Brooksby breakthrough highlights top stories of 2021

Jenson Brooksby waits to return serve during practice at the BNP Paribas Open
in Indian Wells in October. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Amid the ongoing pandemic, it was a banner year in Northern California tennis.

   Two players won prestigious ATP awards, and a former Sacramento Capital in World TeamTennis reached the French Open final.

   A coach with strong NorCal ties helped a WTA player soar into the top 10 and reach the title match in the WTA Finals, and two doubles stars qualified for the season-ending tournament for the first time.

   A Sacramento native helped his team win the NCAA team championship, then snagged the singles title.

   And more.

   Here are my picks for the top 10 stories of 2020 with 10 honorable mentions:

   1. Brooksby voted ATP Newcomer of Year — Jenson Brooksby, a lifelong Sacramento-area resident who turned 21 in October, skyrocketed from No. 307 to No. 56 in 10 months. He reached his maiden ATP Tour final in Newport, R.I., in his first tournament ever on grass, losing to two-time Grand Slam runner-up Kevin Anderson, and the round of 16 in the U.S. Open, steamrolling Novak Djokovic 6-1 in the first set before falling in four sets.

   Fifteen days after the Newport final, Brooksby beat the 6-foot-8 (2.03-meter) Anderson en route to the semifinals in Washington, D.C. Brooksby also advanced to the Antwerp semis in October as a qualifier.

Mackenzie McDonald lines up a forehand during his first-
round victory over James Duckworth in the BNP Paribas
Open. Photo by Paul Bauman

   2. McDonald voted ATP Comeback Player of Year — Mackenzie McDonald, a 26-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, underwent right hamstring surgery in June 2019 and fell as low as No. 272 in March 2020.

   This year, McDonald reached the round of 16 in the Australian Open, advanced to his first ATP final in Washington, D.C., and climbed to a career-high No. 54 on Nov. 1.

   3. Ex-Capital reaches French Open final — Unseeded Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic outlasted No. 31 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 in the first Grand Slam final for both players.

   Pavlyuchenkova, who played for the Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis as the world's top junior at 15 in 2006, hurt her left leg late in the second set.

   4. Kontaveit cracks top 10, reaches WTA Finals title match under Tursunov — After hiring coach Dmitry Tursunov in August, Anett Kontaveit of Estonia won four titles, jumped from No. 30 to No. 7 and advanced to the WTA Finals for the first time.  

   Garbiñe Muguruza, seeded sixth, defeated Kontaveit, seeded eighth, 6-3, 7-5 in the final of the season-ending tournament in Guadalajara, Mexico. Tursunov, a 39-year-old Moscow native, trained in Northern California as a junior and professional. 

   5. Shibahara, Olmos qualify for WTA Finals — Doubles specialists Ena Shibahara, who was born in the Bay Area, and Giuliana Olmos, who grew up there, qualified for the season-ending tournament for the first time separately. Second-seeded Shuko Aoyama and Shibahara advanced to the semifinals, while eighth-seeded Sharon Fichman and Olmos were eliminated in round-robin play. 

   Aoyama and Shibahara won a tour-leading five titles, including the Miami Open, in 2021. They also reached the Wimbledon semifinals and Australian Open quarterfinals. Fichman and Olmos won the Italian Open, gained the Australian Open quarterfinals and advanced to the round of 16 at Wimbledon.

Sam Riffice, far left, poses 10 years ago at age 12 with Roger
Federer at the La Quinta Resort in the Palm Springs area. Also
shown are Riffice's coach, Amine Khaldi (second from left), and
Khaldi's friend Steve Mohibi. Photo courtesy of Amine Khaldi

   6. Riffice helps Florida win NCAA title, adds singles crown — Sam Riffice, who was born in Sacramento and grew up in suburban Roseville, won at No. 2 singles and doubles as the top-seeded Gators beat second-seeded Baylor 4-1 in Orlando, Fla., for the NCAA championship. 

   The sixth-seeded Riffice then topped second-seeded Daniel Rodrigues of South Carolina 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 for the singles title.

   7. Wimbledon champ commits to Stanford — Samir Banerjee, who won the Wimbledon boys singles title in July, verbally committed to Stanford.

   Banerjee, from Basking Ridge, N.J., defeated Victor Lilov of Raleigh, N.C., 7-5, 6-3 in the Wimbledon final. Both players were unseeded.

   8. Cal men's coach retires after 29 years — Peter Wright, a Berkeley native who turned 58 on Dec. 8, amassed a 383-256 record at Cal. He guided the Bears to the NCAA Championships 25 times, including a semifinal berth in 2016, and four appearances in the top 10.

   USC associate head coach Kris Kwinta, a 41-year-old Poland native, was chosen as Wright's replacement.

Fiery Danielle Collins exults after winning a point during the final of the
Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif. Photo by Mal Taam

   9. Collins claims crown in San Jose — No. 7 seed Danielle Collins of St. Petersburg, Fla., defeated No. 4 seed Daria Kasatkina of Russia 6-3, 6-7 (10), 6-1 to win the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif.

   Collins, who turned 28 on Dec. 13, won her second consecutive title and the second of her career. She had surgery for endometriosis, a painful disorder in which tissue inside the uterus grows outside of it, in early April. Doctors removed a cyst the size of a tennis ball from her ovary.

Emon van Loben Sels poses with his trophy
at the USTA Level 1 Spring Individual Cham-
pionships in Mobile, Ala. Photo courtesy of
Emon van Loben Sels

   10. van Loben Sels ranked No. 1 nationally in 16s — The pandemic gave Emon van Loben Sels of Sacramento a needed break last year. He won a USTA Level 2 tournament in Newport Beach, Calif., in February and the Level 1 Spring Individual Championships in March in Mobile, Ala.

   Van Loben Sels' biggest asset is his passion for tennis, according to Kiryl Harbatsiuk, one of his coaches. The high school junior has verbally committed to UCLA.

   Honorable mention — Cameron Norrie, who won back-to-back Northern California Challengers in Tiburon and Stockton in 2017, won the prestigious BNP Paribas Open as the No. 21 seed.

   —Qualifier Mariia Kozyreva, a fifth-year senior at Saint Mary's College in Moraga in the Bay Area, shocked top-seeded Zheng Saisai, ranked No. 75, in the first round of the $60,000 Berkeley (Calif.) Challenger.

   —Katie Volynets, a resident of Walnut Creek in the Bay Area who turned 20 today, won her first professional title to crack the top 200.

   —Former Stanford star Nicole Gibbs retired at 27. The three-time NCAA champion (twice in singles and once in doubles) reached a career-high No. 68 in the world in 2016.

   —Johanna Konta, who won the 2016 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, retired at 30.

   —Unseeded Usue Arconada won the Berkeley Challenger.

   —The Stanford women ended their longest losing streak in 40 years, three matches, with a 6-1 victory over USC in Los Angeles. 

   —Ethan Quinn of Fresno, Calif., reached the doubles final in the USTA Boys 18 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich., with Sebastian Gorzny and in the Orange Bowl in Plantation, Fla., with Nicholas Godsick.

   —Van Loben Sels advanced to the singles quarterfinals and doubles semifinals (with Dylan Tsoi of El Dorado Hills in the Sacramento area) in the USTA Boys 16 National Championships in Kalamazoo.

   —Wayne Thiebaud, a world-renowned artist from Sacramento who played tennis until just after his 100th birthday, died on Christmas at 101.

Bay Area native to make WTA Finals debut in doubles

Katie Volynets, 19, of Walnut Creek in the San Fran-
cisco Bay Area, snapped a six-match skid today
in Columbus, Ohio. 2019 photo by Paul Bauman

   Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan have qualified for the WTA Finals for the first time, the WTA announced today.

   Aoyama, 33, and Shibahara, a 23-year-old native of Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area, have won a tour-leading five titles this year, including the biggest one of their careers in the Miami Open. They also reached the Wimbledon semifinals and Australian Open quarterfinals.

   Aoyama, only 5-foot-1 (1.54 meters), and Shibahara became the first Japanese players to qualify for the WTA Finals in doubles since Ai Sugiyama advanced to the 2008 semifinals with Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia.

   The WTA Finals, the week of Nov. 8 in Guadalajara, features the top eight singles players and doubles teams of the year.

    WTA Tour — In a battle of California teenagers, Katie "Serve And" Volynets edged wild card Katrina Scott 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (5) in 2 hours, 55 minutes in the first round of a $125,000 tournament in Columbus, Ohio. Volynets, 19, of Walnut Creek in the Bay Area, snapped a six-match losing streak and improved to 2-0 against Scott, 17, of Woodland Hills in the Los Angeles region.

   Volynets qualified for Wimbledon this year and lost to Romanian veteran Irina-Camelia "Ain't Too Proud To" Begu in the first round. Scott reached the second round of last year's U.S. Open as a wild card in her senior Grand Slam debut.

   Volynets, ranked No. 185, is set to play Lauren Davis, seeded fifth and ranked No. 98, of Boca Raton, Fla., for the first time. The 27-year-old Davis, only 5-foot-2 (1.57 meters), beat Usue Arconada of Naples, Fla., 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday. 

Bay Area native wins fifth WTA doubles title of year

   Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara will go into the U.S. Open with confidence.

   The top-seeded pair, from Japan, beat unseeded Sania Mirza of India and Shelby Rogers of Charleston, S.C., 7-5, 6-3 today in the final of the inaugural Tennis in The Land, a WTA 250 tournament in Cleveland.

   The 5-foot-1 (1.54-meter) Aoyama, 33, and the 5-foot-7 (1.70-meter) Shibahara, a 23-year-old native of Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area, survived match tiebreakers of 10-8 in the quarterfinals and 10-7 in the semifinals en route to their fifth title of the year. They will remain tied at a career-high No. 9 in the world in doubles.

   The 34-year-old Mirza, formerly ranked No. 1 in doubles, took 2018 and 2019 off to have her first child.

   The first round of singles in the U.S. Open is scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. Doubles matches are set to begin Wednesday.

   Aoyama and Shibahara reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in February and the semifinals at Wimbledon in July, but neither has had much success in the U.S. Open. Playing together at Flushing Meadows for the first time last year, they lost in the second round.

   Aoyama has never advanced past the third round of the U.S. Open in nine appearances with nine different partners. Shibahara has never gone past the second round at Flushing Meadows in three appearances with three different teammates.

Bay Area native Shibahara wins her biggest doubles title

   Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan earned their tour-leading third title of the year and the biggest of their careers today.

   The fifth-seeded Aoyama, 33, and Shibahara, a 23-year-old native of Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area, beat eighth-seeded Hayley Carter, a native of Chattanooga, Tenn., and Luisa "Gwen" Stefani of Brazil 6-2, 7-5 in the Miami Open, a WTA 1000 tournament.

   Aoyama, only 5-foot-1 (1.54 meters), and Shibahara were winless in their three previous tournaments after beginning the year with 13 consecutive victories and two titles.

   The Japanese pair improved to 6-1 in WTA finals with a six-match winning streak. The loss came against Nicole Melichar and Kveta Peschke, then 44, in San Jose in 2019.

   Aoyama and Shibahara have not lost a set against Carter and Stefani — former All-Americans at North Carolina and Pepperdine, respectively — in three matches this year, including the Abu Dhabi final in January.

   Juniors — Top-seeded Juncheng Shang of China downed unseeded Ethan "Allen" Quinn of Fresno, Calif., 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-2 to win the Easter Bowl in San Diego.

   Quinn's winning streak ended at 11 matches. He won last week's International Open of Southern California in San Diego.

   In the boys 16 doubles final, Ethan Schiffman of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., in the San Diego area and Emon van Loben Sels of Sacramento, Calif., defeated David "You Don't" Saye of Charlotte, N.C., and Eli "Manning" Stephenson of Louisville, Ky., 6-7 (tiebreaker score not available), 6-1, 6-1.

   Colleges — The Stanford women, who have won the last two NCAA titles and three of the last four, lost to Oregon for the first time in school history and suffered their second consecutive loss for the first time since 2016.

   Uxia Martinez Moral outlasted Sara Choy, a junior from Palo Alto, Calif., 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 on Court 4 to give the No. 46 Ducks (12-5, 5-3 Pacific-12 Conference) a 4-3 victory over the No. 25 Cardinal (10-2, 6-1) in Eugene, Ore.

   Meanwhile, No. 7 Pepperdine handed California its first home loss of the season, 4-3. Shiori Fukuda gave the Waves (13-2) a 4-0 lead with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over Valentina Ivanov on Court 3. The Bears fell to 13-4.

   In a men's match, host Stanford routed No. 17 Arizona 5-1 to improve to 6-3 overall and 3-0 in the Pac-12. The Cardinal's Axel "Uri" Geller defeated No. 63 Jonas "Brothers" Ziverts 7-6 (5), 6-2 on Court 1.

Top seeds Aoyama, Shibahara fall in Adelaide doubles

   Now Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara are on a losing streak.

   The top seeds, representing Japan, fell to Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan of China 6-4, 3-6 [10-6] today in the first round of the Adelaide International.

   After starting the year 12-0 with two titles, Aoyama, 33, and Shibahara, a 23-year-old native of Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area, have dropped two consecutive matches. They reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, losing to eventual champions Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus and Elise Mertens of Belgium.

   Sabalenka, the singles runner-up in San Jose, Calif., in 2019, and Mertens rose to No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in doubles on Monday.

   ATP Tour — Andre Goransson (University of California, Berkeley, 2011-14) of Sweden and David Pel, a 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) left-hander from the Netherlands, edged wild cards David Goffin of Belgium and Lucas Pouille of France 7-6 (6), 3-6 [10-8] in the opening round of the Open Sud de France in Montpellier. 

   Both Goffin, 30, and Pouille, 26, have been ranked in the top 10 in singles.

   Goransson and Pel are set to play Jonathan Erlich, 43, of Israel and Andrei Vasilevski of Belarus on Wednesday in the quarterfinals.

   Erlich won the Australian Open in 2008 with countryman Andy Ram and the Aptos (Calif.) Challenger in 2013 with Ram and 2017 with Neal Skupski of Great Britain.

   ITF Women's Tour — No. 13 seed Katie Volynets, 19, of Walnut Creek in the Bay Area nipped Maria Lourdes Carle of Argentina 4-6, 7-5 [12-10] in the first round of qualifying for a $25,000 hardcourt tournament in Boca Raton, Fla. 

   Volynets, a quarterfinalist as a qualifier in last week's $25,000 tourney in Orlando, Fla., is scheduled to play eighth-seeded Marcela Zacarias of Mexico on Tuesday for a main-draw berth. 

   ITF Men's Tour — Dennis Novikov, 27, of San Jose topped 12th-seeded Jordi Arconada of the United States 4-6, 6-3 [10-4] in the opening round of qualifying for a $25,000 clay-court tournament in Naples, Fla.

   Novikov, who has tumbled from a career-high No. 119 in 2016 to No. 770, is set to meet 13th-seeded Benjamin Dhoe of Belgium on Tuesday for a spot in the main draw.

Bay Area native suffers first doubles loss of year

   The doubles winning streak of Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara ended with a thud tonight.

   Second-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus routed seventh-seeded Aoyama and Shibahara of Japan 6-2, 6-0 in 53 minutes in the Australian Open quarterfinals in Melbourne.

   The 5-foot-1 (1.54-meter) Aoyama, 33, and Shibahara, a 22-year-old native of Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area, fell to 12-1 this year. They won titles in Abu Dhabi last month and Melbourne two weeks ago. 

   Aoyama and Shibahara were playing in their second Grand Slam quarterfinal. Aoyama also reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 2013 with Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa.

   Also tonight, third-seeded Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic beat unseeded Sharon Fichman of Canada and Giuliana Olmos, a product of Fremont in the Bay Area who plays for Mexico, 7-5, 5-7, 6-2.

   Fichman, 30, and Olmos, 27, had never advanced past the second round in a major, separately or together, before this year's Australian Open.

   In the women's singles quarterfinals, third-seeded Naomi Osaka dismissed unseeded Hsieh Su-Wei of Chinese Taipei 6-2, 6-2 in 56 minutes.

   Osaka, the 2019 champion, will face 10th seed and seven-time champion Serena Williams, who dominated second-seeded Simona Halep 6-3, 6-3. Osaka is 2-1 against Williams, including a victory in the turbulent 2018 U.S. Open final. 

   Williams, 39, is making her 11th attempt to tie Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles. Osaka made her WTA main-draw debut at age 16 at Stanford in 2014, when Williams won the last of her three titles there.

   In the men's singles quarterfinals, qualifier Aslan Karatsev of Russia beat 18th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2. Dimitrov, a three-time Grand Slam semifinalist, began suffering back spasms late in the second set and played half-heartedly the rest of the way.

   Karatsev, 27, became the first man in the Open Era to reach the semifinals in his Grand Slam main-draw debut. At No. 114, he is the lowest-ranked man to reach a major semifinal since Goran Ivanisevic at Wimbledon in 2001.

   Karatsev will face top-ranked Novak Djokovic, who outlasted sixth-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (6), for the first time.

   Djokovic, seeking his third consecutive Australian Open title and ninth overall, suffered an abdominal muscle injury in his five-set victory over Taylor Fritz in the third round.

Bay Area native reaches doubles quarters, stays perfect

     Seventh-seeded Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan outclassed 12th-seeded Hayley Carter, a native of Chattanooga, Tenn., and Luisa Stefani of Brazil 6-2, 6-4 today to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in Melbourne.

   The 5-foot-1 (1.54-meter) Aoyama, 33, Shibahara, a 22-year-old native of Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area, improved to 12-0 this year and advanced to their second Grand Slam quarterfinal. Aoyama also reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 2013 with Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa.

   Aoyama and Shibahara will face either second-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus or 16th-seeded Laura Siegemund of Germany and Vera Zvonareva of Russia.

   In the first round of mixed doubles, sixth-seeded Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Rajeev Ram, a volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley, beat Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan and Henri Kontinen of Finland 7-6 (6), 7-5.

   Krejcikova and Ram will meet Shibahara and Ben McLachlan (Cal, 2011-14), a New Zealand native who plays for his mother's native Japan. 

   Top-ranked Novak Djokovic, playing with an injured abdominal muscle, beat 14th-seeded Milos Raonic 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 to improve to 12-0 against the hard-serving Canadian. Djokovic seeks his third consecutive Australian Open singles title and ninth overall.

Bay Area native survives scare to stay perfect in doubles

   Seventh-seeded Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan beat Australian wild cards Lizette Cabrera and Maddison Inglis 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-0 today in the second round of the Australian Open in Melbourne. 

   The 5-foot-1 (1.54-meter) Aoyama, 33, and Shibahara, a 22-year-old native of Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area, improved to 11-0 this year. They won titles in Abu Dhabi last month and Melbourne last week.

   Aoyama and Shibahara are scheduled to meet 12th-seeded Hayley Carter, a native of Chattanooga, Tenn., and Luisa Stefani of Brazil on Saturday (PST) in a rematch of the Abu Dhabi final. Aoyama and Shibahara won that encounter 7-6 (5), 6-4. 

   Last year, Carter and Stefani defeated Aoyama and Shibahara 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 in the second round of the U.S. Open, and the Japanese pair gained revenge, 6-4, 7-5, in the third round of the French Open.

   Fans will be barred from the Australian Open for the next five days because of a COVID-19 outbreak in the Melbourne suburbs.

   Also today, Sharon Fichman of Canada and Giuliana Olmos, a native of Fremont in the Bay Area who plays for Mexico, beat Lucie Hradecka and Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-3 to reach the third round of doubles, together or separately, in a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

   Pliskova's twin sister, Karolina Pliskova, is ranked sixth in singles after ascending to No. 1 in 2017.

   Fichman and Olmos will meet Leylah Fernandez, an 18-year-old left-hander from Canada, and Heather Watson of Great Britain. Fernandez and Watson defeated Australian wild cards Olivia Gadecki and Belinda Woolcock 7-5, 6-2.

   In the second round of men's doubles, second-seeded Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic of Croatia dispatched Mackenzie McDonald, a 25-year-old native of Piedmont in the Bay Area, and Tommy Paul of Boca Raton, Fla., 6-1, 6-4.

   Shibahara also advanced in mixed doubles, teaming with Ben McLachlan (University of California, Berkeley, 2011-14), a New Zealand native who plays for his mother's native Japan, in a 7-6 (3), 6-4 victory over Germany's Laura Siegemund and Kevin Krawietz in the opening round.

   ATP Challenger Tour — Top-seeded Andre Goransson (Cal, 2011-14) of Sweden and David Pel of the Netherlands edged Sander Arends of the Netherlands and Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic to reach the semifinals of the €88,520 ($107,357) Cherbourg (France) Challenger. 

Bay Area native wins Melbourne doubles, moves to 9-0

   Third-seeded Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan dismissed unseeded Anna Kalinskaya of Russia  and Viktoria Kuzmova of the Slovak Republic 6-3, 6-4 in 65 minutes today to win the Yarra River Classic in Melbourne.

   The 5-foot-1 Aoyama, 33, and Shibahara, a 22-year-old native of Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area, improved to 9-0 this year. They won the Abu Dhabi title last month.

   Top-seeded Ashleigh Barty of Australia beat sixth-seeded Garbine Muguruza of Spain 7-6 (3), 6-4 for the singles title.

   Muguruza has won two Grand Slam singles titles and Barty one. Neither has won the Australian Open; noth lost to Sofia Kenin in last year's tournament, Barty in the semifinals and Muguruza in the final. 

   The Australian Open, the year's first major tournament, is scheduled to begin Sunday at 4 p.m. (ESPN in the United States). 

   Aoyama and Shibahara lost to American teenagers Coco Gauff and Caty McNally in the third round of last year's Australian Open. It was Aoyama's eighth appearance in the tournament and Shibahara's first.

   ATP Tour — Maximo Gonzalez and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina dominated 42-year-old Toshihide Matsui and Ben McLachlan (University of California, Berkeley, 2011-14) of Japan 6-2, 6-2 in the ATP Cup in Melbourne. Argentina blanked Japan 3-0 in the Group D match.

   McLachlan, a New Zealand native with a Japanese mother, and Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany reached the doubles semifinals in the 2018 Australian Open in McLachlan's tournament debut. A doubles specialist, McLachlan is 0-2 in the Australian Open since then.

Bay Area native, partner win fourth WTA doubles title

   Doubles pair Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara, who barely survived the first round, earned their fourth WTA title today.

   The fifth seeds from Japan topped eighth-seeded Hayley Carter of Hilton Head Island, S.C., and Luisa Stefani of Brazil 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the Abu Dhabi WTA Women's Tennis Open in the United Arab Emirates.

   The 5-foot-1 (1.54-meter) Aoyama, 33, and Shibahara, a 22-year-old native of Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area, escaped four match points in their 4-6, 7-5 [12-10] victory over Andrea Klepac of Slovenia and 18-year-old Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine in the opening round. 

   Aoyama and Shibahara also ousted top-seeded Hsieh Su-Wei of Chinese Taipei and Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-1 in the quarterfinals. Hsieh and Krejcikova are ranked first and seventh, respectively, in doubles.

   "It was definitely a roller coaster," Shibahara, the 2016 U.S. Open girls doubles champion with ex-UCLA teammate Jada Hart, said of the march through the draw on wtatennis.com. "There were some match points to save in our first match, and I think that really helped us through our next rounds. Even if we're down, we can come back. Even playing Su-Wei and Barbora, they're such high-level players, so we just had to take it one point at a time, and I think that really helped us.

   "For me, today was definitely tough because (Carter and Stefani) are probably my closest friends on tour, and Hayley is like my family."

   Aoyama and Shibahara, who also teamed to win St. Petersburg last year and Tianjin and Moscow in 2019, split $20,890. Carter and Stefani — former All-Americans at North Carolina and Pepperdine, respectively — shared $13,370.

   Aoyama and Shibahara will attain career highs of No. 18 (up four places) and No. 20 (up three spots), respectively.

   Fourth-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus dominated unseeded Veronika Kudermetova of Russia 6-2, 6-2 in 65 minutes for her third consecutive singles title. Sabalenka, formerly coached by longtime Northern California resident Dmitry Tursunov, ended 2020 by winning Ostrava (Czech Republic) and Linz (Austria).

   Sabalenka, 22, will improve three notches to a career-high No. 7.

   Australian Open qualifying — No. 16 seed Mayar Sherif (Fresno State, 2015-16) of Egypt routed Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 6-1, 6-2 in 68 minutes to advance to the main draw.

   Sherif, 24, earned her second main-draw berth in a Grand Slam tournament. She also qualified for the French Open last fall and lost in the opening round to second-seeded Karolina Pliskova 6-4 in the third set.

   The Australian Open is scheduled for Feb. 8-21, three weeks later than usual, at its traditional home in Melbourne.

   UTR Pro Tennis Series — Vivian Ovrootsky of San Jose, Calif., defeated Emma Sun of Newbury Park in the Los Angeles area 6-1, 6-3 in a matchup of high school juniors in a $25,000 tournament in Newport Beach, Calif. Ovrootsky, who has verbally committed to the University of Texas for 2022, finished 3-0 in Group E.

   Priya Nelson, 15, of Sacramento, Calif., beat Erica Ekstrand of Santa Monica, Calif., 5-7, 6-1, 6-0 to end up 1-2 in Group F.  Madison Weekley, a high school junior from Alamo in the the Bay Area headed to Saint Mary's in 2022 — lost to Jenna Defalco of Tustin, Calif., in the L.A. region 6-1, 6-1 to finish 0-3 in Group H.

   Katie Volynets, a 19-year-old pro from Walnut Creek in the Bay Area, is scheduled to meet Ovrootsky in the quarterfinals of the first-place playoff on Thursday. Nelson and Tomi Main (1-2) of Seaside, Calif., advanced to the quarterfinals of the third-place playoff. Weekley was eliminated.

Bay Area native helps oust top seeds in Abu Dhabi

   Fifth-seeded Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan ousted top-seeded Hsieh Su-Wei of Chinese Taipei and Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-1 today in the quarterfinals of the Abu Dhabi WTA Women's Tennis Open in the United Arab Emirates.

   Hsieh and Krejcikova are ranked No. 1 and No. 7, respectively, in women's doubles.

   The 5-foot-1 (1.54-meter) Aoyama, 33, and Shibahara, a 22-year-old native of Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area, are scheduled to play unseeded Sofia Kenin of Pembroke Pines, Fla., and Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia on Tuesday. 

   Kenin and Tomljanovic — who were born in Russia and Croatia, respectively — beat unseeded Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands and Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia 6-4, 6-4.

   In singles, ninth-seeded Maria Sakkari of Greece knocked out the top-seeded Kenin 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 in the quarterfinals. Sakkari is slated to face fourth-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus. In the other semifinal, 18-year-old Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine is set to play Veronika Kudermetova of Russia in a clash of unseeded players.  

   Australian Open qualifying — No. 16 seed Mayar Sherif (Fresno State, 2015-16) of Egypt overwhelmed Akiko Omae of Japan 6-0, 6-1 in 50 minutes in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

   Sherif is scheduled to play Grace Min of Lake Nona, Fla., on Tuesday. Min topped Harriet Dart of Great Britain 7-5, 6-2.

   The Australian Open is scheduled for Feb. 8-21, three weeks later than usual, at its traditional home in Melbourne. 

   UTR Pro Tennis Series — Katie Volynets, a 19-year-old pro from Walnut Creek in the Bay Area, defeated Brandy Walker of Brea, Calif., in the Los Angeles area 6-0, 7-5 to improve to 2-0 in Group A in a $25,000 tournament in Newport Beach, Calif. 

   Volynets is slated to meet Tomi Main, a high school junior from Seaside, Calif., headed to Texas Tech in 2022, on Tuesday. Main lost to Leyden Games, a USC signee for the fall from Irvine, Calif., 6-4, 6-3 to fall to 1-1.

   In round-robin openers:

   —Vivian Ovrootsky, a high school junior from San Jose, Calif., headed to the University of Texas in 2022, dominated Katie Codd, a high school junior from Carlsbad, Calif., in the San Diego region, 6-3, 6-1 in Group E.

   —Skyler Grishuk, 18, of Newport Beach outlasted Priya Nelson, 15, of Sacramento 7-6 (6), 0-6, 7-5 in Group F.

   —Filippa Bruu-Syversen, a UC Santa Barbara commit for the fall from Chatham, N.J., routed Madison Weekley, a Saint Mary's commit for 2022 from Alamo in the Bay Area, 6-1, 6-1 in Group H.

Kenin, Tsitsipas avenge losses to reach semis in Paris

Sofia Kenin, playing in the 2018 Berkeley (Calif.) Challenger, beat
fellow American Danielle Collins 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 today in the French
Open. Kenin had been 0-3 against Collins. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Sofia Kenin and Stefanos Tsitsipas gained revenge today to reach the French Open semifinals.

   The fourth-seeded Kenin beat unseeded Danielle Collins 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 in an all-American matchup in Paris. Collins, an Australian Open semifinalist last year, suffered from an apparent stomach ailment in the third set.

   Kenin, who won her first Grand Slam title in this year's Australian Open, had never won a set against Collins in three career meetings. 

   The fifth-seeded Tsitsipas, from Greece, outclassed 13th-seeded Andrey Rublev of Russia 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 in a clash of 22-year-old rising stars. Rublev defeated Tsitsipas 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 10 days ago in the Hamburg final.

   Both Kenin, 21, and Collins, 26, have excelled in Northern California. Kenin won Challengers in Sacramento in 2016 at 17, Stockton in 2017 and Berkeley in 2018. Collins reached the final of the inaugural (2018) Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif., on the WTA Tour.

   Rublev also is no stranger to NorCal. He lost to former world No. 2 Tommy Haas in the first round of the 2015 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger at 17.

   Kenin will face seventh-seeded Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic on Thursday after the 6 a.m. (PDT) semifinal between unseeded Iga Swiatek, 19, of Poland and qualifier Nadia Podoroska of Argentina (Tennis Channel).

   Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion and a French Open semifinalist in 2012, dismissed unseeded Laura Siegemund, who won the U.S. Open doubles crown with Vera Zvonareva last month, 6-3, 6-3. 

   Kvitova, a 30-year-old left-hander, is 2-0 (1-0 on clay) against Kenin. Kvitova suffered career-threatening cuts to her left hand in a December 2016 attack at her home in the Czech Republic and missed more than four months.

   Tsitsipas, a semifinalist in last year's Australian Open, will take on top-ranked Novak Djokovic, who won the 2016 French Open to complete a career Grand Slam, on Friday. 

   Djokovic defeated 17th-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 in a rematch of their infamous fourth-round encounter in the U.S. Open last month. Djokovic was defaulted after losing his serve to trail 5-6 in the first set and accidentally hitting a line judge in the throat with a ball in anger. It's the 33-year-old Serb's only loss in 37 matches this year.

   Djokovic, who's right-handed with a two-handed backhand, played today with tape on his neck to address a nagging problem and took a medical timeout for a left-arm issue after losing the first set.

   "I definitely didn't feel great coming onto the court today," Djokovic said on atptour.com. "I don't want to take away anything from his good performance. Especially for a set and a half, he was the better player, dictating play. I was very neutral.

   "I didn't have much energy really ... in my legs or movement or game itself. It took me about a set and a half to really get comfortable and start really playing the way I should."

   Countered Carreno Busta: "Every time the (match) gets complicated, he asks for medical assistance. He has been doing this for a long time. I knew what would happen at the U.S. Open, what would happen here and what will continue to happen."

   Djokovic is 3-2 (1-0 on clay) against Tsitsipas with straight-set victories in their last two meetings, both on hardcourts.

   In the women's doubles quarterfinals, 14th-seeded Alexa Guarachi of Chile and Desirae Krawczyk of the United States eliminated seventh-seeded Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan 6-0, 6-4.

   Each player except Aoyama was born in the U.S. and played in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. Shibahara, 22, was born in Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area and starred at UCLA. 

   Guarachi and Krawczyk — former standouts at Alabama and Arizona State, respectively — were coming off a straight-set victory over top-seeded Hsieh Su-Wei of Chinese Taipei and Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic.

   Krawczyk won the doubles title in the 2017 Sacramento (Calif.) Challenger with Giuliana Olmos, a product of Fremont in the Bay Area who plays for Mexico.

   In the third round of boys singles, seventh-seeded Dominic Stephan Stricker of Switzerland beat ninth-seeded Arthur Fery, a Stanford freshman from Great Britain, 6-4, 6-3.

   Fery and compatriot Felix Gill outplayed Dev Javia of India and Li Hanwen of China 7-5, 6-2 in the second round of doubles.

Bay Area native falls in Strasbourg doubles semifinals

   Top-seeded Nicole Melichar, a Czech-born American, and Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands beat third-seeded Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan 6-2, 7-6 (3) today in the semifinals of the Internationaux de Strasbourg.

   Shibahara, 22, was born in Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area and starred at UCLA. 

   Melichar and Schuurs are scheduled to play fourth-seeded Hayley Carter of Hilton Head Island, S.C., and Luisa Stefani of Brazil, on Saturday for the title. 

   Carter and Stefani — former standouts at North Carolina and Pepperdine, respectively — eliminated second-seeded Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday.

   Aoyama and Shibahara reached the final of the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif., a 20-minute drive from Mountain View, last August. The unseeded pair lost to top-seeded Melichar and Kveta Peschke, who was 44 at the time, 6-4, 6-4.

   Carter and Shibahara won the $60,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger in 2018, edging American Quinn Gleason and Stefani 7-5, 5-7 [10-7].

Zheng wins San Jose with a lot of help from her friend

Champion Zheng Saisai, middle, and members of the San Jose State football
team pose in front of Spartan statues. The university's football stadium is next
to the site of the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic. Photo by Mal Taam

   SAN JOSE, Calif. – After a strong start to the clay-court season in the spring, Zheng Saisai thought she was on her way.
   Instead, the 25-year-old Chinese player lost six of her next seven matches on clay and grass. She arrived in San Jose with first-round losses in her last four tournaments. Granted, three of the four came against top-16 players, and the other was against 35-year-old Samantha Stosur, who has won seven Grand Slam titles (one in singles, three in women's doubles and three in mixed doubles).
   But after a conversation with her best friend, the unseeded Zheng (pronounced Jung) knocked off four consecutive seeds in the second annual Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic, which launches the hardcourt U.S. Open series, en route to her first WTA singles title. In Sunday's final, Zheng toppled second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 6-3, 7-6 (3).
   Zheng also:
   –Demolished eighth-seeded Danielle Collins, an American who reached last year's semifinals in San Jose, 6-2, 6-0 in the second round.
   –Outlasted 17-year-old American Amanda Anisimova, the fourth seed who reached the French Open semifinals in June, 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 in the quarterfinals in the longest match of the tournament (2 hours, 52 minutes).
   –Frustrated seventh-seeded Maria Sakkari, last year's runner-up from Greece, 7-6 (5), 6-2 in the semifinals.
   "Before, I wasn't (playing) this well," Zheng, who pocketed $151,070 in her second career WTA final to surpass $3 million in career earnings, said after the final. "After Wimbledon, I (was) back in China. My best friend (Ng Kwan-yau, a 22-year-old player from Hong Kong) tell me, 'You know, Saisai, when you are calm and not so emotional, you can use your brain. You will play your best tennis. But she doesn't see that last few months. Then I realized, OK, I probably (feel) too much pressure, too much expectation. This week, I start to enjoy and don't think (about) the result and play each point.
   "I really want to thank her. I was losing a lot, and I realized (feeling pressure) is a problem. I fixed it this week, and it turns out good."

Zheng Saisai used her outstanding movement to upset top-10 player Aryna Saba-
lenka in Sunday's final. Photo by Mal Taam

   Zheng recorded her fifth victory over a top-10 player and became the first Chinese singles champion in the 49-year history of the San Francisco Bay Area stop on the WTA tour, the longest-running women's professional tournament in the world. She won the doubles title in the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford with compatriot Xu Yifan and earned the first of her first 302 main-draw singles victories on the WTA tour at Stanford in 2012.
   Both Zheng and Sabalenka, 21, equaled their career highs in today's new weekly world rankings. Zheng jumped 17 places to No. 38, and Sabalenka improved one spot to No. 9.
   Sunday's final matched the 5-foot-7 (1.70-meter) Zheng's outstanding movement and consistency against the 5-foot-11 (1.82-meter) Sabalenka's tremendous power. Zheng prevailed by mixing up her shots and keeping the ball in play until Sabalenka made an error.
   "Obviously, you don't want to play fast, fast, fast with her," said Zheng, who improved to 2-0 against Sabalenka. "She the best (at) this. The tactic is (to) put the ball deep, and whenever I see space, let her run and change (the pace) if I can (with) slice or high ball. If I give her same ball, she will hit winner from any corner, so I was just trying to mix it up.
   "I was focused. I wasn't overthinking anything. I (told myself) this is not a final; this is a normal match. Just enjoy."

Aryna Sabalenka said she was "freaking out" against Zheng Saisai. Photo by
Mal Taam

   Sabalenka sounded much like the 5-foot-8 (1.72) Sakkari, another hard hitter, after losing to Zheng.
   When asked what went wrong, Sabalenka said "everything – my game, my reaction, my backhand, forehand, serve, tactic (in) the match. Emotional side was really ... I was freaking out. I couldn't do anything today with myself. I couldn't control my emotions. I was screaming some s---. I was throwing the racket, always speaking with my team trying to get something from them, but actually it was in my head. They couldn't do anything, but I was looking to them like, Tell me something that's going to help me come back in this match because she's like crazy player. She's going for crazy (moonballs), then slice, then flat backhand, and you always have to adjust for the ball.
   "Yesterday's match (against Donna Vekic) was kind of like flat (shots), but here it was completely different game. I just wasn't ready for this match. This is my mistake. I knew her game – we watched her a little bit – but still it wasn't enough to actually play."
   Zheng's high balls were particularly effective.
   "Her game destroy me because I couldn't use my power," said Sabalenka, who lost in the first round of qualifying in San Jose last year to Maria Sanchez, a Modesto, Calif., product ranked No. 258, after leading 6-2, 5-3. "I wasn't ready for that. In practice, I work a lot on these shots, and I know how to play, but I never actually played against those kind of players. Probably I have to work a little bit more on this game."
   Sabalenka committed eight double faults, including one on Zheng's first championship point, and struggled to return Zheng's modest serve, repeatedly slugging not only first but second serves out.
   Sabalenka was playing in her first final since winning her third career WTA singles title in Shenzhen, China, in the first week of the year. She had the same problem with pressure on Sunday that Zheng solved.
   "Of course, I wanted to do well," said Sabalenka, who collected $80,500 to top $3.5 million for her career. "That's why I (had) a lot of emotions on the court. Next time, if I will be a little bit relaxed on the court, just enjoy, probably things can happen different direction. The main thing is I just need to be calm on the court and play my tennis and don't care about anything else."

Forty-four-year-old Kveta Peschke, left, won her second consecutive San Jose
doubles title, this time with Nicole Melichar. Photo by Mal Taam

   Sabalenka's coach, former top-20 player Dmitry Tursunov, praised Zheng and said his protege needs to be more patient.
   "(Sabalenka) didn't play well, for sure, but the main thing is her opponent managed to make her not play well," said Tursunov, who moved alone from his native Moscow to Los Altos in the San Francisco Bay Area at 12 to train and owns a townhouse in the Sacramento suburb of Folsom that he rents out. "Watching that match, I kept thinking of a (Fabrice) Santoro-(Marat) Safin matchup where Safin was losing his mind. It's a tough matchup. For Aryna, these types of opponents will always create problems. You have to really know how to play them and develop your game in such a way where you can stay in points long enough to earn an opportunity to attack.
   "Right now, definitely, there (are) too many premature attacks, and (there's) chaotic behavior on the court. It's part of the growing process. It's kind of a David and Goliath matchup where you have to really develop your game to be able to maybe not use so much power, maybe use a little more finesse and develop the point versus trying to just win it outright."
   Santoro, a 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) Frenchman, reached career highs of No. 17 in singles in 2001 and No. 6 in doubles in 1999. He was 7-2 against the 6-foot-4 (1.93-meter) Safin, Tursunov's teammate on Russia's 2006 Davis Cup championship team who was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2016.
   After Sabalenka held serve for 3-4 in the first set Sunday, Zheng reeled off four straight games to lead 2-0 in the second set. Sabalenka then won three games in a row, breaking Zheng twice, to get back in the match. But Sabalenka double-faulted twice in the next game, including on break point, for 3-3.
   Both players then held serve to send the set into a tiebreaker. Zheng raced to a 4-1 lead (one mini-break) with the help of two Sabalenka errors. With Zheng leading 5-3, Sabalenka sailed a forehand return of an 80-mph (128.8-kilometer) first serve long to give Zheng her first championship point. After Sabalenka missed her first serve, Zheng stood several feet inside the baseline to receive the second delivery, which Sabalenka netted. Sabalenka then slammed her racket on the court, picked it up and flung it at her chair.
   Ng, of course, isn't the only one who has helped Zheng.
   "I want to thank Alan (Ma, the head coach of the Star River Professional Tennis Club in Guangzhou, China)," Zheng said."He always support me. He the one believe in me from the beginning. He's saying I'm going to be good. Even I don't know if I'm going to be good or if I'm going to go pro, but he tell me, 'You're going to be good. You just keep going.' I really want to thank him."
   Zheng wasn't finished.
   "One more. I want to thank my mom," Zheng added, eliciting a  big laugh from the media. "She's the one bring me to play tennis, always support me, believe in me. Whenever tough moments, she will say, 'If you don't want to play, OK, let's go back.' You always know someone is there. It's a lot of love."
   No pun intended.
   Earlier Sunday, 44-year-old Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic won her second consecutive San Jose doubles title, this time with 26-year-old Nicole Melichar, a Czech-born American. The top-seeded pair beat unseeded Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan 6-4, 6-4. Peschke won last year's title with Latisha Chan of Taiwan.
   Here are the complete San Jose singles and doubles draws.
   Here are the singles qualifying draw, singles main draw, doubles main draw and Tuesday's schedule in the $81,240 Nordic Naturals Challenger at the Seascape Sports Club in Aptos, Calif., a one-hour drive south of San Jose on the Pacific Ocean. In its 32nd year, the tournament is the longest-running men's Challenger in the United States. It's being streamed live.

Harris thrives, Brengle survives in windy Stockton finals

Fourth-seeded Lloyd Harris, right, of South Africa beat eighth-seeded
Marc Polmans of Australia 6-2, 6-2 today to win the $100,000 Stockton
(Calif.) Pro Open. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Note to readers: If you enjoy my coverage of Northern California tennis, please donate on my homepage. Even $5 or $10 will help. Here's why I need your support. Thank you.
   STOCKTON, Calif. — Lloyd Harris didn't just beat Marc Polmans today.
   Harris also defeated Mother Nature, quite a feat considering all the damage she is doing around the world with increasing frequency.
   The 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) South African continued his remarkable rise this year with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Australia's Polmans in a matchup of 21-year-old friends to win the $100,000 Stockton Pro Open.
   Despite wind gusts that plagued the final for the second consecutive year at the University of the Pacific's Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center, Harris held serve throughout the match.
   "Before the match, I knew it was going to be tricky, so I just got myself in a positive mindset to expect anything and very difficult points," the fourth-seeded Harris said. "I was just mentally ready for it to be very difficult out there. I found my game somehow in the wind, and that was just amazing for me."

   Top-seeded Madison Brengle of Dover, Del., won the women's $60,000 tournament, topping unseeded Danielle Lao of Arcadia in the Los Angeles area 7-5, 7-6 (10). Lao, only 5-foot-2 1/2 (1.59 meters) and 115 pounds (52.2 kilograms), had one set point in the first set and four in the second-set tiebreaker.

Lloyd Harris held his serve throughout the final, saving
three break points against him. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Harris defeated Polmans for the first time in three career matches and pocketed $14,400 for the second and biggest Challenger title of his career. He won a $75,000 tournament in Lexington, Ky., in August and reached the final of the $100,000 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger the following week.
   Two weeks after Aptos, Harris qualified for a Grand Slam tournament in only his third attempt, losing in the first round of the U.S. Open to veteran Gilles Simon in straight sets.
   Harris last week qualified for a tournament on the ATP World Tour, the major leagues of men's tennis, for the third time and shocked Gael Monfils in the opening round in Chengdu, China, for his first ATP victory. Harris then lost to eventual champion Bernard Tomic in a third-set tiebreaker.
   Both Simon and Monfils are Frenchmen who have been ranked as high as No. 6.
   With the Stockton title, Harris rose eight places to a career-high No. 113, up from No. 340 on Feb. 26. Polmans, who collected $8,480, almost has mirrored Harris' year. Ranked No. 323 at the beginning of 2018, he improved 14 spots to a career-high No. 147 by reaching the Stockton final.
   The eighth-seeded Polmans lost his serve in the opening game of each set, the first time when Harris returned a second delivery with an explosive passing shot and the second time on a double fault.
   "Those first games in the first and second set were pretty crucial to try to get in front on the scoreboard and maybe put a bit more pressure on him," admitted Polmans, who moved from his native South Africa to Australia when he was 10. "I think that was a very important key to the match. Hopefully next time I can come out with a better start, and that's something I've got to improve on."

Top-seeded Madison Brengle topped unseeded
Danielle Lao 7-5, 7-6 (10) in an all-American
final. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Harris also broke for 5-2 in the first set when Polmans netted a backhand and for 4-1 in the second set on another big return of a second serve.
   "I definitely played the important points very well, and I think I served a lot better than him in the wind," said Harris, who lost his serve only once in his five matches during the week. "Those were some of the keys to my success today."
   Harris won 71 percent of the points on his second serve (17 of 24) to only 37 percent (7 of 19) for the 6-foot-2 (1.88-meter) Polmans and saved all three break points against him.
   "Lloyd had a really good day today," conceded Polmans, who reached the doubles semifinals in the 2017 Australian Open with Aussie Andrew Whittington and won a preposterous 24 consecutive singles matches (mostly at the lower Futures level) in Australia early this year. "He was returning well and wasn't giving me too many cheap points. It just came down to a few points, and Lloyd was able to play a lot better on the big points. It was still a great week, so I'm not too disappointed."
   Of today's four singles finalists, Harris was the only one who didn't struggle in the wind. The women's final featured 15 service breaks, including six straight entering the second-set tiebreaker.
   The 5-foot-6 (1.68-meter) Brengle converted her second match point when Lao, who had taken a medical timeout for a lower back problem early in the second set, sliced a backhand long.

Danielle Lao wore down after a tough
trip to the final. Photo by Paul Bauman

 Brengle, 28, was much fresher than Lao, 27, for the final.
   After beating Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway 6-4, 7-5 in the first round, Brengle averaged only 68 minutes on the court in her three matches before the final.
   Lao, meanwhile, spent 4 hours, 42 minutes on the court on Thursday alone in two victories after  her first-round match, scheduled for Wednesday, had been postponed by rain.
   Lao then routed 16-year-old phenom Whitney Osuigwe 6-2, 6-0 in 1 hour, 30 minutes on Friday and ousted second-seeded Jessica Pegula 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 in 1 hour, 57 minutes on Saturday.
   "I'm a little banged up right now," Lao, a former USC All-American nicknamed the "Little Giant," admitted after the final. "I think the first day with two matches started to add up, and yesterday night after the tough Pegula match, my back was stiffening up. Thankfully, it loosened up during warmup, but playing in the wind, you reach for a lot of shots, and it stiffened up midway through. Playing someone like Madison, I don't think you can have anything like that limit you, especially when you have to move and adjust a lot in these tough conditions. It's unfortunate, but it's part of the sport."
   Brengle, who improved to 2-1 against Lao, refused to talk to a reporter who had asked about her lawsuit against the WTA and International Tennis Federation on Wednesday. After initially declining to discuss the matter with the reporter, she cooperated and then complained to the tournament supervisor.

Madison Brengle won her third ITF singles title this year and
the 13th of her career. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Brengle, ranked a career-high No. 35 in 2015, rose seven notches to No. 88. She earned $9,119 for her third ITF singles title this year and the 13th of her career.
   Lao, who has qualified for the last two U.S. Opens, improved 24 places to No. 194, one spot below her career high last year. She received $4,863 after appearing in her first final above a $25,000 tournament.
   "New territory," Lao said. "Hopefully I can do a little better next time."
   In the women's doubles final, Hayley Carter of Hilton Head, S.C., and Ena Shibahara of Rancho Palos Verdes in the Los Angeles region edged Quinn Gleason of Mendon, N.Y., and Luisa Stefani of Brazil 7-5, 5-7 [10-7]. Both teams were unseeded.
   Here are the completed Stockton men's singles and doubles draws and women's singles and doubles draws.
   Here are the singles qualifying and main draws, doubles draw and Monday's schedule in the $100,000 Northbay Healthcare Men's Pro Championship at Solano Community College in Fairfield, Calif. The tournament is being streamed live.

Gibbs receives WTA honor; Bryans end title drought

Former Stanford All-American Nicole Gibbs,
playing in Indian Wells recently, was voted
the WTA Breakthrough Performer of the
Month for March. Photo by Paul Bauman

   It was a good week for former Stanford All-Americans.

   The WTA announced on Friday that fans had voted Nicole Gibbs as the Breakthrough Performer of the Month for March, and Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan won their sixth Houston title on Saturday. 

   Gibbs, who turned 23 on March 3, reached the quarterfinals in Monterrey as a qualifier, the fourth round in Indian Wells as a qualifier and the third round in Miami to improve to a career-high No. 71 in the rankings.

   Gibbs upset two top-30 players during March, No. 24 Madison Keys in Indian Wells and No. 29 Kristina Mladenovic in Miami.

   Gibbs also pushed No. 9 Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion, to 6-4 in the third set in Indian Wells but was drubbed by No. 4 Garbine Muguruza 6-1, 6-0 in Miami.

   The top-seeded Bryan twins, who will turn 38 on April 29, edged unseeded Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic and Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico 4-6, 6-3 [10-8] in the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship.

   "It was a battle from the first point to the last, but we feel like we played our best tennis down the stretch," Bob Bryan said on atpworldtour.com. "It's nice to pull out some close wins after losing a few tight matches to start the season. We're looking forward to building momentum through the clay-court season."

   The Bryans ended their title drought at 12 tournaments since winning Montreal last August, made Houston the third tournament they have won at least six times (along with the Australian Open and now-defunct Los Angeles) and captured their 110th title overall.

   "It feels great to get over the hump and win number 110 after a bit of a drought," Mike Bryan said. "There's no better place to do it than in Houston, where we've enjoyed so much success and had unbelievable fan support. Thanks to the River Oaks Country Club and its members for another fantastic tournament."

   Easter Bowl in Indian Wells -- Elysia Bolton of Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., and Chiara Lommer of Skokie, Ill., beat Michaela Gordon of Saratoga and Ena Shibahara of Rancho Palos Verdes 6-1, 5-7 [10-6] in the girls 18 doubles semifinals. Both teams were unseeded.