Isner lifts U.S. in Davis Cup; Sanchez in doubles final

John Isner defeated Bernard Tomic to
to give the United States a 3-1 victory
over Australia in the first round of the
Davis Cup. 2012 photo by Paul Bauman

   They are the two most successful nations in Davis Cup history.
   The United States has won 32 titles and Australia 28. However, it has been nine and 13 years, respectively, since the last one.
   In the 46th meeting between the countries, John Isner defeated Bernard Tomic 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (4) on Saturday to give the United States a 3-1 first-round victory on grass at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club in Melbourne, Australia.
   The reverse singles match between American Jack Sock and Sam Groth was not played as the United States improved to 26-20 against Australia.
   Isner, 6-foot-10 (2.08 meters), pounded 49 aces against Tomic, a 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) right-hander who played with a right wrist injury.
   "Breathtaking to watch John serve the way he did," U.S. captain Jim Courier told reporters. "After the last couple of years (first-round losses to Great Britain), this is massive for us. It was a tough matchup on paper and in reality. You can't take any of these for granted."
   Isner, who won a $15,000 Futures tournament in the Sacramento suburb of Shingle Springs in his professional debut in 2007, also defeated Groth on Thursday to give the United States a 1-0 lead.
   After Tomic beat Sock to level the tie, former Stanford All-Americans Bob and Mike Bryan won in doubles to give the Americans a 2-1 lead.
   The 37-year-old Bryan twins improved to 24-4 in Davis Cup doubles, fifth all time in victories.
   The United States will host Croatia or Belgium on July 17-19. Croatia leads host Belgium 2-1.

   WTA tour in Monterrey, Mexico -- Unseeded Petra Martic of Croatia and Maria Sanchez, who was born and raised in Modesto, topped fourth-seeded Maria Irigoyen of Argentina and Paula Kania of Poland 6-4, 6-2 to reach the doubles final of the Abierto Monterrey Afirme.

   Martic and Sanchez, who took up tennis at 10 when her family lived in Guadalajara, Mexico, for one year, will play top-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja of Spain for the title.
   Medina Garrigues and Parra Santonja won the Acapulco crown last week, beating Tatjana Maria of Germany and Sanchez 6-2, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
   Medina Garrigues was named the co-Female MVP of World TeamTennis while playing for the Sacramento-based California Dream last July. The team folded in January.
   Sanchez, 26, will play in her second career WTA tour doubles final. She won the Auckland title in 2014 with Sharon Fichman of Canada.
   Pacific Coast Men's Doubles in La Jolla, Calif. -- Northern California will be well-represented in today's semifinals.
   No. 3 seeds Tom Fawcett and Maciek Romanowicz of Stanford will play No. 8 Jimmy Bendeck and Julian Lenz of Baylor.
   Also, No. 1 Julian Cash and Arjun Kadhe of Oklahoma State will meet No. 7 Tyler Browne of Walnut Creek and J.T. Nishimura of Cal and San Jose.   

Fellow Aussies: Kyrgios, Tomic will learn from mistakes

Nick Kyrgios, playing in the 2013 Sacra-
mento Challenger, was fined $10,000 for
insulting Stan Wawrinka last week.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Australia has built a sterling tennis reputation, symbolized by gentlemanly legend Rod Laver, over the past century.
   Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic, though, have tarnished that image with their recent antics.
   "I'd like to say they haven't, but I'd probably be lying seeing as how it's all over the news worldwide," Australian veteran Matthew Ebden said Sunday at the $100,000 Comerica Bank Challenger in Aptos, where he reached the singles quarterfinals and doubles final. "I've seen a bunch of comments -- people in Australia and around the world are not happy.
   "I don't think the reaction is good at all. I think even Novak (Djokovic) and Rafa (Nadal), some of our coaches and (Tennis Australia performance director Patrick) Rafter have had a go with both of them a lot."
   Added Australian John Millman, who became the first No. 1 seed in the 28-year history of the Aptos Challenger to win the singles title: "Australia does have a proud history in tennis, and we've got some great role models to look up to. I don't wish to make excuses on anyone. We can all strive to be better.
   "Nick and Bernie are both extremely young guys. They will learn, they're going to get older, and they're going to have experiences. It probably won't be the last time controversy strikes, but hopefully they keep maturing into people that (others) can look up to."
   The ATP fined the 20-year-old Kyrgios $10,000 for insulting Stan Wawrinka during their second-round match in Montreal last week. A courtside microphone picked up Kyrgios saying that fellow Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis had slept with Donna Vekic, a 19-year-old Croatian player who reportedly is Wawrinka's girlfriend. Kyrgios later apologized on his Facebook page.
   "In this day and age with social media and all the microphones on the court," said the 26-year-old Millman, who has impeccable character, "you have to be really careful with the things you're saying out there. It's probably not the best to get personal.
   "Being an Australian, it's tough to chastise (Kyrgios). He has Lleyton Hewitt working with him now. Lleyton was involved in a little bit of controversy early on, but what a role model (Kyrgios) has to work with."
   In the second round of the 2001 U.S. Open, Hewitt implied to Swiss umpire Andreas Egli that a black linesman was biased toward opponent James Blake. Hewitt, then 20, went on to win the title and become the youngest player to rank No. 1 in the world. He had other less-publicized run-ins with officials and fans early in his career.
   Now 34, Hewitt plans to retire after his 20th Australian Open in January.
   Kyrgios, a semifinalist in the 2013 Sacramento Challenger, also was fined almost $10,000 last month at Wimbledon for swearing loudly and violently abusing his rackets. In addition, he was accused of tanking in his fourth-round loss to Richard Gasquet.
   "There have been quite a lot of incidents, obviously," conceded the 27-year-old Ebden, a stand-up guy. "I'm pretty friendly with Nick. I have no problem with him personally. We get on fine. He's young, there are pressures, there's stuff going on.
  "This time, I read some comments that some people said he crossed the line, and he probably did. He probably knows that himself, and that's why he apologized. It's going to be interesting for him to see how he can get through that. Hopefully, he can learn from it."

Bernard Tomic, shown at Indian Wells in March, was charged
with resisting arrest and trespassing in Miami Beach, Fla., last
month after being suspended from Australia's Davis Cup quar-
terfinal. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Tomic, 22, was suspended from last month's Davis Cup quarterfinal against Kazakhstan in Darwin, Australia, for criticizing Rafter. During the competition, Tomic was charged with resisting arrest and trespassing in Miami Beach, Fla. That prompted Rafter to tell Australian media that Tomic had hit "rock bottom."
   In 2013, Tomic had his driver's license taken away for speeding on the Gold Coast near Brisbane, Australia. A year earlier, he was investigated after an alleged brawl in a Gold Coast apartment spa.
   Tomic's father and coach, John Tomic, received an eight-month suspended sentence and banned from the ATP World Tour for a year in September 2013 for assaulting Bernard's former hitting partner, Thomas Drouet.
   "Obviously, Bernie has been through a lot of things himself," said Ebden, and the 2013 Australian Open mixed doubles champion with Jarmila Gajdosova, a Slovakian-born Australian who played for the Sacrament-based California Dream in World TeamTennis last month. "I'm good friends with him. I tell him to his face (that) he's done some silly things. He's done some smart things, too. It's been a slow learning process for him."
   Ebden said the behavior of Kyrgios and Tomic "is definitely a bit of a problem, but with every problem, there's opportunity. It'll be interesting to see in the next year or two if they can mature. I'm sure they will. No one is stupid. They're not thick, totally stupid. Sooner or later they're going to mature as they get older and go through experiences.
   "It's not pretty. (Kyrgios) can't be enjoying all the stuff he's having to deal with. I know he likes the attention. He got a lot of attention for it -- they both did, but all the negativity that comes with it probably is not what they want. I'm sure they can find the right way to deal with it. We all have made mistakes. We all try to grow and mature and try to enjoy our tennis journey."
   The 6-foot-4 (1.93-meter) Kyrgios and the 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) Tomic already have three Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances between them.
   Millman said of Kyrgios: "We've seen at the (2015) Australian Open and (last year at) Wimbledon where he's made the quarterfinals that he can really mix it with these best guys. Hopefully, he can let his racket do the talking."

Lisicki ousts defending champ in BNP thriller

Sabine Lisicki reacts after saving three match
points in a 6-4, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4) victory over Flavia
Pennetta in the quarterfinals at Indian Wells.
Photo by Paul Bauman

    INDIAN WELLS -- Sabine Lisicki and Flavia Pennetta seemed like unlikely candidates to produce a classic today in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open.
   Sure, Lisicki reached the 2013 Wimbledon final at 23 years old, losing to Marion Bartoli.
   And, yes, Pennetta won last year's BNP for the biggest title of her career.
   But this was their first career meeting, Lisicki was 1-6 this year entering the BNP, and she hadn't won a match in the tournament in seven years.
   Meanwhile, Pennetta had broken down in tears during her three-set victory over second-seeded Maria Sharapova in the previous round.
   Still, Lisicki and Pennetta played the match of the tournament, with Lisicki prevailing 6-4, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4) in 2 hours, 40 minutes. Pennetta saved a match point serving at 4-5 in the second set, and Lisicki survived three match points on her serve at 4-5 in the third set.
   "It was great to be part of a match like that," gushed Lisicki, a German seeded 24th.
   Pennetta, a 33-year-old Italian, expressed mixed feelings afterward.
   "I think it was a really good match," said the 15th seed. "We played really well the third set both, and was a good fight until the last point. Everything happened tonight. Match point for one, match points for the other one.
   "Sport is like this. Tennis is like this. I'm happy about the match, but of course I am upset, because when you are there, you want to win it."
   Pennetta showed no signs of the emotional turmoil that overwhelmed her after the first set of her 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Sharapova, a two-time Indian Wells champion.
   "In that match, I just pass the point where you have to (let) everything out," said Pennetta, who never specified what troubled her. "Today, I was perfect in the court and ready to do the match and ready to fight, and I think I did that." 

Lisicki prepares to hit her powerful fore-
hand. Photo by Paul Bauman

   The match in 16,100-seat Stadium 1 began slowly with numerous errors and service breaks, but it picked up dramatically when Pennetta served 4-5 in the second set. From then on, the players engaged in many breathtaking rallies featuring laser groundstrokes.
   On match point against Pennetta, she missed her first serve. Lisicki pounced on the second delivery, but Pennetta kept the ball in play and won the point with a forehand passing shot down the line after a tremendous rally. 
   The crowd grew in the third set as the afternoon match extended into the night session. When Lisicki ripped a forehand cross-court passing shot after making several incredible gets, the fans gave her a standing ovation.
   "It's always great to play in front of a full crowd," Lisicki said. "That's what I play for. That's the best thing that can happen."
   Lisicki, who set the record for the fastest women's serve (131 mph or 210.8 kph) in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford last summer, escaped the match points against her with a 117-mph (188.3-kph) service winner down the middle, a forehand cross-court passing shot set up by a strong serve, and a 111-mph (178.6-kph) service winner down the middle.
   "I just stepped up to the line and believed in my serve," Lisicki said of the three points.
   After Lisicki aced Pennetta with a slice out wide to end the thriller, she dropped to her knees and put her head in her hands. And after embracing Pennetta at the net and shaking hands with the chair umpire, Lisicki again put her head in her hands.
   Who could blame her, especially the way her year had gone?
   "I had a tough start to the season losing three close three-setters in a row," Lisicki said. "Even my preseason was good, and we had a feeling we were doing the right things off the court, working hard.
   "Somehow, it didn't pay off yet, but we kept working. I have a great team behind me. They kept telling me that I'm doing the right things and that they believed it will pay off. It's nice to see that it's starting to pay off finally."

Pennetta saved a match point while serving
at 4-5 in the second set. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Lisicki will face 18th-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia in Friday night's first semifinal. Top-ranked Serena Williams, returning to the tournament after a 14-year boycott, then will meet No. 3 Simona Halep of Romania.
   Jankovic, a former world No. 1 who won the BNP title in 2010, defeated qualifier Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-1, 4-1, retired (ankle). Tsurenko had beaten three seeds in a row, including seventh-ranked Eugenie Bouchard and No. 10 Andrea Petkovic for the first top-10 wins of her career.   
   On the men's side, half of a potential "Big Four" semifinals is set.
   Top-ranked Novak Djokovic advanced when 32nd-seeded Bernard Tomic of Australia withdrew with a lower-back injury and infected wisdom tooth. No. 4 Murray improved to 10-0 against No. 12 Feliciano Lopez with a 6-3, 6-4 victory.
   In Friday afternoon's men's quarterfinals, second-seeded Roger Federer will meet No. 9 Tomas Berdych, and No. 3 Rafael Nadal will take on No. 6 Milos Raonic.
   In tonight's men's doubles quarterfinals, eighth-seeded Jack Sock of Tampa, Fla., and Vasek Pospisil of Canada ended the two-year reign of top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan, 6-4, 6-4.
   It was a rematch of last year's Wimbledon final, also won by Sock and Pospisil. However, they fell to the Bryans one month later in the Cincinnati final. 
    The Bryans will play for the California Dream, Sacramento's new franchise in World TeamTennis, this summer.

Grand Slam finally completed

   MELBOURNE, Australia — It took decades, but I completed a Grand Slam on Sunday.
   Not as a player, of course.
   I've now attended Wimbledon, the French Open, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open either as a journalist or spectator.
   The final and most difficult piece of the puzzle was the Australian Open — not so much because of the distance but because of the timing.
    But about six months ago, I received an e-mail from Dick Gould, who led the Stanford men to 17 NCAA team titles in 38 years as head coach (1966-2004), and his wife, Anne, who coached the Cardinal to its first NCAA women's crown in any sport (1978), saying they were taking a group to this year's Australian Open. I knew both from covering their teams for the Stanford newspaper as a student there in the mid-1970s.
   The tour was organized by Tennis Ventures owners Chadwick and Camilla Byrd, our guides on this trip. Chadwick and Camilla met at Boise State, where Chadwick played strong safety for the 1994 team that lost to Youngstown State in the NCAA Division I-AA (now Football Championship Series) title game. Youngstown State was coached by Jim Tressel, who went on to glory and infamy at Ohio State. Chadwick is from Spokane, Wash., and Camilla from Norway.
   The trip — three days in Sydney, five days in Melbourne (including playing tennis on various surfaces in both cities) and a five-day extension to New Zealand — looked too good to pass up.
   So, 41 years after my first Grand Slam, Wimbledon, our group attended Sunday night's session at Rod Laver Arena. With a capacity of only 14,820, it doesn't seem to have a bad seat.
   From our perch only eight rows up at one corner of the court, we watched Swiss maestro Roger Federer dissect 19-year-old Australian sensation Bernard Tomic 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 and top-ranked Carolina Wozniacki hold off former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic 6-0, 7-5.
   Federer wields the racket like a baton, commanding the ball to do whatever he wants. He blasts serves to the corners, rifles forehands and one-handed backhands, hits feathery drop shots and effortlessly hits backhand overheads, the toughest shot in tennis. By the third set, Tomic was shaking his head in disbelief in his second career match against the 16-time Grand Slam singles champion. 
   Wozniacki, who has great offensive and defensive skills at 5-foot-11, had a game point for a 6-0, 5-1 lead. Jankovic leveled at 5-5, but Wozniacki broke back and closed out the match.
   Earlier Sunday, we played on clay and grass at the stately Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club, the former home of the Australian Open. We were required to wear predominantly white, the men with collared shirts, at the 8,000-member club. Kooyong — with its remodeled clubhouse, rich history and manicured courts (26 grass, 22 clay and three Plexicushion) — and Wimbledon are the nicest tennis clubs I've ever seen.
   So which Grand Slam is the best? They're all great, but I'll take Wimbledon. There's nothing like Centre Court, aptly called "the cathedral of tennis."