Quinn loses in Orange Bowl doubles final; Ahn honored

    No. 7 seeds Edas Butvilas of Lithuania and Abedallah Shelbayh of Jordan, beat unseeded Nicholas Godsick of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and Ethan Quinn of Fresno, Calif., 6-2, 6-4 today to win the boys 18 doubles title in the Orange Bowl on clay in Plantation, Fla.

   Butvilas and Shelbayh, opponents in this year's Wimbledon boys doubles final, lost only one set during the week. They reached the quarterfinals of last week's Eddie Herr International Championships in Bradenton, Fla., in their first tournament together.

   Shelbayh is a freshman at the University of Florida, and Quinn has signed to play at Georgia.

   Godsick and Quinn won the Orange Bowl boys 16 doubles title last year. Shelbayh and Daniel Rincon of Spain earned the crown in 2019.

Stanford graduate Kristie Ahn won the WTA's Peachy Kellmeyer Player
Service Award for the second time. 2019 photo by Paul Bauman

   Godsick's mother, Mary Joe Fernandez, won consecutive Orange Bowl singles titles in the 12s, 14s, 16s and 18s (1982-85). A former top-five player in singles and doubles as a professional, Fernandez works as a tennis commentator for ESPN. Godsick's father, Tony Godsick, is Roger Federer's agent.

   WTA Tour — Kristie Ahn, a 29-year-old Stanford graduate, won the Peachy Kellmeyer Player Service Award for the second time.

   The award, voted on by Ahn's peers, recognizes her work supporting fellow players and wider initiatives on behalf of the WTA. Ahn serves as a player representative on the WTA Board of Directors and was a member of the WTA Players' Council.

   Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain earned the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award. Suarez Navarro overcame Hodgkin's lymphoma to play in five tournaments this year before retiring at 33.

   Ranked as high as No. 6 in singles (2016) and No. 11 in doubles (2015), Suarez Navarro won the doubles title in the 2014 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in 2014 with compatriot Garbiñe Muguruza.

Barty voted Player of Year; Stanford commit ousted

Ashleigh Barty won Wimbledon and, for the third consecutive season, ended the
year at No. 1 . 2019 photo by Harjanto Sumali

   International journalists voted Ashleigh Barty as the WTA Player of the Year for the second time, the organization announced Monday.

   Barty, a 25-year-old Australian, won her second Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon, led all players with five singles titles and ended the year at No. 1 for the third consecutive season.

   Also winning awards were Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova (Doubles Team of the Year), Krejcikova (Most Improved Player), Emma Raducanu (Newcomer of the Year) and Carla Suarez Navarro (Comeback Player of the Year). 

   Krejcikova and Siniakova, Czechs who also were voted as the Doubles Team of the Year in 2018, won their third Grand Slam crown in the French Open and triumphed in the WTA Finals. Siniakova finished the year at No. 1.

   Krejcikova won the first three singles titles of her career, including the French Open, and soared from No. 65 to No. 5 in the year-end rankings.

   Raducanu, now 19, of Great Britain became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam tournament in the U.S. Open. She did not drop a set in her 10 matches.

   Raducanu, ranked No. 343 at the beginning of 2021, ended the year at No. 19. She lost in the first round in San Jose after, at age 18, becoming the youngest British woman to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon.

   Suarez Navarro, from Spain, overcame Hodgkin's lymphoma to play in five tournaments before retiring at 33. She won only one match, against current No. 10 Ons Jabeur in the first round of the Tokyo Olympics, but extended Sloane Stephens and Barty to three sets at the French Open and Wimbledon, respectively.

   Suarez Navarro captured the doubles title in the 2014 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford with compatriot Garbiñe Muguruza.

   ATP Tour — Northern California products Mackenzie McDonald and Jenson Brooksby were nominated for Comeback Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year, respectively. Results of the playing voting will be announced this month.

   Both players skyrocketed to the top 60 in the rankings, reached their first ATP final and advanced to the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament. McDonald underwent hamstring surgery in June 2019.

   Juniors — No. 1 seed Samir Banerjee, a Stanford commit from Basking Ridge, N.J., and No. 14 seed Ethan Quinn, a Georgia signee from Fresno, Calif., lost in the first round of the Orange Bowl boys 18-and-unders on clay in Plantation, Fla.

   Switzerland's Kilian Feldbausch, the runner-up in last week's Eddie Herr International Championships in Bradenton, Fla., ousted Banerjee, the reigning Wimbledon boys singles champion, 6-3, 6-2. Henrique Rocha of Portugal edged Quinn 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (4).

   Michael Zheng, a Stanford commit from Montville, N.J., advanced with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Alvaro Guillen Meza of Ecuador. Zheng reached the Eddie Herr doubles final with Benjamin Kittay of Potomac, Md.

   In other opening-round matches:

   —Rebecca Munk Mortensen of Denmark topped No. 16 seed Alexis Blokhina, a Stanford signee from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in the girls 18s. 

   —No. 15 seed George Lazarov of Bulgaria defeated wild card Rudy Quan of Sacramento, Calif., 7-5, 6-3 in the boys 16s. Quan won the Eddie Herr 16s.

   —Adhithya Ganesan of Clarksburg, Md., and Quan beat Gevorg Mnatsakanyan of Gaithersburg, Md., and Jonathan Soeth of Great Britain 6-2, 6-2 in the boys 16s.

Sakkari stages stunning comeback, ousts top seed in S.J.

Maria Sakkari, playing in the final of last year's inaugural Mubadala Silicon Valley
Classic in San Jose, rallied from a big deficit and saved four match points to stun
top-seeded Elina Svitolina in Friday's quarterfinals. Photo by Mal Taam

   Maria Sakkari made a dramatic comeback on Friday to stun top-seeded Elina Svitolina in the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic.
   After trailing 6-1, 5-2, the seventh-seeded Sakkari saved four match points in a 1-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory in the quarterfinals of the second annual tournament at San Jose State.
   The 30th-ranked Sakkari, last year's runner-up in San Jose, also lost her serve in the first game of the third set but immediately broke back. She broke again to lead 4-2.
   "My coach came in, and he said, 'If you did it once in Rabat (where she beat Johanna Konta from a set and a break down in the final on clay in early May), you can do it again,' " Sakkari, 24, of Greece said on wtatennis.com.
   Svitolina, ranked seventh, last month became the first Ukrainian woman to reach the Wimbledon semifinals, her best performance in a Grand Slam tournament.
   Sakkari is scheduled to play unseeded Zheng Saisai of China today at 2 p.m. (Tennis Channel). Zheng, ranked No. 55, surprised fourth-seeded Amanda Anisimova, 17, of Aventura, Fla., 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 in 2 hours, 52 minutes on Friday night to reach the biggest semifinal of her career.
   Anisimova won her first professional title at 15 in the 2017 Sacramento Challenger and in June stunned defending champion Simona Halep to become the youngest American woman to reach the French Open semifinals since 14-year-old Jennifer Capriati in 1990.
   Sakkari and Zheng, 25, have split two matches, both in 2016.
   In the other semifinal, second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus will face fifth-seeded Donna Vekic of Croatia at 7 p.m. (Tennis Channel).
   Sabalenka, 21, outlasted sixth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 during the day session.
   Sabalenka is coached by former top-20 player Dmitry Tursunov, a Moscow native who moved alone to the San Francisco Bay Area at 12 to train and was based in the Sacramento area for most of his professional career.
   Suarez Navarro won the doubles title in the 2014 Bank of the West Classic at nearby Stanford with countrywoman Garbine Muguruza, who last week withdrew from the Silicon Valley Classic for the second consecutive year because of an injury.
   Vekic, 23, eliminated U.S. qualifier Kristie Ahn, a 27-year-old Stanford graduate, 7-5, 6-0. Ahn ousted third-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium in the second round for her first victory over a top-20 player.
   The 26th-ranked Vekic is 3-0 against the 10th-ranked Sabalenka, all on hardcourts. They last met in 2017.
   In the doubles quarterfinals, unseeded Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan beat third-seeded Lyudmyla Kichenok and Nadiia Kichenok, 27-year-old twins from Ukraine and last year's runners-up, 6-1, 6-4.
   Shibahara, a 21-year-old native of Rancho Palos Verdes in the Los Angeles area who starred at UCLA, won the Stockton (Calif.) doubles title with Haley Carter last October.
   After tonight's singles match, International Tennis Hall of Famers Andy Roddick and Michael Chang and former top-10 players James Blake and Mark Philippoussis will compete in a one-night, single-elimination tournament. Each match will be one set.
   Here are the San Jose singles and doubles draws and today's schedule.

Keys, Osaka gain U.S. Open semis; Nishikori tops Cilic

Madison Keys poses with a stuffed grizzly bear after
winning last year's Bank of the West Classic at Stan-
ford. Grizzly bears are the state animal of California.
Photo by Mal Taam 

   Note to readers: If you enjoy my coverage of Northern California tennis, please donate on my homepage. Here's why I need your support. Thank you.
   All four women who played today in the U.S. Open quarterfinals made splashes in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
   No. 14 seed Madison Keys of Boca Raton, Fla., beat No. 30 Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-4, 6-3 on another sultry day in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., after No. 20 Naomi Osaka of Japan overwhelmed lethargic Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-1, 6-1 in 57 minutes. Tsurenko told reporters afterward that she woke up today with a viral illness.
   Osaka, 20, became the youngest U.S. Open semifinalist since Caroline Wozniacki in 2010 and the first Japanese woman to reach a Grand Slam semifinal since Kimiko Date lost to Steffi Graf in three sets at Wimbledon in 1996.
   Keys won the last singles title in the Bank of the West Classic in 2017, and Suarez Navarro teamed with compatriot Garbine Muguruza to earn the 2014 doubles crown at Stanford.
   Osaka's first big win came four years ago in the Bank of the West Classic. As a 16-year-old qualifier playing her first main-draw match on the WTA tour, she ousted 2011 U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur 4-6, 7-6 (7), 7-5 in the opening round. Osaka saved a match point in the tiebreaker and overcame a 3-5 deficit in the third set. She then fell to No. 8 seed Andrea Petkovic.
   Tsurenko lost to Keys in the Stanford quarterfinals last year. The tournament moved to nearby San Jose under a new sponsor, Mubadala, this year.
   In Thursday's first semifinal (4 p.m. PDT on ESPN), No. 17 Serena Williams will meet No. 19 Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia for the first time. Then Keys, who was routed by close friend Sloane Stephens in last year's U.S. Open final, will face Osaka.
   Keys is 3-0 against Osaka, including a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (3) victory in the third round of the 2016 U.S. Open in their initial meeting.
   Williams, who has a residence in Silicon Valley, won the last of her six U.S. Open singles crowns four years ago. The three-time Bank of the West singles champion (2011, 2012 and 2014) can tie Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles. 
   In a men's quarterfinal today, No. 21 seed Kei Nishikori of Japan outlasted No. 7 Marin Cilic of Croatia 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4 in 4 hours, 8 minutes. Nishikori, who trailed 2-4 in the second set, avenged a 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 loss to Cilic in the 2014 U.S. Open final.
   Nishikori will take on No. 6 Novak Djokovic, a two-time U.S. Open champion, on Friday. Djokovic eliminated unseeded John Millman of Australia 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
   Millman, who has won two Northern California Challengers (Sacramento in 2010 and Aptos in 2015) and reached the final of another (Tiburon in 2014), was coming off a stunning victory over Roger Federer.
   Djokovic, 31, is 14-2 against Nishikori, 28, with a 13-match winning streak.

Naomi Osaka recorded her first big win as a 16-year-old
qualifier in the 2014 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   Also Friday, No. 1 seed Rafael Nadal, the defending and three-time champion, will face No. 3 Juan Martin del Potro, who upset Federer for the 2009 U.S. Open title.
   Nadal, 32, is 11-5 against del Potro, who will turn 30 on Sept. 23. In their last meeting, Nadal prevailed 7-5, 6-7 (7), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in 4 hours, 28 minutes in the Wimbledon quarterfinals in July.
   Del Potro and Nishikori played in the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose. Del Potro reached the quarterfinals as the second seed in 2009 in his only appearance in the tournament. Nishikori lost in the second round in all three of his appearances (2008, 2009 and 2011). Brad Gilbert of San Rafael in the San Francisco Bay Area coached him in 2011.
   In the men's doubles quarterfinals today, No. 3 seeds Mike Bryan (Stanford, 1997-98) and Jack Sock of the United States beat Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina and Nicolas Jarry of Chile 6-4, 7-6 (3).
   Bryan and Sock, the reigning Wimbledon champions, are scheduled to play No. 5 seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah of Colombia on Thursday. Cabal and Farah, the Australian Open runners-up this year, defeated No. 15 Rohan Bopanna of India and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 6-3, 6-4.
    Two Northern California juniors were eliminated from the U.S. Open.
   Keenan Mayo, 18, of Roseville in the Sacramento area lost to No. 4 seed Nicolas Mejia of Colombia 6-3, 6-3 in the second round. And in the second round of girls doubles, Hailey Baptiste and Dalayna Hewitt topped fellow Americans Natasha Subhash and Katie Volynets, a 15-year-old resident of Walnut Creek in the Bay Area, 6-4, 7-6 (6).

Millman, who has starred in NorCal, shocks Federer

Australian John Millman, shown en route to the title in the 2015
Aptos (Calif.) Challenger, stunned Roger Federer in four sets to-
night in the fourth round of the U.S. Open. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Note to readers: If you enjoy my coverage of Northern California tennis, please donate on my homepage. Here's why I need your support. Thank you.
   Roger Federer appeared to be on his way to a routine victory over an unseeded opponent.
   But John Millman had other ideas.
   In what ESPN commentator Patrick McEnroe called "one of the biggest upsets in tennis history," the 55th-ranked Millman defeated the second-seeded Federer 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3) tonight in the fourth round of the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   Federer, who has won a record 20 Grand Slam singles titles, had two set points on his serve for a two-sets-to-none lead. 
   Millman, a 29-year-old Australian who trained with Federer for this year's grass-court season, was playing in the fourth round of a major for the first time. He had been 0-10 against top-10 players.
   "I'm probably in a little bit of disbelief," Millman said in an on-court interview after the three-hour, 34-minute battle at Arthur Ashe Stadium that ended shortly before 1 a.m. (EDT) Tuesday. "I have so much respect for Roger and what he's done for the game. He's been a hero of mine. He definitely was not at his best tonight ... but I'll take it."
   Federer committed 10 double faults, converted only 49 percent of his first serves and had 77 unforced errors against 65 winners.
   Both players' shirts were drenched in the 83 percent humidity, but the conditions hurt the 37-year-old Federer more. A retractable roof over the stadium was completed two years ago.
   "I just thought it was very hot tonight," Federer said after losing to an unseeded player in the U.S. Open for the first time. "(It) was just one of those nights where I guess I felt I couldn't get air. There was no circulation at all. For some reason, I just struggled in the conditions tonight. It's one of the first times it's happened to me. John dealt with it better than me. He comes from one of most humid places on earth, Brisbane."
   Millman, meanwhile, played brilliantly after overcoming his nerves.
   "I felt like a deer in the headlights to begin with," said Millman, who finished with eight aces, only one double fault, 47 winners and 28 unforced errors. "My feet were not moving, and Roger was moving me around the court. Then I found my feet, and I started to be more aggressive. I started serving really well and capitalized on Roger having an off-serving day."
   Millman, a fitness fanatic and consummate professional who has been hampered by injuries (especially shoulder) during his career, has won two Northern California Challengers (Sacramento in 2010 and Aptos in 2015) and reached the final of another (Tiburon in 2014).
   Millman will add at least $475,000 (not counting $8,250 for losing in the first round of men's doubles) to his career earnings of $1,853,718. He will take on No. 6 seed and two-time U.S. Open champion Novak Djokovic, a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 winner over Joao Sousa of Portugal, on Wednesday.
   Djokovic routed Millman 6-2, 6-1 in 65 minutes on grass at Queen's Club in London in June in their only previous meeting. In his next tournament, Djokovic won Wimbledon for the fourth time.
   In another men's quarterfinal at Flushing Meadows, No. 7 seed Marin Cilic will meet No. 21 Kei Nishikori in a rematch of the 2014 U.S. Open final. Cilic, the champion four years ago with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 victory, and Nishikori advanced with straight-set victories.
   The 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) Nishikori leads the head-to-head series 7-4, but the 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Cilic has won three of the last four encounters.
   In the women's draw, two former champions of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, one in singles and one in doubles, will meet in the quarterfinals.
   No. 14 Madison Keys, who won the Bank of the West singles title and reached the U.S. Open final last year, dismissed No. 29 Dominika Cibulkova, the 2013 Stanford singles champion, 6-1, 6-3.
   And No. 30 Carla Suarez Navarro, who took the 2014 Stanford doubles crown with fellow Spaniard Garbine Muguruza, eliminated No. 22 Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-3.
   Suarez Navarro was playing on her 30th birthday. Sharapova, 31, has won five major singles titles, including a career Grand Slam.
   The 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) Keys is 3-0 against the 5-foot-4 (1.62-meter) Suarez Navarro. Each match has been on hardcourts or grass and gone to three sets.
   Also in the bottom half of the women's draw, No. 20 seed Naomi Osaka of Japan will play unseeded Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine in the first major quarterfinal for both players.
   Osaka outlasted No. 26 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in a matchup of 20-year-olds. Tsurenko, 29, topped Marketa Vondrousova, a 19-year-old left-hander from the Czech Republic, 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-2. Tsurenko knocked off No. 2 seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-2 in the second round.
   Osaka beat Tsurenko 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals of a $25,000 hardcourt tournament in Irapuato, Mexico, in 2014 in their only previous encounter.
   Meanwhile, No. 3 seeds Mike Bryan (Stanford, 1997-98) and Jack Sock of the United States advanced to the men's doubles quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over No. 16 Dominic Inglot of Great Britain and Franko Skugor of Croatia.
   In the first round of junior singles, two boys from the Sacramento area defeated French players, but two girls from the San Francisco Bay Area lost to Ukrainian qualifiers.
   Jenson Brooksby, 17, of Carmichael defeated qualifier Valentin Royer 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, and Keenan Mayo, 18, from Roseville beat Clement Tabur 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
   Brooksby, who won the USTA Boys 18 National Championships last month, will play Jonas Forejtek of the Czech Republic. Forejtek surprised No. 8 seed Naoki Tajima of Japan 6-1, 6-3.
   Mayo will face No. 4 seed Nicolas Mejia, a Colombian who defeated Eliot Spizzirri of Greenwich, Conn., 7-6 (2), 6-2.
   Brooksby plans to enroll at Texas Christian in the fall of 2019 or in January 2020, and Mayo is headed to Illinois.
   On the girls side, Daria Snigur ousted No. 15 seed and 2017 quarterfinalist Katie Volynets, 16, from Walnut Creek, 6-3, 6-4. Also, Dasha Lopatetskaya downed Connie Ma, 15, of Dublin 7-5, 6-0.

Bellis, 18, surprises Suarez Navarro in Mallorca

CiCi Bellis, playing in the Stockton (Calif.) Challenger
last July, beat fourth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro
6-3, 7-5 in the first round of the Mallorca Open.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   CiCi Bellis pulled off another upset on yet another surface today.
   The 18-year-old product of Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area ousted fourth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro, playing in her home country of Spain, 6-3, 7-5 on grass in the first round of the Mallorca Open. It was their first career meeting.
   Suarez Navarro, who has fallen from a career-high No. 6 early last year to No. 26, is the sixth top-30 player Bellis has beaten this year. Bellis knocked off two on hardcourts and three on clay, helping her rise to No. 42 in the world rankings.
   Suarez Navarro, 28, also is the fourth Grand Slam quarterfinalist or better Bellis has defeated this year and seventh overall. Suarez Navarro has reached the quarterfinals twice in the Australian Open, twice in the French Open and once at the U.S. Open. Although clay is her best surface, she has advanced to the fourth round at Wimbledon twice, including last year.
   Suarez Navarro is tied for the fifth-highest-ranked player Bellis has beaten in her career. Heading the list are No. 6 Agnieszka Radwanska in the third round at Dubai in February, No. 13 Dominika Cibulkova in the first round of the 2014 U.S. Open and No. 18 Kiki Bertens in the second round of the French Open on May 31.
   Bellis, who's closing in on a seeding for the U.S. Open in August (if not Wimbledon in two weeks), is scheduled to play 49th-ranked Mona Barthel of Germany for the first time on Wednesday.
   The 6-foot-1 (1.85-meter) Barthel, who climbed to a career-high No. 23 in 2013, defeated qualifier Anna Kalinskaya of Russia 7-6 (6), 6-4.

Now that's more like it -- Djokovic rolls into semis

Novak Djokovic, serving at Indian Wells last year, dominated Kei Nishikori in
the Australian Open after struggling against Gilles Simon.  Photo by Paul Bauman

   Relax, Novak Djokovic fans.
   Both of you.
   The top seed and defending champion's game appears to be back on track in the Australian Open.
   After committing 100 unforced errors in his five-set victory over No. 14 seed Gilles Simon of France in the fourth round in Melbourne, Djokovic dominated Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 today in the quarterfinals.
   Djokovic made 27 errors against Nishikori, who played was treated for a groin injury in the second set.
   "That was the goal, to decrease the unforced errors," Djokovic, who skipped practice to rest the day after his win over Simon, said on ausopen.com. "I've done that. ...
   "I was solid. I was determined, focused. In important points and moments, I managed to stay composed and make him play an extra shot. Overall, it was a very solid performance."
   Djokovic improved to 6-2 against Nishikori, whose last victory in the series came in the 2014 U.S. Open semifinals. The 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) Nishikori then lost to 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Marin Cilic of Croatia.
   Djokovic seeks his sixth Australian Open singles title, which would tie him with Aussie Roy Emerson for the record. Djokovic came within one match, a loss to Stan Wawrinka in the French Open final, of becoming the first man to win a calendar-year Grand Slam since Rod Laver in 1969.
   But Djokovic does not get the respect he deserves -- hello, Sports Illustrated, which chose Serena Williams as its 2015 Sportsperson of the Year -- partly because he comes from a small European country.
   So does Roger Federer, who will renew his rivalry with Djokovic in the Australian Open semifinals. But at least Americans associate Switzerland with watches, chocolate, army knives, banking, mountains, skiing and neutrality. They know nothing about Serbia except possibly that it was involved in a 1990s war.

Serena Williams, practicing during the 2014 Bank
of the West Classic at Stanford, extended her win-
ning streak over Maria Sharapova to 18 matches
in the Australian Open. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Also, the 34-year-old Federer has captured a record 17 Grand Slam singles titles. Djokovic, 28, has won "only" 10.
   Federer, the No. 3 seed, is trying to claim his fifth Australian Open singles crown but first since 2010. He defeated No. 6 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-4.
   Federer and Djokovic are tied 22-22 in the head-to-head series, but Djokovic has won the last three Grand Slam meetings, including two last year.
   Meanwhile, No. 1 seed Williams extended her winning streak over No. 5 Maria Sharapova to 18 matches with a 6-4, 6-1 quarterfinal decision.
   Williams, the defending and six-time Australian Open champion, will meet No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in the semifinals. Radwanska dismissed No. 10 Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-1, 6-3 to reach her second Australian Open semifinal.
   Radwanska, 26, has won one set in eight career matches against Williams, 34.
   Both players have had success in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford. Williams won the title in 2011, 2012 and 2014, and Radwanska was the runner-up to Dominika Cibulkova in 2013.
   In the men's doubles quarterfinals in Melbourne, unseeded Adrian Mannarino and Lucas Pouille of France stunned top seeds and reigning Wimbledon champions Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands and Horia Tecau of Romania 7-6 (5), 6-7 (2), 6-4.
  The highest remaining men's doubles seeds are No. 7 Jamie Murray of Great Britain and Bruno Soares of Brazil. Murray is the older brother of Andy Murray, a two-time Grand Slam singles champion who's seeded second in Melbourne.
   Both Murrays won titles in the 2007 SAP Open in San Jose. Andy captured his second straight singles crown in the tournament, which was discontinued after the 125th edition in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2013, and Jamie took the doubles crown with American Eric Butorac.

Djokovic prevails despite 100 unforced errors

Novak Djokovic
2015 photo by Paul Bauman

   Novak Djokovic committed 100 unforced errors.
   Agnieszka Radwanska trailed 5-2 in the final set.
   And Tomas Berdych was extended to a fifth set.
   All three high seeds, however, advanced to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
   Djokovic, the top seed and defending champion seeking his sixth Australian Open title, subdued 14th-seeded Gilles Simon of France 6-3, 6-7 (1), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 today (PST) in 4 hours, 32 minutes.
   Radwanska, seeded fourth, rallied to beat unseeded Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany 6-7 (6), 6-1, 7-5. The 82nd-ranked Friedsam, who will turn 22 on Feb. 1, struggled with leg cramps in the last three games.
   Berdych, the No. 6 seed, outlasted No. 24 Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals for the sixth straight year.
   Djokovic advanced to his 27th consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal, tying Jimmy Connors for second place in the Open era behind Roger Federer (36).
   Djokovic will face No. 7 seed Kei Nishikori of Japan in the quarters. Nishikori dismantled No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the runner-up to Djokovic in the 2008 Australian Open, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.
   Berdych will meet No. 3 seed Federer, a four-time Australian Open champion who outclassed No. 15 David Goffin of Belgium 6-2, 6-1, 6-4.

Agnieszka Radwanska
2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   Radwanska, the runner-up in the 2013 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, will play No. 10 Carla Suarez Navarro, who topped unseeded Daria Gavrilova of Australia 0-6, 6-3, 6-2.
   Both Gavrilova, a 21-year-old Moscow native, and Suarez Navarro, a 27-year-old Spaniard, have won doubles titles in Northern California.
   No. 1 seed Serena Williams, the defending and six-time champion, and No. 5 Maria Sharapova, the 2008 titlist, won in straight sets to set up a rematch of last year's final.
   Williams, a three-time Bank of the West champion, is 18-2 against Sharapova, the Stanford runner-up in 2010, with a 17-match winning streak.
   Meanwhile, Lleyton Hewitt's career ended with a loss in the third round of doubles. No. 9 seeds and 2014 Wimbledon champions Vasek Pospisil of Canada and Jack Sock of Kansas City, Mo., defeated Australia's Sam Groth and Hewitt 6-4, 6-2.
   Hewitt won the now-defunct San Jose stop on the ATP World Tour in 2002 and reached the final there in 2006.
   In the first round of mixed doubles, Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia and Robert Lindstedt of Sweden edged seventh-seeded Raquel Atawo (formerly Kops-Jones) of San Jose and Raven Klaasen of South Africa 6-7 (4), 6-2 [10-4].  

Serena withdraws from Bank of the West at Stanford

Serena Williams will not defend her title in the Bank of the West
Classic at Stanford. Tri Nguyen/TriNguyenPhotography.com

   At least the Bank of the West Classic will be competitive now.
   Top-ranked Serena Williams withdrew from next week's Bank of the West Classic at Stanford with a right elbow injury, tournament officials announced Friday.
   Williams will seek the first calendar-year Grand Slam in more than a quarter century in the upcoming U.S. Open, then turn 34 on Sept. 26. She won her third Bank of the West singles title last year.
   The Bank of the West Classic, Monday through Aug. 9 at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium, still has three of the top 10 players in the world and eight of the top 20.
   Heading the field are No. 5 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, No. 7 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland and No. 10 Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain.
   Also entered are No. 12 Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, No. 13 Angelique Kerber of Germany, No. 16 Andrea Petkovic of Germany, No. 18 Madison Keys of the United States and No. 20 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine.
   The top four seeds receive first-round byes.
   On Monday, 16-year-old sensation CiCi Bellis of nearby Atherton will play a qualifier during the  day session, and Keys will face Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia in the featured 7 p.m. match.
   At 15, Bellis stunned 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova in the first round of last year's U.S. Open and ended 2014 as the No. 1 junior in the world. Cibulkova reached the final of last year's Australian Open, losing to Li Na.
   Tuesday's night session will begin with Kerber, last year's Bank of the West runner-up, taking on Daria Gavrilova of Russia at 7. Then 2013 Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki of Germany will meet a qualifier. Lisicki set women's records with a 131-mph (210.8-kph) serve in last year's Bank of the West Classic and 27 aces in a June match in Birmingham, England.
   On Wednesday night, Radwanska will play the winner of the match between Bellis and a qualifier. Radwanska was the runner-up to Williams at Wimbledon in 2012 and to Cibulkova at Stanford in 2013.
  Wozniacki, who ascended to No. 1 in the world at 20 years old in 2010, is scheduled to make her tournament debut on Thursday night.
   Winners in the first round of qualifying on Saturday included 44-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm and former Stanford star Nicole Gibbs, 22. Maria Sanchez, who was born and raised in Modesto, lost to Julia Boserup of Newport Beach 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. 

BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC

At Stanford

First-round singles qualifying

   Misaki Doi (1), Japan, def. Yi-Fan Xu, China, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
   Julia Boserup, United States, def. Maria Sanchez, United States, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
   Kateryna Bondarenko (3), Ukraine, def. Caroline Doyle, United States, 6-0, 6-0.
   Petra Martic (6), Croatia, def. Jessica Pegula, United States, 6-7 (6), 6-4, 7-6 (9).
   Gabriela Dabrowski, Canada, def. Sachia Vickery (3), United States, 6-2, 6-4.
   Kimiko Date-Krumm, Japan, def. Naomi Osaka (7), Japan, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-3.
   Anna Tatishvili (4), United States, def. Yung-Jan Chan, Taiwan, 5-7, 6-4, 6-0.
   Nicole Gibbs (5), United States, def. Taylor Davidson, United States, 6-0, 6-2.

Today's schedule

Stadium Court

(Starting at 10 a.m.)

   Gabriela Dabrowski, Canada, vs. Kimiko Date-Krumm, Japan.

(Not before 11:30 a.m.)

   Misaki Doi (1), Japan, vs. Julia Boserup, United States.
   Anna Tatishvili (4), United States, vs. Nicole Gibbs (5), United States.

Court 6

(Starting at 1 p.m.)

   Kateryna Bondarenko (2), Ukraine, vs. Petra Martic (6), Croatia.

Day 1: Hewitt loses marathon in his last Wimbledon

Lleyton Hewitt fell to Jarkko Nieminen in a 4-hour battle.
2013 photo by Paul Bauman

   Match of the day -- In the last Wimbledon for both players, Lleyton Hewitt "Packard" of Australia lost to Jarkko "LeRoy" Nieminen of Finland 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0, 11-9 in 4 hours. Hewitt, the 2002 champion, turned 34 on Feb. 24. He will play doubles with 19-year-old countryman Thanasi Kokkinakis. Nieminen will celebrate his 34th birthday on July 23. 
   Upset of the day -- Latvian wild card Jelena Ostapenko, last year's junior girls singles champion, ousted No. 9 Carla "Bruni" Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-2, 6-0 in 52 minutes. 
   Notable -- Australian qualifier John Millman -- a quarterfinalist in Napa, semifinalist in Sacramento and runner-up in Tiburon on the three-week Northern California Challenger swing last fall -- surprised 19th-seeded Tommy "Holy" Robredo 6-2, 6-3, 6-4. It was the 26-year-old Millman's first singles main-draw victory in a Grand Slam tournament and his first main-draw match in a Slam other than the Australian Open. See my 2014 profile of Millman here.
   Men's seeded winners -- No. 1 Novak "It's No" Djokovic, No. 4 Stan "The Man" Wawrinka, No. 5 "Special" Kei Nishikori, No. 7 Milos "And Otis" Raonic, No. 9 Marin "County" Cilic, No. 11 Grigor "Mortis"  Dimitrov, No. 14 Kevin Anderson "Cooper," No. 16 David "Gerry" Goffin, No. 17 John "Wayne" Isner, No. 21 Richard "Don't Blow A" Gasquet, No. 24 Leonardo "Da Vinci" Mayer, No. 26 Nick "I'm Just" Kyrgios, No. 27 Bernard "A." Tomic, No. 32 Dominic "Home" Thiem.  
   Men's seeded losers -- No. 19 Robredo, No. 28 Pablo "Cruise" Cuevas.
   Women's seeded winners -- No. 1 Serena "Vanessa" Williams, No. 4 Maria "Shriver" Sharapova, No. 6 "I Love" Lucie Safarova, No. 7 Ana "Karenina" Ivanovic, No. 11 "North" Karolina Pliskova, No. 14 Andrea Petkovic "Park," No. 16 Venus "And Mars" Williams, No. 19 Sara "No Runs, No Hits, No" Errani, No. 22 Samantha "Stephens" Stosur, No. 23 Victoria "Station" Azarenka, No. 29 Irina-Camelia "Ain't Too Proud To" Begu, No. 30 Belinda "Johnny" Bencic. 
   Women's seeded losers -- No. 9 Navarro, No. 24 Flavia "Adriano" Pennetta, No. 27 Barbora "Streisand" Strycova.
   Stars and stripes -- U.S. women went 6-6 (including one all-American match), and the men went 3-1. Sloane "Ranger" Stephens and wild card Denis "The Menace" Kudla knocked off low seeds, and qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands "Of Time" eliminated French Open quarterfinalist Alison "Moving" Van Uytvanck.
   Alison "Take A" Riske almost pulled off a major upset, falling to No. 6 seed and French Open runner-up Safarova 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. Riske served for the match at 5-4 in the second set.
   Two young American women, Shelby "Ginger" Rogers and Madison "Avenue" Brengle, were shut out. Petkovic annihilated Rogers, 22, in 38 minutes, and Venus Williams drubbed Brengle, 25, in 41 minutes.
   Fast fact -- Tommy "White" Haas became the oldest winner of a men's singles match at Wimbledon since Jimmy "Carter" Connors was 38 in 1991. Haas, a 37-year-old German, beat Serbia's Dusan Lajovic, playing one day before his 25th birthday, 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
   Northern California connection -- Nicole "Kidman" Gibbs, a two-time NCAA singles champion from Stanford, lost to Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-3, 6-3. Gibbs, 22, made her Wimbledon main-draw debut.
   Quote -- Hewitt on Wimbledon: "For me, it's the home of tennis. I don't get the same feeling walking into any other grounds in the world -- no other tennis court, no other complex -- than I do here. I do get goosebumps walking into this place."
   Today's top matches (beginning at 5 a.m. PDT on ESPN) -- Centre Court: Petra "-Fied Forest" Kvitova (2) vs. Kiki "Dee" Bertens, Roger Federer "Express" (2) vs. Damir Dzumhur, Andy "Bill" Murray (3) vs. Mikhail "Gorbachev" Kukushkin.
   Court 1: "San" Rafael Nadal (10) vs. Thomaz "John" Bellucci, Simona "I Need" Halep (3) vs. Jana "Novotna" Cepelova, Tomas "Free As A" Berdych (6) vs. Jeremy "Don't Be" Chardy.

Bellis, 16, to play in Bank of the West at Stanford

CiCi Bellis, then 15, addresses the media after stunning 12th-seeded Dominika
Cibulkova, the 2014 Australian Open runner-up, last August in the first round
of the U.S. Open. Photo courtesy of USTA.

   Growing up practically around the corner in Atherton, CiCi Bellis attended the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford annually.
   "That's (CiCi's) favorite tournament," Lori Bellis, CiCi's mother, said in an exclusive interview with NorCal Tennis Czar three years ago (see profile of CiCi here). "We go to qualifying. We go every night (during the main draw) and stay until the doubles is over at midnight."
   As a tiny but promising 12-year-old player, CiCi was involved in the coin flip for the second-round match between Maria Sharapova and Daniela Hantuchova in the Bank of the West Classic.
   Four years later, Bellis accepted a wild card to play in the tournament for the first time, officials announced on Wednesday.
   Joining Bellis in the Aug. 3-9 tournament at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium will be three of the top 10 players in the world and eight of the top 20.
   Heading the field are No. 1 Serena Williams, the defending and three-time champion; No. 9 Carla Suarez Navarro, who won last year's doubles title with fellow Spaniard Garbine Muguruza; and No. 10 Angelique Kerber, last year's singles runner-up from Germany. 
   Also entered are No. 11 Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, No. 14 Andrea Petkovic of Germany, No. 17 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, No. 18 Sabine Lisicki of Germany, No. 20 Muguruza and No. 21 Madison Keys. 
   Lisicki set records with a 131-mph (210.8-kph) serve in last year's Bank of the West Classic and 27 aces in her second-round victory in last week's Aegon Classic in Birmingham, England.
   Keys, now 20, reached the semifinals of the Australian Open in January.
   Bellis last year at 15 became the youngest player to win the USTA Girls 18 National Hardcourt Championships since Lindsay Davenport in 1991.
   That gave Bellis a berth in the women's draw at the U.S. Open, where she stunned No. 12 seed and 2014 Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova in the first round. Bellis thereby became the youngest player to win a main-draw match in Flushing Meadows since Anna Kournikova, also 15, in 1996.
   Bellis ended last year as the top-ranked junior in the world. Still an amateur, she has won three Challenger (minor-league) singles titles and climbed to No. 168 in the women's world rankings.
   Tickets for the Bank of the West Classic are available at bankofthewestclassic.com or 866- WTA-TIXS (866-982-8497).

BANK OF THE WEST ACCEPTANCE LIST

1. Serena Williams (USA)
2. Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP)
3. Angelique Kerber (GER)
4. Karolina Pliskova (CZE)
5. Andrea Petkovic (GER)
6. Elina Svitolina (UKR)
7. Sabine Lisicki (GER)
8. Garbine Muguruza (ESP)
9. Madison Keys (USA)
10. Caroline Garcia (FRA)
11. Varvara Lepchenko (USA)
12. Daria Gavrilova (RUS)
13. Alison Riske (USA)
14. Mona Barthel (GER)
15. Carina Witthoeft (GER)
16. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (CRO)
17. Ana Konjuh (CRO)
18. Saisai Zheng (CHN)
19. Katerina Siniakova (CZE)
20. Vitalia Diatchenko (RUS)

French Open Day 6 recap: No. 8 Suarez Navarro falls

No. 28 seed Flavia Pennetta, defending her title
at Indian Wells in March, beat No. 8 Carla Suarez
Navarro on Friday. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Upset of the day -- No. 28 seed Flavia Pennetta, a 33-year-old Italian, dismissed No. 8 Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-3, 6-4 in the third round.
   Pennetta had lost in the first round of her two previous tournaments, to 10th-ranked Andrea Petkovic in Madrid and then-No. 19 Elina Svitolina in Rome.
   Pennetta has never advanced past the fourth round of the French Open in 12 appearances.
   Match of the day -- No. 29 seed Alize Cornet of France reached the fourth round at Roland Garros for the first time in 11 appearances, beating Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. 
   The 25-year-old Cornet "celebrated as if she had won the tournament, falling onto her back, letting out a scream and then bursting into tears," the Associated Press reported.
   Notable -- No. 2 seed and defending champion Maria Sharapova ended No. 26 Samantha Stosur's winning streak at seven matches with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. Stosur, the 2010 runner-up to Francesca Schiavone, had lost only five games in two matches in Paris.
   Top-seeded Serena Williams is scheduled to face No. 27 Victoria Azarenka today in the third round. Williams saved three match points in a 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-6 (1) victory over Azarenka in the third round at Madrid three weeks ago.
   Men's seeded winners -- No. 2 Roger Federer (2009 champion), No. 4 Tomas Berdych, No. 8 Stan Wawrinka, No. 12 Gilles Simon, No. 13 Gael Monfils, No. 14 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 20 Richard "Blow A" Gasquet.
   Men's seeded loser -- No. 21 Pablo "Jose" Cuevas.
   Women's seeded winners -- No. 2 Sharapova (2012 and 2014 champion), No. 7 Ana Ivanovic (2008 champion), No. 9 Ekaterina Makarova, No. 13 Lucie Safarova, No. 19 Svitolina, No. 21 Garbine Muguruza, No. 28 Pennetta, No. 29 Cornet.
   Women's seeded losers -- No. 8 Suarez Navarro, No. 11 Angelique Kerber, No. 20 Sabine Lisicki, No. 26 Stosur.
   Stars and stripes -- Steve Johnson lost to Wawrinka 6-4, 6-3, 6-2, leaving Jack Sock as the only U.S. man left in singles. Sock, 22, is set to play Borna Coric, 18, of Croatia today in the third round, with the winner likely to meet Rafael Nadal -- who has won nine French Open singles titles, including the last five -- in the round of 16.
   Top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan and second-seeded Vasek Pospisil of Canada and Sock reached the third round of men's doubles. However, left-handers Austin Krajicek and Donald Young lost to ninth-seeded Rohan Bopanna of India and Florin Mergea of Romania 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
   Fast facts -- Only four of the top eight women's seeds remain halfway through the third round: No. 1 Williams, No. 2 Sharapova, No. 4 Petra Kvitova and No. 7 Ivanovic. In contrast, all of the top nine men's seeds are still alive. 
   Northern California connection -- In addition to the Bryans, former Stanford stars, advancing in men's doubles, Abigail Spears and Scott Lipsky, another ex-Cardinal, won their first-round mixed doubles match. But fifth-seeded Bob Bryan and Caroline Garcia of France lost to Andreja Klepac of Slovenia and Rajeev Ram of Carmel, Ind., 3-6, 7-5 [10-8].
   Quote -- Cornet: "At last, I'm into the second week at Roland. I've been waiting for this for 11 years."

Serena rallies for third Bank of the West title

Serena Williams defeated Angelique Kerber 7-6 (1), 6-3 for the
Bank of the West title after trailing 5-1 in the first set.
Tri Nguyen/TriNguyenPhotography.com

   Perhaps the defining mark of a champion is the ability to play one's best under pressure.
   Serena Williams showed her mental toughness again today at Stanford, defeating third-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany 7-6 (1), 6-3 for her third Bank of the West title. Williams, who will be ranked No. 1 for the 200th (non-consecutive) week on Monday, overcame a 5-1 deficit in the first set and two set points at 5-2.
   "When I was down 5-1, I was just thinking I had to take it one point at a time," Williams, a product of Compton in the Los Angeles area, said on wtatennis.com. "I knew I just had to relax and not be so crazy. Up until that point, I wasn't doing what I wanted to do, and what I had been doing in practice, so I knew I just had to start doing the right things going forward."
   Bank of the West fans have seen this repeatedly. Today's match was similar to the 2012 final, in which Williams survived a set point in the first set before beating lucky loser CoCo Vandeweghe 7-5, 6-3.
   Williams, who also won the Bank of the West Classic in 2011, did not return last year.
   This year, Williams was tied at 5-5 in the opening set against hard-serving Karolina Pliskova, 6-foot-1 (1.86 meters), in the second round and against former top-10 player Andrea Petkovic in the semifinals. Williams won both matches in straight sets, capturing eight of the last 10 games against Pliskova and the last eight games against Petkovic.

Williams leads the WTA tour with four singles crowns this year
but has failed to reach the quarterfinals in the year's first three
majors. Tri Nguyen/TriNguyenPhotography.com

   Williams, who received a first-round bye, dropped the first set of her quarterfinal against former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic but rallied to win.
   Kerber, who has won three WTA singles titles, fell to 0-4 in finals this year and 1-5 lifetime against Williams.
   Although Williams leads the WTA tour with four singles crowns this year, the 17-time Grand Slam singles champion has failed to reach the quarterfinals in the first three majors of 2014.
   The Bank of the West Classic was her first tournament since she retired from her second-round doubles match at Wimbledon with dizziness caused by a "viral infection."
   "I feel like I'm on the right track again," Williams, 32, said after her 13th consecutive victory at Stanford. "I feel like I can play even better -- I wasn't serving my best, and I wasn't making as many winners off the return as I wanted to, but I think I'm getting there."
   Winning the U.S. Open, which begins Aug. 25, for the third straight time and sixth overall would ease the disappointment of her early Grand Slam exits this year.
   "It would definitely make it better, but it wouldn't make it go away," she admitted. "It would definitely be great, but right now I'm just focused on the next tournament, which is in Toronto."
   Williams quickly corrected herself.
   "I mean Montreal!" she said of the women's Rogers Cup, which alternates between the two Canadian cities with the men's tournament. "I definitely won't go to Toronto. I won't win a match there!"
    In the Bank of the West doubles final, third-seeded Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain edged Paula Kania of Poland and Katerina Siniakova (pronounced Sin-i-ko-vuh), 18, of the Czech Republic 6-2, 4-6 [10-5]. It was the 20-year-old Muguruza's third WTA doubles crown and the 25-year-old Suarez Navarro's first.