Beleaguered Nadal avenges Australian Open loss

Rafael Nadal has vehemently denied a doping allegation
against him. File photo by Paul Bauman

   INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Rafael Nadal doesn't need any extra motivation.
   He treats every match as if it was his last. The same goes for practice.
   Still, Nadal had plenty of incentive today in the BNP Paribas Open. The 29-year-old star recently was accused of doping, and he was facing a player who ousted him in the first round of the Australian Open in January.
   It added up to a 6-0, 7-6 (9) victory by Nadal, the fourth seed and three-time champion at Indian Wells, over fellow Spanish left-hander Fernando Verdasco in the third round. Nadal saved five set points in the second-set tiebreaker.
   The 32-year-old Verdasco, who reached a career-high No. 7 in the world in 2009 and won the now-defunct SAP Open in 2010 in San Jose, knocked off Nadal 7-6 (6), 4-6, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 in a 4-hour, 41-minute baseline battle in Melbourne.
   "I lost matches similar to this one in Australia, in Bueno Aires, in Rio de Janeiro, so it's important winning sets like this for me,” Nadal said. “I feel lucky to win the tiebreak, and at the same time I think at the end of the tiebreak I played well with not many mistakes and going for the points.
   “So it is an important victory for me. Two match wins here, tough ones. That's something that stays in my mind and helps.”
   Nadal is trying to regain his confidence amid a prolonged slump. He has lost in the third round or earlier in his past three Grand Slam tournaments, and the last of his 14 Grand Slam singles titles (tied for second all-time with Pete Sampras behind Roger Federer's 17) came in the 2014 French Open.
   In the wake of Maria Sharapova's positive drug test, former French Minister for Health and Sport Roselyne Bachelot last week leveled a doping charge against Nadal.
   "We know that Nadal's famous seven-month injury (layoff in 2012) was without a doubt due to a positive drug test," Bachelot said on French television. "When you see a tennis player who stops playing for (many) months, it is because he has tested positive and because they are covering it up. It is not something that always happens, but yes, it happens more than you think."
   Nadal has heard similar allegations before.
   "You know what? I heard a few times again about the doping, and I'm a little bit tired of that," responded Nadal, who this week vowed to sue Bachelot. "I am a completely clean guy. I work so much during all my career, and when I get an injury, I get an injury.
   "And (I) never had no temptation of doing something wrong. I believe in the sport and in the values of the sport. It is an example for the kids. If I am doing something that goes against that, I will be lying to myself, not to my opponents."
   Nadal will face 18-year-old Alexander Zverev, a 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) German, for the first time on Wednesday for a quarterfinal berth. Zverev, ranked 58th, dismantled Frenchman Gilles Simon, seeded 16th and ranked 19th, 6-2, 6-2 in 67 minutes.     
   “He’s a clear possible future No. 1,” Nadal said. “He’s an amazing player. He has all the shots and very good physical performance. He’s tall, has a good serve – first and second – great shots from the baseline, forehand and backhand.
   “He has everything to become a big star, and he’s playing well. He already won matches against (Grigor) Dimitrov and Simon (this week). I know it’s going to be a very tough match. I’m happy the way I played today in the first set, so if I can keep going the same way tomorrow, I hope to have my chances.”
   Top seed and two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic also advanced, beating 27th-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 7-5, 7-5. 
   It was a rough day for players with Northern California ties, though.
   No. 31 seed Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native living in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Monica, lost to No. 7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 6-3, 6-4.   
   Qualifier Nicole Gibbs, who turned pro in 2013 after a stellar three years at Stanford, fell to No. 8 seed and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. It was the first time Gibbs, 23, has won a set in her three matches against Kvitova.
   In an all-American doubles quarterfinal, No. 8 seeds Raquel Atawo (formerly Kops-Jones) of San Jose and Abigail Spears of Colorado Springs, Colo., bowed out to unseeded Bethanie Mattek-Sands and CoCo Vandeweghe 7-5, 6-1.
   Kvitova will play No. 3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the singles quarterfinals. The other matchups are No. 1 Serena Williams vs. No. 5 and defending champion Simona Halep, No. 13 Victoria Azarenka against unseeded Magdalena Rybarikova and No. 18 Karolina Pliskova vs. unseeded 18-year-old Daria Kasatkina.
   Williams withdrew from her scheduled semifinal against Halep in last year's BNP Paribas Open with a knee injury.

Hewitt's singles career ends with loss to Ferrer

Lleyton Hewitt, returning serve in the 2013 SAP Open in San Jose,
lost to eighth-seeded David Ferrer 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 today in the second
round of the Australian Open. Hewitt won the San Jose title in 2002
and reached the final there in 2006. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Fittingly, Lleyton Hewitt's singles career ended against David Ferrer.
   In the featured night match at Rod Laver Arena, the eighth-seeded Ferrer of Spain dispatched Australia's Hewitt 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 today in the second round of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
   Hewitt, who won the title of the now-defunct San Jose (Calif.) tournament on the ATP World Tour in 2002 and reached the 2006 final there, announced last year that he would retire after this Australian Open. He and countryman Sam Groth are scheduled to play eighth-seeded Henri Kontinen of Finland and John Peers of Australia today in the second round of men's doubles in Melbourne.
   Groth holds the unofficial record for the world's fastest serve of 163.7 mph (263.4 kph) in the 2012 Busan, South Korea, Challenger.
   Hewitt is not entered in mixed doubles in the Australian Open.
   Hewitt and Ferrer are similar in age, size and playing style. Hewitt, who will turn 35 next month, is 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters). Ferrer, who will be 34 in April, is 5-foot-9 (1.75 meters). Both compensate for their small size with tenacity.
   Hewitt, however, is more accomplished.

   He has won three Grand Slam titles (two in singles and one in men's doubles), while Ferrer's best result in a major is runner-up in singles in the 2013 French Open.
   Hewitt remains the youngest man to reach No. 1, at 20 years, 8 months in 2001. That's one month younger than Marat Safin of Russia in 2000. Ferrer climbed to a career-high No. 3 in 2013.

Ferrer, practicing at Indian Wells last March, said Hewitt
"is a mirror for me." Photo by Paul Bauman

   Ferrer has the edge in Davis Cup championships, three to two.  

   After today's match, video tributes to Hewitt from Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray were shown in the arena.
   "Out on the court, obviously you've got so many things going through your head," Hewitt said on ausopen.com. "You're trying to soak it up as much as possible out there one last time. It was an unbelievable atmosphere out there. A couple of the roars during the match tonight were as loud as I've ever played in front of. I was getting goose bumps at times.
   "Obviously just watching the video and hearing those great players talk about you in that light was pretty emotional. ... It's sort of a strange feeling because you're obviously disappointed not to keep going but obviously proud of everything we've done as well."
   Ferrer discussed Hewitt before the match.
   "He's a mirror for me," Hewitt said on ausopen.com. "I remember when I was younger, my game was similar. It's not like he was my idol, because I don't have an idol, but it's similar to idol."
   Hewitt was one of the five active singles champions in the San Jose tournament, which ended in 2013 after 125 years in the San Francisco Bay Area, to play on Day 4 of the Australian Open.
   Winning were No. 2 seed Andy Murray (2006 and 2007) of Great Britain and No. 13 Milos Raonic (2011-13) of Canada. Losing, in addition to Hewitt, were 32-year-old Fernando Verdasco (2010) of Spain and 37-year-old Radek Stepanek (2009) of the Czech Republic.
   Verdasco fell to 5-foot-9 (1.75-meter) Dudi Sela of Israel 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (4) after upsetting Rafael Nadal, the 2009 champion and a two-time runner-up in the Australian Open, in 4 hours, 41 minutes in the first round.

Australian John Millman, playing in the U.S. Open last
September, reached the third round of a Grand Slam
tournament for the first time. Millman won the 2015
Aptos and 2010 Sacramento Challengers. Photo by
Paul Bauman

   Australia's John Millman, who won the 2015 Aptos and 2010 Sacramento Challengers, advanced to the third round of a Slam for the first time. Millman, 26, outlasted Gilles Muller, a 32-year-old left-hander from Luxembourg, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
   The 38th-ranked Muller, a quarterfinalist in the 2008 U.S. Open as a qualifier, served at 4-3, 40-0 in the second set but was broken.
   "It's probably a breakthrough win," Millman, ranked 95th, said in an understatement on ausopen.com. "I managed to turn the tables around today when I was being outplayed at the start of the match. I was down a set and a break (and) had to dig deep today and change things up and find a way."
   Millman is scheduled to face countryman Bernard Tomic, seeded 16th, for the second time on Friday (PST). Tomic won 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 (6) in the second round of the 2011 Caloundra (Australia) Challenger.
   On the women's side, No. 7 seed Angelique Kerber of Germany outclassed Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania 6-2, 6-4.

Seventh-seeded Angelique Kerber, shown after winning
the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford last summer,
will play American Madison Brengle, the runner-up in
the 2013 Sacramento Challenger, in the third round of
the Australian Open. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Kerber, a 28-year-old left-hander who won the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford last summer, is set to play 25-year-old American Madison Brengle, who defeated Johanna Larsson of Sweden 6-5, 4-6, 6-1, on Friday.
  Brengle lost to Mayo Hibi of Japan in the final of the 2013 Sacramento Challenger while playing with a debilitating stomach illness. Hibi was 17 at the time.
  Naomi Osaka, an 18-year-old qualifier from Japan, eliminated 18th-seeded Elina Svitolina, a 21-year-old Ukrainian who lost to Kerber in the semifinals at Stanford last year, 6-4, 6-4 today.
   As a 16-year-old qualifier in the 2014 Bank of the West Classic, Osaka saved a match point to shock Samantha Stosur, the 2011 U.S. Open champion, in the first round.
   The 5-foot-11 (1.80-meter) Osaka, a hard hitter with a Haitian father and Japanese mother, will meet 14th-seeded Victoria Azarenka, who won the Australian Open in 2012 and 2013 and the Bank of the West Classic in 2010.
   The player with the world's fastest women's serve also lost. No. 30 seed Sabine Lisicki, a German who uncorked a 131.0-mph (210.8-kph) delivery at Stanford in 2014, fell to Denisa Allertova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

Halep, Nadal, Venus fall in first round of Aussie Open

Second-seeded Simona Halep lost to qualifier Zhang Shuai
of China 6-4, 6-3 in the first round of the Australian Open.
2014 photo by Paul Bauman  

   Zhang Shuai's first Grand Slam victory in 15 attempts came against an unlikely opponent.
   The Chinese qualifier, who will turn 27 on Thursday, stunned second-seeded Simona Halep of Romania 6-4, 6-3 today in the first round of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
   Zhang's victory came shortly after 32-year-old Fernando Verdasco, who reached a career-high No. 7 in the world in 2009 and won the now-defunct SAP Open in 2010 in San Jose, ousted fifth-seeded Rafael Nadal 7-6 (6), 4-6, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 in a 4-hour, 41-minute battle of Spanish left-handers.
   Earlier, Johanna Konta, a Sydney-born British player, took out eighth-seeded Venus Williams 6-4, 6-2.
   In late first-round matches:
   --Dmitry Tursunov, a 33-year-old Russian who trains in the Sacramento suburb of Granite Bay, retired with a hip injury while trailing No. 4 seed and 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland 7-6 (2), 6-3. Tursunov was playing in his first Grand Slam tournament since the 2014 U.S. Open after missing more than a year with plantar fasciitis in his left foot and pain in his left ankle.
   --No. 25 seed Jack Sock outlasted 18-year-old qualifier Taylor Fritz, making his Grand Slam debut, 6-4, 3-6, 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 in an all-American matchup. Fritz, last year's ITF junior world champion, won the Sacramento and Fairfield Challengers back-to-back last October at 17.
   --Lleyton Hewitt, a two-time Grand Slam singles champion who will retire after the Australian Open, beat fellow Aussie James Duckworth 7-6 (5), 6-2, 6-4. Hewitt, who will turn 35 next month, won the SAP Open in 2002 and reached the final there in 2006.

Fernando Verdasco, awaiting serve in last year's U.S. Open,
ousted fifth-seeded Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Halep, an Australian Open quarterfinalist in the previous two years, withdrew Brisbane two weeks ago with left Achilles' inflammation but advanced to the Sydney semifinals last week.
   Both Zhang (2014) and Halep (2011) are 0-1 in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
   Verdasco pummeled his serve and groundstrokes to avenge a 5-hour, 14-minute loss to Nadal on the same court, Rod Laver Arena, seven years ago in the Australian Open semifinals. It was the longest match in Australian Open history at the time.
   Nadal, who has won 14 major singles titles, lost in the opening round of a major for only the second time in his career. He fell to Steve Darcis in the first round at Wimbledon in 2013.
   Nadal has failed to reach the fourth round in his last three Slams.
   Konta, 24, was making her Australian Open main-draw debut. Williams, 35, has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, the last one coming at Wimbledon in 2008. In her only Australian Open final, she lost to younger sister Serena in 2003.
   Venus Williams has reached the Bank of the West Classic final seven times, winning in 2000 and 2002 and losing in 1998, 1999, 2004, 2005 and 2009. She made her pro debut in the tournament at 14 in 1994, when it was held in Oakland.

French Open Day 4 recap: Lucic-Baroni upsets Halep

No. 3 seed and 2014 French Open runner-up
Simona Halep, shown en route to the title
at Indian Wells in March, lost to Mirjana
Lucic-Baroni today in the second round
Roland Garros. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Upset of the day -- Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, a 33-year-old former prodigy from Croatia, continued her resurgence with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over No. 3 seed and 2014 runner-up Simona Halep of Romania in the second round.
   Lucic-Baroni, who sat out from 2003 through 2009 amid personal problems, also ousted Halep to reach the round of 16 in last year's U.S. Open as a qualifier.
   Lucic-Baroni has accused her father, Marinko, of physical abuse and tampering with her prize money. "There have been more beatings than anyone can imagine," she once said.
   Countered Marinko Lucic: “I never used excessive force, and if I did give her the occasional slap, it was because of her behavior. I did what I believed what was best for the child.” 
   Match of the day -- Germany's Benjamin Becker, who will turn 34 on June 16, outlasted 32nd-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain 6-4, 0-6, 1-6, 7-5, 10-8.
   Notable -- Samantha Stosur, the 26th seed and 2010 runner-up, extended her winning streak to seven matches with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over French wild card Amandine Hesse. Stosur has lost only five games in two matches.
   Nicolas Mahut, a 33-year-old Frenchman, eliminated No. 24 seed and 2014 semifinalist Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
   Men's seeded winners -- No. 2 Roger Federer, No. 4 Tomas Berdych, No. 5 Kei Nishikori, No. 8 Stan Wawrinka, No. 12 Gilles Simon, No. 13 Gael Monfils, No. 14 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 21 Pablo Cuevas, No. 22 Philipp Kohlschreiber.
   Men's seeded losers -- No. 19 Roberto Bautista Agut, No. 24 Gulbis, No. 28 Fabio Fognini, No. 32 Fernando Verdasco.
   Women's seeded winners -- No. 2 Maria Sharapova, No. 7 Ana Ivanovic, No. 8 Carla Suarez Navarro, No. 9 Ekaterina Makarova, No. 11 Angelique Kerber, No. 13 Lucie Safarova, No. 19 Elina Svitolina, No. 20 Sabine Lisicki, No. 21 Garbine Muguruza, No. 26 Stosur, No. 28 Flavia Pennetta, No. 29 Alize Cornet.
   Women's seeded loser -- No. 3 Halep.
   Stars and stripes -- Steve Johnson beat Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6) to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the second straight time.
   Advancing to the second round in doubles were top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan, second-seeded Jack Sock and Canadian Vasek Pospisil, Austin Krajicek and Donald Young, and Varvara Lepchenko and China's Saisai Zheng.
   Fast facts -- Kimiko Date-Krumm and Francesca Schiavone, who won their first-round doubles match, are a combined 78 years old. Date-Krumm, 44, reached the singles semifinals at Roland Garros 20 years ago, and Schiavone won the singles title five years ago.
   Northern California connection -- Four members of the California Dream, the new Sacramento-based franchise in World TeamTennis, played first-round doubles matches.
   California's Bob and Mike Bryan, seeded first in men's doubles, ended a rare two-match losing streak with a 7-6 (8), 6-2 decision over Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan.
   Hao-Ching Chan of Taiwan and the Dream's Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain outclassed Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia and Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-3, 6-1.
   And Gilles Muller of Luxembourg and California's Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan lost to Florian Mayer and Frank Moser of Germany 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (1).
   In the first round of mixed doubles, Raquel Kops-Jones, a San Jose resident and former Cal star, and Robert Farah of Colombia defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia and Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 7-6 (4), 6-3.
   Quote -- Lucic-Baroni: "I feel like I missed my best years, for sure. There is nothing I can do (about it) right now. There is no point of thinking about it too much. Just enjoying right now where I am."

U.S. qualifier shocks ex-SAP champ; WTT marquee draft

Qualifier Tim Smyczek signs autographs after stunning fifth
seed and 2010 champion  Fernando Verdasco in the first round
of the SAP Open on Tuesday night. Photo by Paul Bauman

   SAN JOSE -- Little Tim Smyczek gave the United States a big lift Tuesday night.
   Three Americans -- Ryan Harrison and wild card Jack Sock, both 20, and qualifier Ryan Sweeting -- fell in consecutive singles matches on the only court at HP Pavilion during the day session in the SAP Open.
   Combined with wild card Bradley Klahn's loss on Monday night, that brought the United States' singles record in the tournament to 0-4 with the big guns, second-seeded John Isner (6-foot-9, 2.06 meters) and third-seeded Sam Querrey (6-foot-6, 1.98 meters), and others yet to play.
    But in the last match of the night, the 5-foot-9 (1.75-meter), 145-pound (66-kilogram) Smyczek dismissed fifth-seeded Fernando Verdasco, the SAP Open champion in 2010 and runner-up in 2011, 6-3, 6-3 in the first round.
   "It's one of my best moments on a tennis court," Smyczek (pronounced SMEE-check) -- a 25-year-old qualifier from Milwaukee, of all places -- told the announced crowd of 3,418 afterward. "It's always great coming back to San Jose. I've had a lot of success here."
   A four-time qualifier in San Jose, Smyczek received a wild card in the 2011 SAP Open and reached the quarterfinals. He also has advanced to the second round of the last two Grand Slam tournaments, the Australian Open and the U.S. Open, as a qualifier.  
   Verdasco, a Spaniard ranked No. 24 in the world, is the second-highest-ranked player Smyczek has beaten. He knocked off then-No. 19 Jurgen Melzer of Austria in the first round at Delray Beach (Fla.) -- as a qualifier, of course -- last February before losing to Bernard Tomic of Australia in the second round.
   Smyczek, ranked No. 105, will face the winner of today's match between 6-foot-10 (2.08-meter) Ivo Karlovic of Croatia and American wild card Steve Johnson, who won the last two NCAA singles titles before completing his eligibility at USC.
   Win or lose, Smyczek likely will crack the top 100 for the first time when the next rankings are released on Monday.
   "It's a longtime goal," Smyczek said. "It's been a long road, and to almost be there is really exciting."

Bob Bryan, right, waits to return serve as Mike Bryan watches during their
first-round match against fellow Americans  Steve Johnson and Jack Sock.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Before Smyczek and Verdasco took the court, top-seeded Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan edged U.S. wild cards Johnson and Jack Sock 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) in the first round of doubles. Johnson and Sock won the first eight points against the Bryans, who were coming off a rare Davis Cup loss.
   "They came out on fire and caught us a little off guard," Bob Bryan said. " ... They were gunning for us, so  we had our hands full. I thought we started playing pretty well there and fought them off."
   The 34-year-old identical twins have won virtually every honor in men's doubles, including a record 13 Grand Slam titles, an Olympic gold medal and a Davis Cup title. But the Bryans have never won the SAP Open in nine attempts.
   They have reached one final in the tournament, losing to Scott Lipsky and David Martin five years ago in a matchup of four former Stanford players. The campus is 20 miles (33 kilometers) northwest of HP Pavilion, and the Bryans had many supporters in the stands Tuesday night.
   This is the Bryans' last shot at the title. The tournament, the second-oldest professional event in the United States behind the U.S. Open, will be replaced on the calendar by Rio de Janeiro beginning in 2014 after 125 years in Northern California.
   "It would be pretty satisfying to get this one," said Mike Bryan, who wore a Stanford cap at the postmatch news conference. "It's eluded us (almost) 10 times. We've been in the finals once or twice. It would be nice to check this one off, especially being from Stanford and having a lot of our friends come out. Now is the year to do it. It won't eat us alive if we don't do it, but we really want to try to play well here."
   The Bryans led Stanford to NCAA titles both years they attended the school, 1997 and 1998, before turning pro. On Monday, they returned to campus and visited their old coach, Dick Gould, and John Whitlinger, who took over in 2005 after Gould became Stanford's director of tennis.
   "Stanford was definitely two of the most fun years we've ever had playing this game," Bob Bryan said. "Playing for a team, it was a blast. To go back there and look at that stadium where we have so many great memories is awesome.
   "We went to the Stanford gift shop and dropped a few hundred dollars on Stanford gear to take home. It's fun to relive those memories and look up on the wall and see the national title plaques. Dick Gould has some amazing monuments there (commemorating every Grand Slam champion from Stanford), so it's kind of cool to see your name etched in the stone wall."
   WTT marquee draft -- The Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis protected their rights to Querrey and Mardy Fish, two of the top three Americans, in Tuesday's marquee draft.
   Querrey is scheduled to play the last week of the three-week regular season in July, and Fish plans to play two or three home matches on dates to be announced. However, Fish has been sidelined since last September with a heart problem. He underwent a procedure for an irregular heartbeat last April.
   Querrey (No. 20) and Fish (No. 32) are the second- and third-ranked Americans behind John Isner (No. 16). Querrey played six of Sacramento's 14 regular-season matches last year, finishing second in men's singles by winning 58.0 percent of his games, and Fish two.
   Neither competed in the playoffs as the Capitals fell to the Washington Kastles 20-19 in the WTT Finals.
   Bob and Mike Bryan of the new Texas Wild, which relocated to Irving after 20 years in Kansas City, will face their father, longtime Capitals coach Wayne Bryan, again on a date to be announced at Sacramento.
   Top pick Andy Roddick, who retired from the men's circuit last September, is scheduled to play five matches for the Springfield (Mo.) Lasers.
   Venus Williams will return part-time to Washington, and 19-year-old Sloane Stephens, who reached the semifinals of last month's Australian Open, will play a limited schedule for the Philadelphia Freedoms.  
   Teams will complete their lineups in the March 12 roster draft in Indian Wells. The 2013 schedule will be released during the week of March 4.

SAP OPEN

In San Jose

First-round singles

   Vasek Pospisil, Canada, def. Evgeny Donskoy, Russia, 7-5, 6-1.
   Lleyton Hewitt, Australia, def. Blaz Kavcic, Slovenia, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4).
   Benjamin Becker, Germany, def. Ryan Harrison, United States, 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-3.
   Marinko Matosevic (7), Australia, def. Jack Sock, United States, 7-6 (5), 6-1.
   Denis Istomin (6), Uzbekistan, def. Ryan Sweeting, United States, 6-3, 6-4.
   Tim Smyczek, United States, def. Fernando Verdasco (5), Spain, 6-3, 6-3.

First-round doubles

   Matthew Ebden, Australia, and Michael Russell, United States, def. Benjamin Becker, Germany, and Flavio Cipolla, Italy, 6-3, 7-6 (6).
   Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan (1), United States, def. Steve Johnson and Jack Sock, United States, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5).

Today's schedule

Center Court

(Beginning at 9:30 a.m.)

   Flavio Cipolla, Italy, vs. Alejandro Falla, Colombia.
   Matthew Ebden, Australia, vs. Rik de Voest, South Africa.
   Philipp Marx, Germany, and Florin Mergea, Romania, vs. Lleyton Hewitt and Marinko Matosevic, Australia.
   Michael Russell, United States, vs. Donald Young, United States.
   Ivo Karlovic, Croatia, vs. Steve Johnson, United States.

(Not before 7 p.m.)

   Vasek Pospisil, Canada, vs. John Isner (2), United States.

   Jesse Levine, Canada, vs. Tommy Haas (4), Germany.

Courtside Club 16

(Beginning at 4 p.m.)

   Nicholas Monroe, United States, and Simon Stadler, Germany, vs. Mikhail Elgin, Russia, and Denis Istomin, Uzbekistan.

   Jamie Murray, Great Britain, and John Peers, Australia, vs. Xavier Malisse, Belgium, and Frank Moser (4), Germany.

Raonic, Hewitt, Verdasco enter SAP Open

Milos Raonic, serving in this year's SAP Open final in San Jose, will try
to win his third consecutive title in the tournament in February.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Andy Roddick didn't do it. Nor did Andy Murray, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi or John McEnroe.
   Milos Raonic will try to become the first player since Tony Trabert (1953-55) to win the San Francisco Bay Area stop on the men's tour for three years in a row.
   Organizers recently announced that Raonic, former champions Lleyton Hewitt of Australia and Fernando Verdasco of Spain and the top-ranked doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan have entered the 2013 SAP Open, Feb. 11-17 at HP Pavilion in San Jose.
   It will be the 125th and last SAP Open, the second-oldest tennis tournament in the United States. Rio de Janeiro, the site of the 2016 Summer Olympics and a co-host of the 2014 World Cup soccer tournament, will replace San Jose on the ATP World Tour beginning in 2014.
   Raonic (pronounced Rau-nitch), a 21-year-old Canadian, defeated Verdasco in the 2011 final for his first ATP World Tour title and Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in last year's championship match.
  Roddick (2004-05), Murray (2006-07), Sampras (1996-97) and McEnroe (1978-79) each won the Bay Area tournament twice in a row. McEnroe triumphed five times overall, Roddick three and Murray and Sampras twice each. Agassi prevailed five times but never consecutively.
   Raonic, 6-foot-5 (196 centimeters), is ranked a career-high 13th in the world with three career singles titles. He is 9-0 in singles in San Jose.
   Hewitt, the 2002 SAP Open champion, plans to return for the sixth time. A likely International Tennis Hall of Famer, the 31-year-old veteran ranks fourth among active players with 28 singles titles. He trails Roger Federer (76), Rafael Nadal (50) and Novak Djokovic (33).
   Hewitt has won two Grand Slam singles crowns, the U.S. Open in 2001 and Wimbledon in 2002. Ranked No. 1 in 2001, he has plummeted to No. 80.
   Verdasco, a 28-year-old left-hander, has played in the SAP Open twice. He won it in 2010, becoming the first Spaniard to do so since Manuel Santana in 1964, and fell to Raonic 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5) in the 2011 final.
   The loss to Raonic was marred by controversy. With Raonic serving on match point, a spectator yelled, and a distracted Verdasco netted the return.
   Verdasco is ranked 24th after reaching a career-high No. 7 in 2009.
   The 34-year-old Bryan twins have won 82 career doubles titles, an Open Era record. Twelve have come in Grand Slam tournaments, tying the all-time mark of Australians John Newcombe and Tony Roche from 1965 to 1976.
   The Bryans also won the Olympic gold medal in men's doubles this summer in London. But they have never won the SAP Open in nine attempts, even though they attended college a few miles up the road at Stanford. They have reached the final only once, losing to former Stanford stars Scott Lipsky and David Martin in 2008.
   The SAP Open has struggled to attract top players and big crowds in recent years. Roddick's career steadily declined after he won his last SAP title in 2008, and he retired in September, one week after his 30th birthday. No American man has won a Grand Slam singles title since Roddick captured the 2003 U.S. Open for his only major crown.
   France's Gael Monfils, then ranked 13th in the world, was seeded first in last year's tournament but withdrew with a knee injury. Roddick was second and Raonic third. The final drew an announced crowd of 5,682.
   The tournament has been held at HP Pavilion, the home of the National Hockey League's San Jose Sharks, since it opened in 1994. That has forced the Sharks to take an extended road trip each February.
   The event began in Monterey in 1889 and also has been held under various names in Berkeley, San Francisco, Alamo and Daly City. Other past champions include legends Don Budge, Jack Kramer, Rod Laver, Arthur Ashe and Jimmy Connors.
   Ticket packages and group tickets are available by calling (408) ACE-2121. Individual session tickets will go on sale in January. For more information, visit www.sapopentennis.com.