Querrey wins first title in four years; Bellis loses

Sam Querrey beat Rajeev Ram to win the Delray
Beach (Fla.) Open. 2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   Sam Querrey said he played "ugly tennis" throughout the Delray Beach (Fla.) Open.
   It was still good enough for the 28-year-old San Francisco native to win his first singles title in four years.
   Querrey topped Rajeev Ram of Carmel, Ind., 6-4, 7-6 (6) today in only the second final between unseeded players in the tournament's 24-year history.
   Querrey, 6-foot-6 (1.98 meters), overcame early breaks in each set and deficits of 0-3, 2-5 and 5-6 in the tiebreaker.
   "It was kind of nervous, ugly tennis all week," Querrey told reporters after winning his eighth career singles title. "But sometimes it feels better to win when you don't play your best."
   Another San Francisco native, 16-year-old CiCi Bellis, lost to countrywoman Jamie Loeb 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 in the final of the $25,000 Surprise (Ariz.) Tennis Open.
   Querrey -- who lives in the tax haven of Las Vegas, where he spent part of his childhood -- jumped 18 places to No. 43 in the world. He reached a career-high No. 17 in 2011.
   Ram, who will turn 32 next month, soared 29 spots to a career-high No. 60.
   Both players have excelled in Northern California.
   Querrey won the doubles title in the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose with Mardy Fish in 2010 and swept the singles titles in the three-week NorCal Challenger swing through Napa, Sacramento and Tiburon in 2014.
   Ram reached the singles final of the Sacramento Challenger 10 years ago, losing to since-retired Paul Goldstein, and took the doubles crown in the 2011 SAP Open with Scott Lipsky.
   In the Delray Beach doubles final, unseeded Oliver Marach of Austria and Fabrice Martin of France escaped six match points to stun top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan 3-6, 7-6 (7) [13-11].
   The 37-year-old Bryan twins led 9-5 in the match tiebreaker. They were seeking their third straight Delray Beach title and fifth overall. 
   Goldstein, Lipsky and the Bryans all starred at Stanford.
   Bellis, an amateur who lives near Stanford in Atherton, committed 12 double faults and won only 12 of 38 points (32 percent) of the points on her second serve.
   Loeb, a 20-year-old product of the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in New York, won her fifth singles title in a professional tournament.
   Loeb won the NCAA singles title last May as a sophomore at North Carolina, captured the doubles title in the inaugural Stockton Challenger in July with former North Carolina All-American Sanaz Marand and turned pro in August.

S.F. natives Querrey, Bellis advance to finals

Sixteen-year-old CiCi Bellis, playing in the Sacramento Challenger
last July, routed Chiara Scholl in 48 minutes to reach the final of
the $25,000 Surprise (Ariz.) Tennis Open. Photo by Paul Bauman

   San Francisco natives Sam Querrey and CiCi Bellis on Saturday reached singles finals in U.S. professional tournaments.
   The unseeded Querrey, a 28-year-old resident of Las Vegas, defeated wild card Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina 7-5, 7-5 in a matchup of 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) players in the Delray Beach (Fla.) Open on the ATP World Tour.
   The eighth-seeded Bellis, a 16-year-old amateur from Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area, dismissed U.S. qualifier Chiara Scholl 6-3, 6-0 in 48 minutes in the $25,000 Surprise (Ariz.) Tennis Open.
   Del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open and 2011 Delray Beach champion, was playing in his first tournament since last March. The 27-year-old right-hander, who has a two-handed backhand, underwent the third operation on his left wrist last June. Del Potro also had right wrist surgery in 2010.
   Del Potro, 18-year-old American Taylor Fritz and Australian Open quarterfinalist Zhang Shuai of China received wild cards into the BNP Paribas Open, March 7-20 at Indian Wells, the tournament announced this week.       
   Querrey will meet unseeded Rajeev Ram of Carmel, Ind., today at noon PST (Tennis Channel). The 6-foot-4 (1.93-meter) Ram, who will turn 32 next month, beat fourth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-4, 6-3.
   Querrey is 5-2 against Ram with a three-match winning streak. In their last meeting, Querrey won 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the semifinals at Los Angeles in 2012 en route to the last of his seven singles titles.
   Former Stanford All-Americans Bob and Mike Bryan, seeded first, will play unseeded Oliver Marach of Austria and Fabrice Martin of France in the doubles final (10 a.m. PST, Tennis Channel). The Bryan twins, 37, seek their third straight Delray Beach title and fifth overall.
   Scholl, 23, committed seven double faults against Bellis and won only three of 22 points (14 percent) on her second serve.  
   Bellis, who has lost only 13 games in four matches and won a set 6-0 in her last three, will face unseeded American Jamie Loeb for the first time today.
   Loeb, who turned pro last summer after winning the NCAA singles title as a sophomore at North Carolina, topped 17-year-old Sofia Kenin of Pembroke Pines, Fla., 7-5, 6-2. 
   Colleges -- Mads Engsted defeated No. 119 Michael Genender 7-6 (1), 3-6, 7-5  on Court 6 to give the visiting Cal men, ranked 18th, a 4-3 over No. 22 Stanford. The Bears are 5-1, and the Cardinal is 5-4.
  The top-ranked Cal women defeated No. 22 UCLA 5-2 in Los Angeles to improve to 8-0. The Bruins fell to 5-3.

S.F. natives Querrey, Bellis gain semifinals

Sam Querrey will face Juan Martin Del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open
champion, in the Delray Beach semifinals. 2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   Two San Francisco natives on Friday reached semifinals in U.S. professional tournaments.
   Unseeded Sam Querrey, 6-foot-6 (1.98 meters), held off Tim Smyczek, a 5-foot-10 (1.75-meter) wild card from Tampa, Fla.,
6-7 (1), 7-6 (4), 6-4 in Delray Beach, Fla., on the ATP World Tour.
   And eighth-seeded CiCi Bellis, 16, pounded former USC All-American Danielle Lao, only
5-foot-3 (1.61 meters), 6-0, 1-0, retired in the $25,000 Surprise (Ariz.) Tennis Classic.
   Querrey, who now lives in Las Vegas, is scheduled to face wild card Juan Martin Del Potro, also 6-foot-6 (1.98 meters), of Argentina. Del Potro leads the head-to-head series
2-0, but the last meeting came in 2011.
   Del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open and 2011 Delray Beach champion, is playing in his first tournament since last March. The 27-year-old right-hander, who has a two-handed backhand, underwent the third operation on his left wrist last June. Del Potro also had right wrist surgery in 2010.
   Bellis, an amateur from Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area, will play qualifier Chiara Scholl, a 23-year-old American, for the first time.
   Cal women -- Freshman Olivia Hauger clinched a dual-match win for the second consecutive time as the No. 1 Bears overwhelmed No. 11 USC 6-1 in Los Angeles.  
   Hauger, ranked No. 102, defeated No. 90 Rianna Valdes 6-4, 6-3 on Court 5 after sealing Cal's 4-3 victory over North Carolina in the final of the ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championship on Feb. 8. Hauger was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
   The Trojans' victory came on Court 1 as No. 38 Giuliana Olmos, a junior from Fremont in the Bay Area, beat No. 13 Maegan Manasse 6-3, 6-3.
   Cal (7-0) will play at No. 22 UCLA today at 1 p.m.