabriela Paz (8), Venezuela, 6-1, 4-0, retired.

First-round doubles

   Chieh-Yu Hsu and Ashley Weinhold, United States, def. Whitney Jones and Elizabeth Lumpkin, United States, 6-1, 6-2. 

   Maria-Fernanda Alves, Brazil, and Valeria Solovieva (3), Russia, def. Gabrielle Faith Andrews and Samantha Crawford, United States, 6-3, 6-4. 

   Jessica Pegula, United States, and Marie-Eve Pelletier (1), Canada, def. Jennifer Elie, United States, and Kim-Alice Grajdek, Germany, 6-2, 6-4.

Today’s schedule

(Beginning at noon)

Stadium Court

   Elena Bovina (1), Russia, vs. Valeria Solovieva (7), Russia.

   Asia Muhammed, United States/Capitals, vs. Crawford, United States.

   Jessica Pegula, United States, and Marie-Eve Pelletier (1), Canada, vs. Lena Litvak, United States, and Adriana Perez.

   (Not before 7 p.m.) Elena Bovina, Russia, and Gabriela Paz, Venezuela, (4) vs. Kaitlyn Christian, United States, and Maria Sanchez, Modesto.

   Yawna Allen and Erin Clark, United States, vs. Asia Muhammed, United States/Capitals, and Yasmin Schnack (2), Elk Grove/Capitals.

Court 7

   Jessica Pegula (5), United States, vs. Ashley Weinhold (2), United States.

   Maria Sanchez (4), Modesto, vs. Romana Tedjakusuma, Tracy/Indonesia.

   Chieh-Yu Hsu and Ashley Weinhold, United States, vs. Maria-Fernanda Alves, Brazil, and Valeria Solovieva (3), Russia.