Fresno's Quinn falls in National boys 18 doubles final

   No. 1 seeds Bruno Kuzuhara of Coconut Creek, Fla., and Ben Shelton of Gainesville, Fla., defeated No. 2 seeds Sebastian Gorzny of Fountain Valley in the Los Angeles area and Ethan "The Mighty" Quinn of Fresno, Calif., 6-4, 6-4 today in the final of the USTA Boys 18 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich.

   Quinn won the Orange Bowl boys 16 doubles title with Nicholas Godsick of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, on clay in December.

   Godsick's mother, Mary Joe Fernandez, reached the top five in singles and doubles as a professional. She now works as a tennis commentator on ESPN. Godsick's father, Tony Godsick, is Roger Federer's agent.

   ATP Tour — In the doubles semifinals in Toronto, No. 3 seeds Rajeev "Los Angeles" Ram, a volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley from Carmel, Ind., and Joe Salisbury "Steak" of Great Britain beat unseeded Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen of Belgium 6-3, 7-5.

   Ram and Salisbury are scheduled to play No. 1 seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic of Croatia on Sunday. Mektic and Pavic edged No. 4 seeds Kevin Krawietz of Germany and Horia Tecau of Romania 7-6 (3), 7-6 (12), saving four set points in the second set tiebreaker and converting their fourth match point.

   Mektic and Pavic have won nine tour-level titles this year, including Wimbledon and the gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics. They are 4-0 against Ram and Salisbury in 2021.

  Ram and Salisbury, the Australian Open champions in 2020 and runners-up this year, seek their first title of 2021.

   WTA Tour — Kristie Ahn, a 29-year-old Stanford graduate, and Katie Volynets, 19, of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area, lost in the first round of qualifying in Cincinnati.

Van Loben Sels falls in National 16s singles, doubles

   No. 5 seed Cooper Woestendick of Olathe, Kan., defeated No. 2 seed Emon van Loben Sels of Sacramento, Calif., 6-4, 7-5 today in the quarterfinals of the USTA Boys 16 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich.

   Van Loben Sels also lost in the boys 16 doubles semifinals with Dylan Tsoi of El Dorado Hills in the Sacramento area. Seeded No. 4, they fell to No. 1 seeds Lucas Brown of Plano, Texas, and Nicholas Godsick of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, 7-5, 6-2.

   Godsick's mother, Mary Joe Fernandez, reached the top five in singles and doubles as a professional. She now works as a tennis commentator for ESPN. Godsick's father, Tony Godsick, is Roger Federer's agent.

   Meanwhile, No. 2 seeds Sebastian Gorzny of Fountain Valley in the Los Angeles region and Ethan "The Mighty" Quinn of Fresno, Calif., reached the boys 18 doubles final in Kalamazoo. They downed No. 7 seeds Braden Shick of Greensboro, N.C., and Colton Smith of Tenino, Wash., 6-3, 7-6 (3).

   Gorzny and Quinn are set to meet No. 1 seeds Bruno Kuzuhara of Coconut Creek, Fla., and Ben Shelton of Gainesville, Fla., on Saturday. 

   ATP Tour — In the doubles quarterfinals in Toronto, No. 3 seeds Rajeev "Los Angeles" Ram, a volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley from Carmel, Ind., and Joe Salisbury "Steak" of Great Britain beat No. 8 seeds Rohan Bopanna, 41, of India, and Ivan "The Terrible" Dodig of Croatia 4-6, 6-3 [10-4].

   Dodig and Marin "County" Cilic won the silver medal in men's doubles in the Tokyo Olympics.

Winter Nationals canceled; Orange Bowl to begin soon

Roger Federer won the Orange Bowl in 1998. This year's tournament is scheduled
to begin on Sunday (16s) and Monday (18s).

   The USTA has canceled the National Winter Championships, a junior tournament that had been scheduled for Dec. 28 to Jan. 3 in Arizona and Florida, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

   However, the Orange Bowl remains set for Sunday (16s) and Monday (18s) through Dec. 13 on clay in Plantation, Fla.

   The top three seeds in the Orange Bowl boys 18s are, in order, Peter Fajta of Hungary, Dali Blanch of Deerfield Beach, Fla., and Lukas Neumayer of Austria.

   Also entered is Aidan Mayo, who grew up in the Sacramento suburb of Roseville, Calif. Mayo reached last year's boys 18 doubles final with Lorenzo Claverie of Venezuela.

   Heading the field in the girls 18s are Elsa Jacquemot of France, Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra and Kristina Dmitruk of Belarus. Jacquemot, 17, captured the French Open girls singles title in October, and Kasintseva, a 15-year-old left-hander, won this year's Australian Open girls singles crown at 14. 

   Andorra, situated between France and Spain, is 2.5 times the size of Washington, D.C., with a population of about 77,000 and one indoor tennis court.

   The Orange Bowl was founded by Eddie Herr in 1947. It was played on clay until 1998, then on hardcourts until 2011. It has been contested on clay again since then.

   Past winners of the Orange Bowl 18s include International Tennis Hall of Famers Chris Evert (1969-70), Bjorn Borg (1972), John McEnroe (1976), Ivan Lendl (1977), Gabriela Sabatini (1984) and Jim Courier (1987).

   Winners of the tournament on hardcourts include Roger Federer (1998), Andy Roddick (1999) and Caroline Wozniacki (2005).

Nadal to skip U.S. Open; Boland bolts Baylor

Rafael Nadal chose not to defend his U.S. Open
because of the coronavirus. File photo by
Paul Bauman

   Almost four weeks before the U.S. Open, the tournament is down to one of the Big Three.

   Defending champion Rafael Nadal tweeted today that he will not play in the U.S. Open, scheduled for Aug. 31 to Sept. 13, in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., because of coronavirus concerns.

   "This is a decision I never wanted to take but I have decided to follow my heart this time and for the time being I rather not travel," wrote the 34-year-old Nadal, a four-time U.S. Open champion.

   Nadal likely will try to tie Roger Federer's record of 20 Grand Slam singles titles in the French Open, set for Sept. 27 to Oct. 11. Nadal defeated Dominic Thiem for his record 12th French Open title last year.

   Nadal will not tune up for Roland Garros in the Madrid Open in his native Spain, however, because the Sept. 13-20 tournament was canceled today. 

   Federer, who will turn 39 on Saturday, will miss the rest of the year after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery for the second time this year in May.

   This will be the first Grand Slam tournament without Federer and Nadal since the 1999 U.S. Open.

   Top-ranked Novak Djokovic, a three-time U.S. Open champion, and 2019 runner-up Daniil Medvedev have entered the tournament. Djokovic, 33, ranks third with 17 major singles crowns.

   In last year's scintillating final, Nadal edged Medvedev 7-5, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4 in 4 hours, 50 minutes.

   Bianca Andreescu, the women's defending champion, also plans to play at Flushing Meadows, but top-ranked Ashleigh Barty declined because of the pandemic.

   WTA Tour – Kaja Juvan, a 19-year-old qualifier from Slovenia, stunned second-seeded Marketa Vondrousova, last year's French Open runner-up to Barty, 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 today on clay in the first round of the Palermo Ladies Open.

   Vondrousova, a 21-year-old Czech left-hander, underwent left-wrist surgery after Wimbledon last year and missed the rest of the season.

   Juvan, ranked No. 121, is set to meet Camila Giorgi of Italy on Thursday in the first WTA or ATP tournament in almost five months. Giorgi, ranked No. 89, beat Rebecca Peterson of Sweden 7-5, 6-4.

   Top-seeded Petra Martic of Croatia dismissed Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium 6-0, 6-3 in 66 minutes.

   World TeamTennis – CBS' broadcast of Sunday's World TeamTennis championship match, which came down to one point, attracted 556,000 viewers, the most in the league's 45-year history.

   The New York Empire defeated the expansion Chicago Smash 21-20 (7-6 Super Tiebreaker). It was the first time that the WTT Final aired live on network television.

   The previous record, also on CBS, occurred on July 19, when the Washington Kastles, featuring Venus Williams, beat the Vegas Rollers, led by Bob and Mike Bryan, 24-18.

   Colleges – Brian Boland resigned last week as the Baylor men's head coach after two years at the university in Waco, Texas. No reason was given in a news release.

   Associate head coach Michael Woodson was named the interim head coach for the 2020-21 season.

   Sacramento-area resident Jenson Brooksby, the USTA boys 18 national champion in 2018, is a freshman at Baylor.

   The Bears went 38-9 under Boland, reaching the NCAA quarterfinals in his lone full season in 2019.

   Boland previously served as the men's head coach at Virginia for 16 years, guiding the Cavaliers to four NCAA titles in his final five years (2013-17).

   Virginia won the NCAA crown in each of Sacramento resident Collin Altamirano's three years there (2015-2017). Both Brooksby and Altamirano, the 2013 USTA boys 18 national champion, train at the JMG Tennis Academy in Sacramento.

   Boland spent one year as the head of men's tennis for USTA Player Development before taking the Baylor job in 2018.

   Junior nationals – The USTA Boys and Girls 18 and 16 National Championships have been canceled because of the pandemic.

   The boys 18s and 16s had been moved from Kalamazoo, Mich., to Orlando, Fla., and Roma, Ga., respectively. The girls 18s were to be played in San Diego, as usual, but the 16s had been moved to Mobile, Ala.

   This is the first year that the boys tournaments will not be held since they began in 1916.

USTA Boys 18 Nationals suddenly moved to Orlando

   The USTA announced Monday that the Boys 18 National Championships would be held at the traditional location in Kalamazoo, Mich.
   Not so fast.
   "Due to health and safety concerns for athletes, guests, volunteers and the Kalamazoo community at large, Kalamazoo College leadership has made the difficult decision not to host the Boys 18s event in 2020," the USTA said today in a news release.
   The tournament, scheduled for Aug. 7-16, will move to the USTA National Campus in the Orlando, Fla., suburb of Lake Nona.
   The Boys 16 Nationals, usually held in Kalamazoo, already had been moved to Mobile, Ala.
   The Girls 18 and 16 Nationals, normally held concurrently in San Diego, also will be split up, the USTA announced Monday. The 18s will remain in San Diego, but the 16s will move to Rome, Ga. Both are scheduled for Aug. 8-16.

USTA 18, 16 Nationals to be held as scheduled

Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco
Bay Area poses after winning the USTA Girls 18 Nat-
ional Championships last August in San Diego. Photo
courtesy of JFS Communications

   The USTA Boys and Girls 18 and 16 National Championships will be held Aug. 7-16 as scheduled, the organization announced today.
   However, the boys and girls 14s and 12s have been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
   The boys and girls 18s will be held at their traditional locations of Kalamazoo, Mich., and San Diego, respectively. But the boys 16s will move from Kalamazoo to Mobile, Ala., and the girls 16s will switch from San Diego to Rome, Ga.
   The singles draws for each tournament will be reduced from 224 players to 128. Information regarding the doubles competitions will be announced later.
   Face masks will be required for everyone except on-court players and officials, according to the USTA. Players will be limited to one guest, and there will be no additional spectators.
   College coaches will not be permitted to attend the tournaments, but the USTA is "working on making additional resources available" for remote recruiting, a spokesman said.
   Four Northern Californians have won the 18 singles title in the past seven years. Boys champions include Collin Altamirano (2013) of Sacramento and Jenson Brooksby (2018) of Carmichael in the Sacramento region. Among the girls winners are CiCi Bellis (2014) of Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area and Katie Volynets (2019) of Walnut Creek in the Bay Area.
   All except Brooksby, a freshman at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, play professionally. All except Bellis, who's based at the USTA National Campus in the Orlando, Fla., area, train at the JMG Tennis Academy in Sacramento.

Volynets wins USTA girls 18s, earns U.S. Open berth

Katie Volynets became the third Northern Californian
to win a USTA 18 national singles title in six years.
Photo courtesy of JFS Communications

   Katie Volynets is headed to the U.S. Open.
   The 17-year-old resident of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area, seeded second, beat third-seeded Emma Navarro of Charleston, S.C., 6-2, 6-4 today to win the USTA Billie Jean King Girls 18 National Championships in San Diego.
   Volynets, a Walnut Creek native whose parents are Ukrainian, received an automatic wild card in the women's main draw of the U.S. Open, Aug. 26-Sept. 8 in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   She became the third Northern Californian to win a USTA 18 national singles title in six years, joining Collin Altamirano (2013) and Jenson Brooksby (2018). All train under Joseph Gilbert at the Arden Hills Club & Spa in Sacramento.
   Volynets bolted to a 4-0 lead against Navarro.
   "The key was starting really well and maintaining the level of play like I wanted to," Volynets said in a news release. "I was really energetic and focused on court and pumped myself up constantly.
   "After I won match point, I had a surge of energy and joy. It means so much to me, and I'm excited to go play (the U.S. Open). I've been working on this for a long time."
   Meanwhile, Sacramento-area product Aidan Mayo lost a heartbreaker in the final of the USTA Boys 16 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich.
   Top-seeded Alexander Bernard of Bonita Springs, Fla., outlasted the fourth-seeded Mayo, who now lives in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5. Mayo had a match point at 5-3 in the third set.
   Hugo Hashimoto of San Jose won the boys 16 doubles title with Benjamin Kittay of Potomac, Md. Seeded seventh, they beat 11th-seeded Lucas Brown of Plano, Texas, and Aiden Kim of Chantilly, Va., 6-4, 6-3.

Bay Area's Volynets reaches Girls 18 National final

Katie Volynets, shown earlier in the week, could become the third Northern Calif-
ornian to win a USTA Boys or Girls 18 National singles title in six years. Photo
courtesy of JFS Communications 

   Second-seeded Katie Volynets, 17, of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area beat 13th-seeded Katrina Scott, 15, of Woodland Hills in the Los Angeles region 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 today in the semifinals of the USTA Billie Jean King Girls 18 National Championships in San Diego.
   Volynets is scheduled to face third-seeded Emma Navarro of Charleston, S.C., on Sunday at 2 p.m. PDT (Tennis Channel). The winner will receive a wild card in the women's main draw of the U.S. Open, Aug. 26-Sept. 8 in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   Navarro, who won the French Open girls doubles title with Alexa Noel of Summit, N.J., in June, crushed top-seeded Hailey Baptiste of Washington, D.C., 6-0, 6-2.
   Volynets is 2-0 against Navarro in International Tennis Federation junior tournaments. Volynets won their last meeting 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 in the Easter Bowl 18 semifinals on a hardcourt in April 2018 in Indian Wells, Calif. Volynets went on to win the title.
   Volynets could join Collin Altamirano (2013) and Jenson Brooskby (2018) as the third Northern Californian to win the USTA Boys or Girls 18 National singles title in six years. All train under Joseph Gilbert at the Arden Hills Club & Spa in Sacramento.
   In Kalamazoo, Mich., fourth seed and Sacramento-area product Aidan Mayo topped 19th-seeded Alex Finkelstein of Raynham, Mass., 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals of the USTA Boys 16 National Championships. Finkelstein was coming off a three-set victory over second-seeded Luke Casper of Santa Cruz, Calif.
   Mayo, who now lives in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance, will face top-seeded Alexander Bernard of Bonita Springs, Fla. Bernard beat seventh-seeded Ben Shelton of Gainesville, Fla., 6-2, 6-4.
   In the boys 16 doubles semifinals, seventh-seeded Hugo Hashimoto of San Jose and Benjamin Kittay of Potomac, Md., outlasted 13th-seeded Casper and Jameson Corsillo of Boca Raton, Fla., 7-6 (6), 0-6, 6-4.
   The match ended with a game penalty against Casper and Corsillo for unsportsmanlike conduct, Colette Lewis reported on ZooTennis. A line umpire reported a threatening remark to the chair after a point had been assessed earlier in the set for comments about a line call.
   Hashimoto and Kittay will meet 11th-seeded Lucas Brown of Plano, Texas, and Aiden Kim of Chantilly, Va. Brown and Kim surprised second-seeded Thomas Paulsell of Seattle and Frank Thompson of Blacksburg, Va., 7-6 (2), 7-6 (7).
   Aspen Schuman of Menlo Park in the Bay Area won the doubles title in the USTA Girls 12 National Championships in Alpharetta, Ga., with Haylee Conway of Bellevue, Wash. Seeded first, they beat fifth-seeded Kate Fakih of Arcadia in the Los Angeles region and Victoria Osuigwe (pronounced Oh-sig-way) of Bradenton, Fla., 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.

Volynets tops Ma in all-Bay Area USTA National 18 QF

Katie Volynets, shown Thursday, beat Connie Ma in an all-San Francisco
Bay Area quarterfinal in the USTA Girls 18 National Championships in
San Diego, Photo courtesy of JFS Communications

   In an all-San Francisco Bay Area quarterfinal, second-seeded Katie Volynets, 17, of Walnut Creek beat fifth-seeded Connie Ma, 16, of Dublin 7-6 (1), 6-1 today in the USTA Girls 18 National Championships in San Diego.
   Walnut Creek and Dublin are 18 miles (29 kilometers) apart on Interstate 680 in the East Bay.
   Volynets is scheduled to play 13th-seeded Katrina Scott, 15, of Woodland Hills in the Los Angeles area on Saturday. Scott eliminated 10th-seeded Elli Mandlik, the daughter of International Tennis Hall of Famer Hana Mandlikova and a resident of Bradenton, Fla., 7-6 (5), 6-3.
   In the other semifinal, top-seeded Hailey Baptiste of Washington, D.C., will face third-seeded Emma Navarro of Charleston, S.C.
   In the girls 16 semifinals in San Diego, 14th-seeded Reese Brantmeier, 14, of Whitewater, Wis., topped second-seeded Vivian Ovrootsky of San Jose 7-5, 1-6, 6-3.
   The girls 12 doubles final in Alpharetta, Ga., will feature top-seeded Haylee Conway of Bellevue, Wash., and Aspen Schuman of Menlo Park in the Bay Area against fifth-seeded Kate Fakih of Arcadia in the Los Angeles region and Victoria Osuigwe of Bradenton 6-4, 6-3.
   Meanwhile, fourth-seeded Aidan Mayo, a resident of Torrance in the Los Angeles area who grew up in the Sacramento suburb of Roseville, beat ninth-seeded Victor Lilov of Raleigh, N.C., 6-4, 6-4 in the boys 16 quarterfinals in Kalamazoo, Mich.
   Mayo will play 19th-seeded Alex Finkelstein of Raynham, Mass. Finkelstein upset second-seeded Luke Casper of Santa Cruz 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-2.
   In the other semifinal, top-seeded Alexander Bernard of Bonita Springs, Fla., will meet seventh-seeded Ben Shelton of Gainesville, Fla. Bernard beat 32nd-seeded Hugo Hashimoto of San Jose 6-1, 6-4.
   A Northern Californian is guaranteed to reach the boys 16 doubles final, as seventh-seeded Hashimoto and Benjamin Kittay of Potomac, Md., will face 13th-seeded Casper and Jameson Corsillo of Boca Raton, Fla.
   Sixth-seeded Dylan Tsoi of El Dorado Hills in the Sacramento region and Alexander Razeghi of Humble, Texas, won the boys 14 doubles title in Mobile, Ala.  They routed fifth-seeded James Lian of Parsippany, N.J., and Nicholas Mangiapane of Davidson, N.C., 6-1, 6-1.

San Jose's Ovrootsky reaches Girls 16 National semis

Second-seeded Vivian Ovrootsky will meet 14th-seeded Reese
Brantmeier of Whitewater, Wis., in the semifinals of the USTA
Girls 16 National Championships in San Diego. 2018 photo by
Paul Bauman

   Second-seeded Vivian Ovrootsky of San Jose routed 33rd-seeded Kida Ferrari of Fairhope, Ala., 6-2, 6-2 today in the quarterfinals of the USTA Girls 16 National Championships in San Diego.
   Ovrootsky is set to meet 14th-seeded Reese Brantmeier of Whitewater, Wis., on Friday. Brantmeier outplayed 17th-seeded Gracie Epps of Norman, Okla., 6-2, 6-3.
   In the girls 18 quarterfinals in San Diego, second-seeded Katie Volynets, 17, of Walnut Creek will play fifth-seeded Connie Ma, 16, of Dublin in an all-San Francisco Bay Area matchup. Both lost in the first round of the recent $60,000 Berkeley Tennis Club Women's Challenge.
   Volynets and Ma advanced with straight-set victories, but 33rd-seeded Allura Zamarripa of Saint Helena in the Napa region lost to third-seeded Emma Navarro of Charleston, S.C., 6-3, 6-2. Navarro won the French Open girls doubles title with compatriot Chloe Beck in June.
   In girls 12 quarterfinals in Alpharetta, Ga., third-seeded Kinley Vanpelt of Lawrence, Kan., topped fifth-seeded Alexis Nguyen of El Dorado Hills in the Sacramento area 6-4, 7-6 (tiebreaker score not available).
   Both remaining Northern California boys lost in the round of 16 of the 18s in Kalamazoo, Mich. Top-seeded Brandon Nakashima of San Diego dominated 33rd-seeded Ryder Jackson of Nicasio in the Bay Area 6-3, 6-0, and 10th-seeded Eliot Spizzirri of Greenwich, Conn., outlasted 33rd-seeded Marcus McDaniel of Vacaville 6-1, 6-7 (6), 6-4.
   Three boys with NorCal ties – second-seeded Luke Casper of Santa Cruz; fourth-seeded Aidan Mayo, a resident of Torrance in the Los Angeles region who grew up in the Sacramento suburb of Roseville; and 32nd-seeded Hugo Hashimoto of San Jose – reached the quarterfinals of the 16s in Kalamazoo.
   In the boys 14 quarters in Mobile, Ala., 13th-seeded Joseph Phillips of Alpharetta ousted second-seeded Dylan Tsoi of El Dorado Hills 6-2, 6-2.

NorCal's Jackson to face top seed in boys 18 nationals

Ryder Jackson, left, defeated Luke Casper, right, last Nov-
ember in the Sacramento suburb of Folsom for his fourth
consecutive Northern California Sectional (fall and sum-
mer) boys 18 title. Photo by Paul Bauman

   No. 33 seed Ryder Jackson of Nicasio in the San Francisco Bay Area surprised No. 9 seed Stefan Dostanic of Irvine 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 on Wednesday in the round of 32 in the USTA Boys 18 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich.
   Both players are headed to USC.
   Jackson is set to face top-seeded Brandon Nakashima of San Diego today. Nakashima, who will be a sophomore at Virginia, routed No. 18 seed Evan McDonald of Bethesda, Md., 6-1, 6-1.
   No. 33 seed Marcus McDaniel, a Vacaville resident who will play at Georgia Tech, will take on No. 10 seed Eliot Spizzirri of Greenwich, Conn.
   Advancing to the round of 16 in the boys 16s in Kalamazoo were No. 2 seed Luke Casper of Santa Cruz; No. 4 seed Aidan Mayo, a resident of Torrance in the Los Angeles area who grew up in the Sacramento suburb of Roseville; and No. 32 seed Hugo Hashimoto of San Jose.
   In the boys 14s in Mobile, Ala., No. 2 seed Dylan Tsoi of El Dorado Hills in the Sacramento area reached the quarterfinals.
   Advancing to the round of 16 in the girls 18s in San Diego were No. 2 seed Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek in the Bay Area, No. 5 Connie Ma, 16, of Dublin in the Bay Area and No. 33 Allura Zamarripa of Saint Helena in the Napa region.
   Moving on to the quarterfinals were No. 2 seed Vivian Ovrootsky of San Jose in the girls 16s in San Diego and No. 5 Alexis Nguyen of El Dorado Hills in the girls 12s in Alpharetta, Ga.

Brooksby reaches USTA boys 18 final; Quan wins 12s

Jenson Brooksby practices at the Arden Hills Athletic and
Social Club in Sacramento in May. Photo by Paul Bauman

   No. 4 seed Jenson Brooksby of Carmichael in the Sacramento area crushed No. 6 Drew Baird of Holly Springs, N.C., 6-1, 6-0 in 45 minutes today in the semifinals of the USTA Boys 18 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich.
   Brooksby, 17, has not lost a set in the tournament. He reached the 16s final two years ago.
   Brooksby, who's headed to Texas Christian in the fall of 2019 or in January 2020, will face No. 3 seed Brandon Nakashima of San Diego. The winner will earn a wild card into the U.S. Open men's main draw, and the loser will receive a berth in men's qualifying in Flushing Meadows.
   Nakashima, last year's champion in the 16s, beat No. 26 seed Stefan Dostanic of Irvine in the Los Angeles area 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.
   Brooksby dominated Nakashima 6-2, 6-3 in the Easter Bowl quarterfinals and went on the win the title at Indian Wells in March.
   Meanwhile, No. 1 seed Rudy Quan from the Sacramento suburb of Roseville routed No. 5 Dylan Charlap of Palos Verdes Estates in the Los Angeles region 6-2, 6-1 to win the USTA Boys 12 National Championships in Mobile, Ala.
   Quan lost no more than five games in any of his seven matches. He also won the 12s title in the USTA National Winter Championships in Tucson, Ariz., in January, Easter Bowl and USTA Clay Court Championships in Orlando, Fla., last month.
   In the final of the USTA Girls 16 National Championships in San Diego, No. 3 seed Fiona Crawley of San Antonio defeated No. 4 seed Allura Zamarripa of Saint Helena in the Napa area 6-4, 6-0. Crawley will receive a wild card into the U.S. Open girls tournament next month.
   In the girls 18 doubles semifinals in San Diego, No. 1 seeds Caty McNally of Cincinnati and Whitney Osuigwe of Bradenton, Fla., outclassed No. 4 Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area and Natasha Subhash from the Washington, D.C., suburb of Fairfax, Va., 6-1, 6-2.

Zamarripa, Quan to play for USTA National junior titles

   No. 4 seed Allura Zamarripa of Saint Helena in the Napa area defeated No. 1 Gianna Pielet of El Paso, Texas, 6-4, 7-6 (4) on Friday in the semifinals of the USTA Billie Jean King Girls 16 National Championships in San Diego.

   Zamarripa is scheduled to face No. 3 seed Fiona Crawley of San Antonio today. Crawley outplayed No. 17 Misa Malkin of Tucson, Ariz., 6-2, 6-3 after eliminating Zamarripa's twin, Maribella, 6-2, 6-2 in Thursday's quarterfinals.
   Rudy Quan of Roseville in the Sacramento area also will play for a gold ball. Quan, seeded No. 1, dominated No. 3 Alexander Razeghi of Humble, Texas, 6-3, 6-1 in the boys 12 semifinals in Mobile, Ala.
   Quan will meet No. 5 seed Dylan Charlap of Palos Verdes Estates in the Los Angeles region. Charlap beat No. 2 Andrew Salu of Sarasota, Fla., 6-4, 6-2.
   In the boys 12 doubles final, No. 2 seeds Razeghi and Cooper Woestendick of Olathe, Kan., topped No. 3 Maxwell Exsted of Savage, Minn., and Quan 6-4, 6-3.
   Herrick Thomas Legaspi of Sacramento won the boys 14 doubles crown in Mobile with Nicholas Heng of Madison, Ala. Seeded No. 8, they upended No. 1 Lucas Brown of Plano, Texas, and Aidan Kim of Milford, Mich., 6-2, 7-5.
   Meanwhile, No. 4 seed Jenson Brooksby from the Sacramento suburb of Carmichael defeated No. 25 Jacob Bullard of Calabasas in the Los Angeles area 6-3, 6-1 in the quarterfinals of the USTA Boys 18 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich.
   Brooksby, 17, will meet No. 6 seed Drew Baird of Holly Springs, N.C. Baird saved five match points in a 5-7, 7-6 (8), 6-2 victory over No. 9 Kevin Zhu of Houston after beating No. 16 Keenan Mayo of Roseville in the Sacramento region 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in Thursday's round of 16.

   In the quarterfinals of the USTA Girls 18 National Championships in San Diego, No. 2 seed Whitney Osuigwe of Bradenton, Fla., beat No. 9 Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area 6-2, 6-4. Both players are 16.
   Osuigwe in 2017 became the first American to win the French Open girls singles title in 28 years and ended the year as the top-ranked junior in the world.
   Volynets remains alive in doubles with Natasha Subhash from the Washington, D.C., suburb of Fairfax, Va. Seeded No. 4, they will take on No. 1 Caty McNally of Cincinnati and Osuigwe in the semifinals.

Bay Area's Greenwald repeats in National 40s

Jeff Greenwald defeated David McNamara 3-6, 7-5, 6-3
to win the USTA National 40 Hard Court Championships
 in La Jolla, Calif. Photo courtesy of JFS Communications

   Not even David McNamara's hard serving could prevent Jeff Greenwald from winning the USTA National 40 Hard Court Championships for the second straight year and third time overall.
   The third-seeded Greenwald, from San Anselmo in the San Francisco Bay Area, beat the top-seeded McNamara, from Delray Beach, Fla., 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 in two hours, 13 minutes today in the San Diego suburb of La Jolla.
   "I haven't seen a first serve like that in a long, long time," Greenwald, 51, said in a news release. "Adjusting to that and finding a way to manage that was very, very difficult. It put a lot of pressure on me, and it forced me to go for more on my first serve. I served well, and that made the difference for me today."
   In Saturday's women's final, top-seeded Hiromi Sasano of La Mesa in the San Diego area beat second-seeded Dina McBride of Valencia, near Los Angeles, for the second consecutive year, 7-5, 6-1.

Bay Area's Greenwald reaches National 40 final

   Third seed and defending champion Jeff Greenwald of San Anselmo in the San Francisco Bay Area will face top-seeded David McNamara of Delray Beach, Fla., on Sunday for the men's title of the USTA National 40 Hard Court Championships in the San Diego suburb of La Jolla.
   Greenwald outlasted second-seeded Samuel Schroerlucke of Memphis, Tenn., 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in today's semifinals. McNamara edged fourth-seeded Stuart Duncan of Laguna Beach in the Los Angeles region 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (4).
   Top-seeded Hiromi Sasano, from La Mesa in the San Diego area, beat second-seeded Dina McBride of Valencia, near Los Angeles, in the women's final for the second consecutive year, 7-5, 6-1.

Kratzer wins national 18s for spot in U.S. Open

Ashley Kratzer defeated Kelly Chen 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 to win the USTA
Girls 18 National Championships in San Diego. Kratzer, an 18-year-
old left-hander from Newport Beach, was the runner-up in last
month's $50,000 Stockton Challenger. Photo courtesy of USTA

   No Northern Californians won titles in last week's USTA National Championships for juniors at various sites around the country.
   But Ashley Kratzer, the runner-up in last month's $50,000 Stockton Challenger, captured the Girls 18s in San Diego to earn a wild card in the U.S. Open. The year's last Grand Slam tournament is scheduled for Aug. 28-Sept. 10.
   No. 3 seed Kratzer, an 18-year-old left-hander from Newport Beach, defeated No. 33 Kelly Chen of Cerritos 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in the final. Newport Beach and Cerritos are in the Los Angeles area.
   Kratzer eliminated No. 6 Michaela Gordon of Saratoga, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, 7-5, 7-5 in the quarterfinals. Kratzer turned pro late last year. Gordon will enroll at Stanford next month.
   No. 8 seed Whitney Osuigwe of Bradenton, Fla., defeated No. 17 Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek, Calif., 7-5, 7-6 (3) in the round of 16 in a battle of decorated 15-year-olds.
   Osuigwe won the French Open junior title in June. Volynets last December became the first girl to win the 16s in the Eddie Herr International Championships and Orange Bowl in the same year. The tournaments were held in consecutive weeks in Bradenton, Fla., on hardcourts and Plantation, Fla., on clay, respectively.
   In the Boys 18s in Kalamazoo, Mich., No. 1 seed Sam Riffice, who grew up in the Sacramento suburb of Roseville, lost to No. 5 JJ Wolf of Cincinnati 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 in the quarterfinals. Riffice, now based at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla., has verbally committed to the University of Florida for next year.
   In the Girls 14s in Rome, Ga., No. 1 seed Vivian Ovrootsky of San Jose lost to No. 16 Bridget Stammel of Dallas 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in the round of 16. Ovrootsky swept the 12s singles and doubles titles at the USTA Winter Nationals in Tucson, Ariz., in January. She turned 13 on July 15.
   Other results of NorCal players who reached the later rounds:

BOYS

In Kalamazoo, Mich.

18-and-under

Doubles quarterfinals

   Nathan Perrone, Moorestown, N.J., and Jake Van Emburgh, Belleair Beach, Fla., def. Sam Riffice and Gianni Ross (4), Orlando, Fla., 6-4, 7-5.

   Oliver Crawford, Spartanburg, S.C., and Patrick Kypson (2), Greenville, N.C., def. Austen Huang, Elk Grove, Calif., and Sean Sculley (12), Hilton Head Island, S.C., 6-4, 6-4.

16-and-under

Doubles semifinals

   Will Grant, Boca Raton, Fla., and Tyler Zink (3), Bradenton, Fla., def. Robert Cash, New Albany, Ohio, and Ryder Jackson (1), Nicasio, Calif., 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.

In Mobile, Ala.

14-and-under

Singles quarterfinals

   Andrew Chang (17), Trophy Club, Texas, def. Luke Neal, Mill Valley, 6-2, 7-6 (4).
   Ben Shelton (17), Gainesville, Fla., def. Luke Casper (10), Santa Cruz, Calif., 6-4, 6-4.

Singles semifinals

   Saud Alhogbani (4), Alexandria, Va., def. Hugo Hashimoto (17), San Jose, Calif., 6-4, 6-0.

Doubles semifinals

   Connor Krug and Jake Krug (1), Lakewood Ranch, Fla., def. Alex Han, Tulsa, Okla., and Hugo Hashimoto (6), San Jose, Calif., 7-5, 7-6 (6).

12-and-under

Singles quarterfinals

   Aidan Kim (1), Milford, Mich., def. Kurt Miller, Los Gatos, Calif., 7-5, 6-2.

Doubles semifinals

   Lucas Brown, Plano, Texas, and Learner Tien (1), Irvine, Calif., def. Kurt Miller, Los Gatos, Calif., and Andrew Salu (3), Sarasota, Fla., 7-5, 6-3.

GIRLS

In San Diego

16-and-under

Singles semifinals

   Angelica Blake (9), Boca Raton, Fla., def. Connie Ma, Dublin, Calif., 6-2, 6-3.

In Rome, Ga.

14-and-under

Doubles quarterfinals

   Hibah Shaikh, Teaneck, N.J., and Madison Sieg (2), Greenwich, Conn., def. Kimberly Hance, Torrance, Calif., and Yuu Ishikawa (5), Los Altos, Calif., 7-6 (5), 6-2.  

Boland, longtime Virginia coach, takes USTA post

   Assuming Collin Altamirano of Sacramento returns for his senior year at two-time defending NCAA champion Virginia in the fall, he will play for a new coach.
   Brian Boland, who built the Cavaliers into the nation's top men's collegiate program, announced on Wednesday that he will leave after this season to become the USTA head of men's player development.
   Boland will oversee all training and coaching of male pro, collegiate and junior players by USTA player development and manage all USTA men's national coaches. He replaces Jay Berger, who has served in the position for the last nine years and will remain with the USTA through June.
   "Brian brings a unique skill set to player development, a combination of management and coaching expertise, which enabled him to build a championships culture at the University of Virginia," said Martin Blackman, the USTA's general manager of player development and a former Stanford star. "He's long been an innovative leader in the world of college tennis and athletics and is the right person at the right time -- a person who can build on the great foundation that has been laid by Jay Berger and our men's coaches and take us to the next level."
   Boland faces a big challenge. Although the future looks bright for the United States with nine men age 21 or younger in the top 250, no American man has won a Grand Slam singles title since Andy Roddick in 2003. With the retirement of Robby Ginepri in 2015, no active U.S. man has reached a major semifinal. And the United States won the last of its record 32 Davis Cup titles 10 years ago.
   Boland has amassed a 436-57 (.884) record in 16 seasons at Virginia with three NCAA team titles in the last four seasons. He has been named the ITA National Coach of the Year twice (2008 and 2016) and the Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year 10 times. He has produced three NCAA singles and three doubles champions and 42 All-Americans.
   Under Boland, Virginia won 140 consecutive ACC matches over a decade. It's the longest streak in conference history in any sport.
   "For the past 16 years, my family and I have considered it a privilege and a blessing to call Charlottesville our home and the University of Virginia men's tennis program our life," Boland said. "From day one, we believed in the university, and the university believed in us. I will forever be indebted to our athletics director, Craig Littlepage, for taking a chance and granting me the opportunity to lead this program in 2001 at the age of 29. I am also appreciative of every administrator, assistant coach, student-athlete, staff member, donor and fan whose unwavering support and commitment allowed our program to be successful. For this, my family and I will always be truly grateful.
   "After much consideration and many conversations over a long period of time with my wife Becky, I have decided to resign at the end of this season and accept the role of head of men's tennis for USTA player development at the newly constructed USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida. I consider this next step in my career to be the absolute highest honor and the ultimate responsibility that can be bestowed upon any tennis coach in the United States. I plan on doing everything in my power, together with the entire USTA and the private sector, to make sure American men's tennis regains its position as the global leader on the ATP Tour, in the Davis Cup and in the Olympics. Lastly, with the recent move of my parents to Florida, where several other of our family members currently reside, this decision gradually developed into the right one for not only my career, but most importantly for my family as well."
   Altamirano, who won the 2013 USTA national 18-and-under title, has split time with senior Thai-Son Kwiatkowski at No. 1 singles for the Cavaliers this season.
   Virginia will conduct a national search for Boland's successor. Littlepage has not specified a timetable for filling the position.

Last NorCal juniors exit USTA Spring tourney

Jenson (J.T.) Brooksby, a 16-year-old wild card, lost in the
boys 18 quarterfinals of the USTA International Spring
Championships. 2017 photo by Paul Bauman

   Northern Californians went 0 for 3 on Friday and were eliminated from the USTA International Spring Championships in Carson, Calif.
   Jenson (J.T.) Brooksby, a 16-year-old wild card from the Sacramento suburb of Carmichael, lost to unseeded Axel Nefve of Boca Raton, Fla., 1-6, 6-2, 6-1 in the boys 18 quarterfinals.
   No. 8 seed Stefan Leustian of Mather in the Sacramento area fell to No. 6 Andrew Dale of Leesburg, Va., 6-1, 6-2 in the boys 16 semifinals.
   And No. 5 Leustian and Zachery Lim of Fairfield, between San Francisco and Sacramento, lost to unseeded Hunter Heck of New Brighton, Minn., and Alexander Petrov of Irvine, Calif., by walkover in the boys 16 doubles semis.
   Brooksby, ranked second nationally in the 16s, reached the 16-and-under final in the USTA National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich., and the USTA National Clay Court Championships in Delray Beach, Fla., last summer. He won the 12-and-under title in the 2013 USTA National Championships in Little Rock, Ark.

Evans wins Aptos; Brooksby falls in USTA 16s final

   This time, Daniel Evans took the title.

   Three years after holding a championship point and losing in the $100,000 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger, the top-seeded Evans defeated qualifier Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-4 today to win the tournament at the Seascape Sports Club.

   It was the first meeting between the British players.

   Evans, 26, jumped 20 places in the rankings to a career-high No. 60. He is second in Great Britain behind No. 2 Andy Murray. Both players helped their nation win its first Davis Cup title in 79 years in 2015.

   Norrie, a 20-year-old left-hander, soared 125 spots to No. 298. He reached the NCAA singles semifinals in Tulsa, Okla., in May as a Texas Christian sophomore.

   Evans lost to former Stanford star Bradley Klahn in the 2013 Aptos final after also losing a championship point the previous week in the $100,000 Vancouver Challenger.

   Klahn, a left-hander who will turn 26 on Saturday, has been sidelined for 18 months after undergoing his second operation for a herniated disc in his back.

   Evans won his third Challenger title of the year and fifth overall. He reached the third round at Wimbledon this summer, losing in straight sets to Roger Federer, but has yet to win an ATP World Tour title.

   Norrie, a native of Johannesburg, South Africa, was playing in his first Challenger final. He has won three Futures crowns, including Tulsa and Wichita back-to-back in late June and early July.

   South Africans Nicolaas Scholtz and Tucker Vorster won the Aptos doubles title, edging 21-year-old Mackenzie McDonald of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area and former Cal star Ben McLachlan of New Zealand 6-7 (5), 6-3 [10-8]. 

   USTA junior nationals --  No. 1 seed Lukas Greif of Evansville, Ind., routed No. 10 Jenson Brooksby, a 15-year-old resident of Carmichael in the Sacramento area, 6-0, 6-3 to win the boys 16 title in the USTA National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich.

   Greif also overwhelmed Brooksby 6-1, 6-1 in the final of last month’s USTA National Clay Court Championships in Delray Beach, Fla.

   Brooksby won the USTA National boys 12 title three years ago in Little Rock, Ark.

Brooksby reaches USTA national boys 16 final

   No. 10 seed Jenson Brooksby of Carmichael in the Sacramento area defeated No. 15 Robert Maciag of Sterling, Va., 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 Saturday in the boys 16 semifinals of the USTA National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich.

   In today’s final, the 15-year-old Brooksby will try to avenge a 6-1, 6-1 loss to Lukas Greif of Evansville, Ind., in the USTA Clay Court Championships last month in Delray Beach, Fla.

   Greif dominated unseeded Matthew Tsolakyan of Glendale in the Los Angeles region 6-1, 6-3 in Saturday’s other semifinal.

   Brooksby won the USTA National boys 12 title three years ago in Little Rock, Ark.

   Meanwhile, Andrew Ton of Milpitas in the Bay Area and Maximilian Wild of Murrieta, Calif., won the boys 16 doubles title in Kalamazoo. Seeded second, they beat No. 11 seeds Maciag and Jared Pratt of Daniel Island, S.C., 7-6 (5), 6-3.

   In the boys 18 doubles semifinals, No. 4 seeds John McNally and Jeffrey Wolf, both of Cincinnati, edged No. 10 Anudeep Kodali of Durham, N.C., and Sam Riffice, who grew up in the Sacramento suburb of Roseville, 7-5, 5-7 [10-8].

   McNally and Wolf went on the win the title.