No. 3 seed Svitolina falls at Wimbledon; BNP dates set

Magda Linette ousted Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-4 today in the
second round at Wimbledon. 2016 photo by Paul Bauman

   Magda Linette stunned a top-three seed for the second consecutive Grand Slam tournament today.

   This time, it came without an asterisk.

   Linette, 29, of Poland ousted No. 3 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-3, 6-4 in the second round at Wimbledon after defeating No. 1 seed Ashleigh Barty 6-1, 2-2 (retired, hip) at the same stage of the French Open last month.

   Svitolina reached the semifinals at Wimbledon in 2019 and in the now-defunct Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in 2015. She also advanced to the quarterfinals of the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif., in 2019.

   Only two of the top six women's seeds at Wimbledon — No. 1 Barty and No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, the San Jose runner-up in 2019 — and only two past ladies champions, Garbine Muguruza (2017) and Angelique Kerber (2018), remain. 

   Kerber, who won the 2015 Bank of the West Classic, outlasted Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 in 3 hours, 19 minutes, the longest women's match at Wimbledon this year.

   As usual, the men's draw has been much more predictable. Five of the top six seeds remain after two rounds: No. 1 Novak Djokovic, No. 2 Daniil Medvedev, No. 4 Alexander Zverev, No. 5 Andrey Rublev and No. 6 Roger Federer.

   Federer, an eight-time Wimbledon champion who will turn 40 next month, beat Richard Gasquet, a 35-year-old Frenchman and two-time Wimbledon semifinalist, 7-6 (1), 6-1, 6-4.

   James Duckworth, a 29-year-old Australian, surprised Sam Querrey, a 33-year-old San Francisco native now living in Las Vegas, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-2 to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

   Duckworth underwent five operations in 13 months in 2017-18 and another one in March 2020. Querrey advanced to the Wimbledon semifinals in 2017 and quarterfinals in 2016 and 2019.

   In the first round of doubles:

   —No. 5 seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan outplayed Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Caroline Garcia of France 6-4, 6-2. Shibahara, 23, was born in Mountain View and starred at UCLA.

   —No. 9 seeds Sharon Fichman of Canada and Giuliana Olmos — who was born in Austria, grew up in Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area and represents Mexico — routed Vivian Heisen of Germany and Kveta Peschke, a Czech who will turn 46 on July 9, 6-2, 6-1 in 51 minutes.

   Peschke won her only Grand Slam women's doubles title 10 years ago at Wimbledon with Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia. Peschke also has won both San Jose doubles titles, in 2018 with Latisha Chan of Chinese Taipei and in 2019 with Nicole Melichar, a Czech-born American.

   —No. 14 seeds Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Ben McLachlan (University of California, Berkeley, 2011-14) of Japan defeated Andres Molteni of Argentina and Andrea Vavassori of Italy 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4.

   —Andre Goransson (Cal, 2014-17), a 27-year-old Swede making his Grand Slam debut, and Casper Ruud of Norway edged Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez (no relation) of Spain 7-5, 4-6, 11-9. 

   BNP Paribas Open — The prestigious men's and women's tournament, normally held in March, is set for Oct. 4-17 in Indian Wells, Calif., tournament director Tommy Haas announced. 

   It will be the first edition of the BNP Paribas Open in 2 1/2 years. Because of the pandemic, the 2020 tourney was canceled the day before, and this year's event was postponed until the fall. 

   All fans, staff, sponsors, journalists and vendors must show valid proof of full vaccination. Depending on the COVID-19 conditions in October, Riverside County and California may require additional testing as well as mask mandates in certain seating areas.

Qualifier makes history; Diego downs Domi in marathon

Elina Svitolina, playing in the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford,
lost to qualifier Nadia Podoroska 6-2, 6-4 in the French Open quarterfinals.
Photo by Mal Taam 

   Both No. 3 seeds lost to Argentines today in the French Open, but one of the results was much more surprising.

   Nadia Podoroska shocked Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-2, 6-4 in Paris to become the first female qualifier ever to reach the semifinals at Roland Garros and the first to do so in any Grand Slam tournament since Alexandra Stevenson at Wimbledon in 1999.

   Entering the fortnight, Podoroska, 23, was 0-1 in the main draw of majors, having qualified for the 2016 U.S. Open. A right wrist injury sidelined her for eight months beginning in July 2017. 

  "I worked a lot with my coach during the quarantine to improve in various aspects of the game, and I understand that thanks to all that work, I was able to get here," Podoroska, who has won 13 consecutive matches and 18 of her last 19 (including two minor-league tournaments), said in an on-court interview. "I trained a lot in my shots — my forehand, backhand, the serve. But what I improve most, I think it was my mentality."   

   In the next match on Court Philippe Chatrier, 12th-seeded Diego Schwartzman topped Dominic Thiem, the runner-up to Rafael Nadal in the last two French Opens, 7-6 (1), 5-7, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (5), 6-2 in 5 hours, 8 minutes to reach his first Grand Slam semifinal.

   Schwartzman, only 5-foot-7 (1.70 meters) and 141 pounds (64 kilograms), twice was two points from losing in the fourth set. He will debut in the top 10 after the French Open, rising from No. 14 to at least No. 8.

   Thiem, 27, battled physical and mental fatigue after outlasting French wild card Hugo Gaston in five sets in the previous round and winning his first Grand Slam title in the recent U.S. Open.

   Schwartzman, 28, will take on the second-seeded Nadal, pursuing his fourth consecutive French Open title and 13th overall, on Friday.

   Nadal, 34, beat unseeded Jannik Sinner, a 19-year-old Italian, 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-1 in a match that ended Wednesday at 1:25 a.m. Paris time. Sinner, who advanced to the second round of last year's Aptos (Calif.) Challenger one week after winning the Lexington (Ky.) Challenger, served for the first set at 6-5.

   Nadal, who has not lost a set at Roland Garros this year, fell to Schwartzman for the first time in 10 career meetings two weeks ago in the Italian Open.

   Podoroska, who will soar from No. 131 to a career high of at least No. 48, will face unseeded Iga Swiatek, 19, of Poland for the first time on Thursday. 

   Swiatek, coming off a 6-1, 6-2 thrashing of top seed and 2018 champion Simona Halep, outclassed qualifier Martina Trevisan, a 5-foot-3 (1.60-meter) left-hander from Italy, 6-3, 6-1 in 78 minutes. 

   Swiatek, the 2018 Wimbledon girls singles champion, has not lost more than four games in a set or more than five games in a match in the tournament. She joined Jadwiga Jedrzejowska in 1939 as the only Polish women to reach the French Open semifinals and will jump from No. 54 to a career high of at least No. 33.

   In a fourth-round match postponed one day by rain, unseeded Danielle Collins of St. Petersburg, Fla., outlasted 30th-seeded Ons Jabeur, the 2011 French Open girls singles champion, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. 

   Collins, a semifinalist in the 2019 Australian Open and inaugural (2018) Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif., will play fourth-seeded Sofia Kenin, the reigning Australian Open champion from Pembroke Pines, Fla. 

   Collins has never dropped a set in three career matches against Kenin, who won Northern California Challengers in 2016 at 17, 2017 and 2018.

   Neither defending champion Ashleigh Barty (coronavirus concerns) nor U.S. Open winner Naomi Osaka (hamstring injury) entered the French Open. Serena Williams, a three-time champion at Roland Garros, withdrew before her second-round match with an Achilles tendon problem.

   In the first round of boys doubles, unseeded Arthur Fery, a Stanford freshman, and Felix Gill of Great Britain beat top-seeded Arthur Cazaux and Harold Mayot of France by walkover.

Schwartzman shocks Nadal; Italian has Ruud awakening

Rafael Nadal lost to Diego Schwartzman 6-2, 7-5 today in the Italian Open
quarterfinals in Rome. Nadal, who was seeking his third straight title in the
tournament and 10th overall, had been 9-0 against the diminutive Schwartz-
man. File photo by Mal Taam

   Raise your hand if you saw this one coming.

   In a monumental upset, eighth-seeded Diego Schwartzman of Argentina defeated second-seeded Rafael Nadal 6-2, 7-5 today to reach the Italian Open semifinals in Rome for the second consecutive year.

   They are the only two semifinal appearances in a Masters 1000 tournament, the highest level besides the Grand Slams, in the 28-year-old Schwartzman's career.

   Nadal has won nine Italian Open titles, including the last two, and had been 9-0 against the 5-foot-7 (1.70-meter), 141-pound (64-kilogram) Schwartzman.

   Today's second set featured five consecutive service breaks until Schwartzman held serve for the match on his second attempt.

   "For sure, it's my best match ever," Schwartzman said on atptour.com. "I played a few times against the three big champions in tennis. I never beat them until today. I'm very happy."

    The second-ranked Nadal, 34, was playing in his first tournament since winning Acapulco for the third time in February. He chose not to play in the U.S. Open because of coronavirus concerns.

   The 15th-ranked Schwartzman is scheduled to play 14th-ranked Denis Shapovalov of Canada for the first time on Sunday not before 10 a.m. PDT (Tennis Channel).

   Shapovalov, a 21-year-old left-hander seeded 12th, beat 15th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in the Battle of (One-Handed) Backhands. Shapovalov reached his first career Grand Slam quarterfinal in the recent U.S. Open.

   Meanwhile, both No. 4 seeds lost to 21-year-olds in contrasting fashion.

   Unseeded Casper Ruud of Norway edged Matteo Berrettini, the last remaining Italian, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) in 2 hours, 57 minutes in Rome to reach his first Masters 1000 semifinal.

   On the women's side, 12th-seeded Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic dismissed Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, the 2017 and 2018 Italian Open champion, 6-3, 6-0 in 1 hour, 20 minutes.

   Ruud, a semifinalist in the $100,000 Fairfield (Calif.) Challenger in 2018 at 19, improved to 12-2 on clay this year. He reached two finals in three tournaments on the South American swing in February, winning his first ATP title in Buenos Aires and finishing as the runner-up in Santiago.

   Ranked a career-high No. 34, Ruud has surpassed his father Christian, who peaked at No. 39 in 1995.

   Berrettini, a U.S. Open semifinalist last year, was attempting to become only the second Italian to reach the Rome semifinals since 2000. Filippo Volandri advanced to the semis in 2007.

   Ruud is set to take on top-ranked Novak Djokovic for the first time on Sunday not before 5 a.m. PDT. Djokovic, who won the last of his four Italian Open titles in 2015, topped German qualifier Dominik Koepfer, the runner-up in the $81,240 Aptos, Calif., Challenger last year, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to improve to 29-1 this year.

   Djokovic, who was defaulted from his fourth-round match in the U.S. Open, smashed his racket on the clay court after he was broken at love to even the second set at 3-3.

   "It's not the first nor the last racket that I'll break in my career," Djokovic, who received a warning from the chair umpire, told reporters. "I've done it before, and I'll probably do it again. I don't want to do it, but when it comes, it happens. 

   "That's how, I guess, I release sometimes my anger, and it's definitely not the best message out there, especially for the young tennis players looking at me, and I don't encourage that — definitely."

   Before the Italian Open, the left-handed Vondrousova had only two wins in seven tournaments since reaching the Adelaide quarterfinals in January in her first event of the year. She advanced to last year's French Open final, losing to Ashleigh Barty. After falling in the first round at Wimbledon three weeks later, Vondrousova underwent left-wrist surgery and missed the last half of 2019.

   Vondrousova, ranked No. 19, is set to face fellow Czech Karolina Pliskova, the second seed and defending champion, on Sunday not before 7 a.m. Pliskova, a former world No. 1 and the runner-up in the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, outplayed 11th-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.

  Pliskova defeated Vondrousova 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of last year's Miami Open on a hardcourt in their only previous meeting.

   In Sunday's other women's semifinal, top-seeded Simona Halep is scheduled to meet ninth-seeded Garbine Muguruza at 3 a.m.

   Halep, the Rome runner-up in 2017 and 2018, beat unseeded Yulia Putintseva, a U.S. Open quarterfinalist, 6-2, 2-0 (retired, lower back) for her 12th consecutive victory and 17th in her last 18 matches.

   Muguruza outlasted unseeded Victoria Azarenka, the U.S. Open runner-up to Naomi Osaka, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a matchup of two-time Grand Slam singles champions and former world No. 1s.

   Both Muguruza and Azarenka won doubles titles in the now-defunct Bank of the West Classic, and Azarenka won the singles crown at Stanford 10 years ago.

   Muguruza is 4-2 against Halep, but the Romanian has won both clay-court clashes. The players have much in common, although the 6-foot (1.82-meter) Muguruza is six inches (15.2 centimeters) taller. Halep also has been ranked No. 1 and won two majors, the same ones as Muguruza (the French Open and Wimbledon).

Serena, Andreescu advance to U.S. Open final

Serena Williams, playing in San Jose last year, will try again to equal Margaret
Court's record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles. Photo by Mal Taam

   Serena Williams has lost one-sided finals three times while trying to tie Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles.
   Williams will get another chance on Saturday (1 p.m. PDT on ESPN).
   Seeded eighth, the 37-year-old part-time resident of Silicon Valley dismissed fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-3, 6-1 in 70 minutes on Thursday in the U.S. Open semifinals.
   Combined with her 44-minute quarterfinal victory over Wang Qiang, Williams has averaged 57 minutes in her last two matches in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   Williams will meet 15th-seeded Bianca Andreescu, a 19-year-old Canadian, for the title. Andreescu turned back 13th-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 7-6 (3), 7-5 to reach her first Grand Slam final. Bencic, 22, led 5-2 in the second set.
   Andreescu and Williams have met once – sort of. Andreescu led 3-1 in last month's Toronto final when Williams retired with back spasms.
   Williams won her 23rd major singles crown in the 2017 Australian Open, had her first child seven months later and suffered life-threatening complications. She lost finals to Angelique Kerber 6-3, 6-3 at Wimbledon in 2018, Naomi Osaka 6-2, 6-4 in last year's U.S. Open and Simona Halep 6-2, 6-2 at Wimbledon in July.
   Williams has been on her best behavior during matches and interviews the last two weeks after her tumultuous loss to Osaka.
   In the third round of boys singles on Thursday, eighth-seeded Emilio Nava, 17, of Woodland Hills in the Los Angeles area beat Aidan Mayo, a 16-year-old product of Roseville in the Sacramento region, 7-6 (3), 6-2.

Dimitrov shocks Federer in U.S. Open quarterfinals

Grigor Dimitrov beat Roger Federer for the first
time in eight matches. File photo by Paul Bauman

   For the second consecutive year, Roger Federer wilted before the semifinals of the U.S. Open.

   Last year, it was against 55th-ranked John Millman in extreme humidity in the fourth round.

   On Tuesday night, it was against 78th-ranked Grigor Dimitrov, who had been 0-7 against the Swiss star, in the quarterfinals.

   Dimitrov, ranked a career-high No. 3 as recently as November 2017, beat the third-seeded Federer 3-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

   "Grigor was able to put me away," Federer, who was seeking a record-breaking sixth U.S. Open singles title, told reporters. "I fought with what I had."

   Federer, 38, took a rare medical timeout after the fourth set for pain in his upper back and neck. He put up little resistance in the fifth set and finished with 60 unforced errors to Dimitrov's 41.

   "He started slowing down a little bit," the 28-year-old Dimitrov, who's known as "Baby Fed" because of his one-handed backhand and artistry on the court, said in an on-court interview. "For sure, in the end, he was not 100 percent of himself."

   Dimitrov, who had lost six of his last seven matches entering the U.S. Open, will jump to at least No. 25 on Monday. In his third Grand Slam singles semifinal, he is scheduled to meet fifth-seeded Daniil Medvedev of Russia on Friday. The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Medvedev, 23, beat 23rd-seeded Stan Wawrinka 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

   In Medvedev's last three tournaments before the U.S. Open, he reached the finals in Washington, D.C., and Montreal and won his first Masters 1000 title in Cincinnati. 

   Wawrinka won his third and last Grand Slam singles in the 2016 U.S. Open but underwent two knee operations in 2017. 

   Medvedev and Dimitrov have split two career meetings, both in 2017.

   In the women's quarterfinals, eighth seed and six-time champion Serena Williams demolished 18th-seeded Wang Qiang of China 6-1, 6-0 in 44 minutes. That tied Simona Halep's third-round victory over Viktoria Kuzmova in Madrid for the shortest WTA match of the year, wtatennis.com reported.

   Williams, a 37-year-old part-time resident of Silicon Valley, is set to play fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine on Thursday. 

   Svitolina, who reached the San Jose quarterfinals as the top seed this summer, eliminated 16th-seeded Johanna Konta, the champion of the 2016 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, 6-4, 6-4.
   Williams is 4-1 against the 24-year-old Svitolina, but they have not met since 2016.

   In junior singles:

   –Aidan Mayo, a 16-year-old product of Roseville in the Sacramento area, defeated Juan Bautista Torres of Argentina 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 in the second round.

   –Fifth-seeded Zheng Qinwen of China dominated Allura Zamarripa of Saint Helena in the Napa region 6-0, 6-2 in the second round.

   –Katie Volynets, 17, of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area, outplayed Carole Monnet of France 6-1, 6-3 in the first round.

   In the first round of junior doubles:

   –Sixth-seeded Pablo Llamas Ruiz of Spain and Gauthier Onclin of Belgium beat Cash Hanzlik of Portland, Ore., and Mayo 6-2, 6-2.

   –Nicolas Alvarez Varona of Spain and Bautista Torres defeated Hugo Hashimoto of San Jose and Benjamin Kittay of Potomac, Md., 7-5, 7-5.

   –Top-seeded Alexa Noel of Summit, N.J., and Diane Parry of France beat India Houghton of Belvedere Tiburon in the San Francisco Bay Area and Carol Young Suh Lee of Northern Mariana Islands 6-1, 6-4.

   –Joanna Garland of Chinese Taipei and Mananchaya Sawangkaew of Thailand topped identical twins Allura and Maribella Zamarripa 7-5, 5-7 [10-2].

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.

Top seed Svitolina sails into San Jose quarterfinals

Elina Svitolina, playing in the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford,
won easily today in her first match since becoming the first Ukrainian
woman to reach the Wimbledon semifinals. Photo by Mal Taam 

   Top-seeded Elina Svitolina, coming off a historic achievement at Wimbledon, rolled to a 6-3, 6-1 victory over wild card Daria Kasatkina of Russia today to reach the quarterfinals of the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic at San Jose State.
   Svitolina, 24, became the first Ukrainian woman to reach the semifinals at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. It was her best performance in a Grand Slam tournament.
   "I think I played quite a solid match for my first match on hardcourts (since Wimbledon)," the seventh-ranked Svitolina, who received a first-round bye along with the other top four seeds, said in an on-court interview. "We're back on hardcourts, so I'm excited for all the matches here and overall this part of the season."
   Svitolina improved to 5-0 against the 22-year-old Kasatkina, who eliminated defending champion Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania in a first-round clash of slumping players. Kasatkina has plunged from a career-high No. 10 last October to No. 40.
   Svitolina, a semifinalist in the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in her only other San Francisco Bay Area appearance, is scheduled to face seventh-seeded Maria Sakkari of Greece on Friday.
   Sakkari, last year's runner-up in San Jose, subdued qualifier Mayo Hibi, who plays for her native Japan but has lived in California since she was 2 years old, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in 2 hours, 35 minutes. Hibi advanced to the final of the $60,000 Berkeley Tennis Club Challenge two weeks ago.
   Svitolina defeated Sakkari 6-3, 6-7 (1), 6-2 in the third round at Wimbledon this month in their only career meeting.
   Second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus dismissed U.S. wild card CoCo Vandeweghe, the runner-up in the Bank of the West Classic in 2012 and 2017, 6-3, 6-3. Vandeweghe, 27, was playing in her first tournament this year after suffering an ankle injury.
   Sabalenka, ranked No. 10, is coached by former top-20 player Dmitry Tursunov, a Moscow native who moved to the Bay Area alone at 12 to train and was based in the Sacramento area for most of his professional career.
   Sabalenka will play sixth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain. Suarez Navarro, ranked No. 29, beat U.S. wild card Bethanie Mattek-Sands 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 in a matchup of players in their 30s. Mattek-Sands, 34, eliminated wild card Venus Williams, 39, in the first round.
   The 5-foot-11 (1.82-meter) Sabalenka, 21, is 2-0 against the 5-foot-4 (1.62-meter) Suarez Navarro, 30, including a 6-1, 6-4 victory in the New Haven final last August.
   Suarez Navarro won the doubles title in the 2014 Bank of the West Classic with compatriot Garbine Muguruza.
   Here is Thursday's schedule.

Serena, Halep cruise into Wimbledon final

   Barbora Strycova and Elina Svitolina played in their first Grand Slam semifinals today.

   It did not go well.

   Eleventh-seeded Serena Williams, a seven-time Wimbledon champion, dismantled the unseeded Strycova, a 33-year-old Czech, 6-1, 6-2 in 59 minutes.

   Seventh-seeded Simona Halep dismissed the eighth-seeded Svitolina, a 24-year-old Ukrainian, 6-1, 6-3 in 73 minutes to reach her first Wimbledon final.

   Williams, a 37-year-old part-time Silicon Valley resident, will try to tie Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles when she faces Halep, a 27-year-old Romanian seeking her second major crown, on Saturday at 6 a.m. PDT (ESPN). 

   Williams leads the head-to-head series 9-1. She won the last meeting 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in the round of 16 at the Australian Open in January. 

   Williams and Halep will face each other for the second time on grass. In their first career encounter, Williams triumphed 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 in the second round at Wimbledon in 2011. 

   Tennis Channel commentator Lindsay Davenport said the surface at the All England Lawn Tennis Club is playing slower this year, helping the 5-foot-6 (1.68-meter) Halep. 

Serena tops Riske in Wimbledon quarterfinals

Serena Williams, playing in Indian Wells in March, appears headed for a record-
tying 24th Grand Slam singles title. Photo by Harjanto Sumali

   It will take a big upset to prevent Serena Williams from winning a milestone Grand Slam title.
   Of course, it has happened before.
   The 11th-seeded Williams, a part-time Silicon Valley resident, outplayed unseeded Alison Riske of Nashville, Tenn., 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 today in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
   Williams, who's trying to tie Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam singles title, is 16-2 combined against the other semifinalists. She has never lost a set in three career matches (all in majors) against her next opponent, Barbora Strycova, is 9-1 against Simona Halep and is 4-1 against Elina Svitolina.
   The unseeded Strycova beat 19th-seeded Johanna Konta 7-6 (5), 6-1, and the seventh-seeded Halep downed unseeded Zhang Shuai 7-6 (4), 6-1. Svitolina, seeded eighth, stopped unseeded Karolina Muchova 7-5, 6-4.
   Strycova, a 33-year-old Czech, and Svitolina, a 24-year-old Ukrainian, reached their first Grand Slam semifinals.
   Svitolina is 4-3 against Halep, 27. They have never met on grass.
   Williams won three singles titles (2011, 2012 and 2014) and Konta one (2016) in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
   Svitolina, a semifinalist in her only Bank of the West appearance in 2015, is scheduled to play in the second annual Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic, July 29-Aug. 4 at San Jose State.
   Williams was two victories from pulling off the first calendar-year Grand Slam since Steffi Graf's in 1988 when she lost to unseeded Roberta Vinci in the 2015 U.S. Open semifinals.
   In today's match, Williams had 19 aces and two double faults to Riske's one and six, respectively.
   With Riske serving at 3-4, 30-30 in the third set, she played two terrible points in a row. Riske hit down the line instead of into the open court, allowing Williams to put away a forehand volley, and double-faulted. Williams closed out the match with -- what else? -- an ace down the middle.
   In the men's doubles quarterfinals, 11th-seeded Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France ousted top seeds and 2017 champions Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Marcelo Melo of Brazil 7-6 (3), 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3.
   Mahut and Roger-Vasselin were coming off a four-set victory over seventh seeds and three-time champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, 41-year-old ex-Stanford stars.
   In the second round of mixed doubles, Andy Murray and Williams beat 14th-seeded Fabrice Martin of France and Raquel Atawo (Cal, 2001-04) of San Jose 7-5, 6-3.
   Murray won the first of his 45 tour-level singles titles at 18 in the 2006 SAP Open in San Jose and repreated the following year.

Svitolina, Sabalenka top San Jose acceptance list

Elina Svitolina, shown en route to the semifinals in the 2015 Bank of the
West Classic at Stanford, has reached four Grand Slam quarterfinals,
including the past two Australian Opens. Photo by Mal Taam 

   The field for the second Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose features two top-10 players, two former world No. 1s, three Grand Slam singles champions and both of last year's finalists.
   No. 7 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine and No. 10 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus top the acceptance list, announced Wednesday, for the July 29-Aug. 4 tournament at San Jose State.
   Svitolina has reached four Grand Slam quarterfinals, including the past two Australian Opens. Sabalenka, coached by former longtime Northern California resident Dmitry Tursunov, advanced to the fourth round of last year's U.S. Open.
   Also entered in San Jose are former world No. 1s and two-time Grand Slam singles champions Garbine Muguruza and Victoria Azarenka. Both won titles in the Bank of the West Classic, which ended a 21-year run at Stanford in 2017. Muguruza took the doubles crown with fellow Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro in 2014, and Azarenka captured the singles title in 2010.
   In addition, Jelena Ostapenko plans to play in San Jose. The Latvian won the 2017 French Open two days after turning 20.
   In the final of last year's Silicon Valley Classic, depleted by injuries and upsets, Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania crushed Maria Sakkari of Greece 6-1, 6-0.
   Amanda Anisimova, a 17-year-old sensation, heads the U.S. contingent in San Jose. Anisimova, who won her first professional title at 15 in the 2017 Sacramento Challenger, toppled defending champion Simona Halep two weeks ago to become the youngest American in the French Open semifinals since 14-year-old Jennifer Capriati in 1990.
   Neither Serena nor Venus Williams, who combined to win five Bank of the West singles titles, is entered in San Jose, but four wild cards will be announced in the next few weeks. The four players who emerge from the July 27-28 qualifying event will round out the 28-player singles draw.
   International Tennis Hall of Famers Andy Roddick and Michael Chang and former top-10 players James Blake and Mark Philippoussis will play a one-night tournament as part of the Invesco Series on Saturday, Aug. 3.

Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic Acceptance List

(With world ranking)

Elina Svitolina, Ukraine, 7
Aryna Sabalenka, Belarus, 10
Qiang Wang, China, 15
Elise Mertens, Belgium, 21
Donna Vekic, Croatia, 22
Petra Martic, Croatia, 25
Garbine Muguruza, Spain, 26
Amanda Anisimova, United States, 27
Carla Suarez Navarro, Spain, 31,
Maria Sakkari, Greece, 33
Danielle Collins, United States, 34
Jelena Ostapenko, Latvia, 37
Victoria Azarenka, Belarus, 41
Mihaela Buzarnescu, Romania, 42
Saisai Zheng, China, 44
Ajla Tomljanovic, Australia, 47
Ekaterina Alexandrova, Russia, 50
Shuai Zhang, China, 52
Andrea Petkovic, Germany, 71
Magda Linette, Poland, 75

Buzarnescu creates buzz with French Open upset

   No. 31 seed Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania shocked No. 4 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-3, 7-5 today to reach the round of 16 in the French Open.
   Buzarnescu, ranked No. 377 a year ago because of injuries, recorded her first victory over a top-five player.
   The 30-year-old left-hander is playing in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament for only the second time. She lost to Caroline Wozniacki in the first round of last year's U.S. Open.
   Svitolina reached the French Open quarterfinals in 2015 and last year.
   Buzarnescu next will play No. 13 seed Madison Keys, who topped No. 21 Naomi Osaka of Japan 6-1, 7-6 (7). Keys won last summer's Bank of the West Classic at Stanford and advanced to the U.S. Open final, in which she lost to Sloane Stephens.
   Today's scheduled match between the 10th-seeded Stephens, who grew up in Fresno, and Camila Giorgi of Italy was postponed by rain. They are scheduled to play on Saturday at 2 a.m. PDT (Tennis Channel).
   In the first round of mixed doubles, second-seeded Latisha (formerly Yung-Jan) Chan of Taiwan and Ivan Dodig of Croatia beat Makoto Ninomiya and ex-Cal star Ben McLachlan of Japan 7-5, 6-3.

NorCal connections of players in WTA Finals

Garbine Muguruza reached the semifinals of the Bank of the West Classic
at Stanford in August in her first tournament after winning Wimbledon.
Photo by Mal Taam

   All eight singles players in this week's WTA Finals in Singapore have played in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford. Here's how they have fared (world rankings and seedings in parentheses):
   Simona Halep (1), Romania -- In her only appearance, lost to Sabine Lisicki of Germany 6-1, 6-2 in first round in 2011.
   Garbine Muguruza (2), Spain -- Reached quarterfinals in 2014 and semifinals this year in her only appearances. Won 2014 doubles title with compatriot Carla Suarez Navarro.
   Karolina Pliskova (3), Czech Republic -- Has made two appearances, losing in second round in 2014 to eventual champion Serena Williams and in 2015 final to Angelique Kerber.
   Elina Svitolina (4), Ukraine -- Reached 2015 semifinals, losing to Kerber, in her only appearance.
   Venus Williams (5), United States -- Has won the singles title twice (2000 and 2002) and reached six other finals in 13 appearances. Made her WTA debut at 14 in 1994 (when the tournament was played indoors in Oakland), losing to Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in second round. Has played doubles once, winning the 2009 title with Serena Williams.
   Caroline Wozniacki (6), Denmark -- In her only appearance, lost to Vavrara Lepchenko in second round in 2015 as top seed after receiving first-round bye.
   Jelena Ostapenko (7), Latvia -- In her only appearance, lost to 17-year-old CiCi Bellis of neighboring Atherton in first round in 2016.
   Caroline Garcia (8), France -- Lost in first round in both appearances (2014 and 2015).

Kerber to face Pliskova in Bank of the West final

No. 5 seed Angelique Kerber dismissed No. 8 Elina
Svitolina 6-3, 6-1. Photo by Mal Taam

   Angelique Kerber will play in the final of the Bank of the West Classic for the second straight year.
   She won't have to play Serena Williams, but that doesn't mean Kerber will win.
   The 27-year-old German will face rising star Karolina Pliskova, a 23-year-old Czech.
   Pliskova, seeded fourth, beat unseeded Varvara Lepchenko of the United States 6-2, 7-5 on Saturday at Stanford University to reach her WTA tour-best fifth final of the year.
   The 6-foot-1 (1.86-meter) Pliskova, ranked 11th, will debut in the top 10 when the new rankings are released on Monday.
   Kerber dismissed eighth-seeded Elina Svitolina, a 20-year-old Ukrainian who reached the French Open quarterfinals in June, 6-3, 6-1 in 55 minutes.
   Kerber is 3-2 against Pliskova, including two meetings this year. Kerber prevailed 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (4) two months ago in the grass-court final at Birmingham, England. Pliskova won 6-3, 6-2 on a hardcourt in the Sydney semifinals in January. 

   "I'm looking forward to it," the 14th-ranked Kerber, who has won three singles titles this year and six in her career, told reporters. "I know it will be a tough final against Karolina. She has a big serve, and I must try to return very well."

No. 4 seed Karolina Pliskova beat unseeded
Varvara Lepchenko 6-2, 7-5. Photo by Mal Taam

   In Pliskova's four finals this year, she won in Prague and lost in Sydney, Dubai and Birmingham. Pliskova has four career singles titles but will try to win her first Premier-level crown today.
   She expects a battle against the 5-foot-8 (1.73-meter) Kerber.
   "She's tough to play because she is everywhere and is hitting fast," Pliskova said. "She's a lefty, which also makes it tough. I've beaten her a few times, and she's beaten me a few times."
   Williams, who won her third Bank of the West singles title last year, withdrew on Friday before the tournament with a right elbow injury. 

BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC

At Stanford

Singles semifinals

   Karolina Pliskova (4), Czech Republic, def. Varvara Lepchenko, United States, 6-2, 7-5.
   Angelique Kerber (5), Germany, def. Elina Svitolina (8), Ukraine, 6-3, 6-1.

Doubles semifinals

   Yi-Fan Xu and Saisai Zheng, China, def. Kateryna Bondarenko, Ukraine, and Tatjana Maria, Germany, 6-2, 6-4.
   Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja (2), Spain, def. Gabriela Dabrowski, Canada, and Alicja Rosolska (3), Poland, 6-3, 6-2.

Today's schedule

Stadium Court

(Starting at 2 p.m.)

   Karolina Pliskova (4), Czech Republic, vs. Angelique Kerber (5), Germany.
  Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja (2), Spain, vs. Yi-Fan Xu and Saisai Zheng, China. 

Kerber outlasts Radwanska in Stanford thriller

Angelique Kerber beat Agnieszka Radwanska in one
of the best matches of the year. Photo by Mal Taam

   The quarterfinal between Angelique Kerber and Agnieszka Radwanska lived up to its billing, and then some.
   In a matchup of the last two Bank of the West Classic runners-up, the fifth-seeded Kerber outlasted the second-seeded Radwanska 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in 2 hours, 26 minutes on Friday night at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
   Kerber, a 27-year-old German, and Radwanska, a 26-year-old Pole, have several similarities. They're both 5-foot-8 (1.73-meter) counterpunchers. Kerber even lives in Poland. The biggest difference is that Kerber is left-handed and Radwanska right-handed.
   They thrilled an announced crowd of 2,424 with many long, spirited rallies in one of the best matches on the WTA tour this year.
   Radwanska finally gave Kerber an opening, double-faulting at 4-4, 30-30 in the third set. Kerber then won a long point to break and held serve at love for the match. 
   "I think we both played close to perfect tennis," Kerber, last year's runner-up to Serena Williams, said after leveling her record against Radwanska at 5-5. "I was happy to win the match, but at the end, I think we both should have won."
   Radwanska couldn't capitalize on a break point at 4-3 in the second set.

Radwanska lamented her missed oppor-
tunities. Photo by Mal Taam

   "In a tight (match) where your opponent is playing great tennis, there are always turnarounds," said Radwanska, who lost to Dominika Cibulkova in the 2013 final. "I just needed those few important points that were there, and I didn't take them. Otherwise, it was a great match."
   Kerber will face eighth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in today's second semifinal at 4 p.m. (ESPN2). The 20-year-old Svitolina, a French Open quarterfinalist in June, defeated American Alison Riske 4-6, 7-5, 6-1. Riske, 25, served for the match at 6-4, 5-4.
   Kerber and Svitolina have split their four matches, but Svitolina has won the last two.
   In the first semifinal at noon (ESPN2), fourth-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic will meet unseeded Varvara Lepchenko of the United States.
   Pliskova, 6-foot-1 (1.86 meters), beat Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia 6-2, 6-4. The 11th-ranked Pliskova will debut in the top 10 when the new rankings are released on Monday.
   Lepchenko, a native of Uzbekistan who became a U.S. citizen in 2011, downed Mona Barthel of Germany 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-3 to reach the Bank of the West semifinals for the second straight year.
   Pliskova is 2-0 against Lepchenko, but both matches have gone three sets.

BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC

At Stanford

Singles quarterfinals

   Karolina Pliskova (4), Czech Republic, def. Ajla Tomljanovic, Croatia, 6-2, 6-4.
   Elina Svitolina (8), Ukraine, def. Alison Riske, United States, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.
   Varvara Lepchenko, United States, def. Mona Barthel, Germany, 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-3.
   Angelique Kerber (5), Germany, def. Agnieszka Radwanska (2), Poland, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Doubles quarterfinal

   Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja (2), Spain, def. Chin-Wei Chan, Taiwan, and Darija Jurak, Croatia, 6-3, 7-5.

Today's schedule

Stadium Court

(Starting at noon)

   Karolina Pliskova (4), Czech Republic, vs. Varvara Lepchenko, United States.
   Kateryna Bondarenko, Ukraine, and Tatjana Maria, Germany, vs. Yi-Fan Xu and Saisai Zheng, China (possible court change).

(Not before 4 p.m.)

   Angelique Kerber (5), Germany, vs. Elina Svitolina (8), Ukraine.
   Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja (2), Spain, vs. Gabriela Dabrowski, Canada, and Alicja Rosolska (3), Poland.

Three seeds, local favorite lose in Bank of the West

Qualifier Nicole Gibbs, a 22-year-old ex-Stanford
star, lost to eighth-seeded Elina Svitolina of
Ukraine in the second round. Photo by Mal Taam

   STANFORD, Calif. -- Area fans and Bank of the West Classic organizers got every upset but the one they really wanted today.
   No. 3 Carla Suarez Navarro, No. 6 Andrea Petkovic and No. 7 Madison Keys fell in the second round at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium on the campus of Stanford University.
   But eighth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine beat local favorite Nicole Gibbs 6-3, 7-6 (5) in the last match of the night in front of most of an announced crowd of 2,415.
   Gibbs, a 22-year-old qualifier, won three NCAA titles (two in singles and one in doubles) before giving up her senior year at Stanford and turning pro in 2013. Svitolina, 20, reached the French Open quarterfinals in June.
   "It's disappointing to take a loss anywhere," Gibbs said, "but especially in front of a home crowd like that. You hate to disappoint them.
   "I had moments throughout the week when I was playing some pretty good tennis. I have a lot of takeaways that hopefully will help start a good hardcourt season for me."  
   At least American Alison Riske pulled off an upset. A Pittsburgh native living in Atlanta, she defeated Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals.
   Suarez Navarro, who won her first WTA doubles title in last year's Bank of the West Classic with countrywoman Garbine Muguruza, took a medical timeout before serving at 1-2 in the second set.

Svitolina, 20, follows through on a forehand against Gibbs. Svitolina
reached the French Open quarterfinals in June. Photo by Mal Taam

   Suarez Navarro -- distinctive for her sensational one-handed backhand; small size (5-foot-4 or 1.62 meters); and short, dark hair -- didn't move well or chase balls in the corners late in the match.
   Earlier, 6-foot-1 (1.85-meter) Mona Barthel edged Petkovic, a Bank of the West semifinalist last year, 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (4) in a 2-hour, 33-minute battle of Germans.
   In tonight's first match, Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia overcame a horrendous start and a pro-American crowd to beat her close friend Keys of Boca Raton, Fla., 1-6, 6-4, 6-1. The first set lasted 22 minutes and the last one 25 minutes.
   Keys, 20, was the only U.S. seed in the Bank of the West Classic. She has had a breakthrough year, advancing to the Australian Open semifinals and Wimbledon quarterfinals.   
   Riske and Barthel, both 25, are playing in the main draw at Stanford for the first time this year. Tomljanovic (pronounced Tom-lee-ann-o-vich), 22, on Tuesday won her first main-draw match in five Bank of the West appearances.

   Barthel, ranked 63rd after reaching a career-high No. 23 in early 2013, made her Bank of the West Classic debut on Monday.
   Riske, No. 59 after climbing as high as 40th last year in June, is playing at Stanford for the second time after losing in the second round of qualifying in 2010.
   Riske cracked a smile when asked why she decided to return to the Bank of the West, which runs concurrently with the Citi Open in Washington, D.C.
   "I haven't won a match in D.C.," Riske said, exaggerating slightly. "No, but I always liked playing Indian Wells out here. I wish they would bring more events to California.

American Alison Riske defeated ailing Carla Suarez Navarro,
seeded third, to reach the quarterfinals. Photo by Mal Taam

   "I played (the Bank of the West) my first year on tour, and I remember enjoying it. The weather is perfect, the people are so nice, and the tournament is run so well. I decided, all right, we're changing it up this year. It can't get worse."
   The Tomljanovic-Keys match was what tennis commentator Mary Carillo calls "big-babe tennis." The  5-foot-11 (1.80-meter) Tomljanovic and the 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) Keys both crush the ball, although Keys has a bigger serve.
   "That was tough," Tomljanovic, who moved to Australia in November and speaks English like a native, said of the first set. "I really thought I'd be off that court in like 35 minutes. I'm not even joking.
   "I just tried to hold serve. That was my biggest thing. It felt really tough on her serve. When I was getting into the points, I was kind of getting just overpowered. I just had to go one point at a time. I knew there would be times when she would give me some free points, and she did, so I just tried to go along with that, and that's when my game started coming together."
   When Tomljanovic wasn't making errors in the first set, Keys was ripping passing shots or winners. But Tomljanovic countered Keys' power in the second set, and Keys unraveled in the third.

Mona Barthel edged fellow German Andrea Petkovic, seeded sixth,
5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (4) in 2 hours, 33 minutes. Photo by Mal Taam

   "I think mostly it was just getting myself going more in between points and once the point started staying lower and just trying to get the ball back for a change," said the 69th-ranked Tomljanovic, who staged a similar turnaround in the first round as she defeated Vitalia Diatchenko of Russia 3-6, 6-0, 6-0. "She played well in the first set. I felt like I wasn't even in it. She was too good at times."
   But Keys eventually grew frustrated.
   "It's never easy feeling like you were playing so well the round before and even playing so well in the first set, and then things kind of get away from you," said Keys, who dismantled Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 6-3, 6-0 in the first round. "It's definitely tough to always keep yourself in the moment and get yourself to be able to come back and calm down, and tonight I wasn't able to. That's something that I'm working on, so I just have to learn from it and move on."  
   Tomljanovic awaits the winner of Thursday's match between fourth-seeded Karolina Pliskova and 44-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan. Win or lose, the 6-foot-1 (1.86-meter) Pliskova will become the eighth Czech to crack the top 10 in the world on Monday.

   Riske will meet Svitolina, and Barthel will play the survivor of Thursday night's match between top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki and Varvara Lepchenko, a U.S. citizen from Uzbekistan. Both Wozniacki, a former world No. 1 who will make her Bank of the West debut after receiving a first-round bye, and Barthel were born on July 11, 1990.

Ajla Tomljanovic overcame a horrendous start to beat her close
friend Madison Keys, seeded seventh. Photo by Mal Taam

   Second-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, the runner-up at Wimbledon in 2012 and Stanford in 2013, was scheduled to play tonight against qualifier Misaki Doi of Japan. However, the match was moved to Thursday's day session at the request of medical staff, according to tournament officials, to give Poland's Radwanska more time to recover from a lower back injury.
   Pliskova, currently ranked 11th, will give the Czech Republic three players in the top 10 for the first time. Left-handers Petra Kvitova and Lucie Safarova are No. 4 and No. 8, respectively.
   Other Czechs who have accomplished the feat are Martina Navratilova, Hana Mandlikova, Helena Sukova, Jana Novotna and Nicole Vaidisova. The latter was named the 2004 World TeamTennis Female MVP and Rookie of the Year for the now-defunct Sacramento Capitals at age 15.
   Also losing today was the fourth-seeded doubles team of Raquel Kops-Jones and Maria Sanchez. The Northern California pair fell to Barthel and countrywoman Sabine Lisicki 6-3, 7-6 (2) in the first round.
   Kops-Jones, 32, grew up in Fresno, starred at Cal and lives in San Jose. She won the 2013 Bank of the West doubles title with her regular partner, Abigail Spears, who is recovering from a torn calf muscle. 
   Sanchez, 25, was born and raised in Modesto.

BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC

At Stanford

Second-round singles

   Mona Barthel, Germany, def. Andrea Petkovic (6), Germany, 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (4).
   Alison Riske, United States, def. Carla Suarez Navarro (3), Spain, 6-4, 7-5.
   Ajla Tomljanovic, Croatia, def. Madison Keys (7), United States, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1.
   Elina Svitolina (8), Ukraine, def. Nicole Gibbs, United States, 6-3, 7-6 (5).

 First-round doubles

   Chin-Wei Chan, Taiwan, and Darija Jurak, Croatia, def. Vitalia Diatchenko, Russia, and Anna Tatishvili, United States, 6-4, 7-5.
   Mona Barthel and Sabine Lisicki, Germany, def. Raquel Kops-Jones and Maria Sanchez (4), United States, 6-3, 7-6 (2).

Thursday's schedule

Stadium Court

(Starting at 11 a.m.)

   Angelique Kerber (5), Germany, vs. Ana Konjuh, Croatia.

(Not before 1 p.m.)

   Agnieszka Radwanska (2), Poland, vs. Misaki Doi, Japan.
   Karolina Pliskova (4), Czech Republic, vs. Kimiko Date-Krumm, Japan.

(Not before 7 p.m.)

   Caroline Wozniacki (1), Denmark, vs. Varvara Lepchenko, United States.
   Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan (1), Taiwan, vs. Kateryna Bondarenko, Ukraine, and Tatjana Maria, Germany.

Court 6

(Starting at 12:30 p.m.)

   Mona Barthel and Sabine Lisicki, Germany, vs. Yi-Fan Xu and Saisai Zheng, China.
   Gabriela Dabrowski, Canada, and Alicja Rosolska (3), Poland, vs. Asia Muhammad, United States, and Ajla Tomljanovic, Croatia.

Date-Krumm, 44, rallies to shock Lisicki at Stanford

Kimiko Date-Krumm, 44, stunned Sabine Lisicki, the Wimbledon runner-up
two years ago, after trailing 6-1, 4-1 (two service breaks). Photo by Mal Taam

   STANFORD, Calif. -- The legend of Kimiko Date-Krumm continues to grow.
   The 44-year-old Japanese qualifier overcame a huge deficit to shock Sabine Lisicki, the 2013 Wimbledon runner-up from Germany, 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 late tonight in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
   Date-Krumm trailed the 25-year-old Lisicki 6-1, 4-1 (two service breaks) but fought back to serve for the match. Date-Krumm earned three match points at 40-0, but Lisicki saved the first two. On the third, a Date-Krumm forehand smacked the tape and plopped over the net for a winner.
   "In the beginning, it was not easy to adjust to her power," said the 5-foot-4 (1.63-meter), 117-pound (53-kilogram) Date-Krumm, who coincidentally is married to a German race car driver. "I just tried my best and focused on the ball."
   Lisicki, 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters), owns two women's serving records. She fired a 131-mph (210.8-kph) missile in a first-round loss to Ana Ivanovic in last year's Bank of the West Classic and blasted 27 aces in a match in Birmingham, England, seven weeks ago.
   Lisicki, ranked 24th, had been 3-0 against Date-Krumm. In their first meeting since 2011, Lisicki had eight aces and six double faults tonight to Date-Krumm's none and three, respectively.
   Date-Krumm reached the semifinals of the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon in the mid-1990s and climbed to a career-high No. 4 in the world 20 years ago. Burned out, she retired at 26 years old for 11 1/2 years. Here's my 2011 story on Date-Krumm.
   Injuries dropped Date-Krumm's ranking below 200 in June, relegating her to tennis' minor leagues. She advanced to the semifinals in Stockton and the quarterfinals in Sacramento last month, raising her ranking to No. 173 entering Stanford.
   Date-Krumm will play fourth-seeded Karolina Pliskova, a 6-foot-1 (1.86-meter) Czech who received a first-round bye, in the Bank of the West for the second straight year on Thursday. Pliskova won 6-1, 6-3 in the opening round in 2014 to even her career record against Date-Krumm at 1-1..
   Earlier tonight, Angelique Kerber faced a dangerous first-round match.

Fifth-seeded Angelique Kerber, last year's runner-up,
dismissed Daria Gavrilova 6-1, 6-3 in 65 minutes. The
match was expected to be closer. Photo by Mal Taam

   Yes, the 2014 Bank of the West runner-up was 2-0 against her opponent, Daria Gavrilova. But in their last meeting, Kerber prevailed in a tough three-setter in the second round at Sydney in January.
   Futhermore, this was Kerber's first match in one month. She lost to eventual finalist Garbine Muguruza in the third round at Wimbledon.
   Wary of the pitfalls, the fifth-seeded Kerber dismissed Gavrilova 6-1, 6-3 in 65 minutes.
   "I played against her twice before, and it was always tough, so I knew that I should play very well to beat her," said Kerber, who also beat Gavrilova 6-3, 7-5 in the second round at Brisbane the week before Sydney. "And it's always tough to play a match after such a long time. I'm actually very happy about my performance tonight."
   Kerber, a 27-year-old left-hander from Germany, seeks her fourth title of the year after winning Charleston on outdoor clay, Stuttgart on indoor clay and Birmingham on grass. Ranked as high as No. 5 in October 2012, she has fallen to No. 14.
   It didn't hurt Kerber's chances of winning Stanford when defending champion Serena Williams withdrew Friday with a right elbow injury.
   Gavrilova won the U.S. Open girls title in 2010 and attained a junior ranking of No. 1 in the world that year. She tore her right ACL in November 2013, underwent surgery and missed the first half of 2014. In her first tournament back, the 5-foot-5 (1.66-meter) Gavrilova won the doubles title in the Sacramento Challenger with Storm Sanders of Australia.

Daria Gavrilova, shown Tuesday night,  beat second-ranked
Maria Sharapova in Miami in March and reached the Rome
semifinals as a qualifier in May. Photo by Mal Taam

   Gavrilova, who beat second-ranked Maria Sharapova in Miami in March and reached the Rome semifinals as a qualifier in May, has climbed to No. 41.
   The 21-year-old Moscow native is awaiting Australian citizenship. Until then, she represents Russia in WTA tournaments and Australia in Grand Slam events.

   Kerber will meet 17-year-old Ana Konjuh of Croatia on Thursday in the second round. Konjuh, who beat Saisai Zheng of China 6-3, 6-4, became the WTA's youngest titlist in nine years when she won Nottingham on grass in June.
   During the day session, eighth-seeded Elina Svitolina, 20, defeated qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko, who will turn 29 on Saturday, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 in a 2-hour, 31-minute battle of Ukrainians. Svitolina, who reached the French Open quarterfinals in June, trailed 5-3 in the third set.

   Bondarenko took a year and a half off the tour, beginning in 2012, to give birth to daughter Karin and spend time with her new family. Karin and her father, Denis Volodko, were in the stands on Tuesday, according to tennisnow.com.

   Svitolina will face local favorite Nicole Gibbs, a 22-year-old qualifier, in Wednesday night's late match. Gibbs won the 2012 and 2013 NCAA singles titles before turning pro out of Stanford.

   Varvara Lepchenko, a Bank of the West semifinalist last year, edged Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4). Lepchenko, a 29-year-old native of Uzbekistan, became a U.S. citizen in 2011.

   CiCi Bellis, 16, of neighboring Atherton ended her first Bank of the West Classic with an opening-round doubles loss. Second-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja of Spain defeated wild cards Bellis and Jacqueline Cako, a 23-year-old former All-American at Arizona State, 6-4, 7-6 (4). 

   It was Medina Garrigues' first WTA match since she was named the Co-Female MVP of World TeamTennis for the California Dream. The Sacramento-based team lost to the host Austin Aces in the Western Conference Championship on Thursday in its inaugural season.

   Cako (pronounced CAY-ko) asked Bellis to play doubles after her original partner, Sachia Vickery of Miramar, Fla., suffered an injury in a first-round qualifying loss. Vickery reached the singles quarterfinals in last year's Bank of the West Classic as a 19-year-old qualifier.
   Bellis, who made headlines by stunning 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova in the first round of last year's U.S. Open, lost to qualifier Misaki Doi, 24, of Japan 6-3, 7-6 (3) on Monday in the opening round of singles at Stanford.  

BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC

At Stanford

First-round singles

   Varvara Lepchenko, United States, def. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, Croatia, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4).
   Ana Konjuh, Croatia, def. Saisai Zheng, China, 6-3, 6-4.
   Elina Svitolina (8), Ukraine, def. Kateryna Bondarenko, Ukraine, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
   Ajla Tomljanovic, Croatia, def. Vitalia Diatchenko, Russia, 3-6, 6-0, 6-0.
   Angelique Kerber (5), Germany, def. Daria Gavrilova, Russia, 6-1, 6-3.
   Kimiko Date-Krumm, Japan, def. Sabine Lisicki, Germany, 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2. 

First-round doubles 

   Anbel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja (2), Spain, def. CiCi Bellis and Jacqueline Cako, United States, 6-4, 7-6 (4).
   Gabriela Dabrowski, Canada, and Alicja Rosolska (3), Poland, def. Aleksandra Krunic, Serbia, and Andrea Petkovic, Germany, 4-6, 7-6 (4) [12-10].
   Yi-Fan Xu and Saisai Zheng, China, def. Klaudia Jans-Ignacik, Poland, and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, Croatia, 6-4, 3-6 [10-4].

Wednesday's schedule

Stadium Court

(Starting at 11 a.m.)

   Andrea Petkovic (6), Germany, vs. Mona Barthel, Germany.

(Not before 1 p.m.)

   Carla Suarez Navarro (3), Spain, vs. Alison Riske, United States.
   Raquel Kops-Jones and Maria Sanchez (4), United States, vs. Mona Barthel and Sabine Lisicki, Germany.

(Not before 7 p.m.)

   Madison Keys (7), United States, vs. Ajla Tomljanovic, Croatia.
   Elina Svitolina (8), Ukraine, vs. Nicole Gibbs, United States.

Court 6

(Starting at 2 p.m.)

   Chin-Wei Chan, Taiwan, and Darija Jurak, Croatia, vs. Vitalia Diatchenko, Russia, and Anna Tatishvili, United States.

French Open Day 8 recap: Tsonga beats Berdych

No. 14 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, practicing at Indian Wells last year,
beat No. 4 Tomas Berdych in the French Open. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Upset of the day -- In a matchup of past Roland Garros semifinalists, 14th-seeded Jo-Wilfried "Catchy" Tsonga of France eliminated No. 4 Tomas "Larry" Berdych of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3 in the fourth round on a rainy day.
   Tsonga served for the match at 5-4 in the third set. The 30-year-old has reached one Grand Slam final, falling to Novak "It's No" Djokovic in the 2008 Australian Open. It was the first of Djokovic's eight major singles titles.
   Match of the day -- In a clash between former French Open junior champions, 19th-seeded Elina Svitolina, 20, of Ukraine held off No. 29 Alize Cornet of France 6-2, 7-6 (9) to reach her first major quarterfinal.
   Cornet, playing in the fourth round at Roland Garros for the first time, saved five match points before she sent a backhand long.
   Notable -- Second-seeded Roger Federer "Express," the 2009 champion, and No. 13 Gael Monfils, a 2008 semifinalist, were tied at one set apiece when darkness suspended the match. 
   Fifth-seeded "Special" Kei Nishikori became the first Japanese man in 82 years to reach the French Open quarterfinals, beating Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
   Eighth-seeded Stan "The Man" Wawrinka of Switzerland advanced to the quarters at Roland Garros for the second time, dismissing No. 12 Gilles Simon of France 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.
   Seventh-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia returned to the quarterfinals at Roland Garros for the first time since winning the 2008 title, topping No. 9 Ekaterina "Do The" Makarova of Russia 7-5, 3-6, 6-1.
   Stars and stripes -- Top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan moved into the men's doubles quarterfinals, as did second-seeded Vasek "Anything Is" Pospisil of Canada and Jack "Lost A" Sock.
   Winning in the first round of junior singles were second-seeded Taylor "On The" Fritz on the boys side, and No. 3 Katerina "Martha" Stewart and No. 7 Usue Maitane Arconada on the girls side.  
   Northern California connection -- The 37-year-old Bryan twins led Stanford to NCAA titles in their two years there (1997-98) and are scheduled to play three matches this summer for the Sacramento-based California Dream of World TeamTennis.
   Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues, a full-time member of the Dream, and Taiwan's Hao-Ching Chan lost to ninth-seeded Andrea Hlavackova and "I Love" Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic 7-6 (5), 6-2 in the third round of women's doubles. Garrigues won the title in 2008 and 2009 with since-retired countrywoman Virginia Ruano Pascual, and Hlavackova and Hradecka took the 2011 crown.
   Another full-time Dream player, Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan, and Anastasia Rodionova of Australia surprised sixth-seeded Kristina Mladenovic of France and Daniel Nestor, 42, of Canada 6-4, 6-3 in the second round of mixed doubles.
   Scott "Don't Give Me Any" Lipsky, who helped Stanford win its last NCAA men's team crown (2000), and Abigail Spears fell to seventh-seeded Timea Babos of Hungary and Alexander "The Great" Peya of Austria 7-6 (5), 6-3.     
   Fast fact -- Owners of a combined 49 Grand Slam singles titles are scheduled to play today in the fourth round, the Associated Press reported. Dry weather is forecast.
   Quote -- Cornet to the chair umpire after one of her shots late in the match was called out: "You look in my eyes, and you know it (was in)."
   Today on Court Philippe Chatrier (starting at 2 a.m. PDT, ESPN2) -- Defending champion Maria Sharapova (2) vs. "I Love" Lucie Safarova (13), completion of Federer (2) vs. Monfils (13), Serena Williams (1) vs. Sloane "Ranger" Stephens, Djokovic (1) vs. Richard "Blow A" Gasquet (20).
   Today on Court Suzanne Lenglen (starting at 2 a.m. PDT, ESPN2) -- Garbine Muguruza (21) vs. Flavia Pennetta (28), Andy "Bill" Murray (3) vs. Jeremy "Don't Be" Chardy, defending champion "San" Rafael Nadal (6) vs. Sock, Petra Kvitova (4) vs. Timea Bacsinszky (23).