Gibbs romps in U.S. Open qualifying to end skid

Ex-Stanford star Nicole Gibbs, playing in last month's Berkeley
Challenger, routed Tereza Mrdeza of Croatia 6-1, 6-1 today in
the first round of U.S. Open qualifying. Photo by Paul Bauman

    All Nicole Gibbs needed was a trip back to Flushing Meadows to snap out of her funk.
    The 10th-seeded Gibbs (Stanford, 2011-13) routed Tereza Mrdeza of Croatia 6-1, 6-1 in 61 minutes today in the first round of U.S. Open qualifying.
   Gibbs, a 25-year-old resident of Venice in the Los Angeles area, ended a four-match losing streak that began with a 6-0, 6-4 loss to 19-year-old American Sofia Kenin in the final of last month's $60,000 Berkeley Challenger. Kenin was seeded first and Gibbs second.
   Gibbs has reached the second round of the main draw in the U.S. Open for the past three years, and she advanced to the third round at Flushing Meadows four years ago.
   The 115th-ranked Gibbs is scheduled to play No. 181 Tamara Korpatsch of Germany for the first time on Thursday. Korpatsch, 23, topped Deniz Khazaniuk of Israel 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
   Gibbs' former Stanford teammate, Kristie Ahn, also advanced to the second round of qualifying. Ahn, 26, defeated Katarina Zavatska of Ukraine 6-4, 6-3.
   Ahn, ranked No. 145, will face Tunisia's Ons Jabeur, seeded ninth with a world ranking of No. 114. Jabeur, the 2011 French Open girls singles champion, dismissed Katy Dunne of Great Britain 6-2, 6-1 in 49 minutes.
   Jabeur defeated Ahn 6-4, 6-4 on clay in the quarterfinals of an $80,000 tournament in Indian Harbour Beach, Fla., in April 2017 in their only previous meeting.
   Two other former Stanford players, one woman and one man, fell today. Carol Zhao, 23, lost to fellow Canadian Eugenie Bouchard, seeded 16th, 6-0, 6-1 in 54 minutes.
   Zhao, ranked No. 161, is 0-6 since reaching the second round of a $125,000 clay-court tournament in Bol, Croatia, in early June.
   Bouchard, the runner-up to Petra Kvitova at Wimbledon four years ago, has plummeted from a career-high No. 5 in October 2014 to No. 123. She suffered a head injury in a training room fall during the 2015 U.S. Open, sued the United States Tennis Association and reached a settlement last February.
   Tom Fawcett, 22, of Winnetka, Ill., lost to Alexey Vatutin of Russia 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
   Also in men's qualifying, 18-year-old Sebastian Korda upset 24-year-old San Jose product Dennis Novikov 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 in a matchup of 6-foot-4 (1.93-meter) U.S. wild cards. Novikov, now based in Los Angeles, led by a set and an early service break.
   Korda won this year's Australian Open boys singles title 20 years after his father, Petr, captured the men's singles title in Melbourne.
   Novikov, ranked No. 258 after climbing to a career-high No. 119 two years ago, fell to 1-9 since April. He reached the second round of the main draw in the 2012 U.S. Open after receiving a wild card as the USTA boys 18 national champion.
   Collin Altamirano, a 22-year-old wild card from Sacramento, is scheduled to open against Tomislav Brkic, 28, of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday. Brkic is ranked No. 256, and Altamirano is at a career-high No. 345.

Six NorCal players entered in U.S. Open qualifying

   Six players with Northern California ties are set to compete in U.S. Open qualifying, which will begin on Tuesday at 8 a.m. California time (Tennis Channel).
   Four ex-Stanford stars will be in action on Tuesday. In the women's draw, No. 10 seed Nicole Gibbs (2011-13) of Venice in the Los Angeles area will face Tereza Mrdeza of Croatia. Gibbs reached the third round of the 2014 U.S. Open. Carol Zhao (2014-16) will take on No. 16 Eugenie Bouchard in an all-Canada matchup, and Kristie Ahn (2011-14) will meet Katarina Zavatska of Ukraine. On the men's side, Tom Fawcett (2015-18) of Winnetka, Ill., will play Alexey Vatutin of Russia.
   Also in the men's draw, San Jose product Dennis Novikov will face American Sebastian Korda, the 18-year-old son of former world No. 2 Petr Korda of the Czech Republic, on Tuesday, and Collin Altamirano of Sacramento will meet Tomislav Brkic of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday.
   Fawcett, 22, Novikov, 24, and Altamirano, 22, are wild cards.
   The U.S. Open men's and women's draws will be held Thursday, and the tournament is scheduled for Monday through Sept. 9.

Ex-Stanford teammates fall in French Open qualifying

   Former Stanford teammates Carol Zhao and Kristie Ahn each lost 6-3 in the third set today in the first round of French Open qualifying in Paris.
   Zhao, a 22-year-old Canadian, fell to 37-year-old Italian Francesca Schiavone, the 2010 champion at Roland Garros, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. The match had been suspended by rain at one set apiece on Tuesday.
   Ahn, 25, from Upper Saddle River, N.J., bowed out to Bibiane Schoofs of the Netherlands 7-6 (2), 2-6, 6-3.
   U.S. women went 6-4 in the first round of French Open qualifying, including Caroline Dolehide's victory over fellow American Irina Falconi. U.S. men, meanwhile, went 2-9.
   Nicole Gibbs, who won two NCAA titles in singles (2012 and 2013) and one in doubles (2012) before leaving Stanford one year early, is scheduled to play Veronika Kudermetova of Russia for the first time on Thursday in the second round of qualifying.

Jung edges Koepfer in thriller for 100K S.F. title

   Jason Jung could have folded after he was broken while serving for the title in the $100,000 San Francisco Open.
   He could have folded when he lost three consecutive points, the last two on his serve, to trail 3-4 in the third-set tiebreaker.
   But the Los Angeles-area native, who plays for Taiwan, recovered to beat Dominik Koepfer of Germany 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (5) today in an indoor battle of unseeded players at the Bay Club SF Tennis Center. It was the first meeting between Jung, 28, and Koepfer, a 23-year-old left-hander.
   Jung jumped from No. 205 in the world to No. 155, near his career high of No. 143, with his third Challenger singles final, the second-biggest of his career and his first outside of China.
   Koepfer, a former All-American at Tulane in New Orleans, rose from No. 285 to a career-high No. 229 after his first Challenger singles final.
  Jung graduated from the University of Michigan in political science in 2011 and worked for an oil company in his native Torrance for one month before being laid off. He planned to go to law school but didn't do as well on the admission test as he had hoped, so he launched his professional tennis career.
   Jung broke serve to lead 5-4 in the third set, but Koepfer broke back at love as Jung got tight and made several errors. Koepfer saved a break point to hold for 6-5, and Jung sent the match to a tiebreaker.
   Jung bolted to a 3-1 lead, but Koepfer rallied for a 4-3 advantage. Koepfer, probably feeling nerves of his own, then double-faulted for 4-4. With Koepfer serving at 5-6, he netted a forehand to end the match after 2 hours, 5 minutes.
   Jung pocketed $14,400, and Koepfer collected $8,480.
   Here are the completed singles and doubles draws.
   Fed Cup -- Canadian captain Sylvain Bruneau substituted 19-year-old Katherine Sebov for former Stanford star Carol Zhao, 22, in today's first match against Romania in World Group II.
   It didn't help.
   Irina-Camelia Begu, ranked 37th, defeated Sebov, ranked 319th, 6-2, 6-4 to clinch Romania's 3-1 victory in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. In a meaningless doubles match, Gabriela Dabrowski and Zhao edged Ana Bogdan and Raluca Olaru 6-4, 1-6 [10-6]. The second reverse singles match was abandoned.
   Zhao, ranked No. 138, lost to No. 38 Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 6-2 on Saturday.
   Romania was missing its top singles player, No. 2 Simona Halep, and Canada was without its top two singles competitors, No. 116 Eugenie Bouchard and No. 123 Francoise Abanda.
   Bouchard reached the 2014 Wimbledon final and climbed to a career-high No. 5 later that year. Abanda won the $25,000 Redding (Calif.) Challenger in 2016 at age 19.
   Romania advances to the World Group playoffs, and Canada drops to the World Group II playoffs.

German routs NorCal's Novikov in 100K S.F. semis

   Dominik Koepfer of Germany dismissed San Jose product Dennis Novikov 6-3, 6-1 in 51 minutes today in a semifinal matchup of unseeded players in the $100,000 Kunal Patel San Francisco Open.
   Koepfer, a 23-year-old left-hander, has not lost a set in the indoor tournament at the Bay Club SF Tennis Center, surviving two tiebreakers.
  The former All-American at Tulane in New Orleans advanced to his first Challenger singles final. He won the $75,000 Columbus (Ohio) Challenger doubles crown with American Denis Kudla last September.
   Today's other semifinal also featured unseeded players. Jason Jung, a Los Angeles-area native who plays for Taiwan, beat Miomir Kecmanovic, an 18-year-old Serb, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-2 in 1 hour, 58 minutes. Jung, only 5-foot-11 (1.80 meters), had 11 aces and only one double fault.
   Kecmanovic had needed 2 hours, 38 minutes to subdue third-seeded Michael Mmoh on Friday night, while Jung had breezed past sixth-seeded Noah Rubin in 52 minutes in the following match.
  Jung, 28, seeks his third Challenger singles title and first outside of China. He will face Koepfer, also 5-foot-11, for the first time on Sunday at 4 p.m.
   Jung is ranked No. 205, 80 spots above Koepfer. Their career highs are No. 143 (October 2016) and No. 239  (last October), respectively.
   Here are the singles and doubles draws and Sunday's schedule.
   Fed Cup -- Sorana Cirstea defeated former Stanford star Carol Zhao, making her Fed Cup singles debut, 6-2, 6-2 as Romania took a 2-0 lead over Canada in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in World Group II. In the second match, Irina-Camelia Begu beat 17-year-old Bianca Andreescu 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-2.
   Zhao, ranked No. 138, will try to keep Canada alive in the best-of-five-match competition when she faces Begu, ranked No. 37, in Sunday's first match.
   Romania is missing its top singles player, No. 2 Simona Halep, and Canada is without its top two singles players, No. 116 Eugenie Bouchard and No. 123 Francoise Abanda.
   Bouchard reached the 2014 Wimbledon final and climbed to a career-high No. 5 later that year. Abanda won the $25,000 Redding (Calif.) Challenger in 2016 at age 19.
   The four victorious nations in World Group II will play the four losers in the World Group for berths in next year's World Group, which determines the Fed Cup champion.

Zhao routed in Open qualies; Altamirano pulls upset

   According to the rankings, the first-round qualifying match between Denisa Allertova and Carol Zhao in the Australian Open looked highly competitive.
   It didn't work out that way.
   The 18th-seeded Allertova, a 24-year-old Czech, dominated Zhao, a 22-year-old former Stanford star from Canada, 6-3, 6-0 in 58 minutes in Melbourne. The 5-foot-11 (1.80-meter) Allertova is ranked No. 131, 14 spots ahead of the 5-foot-5 (1.65-meter) Zhao.
   In 2016, Allertova reached the third round of the main draw in the Australian Open for her best Grand Slam result and shocked then-No. 2 Angelique Kerber in the second round at Indian Wells.
   Zhao, the 2015 NCAA runner-up to Jamie Loeb, won a $100,000 tournament in Shenzhen (China) last November for the biggest title of her career.
   On the men's side, San Francisco Bay Area products Mackenzie McDonald and Dennis Novikov played late second-round qualifying matches. McDonald outclassed Jozef Kovalik of Slovakia 6-2, 6-2 after dropping only one game in the first round against American Noah Rubin. Novikov fell to 27th-seeded Elias Ymer of Sweden 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3.
   McDonald, 22, is playing in the men's Australian Open for the first time, although he reached the boys semifinals in 2012. The 2016 NCAA singles and doubles champion from UCLA won his first Challenger singles title in the $100,000 Northbay Healthcare Pro Championships in Fairfield, near San Francisco, last October.
   Ymer, who will turn 22 in April, ousted top-seeded Ruben Bemelmans in the first round of the $100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger in October en route to the quarterfinals.
   Men's Futures -- Avenging a loss in last year's final, Collin Altamirano of Sacramento knocked off second-seeded Marcos Giron, the 2014 NCAA champion from UCLA, 7-6 (0), 6-3 in the first round of the rain-delayed $25,000 Long Beach (Calif.) Futures.
   Altamirano, 22, turned pro in June after helping Virginia win the NCAA team title in all three of his years with the Cavaliers.
   Sam Riffice, an 18-year-old product of Roseville in the Sacramento area, defeated Trevor Allen Johnson, a Texas Christian senior from Las Vegas, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
   Jenson Brooksby, a 17-year-old Sacramentan, lost to fellow qualifier Logan Smith, a USC junior from Carlsbad in the San Diego region, 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-0.

Ex-Stanford star Zhao wins $100K Shenzhen

   One week after Kristie Ahn won the biggest title of her career, her former Stanford teammate Carol Zhao did the same.
   The unseeded Zhao, a 22-year-old Canadian, beat fourth-seeded Fangzhao Liu of China 7-5, 6-2 on an outdoor hard court today for the $100,000 Shenzhen (China) title.
   "It's been a long way here since January and I owe this to a small group of people whose belief in me never wavered even when mine did," Zhao tweeted. "There are still many, many more miles to go but I'm so so grateful for you, and for this."
   Zhao soared from No. 221 in the world to a career-high No. 150 with the title. Her only previous singles crown came in a $25,000 tournament in Nanao, Japan, in early September.
   Zhao, 5-foot-5 (1.65 meters), reached the NCAA singles final as a sophomore in 2015, losing to Jamie Loeb of North Carolina. Zhao turned pro in June 2016 after helping Stanford claim its 18th NCAA women's team title. Florida is next with seven.
   Ahn, a 25-year-old American, won last week's $80,000 RBC Pro Challenger in Tyler, Texas. 

Cardinal rules as Gibbs tops Zhao in Bank of the West

Nicole Gibbs follows through on a forehand during last
week's Stockton Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Nicole Gibbs and Carol Zhao met for the first time tonight in an appropriate setting.
   Playing on their former home court at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Stadium. Gibbs, 23, of Marina del Rey in the Los Angeles area defeated Zhao, a 21-year-old wild card from Canada, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic.
   "Disappointed but not discouraged," Zhao tweeted. "This will always be one of my favourite courts to play on. I'll be back!"
   Both Gibbs and Zhao are undersized, played No. 1 for Stanford, led the Cardinal to an NCAA team title and turned pro after their junior year.
   The 5-foot-6 (1.68-meter) Gibbs, however, had the more celebrated collegiate career. She won the NCAA singles title in 2012 and 2013 and the doubles crown in 2012 with Mallory Burdette.
   The 5-foot-5 (1.65-meter) Zhao reached the NCAA singles final as a sophomore last year, losing to Jamie Loeb of North Carolina.
   Gibbs, ranked No. 71, will face No. 4 seed CoCo Vandeweghe of Rancho Santa Fe in the San Diego region, on Thursday at 7 p.m. Vandeweghe, the 2012 runner-up to Serena Williams as a lucky loser, received a first-round bye.
   CiCi Bellis, a 17-year-old wild card from nearby Atherton, will take on No. 6 seed Jelena Ostapenko, a 19-year-old Latvian, on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
   Ostapenko, ranked No. 38, and Bellis, No. 203, have met once. Ostapenko won 6-3, 6-2 in the final round of qualifying for last year's U.S. Open.
   In 2014, Ostapenko won the Wimbledon girls title and Bellis shocked No. 12 seed Dominika Cibulkova in the first round of the women's main draw in the U.S. Open. Also, Bellis ended the year as the top junior in the world.

BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC

At Stanford

Singles

First round

   Saisai Zheng, China, def. Maria Mateas, United States, 7-5, 6-1.
   Nao Hibino, Japan, def. Veronica Cepede Royg, Paraguay, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
   Alize Cornet (7), France, def. Jennifer Brady, United States, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
   Ana Bogdan, Romania, def. Asia Muhammad, United States, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.
   Nicole Gibbs, United States, def. Carol Zhao, Canada, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
   Misaki Doi (5), Japan, def. Xinyun Han, China, 6-0, 2-6, 6-2.

Doubles

First round

   Darija Jurak, Croatia, and Anastasia Rodionova (3), Australia, def. Julia Boserup, United States, and Elitsa Kostova, Bulgaria, 6-2, 6-2.
   Kveta Peschke, Czech Republic, and Anna-Lena Groenefeld (4), Germany, def. Veronica Cepede Royg, Pagaguay, and Maria Irigoyen, Argentina, 6-4, 3-6 [11-9].
   Kateryna Bondarenko and Olga Savchuk, Ukraine, def. CiCi Bellis, Atherton, Calif., and Jennifer Brady, United States, 6-2, 6-3.

Tuesday's schedule

(Beginning at 11 a.m.)

Stadium 

   Julia Boserup, United States, vs. Naomi Osaka, Japan.
   Kristyna Pliskova, Czech Republic, vs. Magda Linette, Poland (not before 1 p.m.).
   Alison Riske, United States, vs. Varvara Lepchenko (8), United States.
   CiCi Bellis, Atherton, Calif., vs. Jelena Ostapenko (6), Latvia (not before 7 p.m.).
   Sachia Vickery, United States, vs. Elitsa Kostova, Bulgaria.

Court 6

   Urszula Radwanska, Poland, vs. Kateryna Bondarenko, Ukraine.
   Xinyun Han and Chen Liang, China, vs. Johanna Konta, Great Britain, and Maria Sanchez, United States.
   Misaki Doi and Nao Hibino, Japan, vs. Asia Muhammad and Taylor Townsend, United States.
   Yifan Xu and Saisai Zheng (1), China, vs. Yuliya Beygelzimer, Ukraine, and Kristyna Pliskova, Czech Republic.

Stanford's Hardebeck clinches win over Florida again

Krista Hardebeck gave No. 16 Stanford a 4-3 win over No. 7
Florida. File photo by Tri Nguyen/TriNguyenPhotography.com

   Fortunately for Florida, Krista Hardebeck is a senior.
   For the third time, Stanford's Hardebeck won the clincher against the rival Gators.
   No. 109 Hardebeck outlasted No. 72 Josie Kuhlman 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 on Court 4 today, lifting the 16th-ranked Cardinal (5-2) to a 4-3 victory over the seventh-ranked Gators (5-2) at Stanford.
   Hardebeck, from Santa Ana in the Los Angeles area, also clinched Stanford's 4-3 win over Florida in the 2013 NCAA semifinals and the Cardinal's 7-0 thrashing of the Gators during the 2014 regular season.
   Stanford and Florida have combined to win four of the last six NCAA team titles (2010-13). UCLA and Vanderbilt have earned the last two NCAA crowns, in that order.
   Carol Zhao, last year's NCAA singles runner-up, made her season debut for Stanford less than 24 hours after losing in the doubles final of the $25,000 Morgan Run Women's Open in the San Diego suburb of Rancho Santa Fe.
   Zhao, a junior from Canada, held off 12th-ranked Brooke Austin 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 on Court 1. Austin, a sophomore from Indianapolis, reached the semifinals of the $50,000 Sacramento Challenger last July.
   ITF Women's Circuit in Rancho Santa Fe -- Top-seeded Zhang Shuai of China topped unseeded Vania King of Long Beach 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 to win the Morgan Run Women's Open.
   Zhang, who needed 2 hours, 36 minutes to subdue King in a battle of 27-year-olds, reached the Australian Open quarterfinals as a qualifier last month. She had been 0-14 in Grand Slam tournaments before stunning second-seeded Simona Halep in the opening round in Melbourne.
   King, a two-time Grand Slam champion in women's doubles and former Sacramento Capital in World TeamTennis, continued her comeback from a herniated disc in her neck. She did not have surgery.

Stanford's Zhao loses in doubles final of pro tourney

Carol Zhao, a Stanford junior from Canada, was seeded third
in the $25,000 Morgan Run Women's Open in Rancho Santa
Fe with Jessica Pegula. 2014 photo by Paul Bauman  

   Carol Zhao, a Stanford junior from Canada, lost in Saturday's doubles final at the $25,000 Morgan Run Women's Open in the San Diego suburb of Rancho Santa Fe.
   Third-seeded Jessica Pegula of Charleston, S.C., and Zhao fell to top-seeded Americans Asia Muhammad and Taylor Townsend 6-3, 6-4.
   Zhao was trying to win her third doubles title in a professional tournament and first outside of Canada. She triumphed in $25,000 tournaments in Granby in 2013 with Lena Litvak of the United States and Gatineau last year with Jessica Moore of Australia.
   Zhao reached the NCAA singles final last May, losing to fellow sophomore Jamie Loeb of North Carolina in Waco, Texas. Loeb turned pro in August.
   In the Morgan Run singles final, top-seeded Zhang Shuai will meet unseeded Vania King in a matchup of 27-year-olds.
   Zhang reached the Australian Open quarterfinals as a qualifier last month. She had been 0-14 in Grand Slam tournaments before stunning second-seeded Simona Halep in the opening round in Melbourne.
   King, a two-time Grand Slam champion in women's doubles, returned to competition last August after missing almost one year with a herniated disc in her neck. She did not have surgery.
   College men -- Logan Staggs, a sophomore from Tracy, defeated Maciek Romanowicz 6-4, 6-3 on Court 5 to give No. 4 UCLA a 4-3 victory over No. 29 and host Stanford.
   On Court 1, No. 19 Mackenzie McDonald of Piedmont and UCLA beat No. 4 Tom Fawcettt 6-3, 7-5. McDonald advanced to the semifinals of the $100,000 Tiburon Challenger and quarterfinals of the $100,000 Sacramento Challenger last October.
   The Bruins improved to 9-2, and the Cardinal dropped to 5-6.

Querrey, Bellis lose; Federer pulls out of Indian Wells

Dominic Thiem, playing at Indian Wells in 2014,
dismissed Sam Querrey 6-2, 6-2 in 57 minutes in
the semifinals at Acapulco. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Dominic Thiem emphatically ended Sam Querrey's winning streak at eight matches on Friday.
   Thiem, seeded fourth, overwhelmed the unseeded Querrey 6-2, 6-2 in 57 minutes in the semifinals of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco.
   Thiem, a 22-year-old Austrian, will meet fifth-seeded Bernard Tomic of Australia for the first time in today's final. Tomic, 23, beat unseeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.
   Querrey, a 28-year-old San Francisco native, won his eighth career title but first since 2012 last week in Delray Beach.
   BNP Paribas Open -- Four-time champion Roger Federer, who underwent arthroscopic knee surgery on Feb. 3, has withdrawn from the March 7-20 tournament in Indian Wells.
   Federer had played Indian Wells for 15 consecutive years, winning the title from 2004 through 2006 and in 2012. He has been the runner-up to Novak Djokovic for the past two years. Federer, 34, entered the clay-court Monte Carlo Masters, scheduled for April 10-17.
   ITF Women's Circuit -- Defending champion CiCi Bellis, 16, of Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area, lost to veteran Vania King of Long Beach 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the $25,000 Morgan Run Women's Open in the San Diego suburb of Rancho Santa Fe.
   King, a two-time Grand Slam champion in women's doubles, returned to competition last August after missing almost one year with a herniated disc in her neck. She did not have surgery.
   In an all-American doubles semifinal, Bellis and Jacqueline Cako fell to top-seeded Asia Muhammad and Taylor Townsend 6-1, 6-3.
   Muhammad and Townsend will play third-seeded Jessica Pegula of Charleston, S.C., and Carol Zhao, a Stanford junior from Canada.
   Pegula and Zhao edged unseeded Mayo Hibi, an Irvine product who plays for her native Japan, and Grace Min of Boca Raton, Fla., 6-1, 3-6 [14-12].
   College women -- Freshman Olivia Hauger outlasted Brianna Morgan 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 on Court 5 to lift No. 1 Cal over No. 7 Florida 4-3 in Berkeley. The Bears improved to 10-0, and the Gators dropped to 5-1.
   College men -- Max de Vroome upset Tom Fawcett on Court 1, leading No. 13 USC over No. 29 and host Stanford 5-2. De Vroome, ranked 65th, topped Fawcett, ranked fourth, 6-5, 2-6, 6-2. The Trojans are 7-2, and the Cardinal is 5-5.

Virginia, with Altamirano, earns top men's ranking

Collin Altamirano of Sacramento helped
Virginia win the NCAA team title last May
as a freshman. 2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   Defending champion Virginia, with sophomore Collin Altamirano of Sacramento, opens 2016 as the No. 1 men's collegiate team in the country.
   The Intercollegiate Tennis Association released the rankings today.
   Altamirano was named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team at No. 3 singles and No. 3 doubles last spring. He finished the season 20-3 in singles and 18-4 in doubles and was selected to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference third team.
   Altamirano won the singles title in the 2013 USTA Boys 18 National Championships and was the runner-up in 2014. He reached the U.S. Open junior quarterfinals in 2013.
   The Stanford and Cal men are ranked 20th and 21st, respectively. The schools each placed one player in the singles top 10. The Bears' Andre Goransson, a junior from Sweden, is ranked third, and the Cardinal's Tom Fawcett, a 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) sophomore from Winnetka, Ill., is ninth.
   On the women's side, Cal is ranked sixth and Stanford eighth.
   The Bears have two women in the singles top 10: No. 5 Maegan Manasse, a junior from Redondo Beach, and No. 10 Klara Fabikova, a senior from the Czech Republic.
   Stanford's highest-ranked woman in singles is No. 20 Taylor Davidson, a junior from Statesville, N.C.
   Cal's Manasse and Denise Starr, a junior from Brooklyn, N.Y., are ranked third in doubles.
   Stars Carol Zhao, a Stanford junior from Canada, and Mackenzie McDonald, a junior on the UCLA men's team from Piedmont, are unranked because they played pro rather than college tournaments last fall. They finished last season ranked second and third in college, respectively.  
   Both McDonald ($100,000 Tiburon) and Zhao ($50,000 Toronto) advanced to the semifinals of pro tournaments in their home regions last October.

   Zhao reached the NCAA singles final last May, losing to Jamie Loeb of North Carolina. Loeb, a sophomore, then turned pro.

COLLEGE RANKINGS

(Top 10 and Northern California)

Men's team

   1. Virginia
   2. Oklahoma
   3. Texas Christian
   4. Baylor
   5. Texas A&M
   6. Illinois
   7. Georgia
   8. USC
   9. North Carolina
   10. Ohio State
   20. Stanford
   21. Cal
   55. USF
   57. UC Davis
   67. Fresno State

Men's singles

   1. Dominik Koepfer, Tulane
   2. Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, Virginia
   3. Andre Goransson, Cal
   4. Cameron Norrie, Texas Christian
   5. Arthur Rinderknech, Texas A&M
   6. Christopher Eubanks, Georgia Tech
   7. Mikael Torpegaard, Ohio State
   8. Felipe Soares, Texas Tech
   9. Tom Fawcett, Stanford
   10. Hugo Di Feo, Ohio State
   30. Florian Lakat, Cal
   38. Alec Adamson, UC Davis
   39. Billy Griffith, Cal
   54. Oskar Wikberg, Cal
   57. David Wilczynski, Stanford
   61. Michael Genender, Stanford
   76. Connor Farren (Hillsborough), USC
   86. Filip Bergevi, Cal
   89. Maciek Romanowicz, Stanford
   98. Logan Staggs (Tracy), UCLA

Men's doubles

   1. Brett Clark and Robert Kelly, North Carolina
   2. Hugo Dojas and Felipe Soares, Texas Tech
   3. Gordon Watson and Diego Hidalgo, Florida
   4. Jack Findel-Hawkins and Yannick Zuern, North Florida
   5. Mac Styslinger and Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, Virginia
   6. Alex Lawson and Quentin Monaghan, Notre Dame
   7. Filip Vittek and Jordan Angus, San Diego
   8. Hayden Sabatka and Bart Van Leijsen, New Mexico
   9. Arjun Kadhe and Julian Cash, Oklahoma State
   10. Ben Wagland and Austin Smith, Georgia
   30. Mikus Losbergs and Kasparas Zemaitelis, Sacramento State
   38. Florian Lakat and Oskar Wikberg, Cal
   42. Maciek Romanowicz and Nolan Paige, Stanford
   59. Andre Goransson and Florian Lakat, Cal

Women's team

   1. Vanderbilt
   2. USC
   3. Florida
   T4. North Carolina
   T4. Georgia
   6. Cal
   7. Virginia
   8. Stanford
   9. UCLA
   10. Texas A&M
   45. Saint Mary's
   54. Fresno State
   72. San Jose State

Women's singles

   1. Joana Eidukonyte, Clemson
   2. Francesca Di Lorenzo, Ohio State
   3. Belinda Woolcock, Florida
   4. Danielle Collins, Virginia
   5. Maegan Manasse, Cal
   6. Hayley Carter, North Carolina
   7. Sinead Lohan, Miami
   8. Julia Elbaba, Virginia
   9. Stephanie Wagner, Miami
   10. Klara Fabikova, Cal
   20. Taylor Davidson, Stanford
   26. Maiar Sherif Ahmed, Fresno State
   39. Caroline Doyle, Stanford
   42. Giuliana Olmos (Fremont), USC
   43. Paige Cline (Kentfield), South Carolina
   81. Olivia Hauger, Cal
   90. Marie Klocker, San Jose State
   101. Andrea Ka, USF
   103. Jamie Pawid, Saint Mary's

Women's doubles

   1. Aldila Sutjiadi and Mami Adachi, Kentucky
   2. Whitney Kay and Hayley Carter, North Carolina
   3. Maegan Manasse and Denise Starr, Cal
   4. Giuliana Olmos (Fremont) and Gabby Smith, USC
   5. Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan, Florida
   6. Anna Sanford and Miho Kowase, Ohio State
   7. Maddie Lipp and Alex Chatt, Northwestern
   8. Luisa Stefani and Apichaya Runglerdkriangkrai, Pepperdine
   9. Kelsey Laurente and Maria Alvarez, Oklahoma State
   10. Taylor Davidson and Caroline Doyle, Stanford
   42. Sammi Hampton and Kassidy Jump (Granite Bay), Arizona State
   43. Klara Fabikova and Oliva Hauger, Cal
   T54. Giuliana Olmos and Rianna Valdes, USC
   58. Sophie Watts and Anneka Watts, Fresno State

Fritz's rise, Bryans' fall highlight top stories of 2015

Taylor Fritz of the United States won back-
to-back Challengers in Northern California
 at 17 years old. 2015 photo by Paul Bauman

   This year hinted at the dawn of a new era in U.S. men's tennis.
   It's too soon to write off doubles stars Bob and Mike Bryan, even at age 37. If Daniel Nestor can play at 43 and Leander Paes at 42, so can the Bryans if they so desire. But the former Stanford All-Americans endured their worst season in more than a decade in 2015.
   Meanwhile, Taylor Fritz led a surge of promising American teenagers with back-to-back Challenger titles in Northern California.
   Following are the top 10 stories, plus 12 honorable mentions, in NorCal tennis in 2015:

Top 10

   1. Fritz, 17, coasts to second straight Challenger title
   2. Bryans' long reign at No. 1 ends
   3. Stanford product to head USTA player development
   4. Date-Krumm, 44, rallies to shock Lisicki at Stanford
   5. Ex-Sacramento champ banned for 15 years
   6. Aussie Millman makes Aptos history with title
   7. Altamirano adds NCAA team title to resume
   8. World TeamTennis returns to Sacramento
   9. Roseville's Riffice, 16, sweeps USTA Clay Court titles
   10. Juniors Volynets, Lee win USTA national titles

Honorable mention

   -- Sanchez wins third pro doubles title in three weeks
   -- Tursunov wins Moscow doubles title after long layoff
   -- Bellis falls in Stanford debut
   -- Smyczek gets the breaks in Tiburon thriller
   -- Kalinina overcomes big deficit for Challenger title
   -- Embree pulls off incredible comeback in Redding
   -- Kops-Jones, Sanchez, Bellis, Muljat highlight big day
   -- Bellis, 15, crushes Sanchez for Rancho Santa Fe title
   -- Stanford, Cal women fall in NCAA individual finals
   -- Cal's Manasse rises to No. 1 in nation
   -- Lee wins boys 12 doubles title in Winter Nationals
   -- Roseville's Riffice loses in Easter Bowl final

Rankings mover of the week: Carol Zhao (up)

Carol Zhao, a Stanford junior, reached the singles and doubles
semifinals in her hometown of Toronto. 2014 photo by Paul Bauman

  Playing in her hometown, Stanford junior Carol Zhao reached the singles and doubles semifinals in the $50,000 Toronto Challenger last week.
   Zhao, from the Toronto suburb of Richmond Hill, lost to the top seeds and eventual champions in both events. She jumped 59 places in singles to No. 341 and 15 spots in doubles to a career-high No. 186.
   In singles, Zhao defeated former world No. 11 Shahar Peer of Israel in the second round and Canada's Heidi El Tabakh, who won the $25,000 Redding Challenger in September, in the quarterfinals before losing to top-seeded Tatjana Maria of Germany.
   In doubles, Zhao and Jessica Pegula of Charleston, S.C., fell to Sharon Fichman of Canada and Maria Sanchez, a Modesto native based in Los Angeles and Boca Raton, Fla.
   Sanchez won her fifth doubles title of the year with her fourth partner.

WORLD RANKINGS

   Players with Northern California ties ranked in the top 1,000 in the world (change from last week in parentheses): 

Men

   Collin Altamirano, 19-year-old Sacramento resident -- No. 810 in singles (+3), 959 in doubles (+3).

   Bob Bryan, 36-year-old former Stanford star, part-time member of Sacramento-based California Dream in World TeamTennis in 2015 -- Career-high No. 1 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.

   Mike Bryan, 37-year-old former Stanford star, part-time member of Dream in 2015 -- Career-high No. 1 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.

   Bradley Klahn, 25-year-old former Stanford star -- No. 519 in singles (-204), No. 452 in doubles (+1).

   Scott Lipsky, 34-year-old former Stanford star -- No. 41 in doubles (+3).

   Mackenzie McDonald, 20-year-old resident of Piedmont in San Francisco Bay Area -- Career-high No. 454 in singles (+6), No. 542 in doubles (-1).

   Dennis Novikov, 21-year-old Milpitas resident in San Francisco Bay Area -- Career-high No. 138 in singles (+4), No. 184 in doubles (-3).

   Sam Querrey, 28-year-old San Francisco native -- No. 59 in singles (-9), No. 37 in doubles (no change).

   Tennys Sandgren, 24-year-old member of California Dream -- No. 255 in singles (-15), No. 220 in doubles (-3).

   Matt Seeberger, 31-year-old San Francisco native and former UC Santa Cruz star -- No. 174 in doubles (-3).
   Neal Skupski, 25-year-old member of California Dream -- No. 103 in doubles (-5).

Women

   Kristie Ahn, 23-year-old former Stanford star -- Career-high No. 217 in singles (+6), career-high No. 406 in doubles (+149).
   CiCi Bellis, 16-year-old resident of Atherton in San Francisco Bay Area -- No. 249 in singles (-2).
   Alexandra Facey, 22-year-old product of Cameron Park in Sacramento area -- No. 621 in doubles (-7). 
   Kat Facey, 22-year-old product of Cameron Park in Sacramento area -- No. 621 in doubles (-7).
   Jarmila Gajdosova, 28-year-old member of California Dream (2015) -- No. 103 in singles (-1), No. 141 in doubles (-3).
   Anabel Medina Garrigues, 33-year-old member of California Dream (2015) -- No. 32 (no change) in doubles.
   Nicole Gibbs, 22-year-old former Stanford star -- No. 128 in singles (+2), career-high No. 244 in doubles (+3).
   Michaela Gordon, 16-year-old resident of Saratoga in San Francisco Bay Area -- No. 687 in singles (+43), career-high No. 842 in doubles (+160). 
   Raquel Kops-Jones, 32-year-old San Jose resident and former Cal star -- No. 18 in doubles (-2).
   Maegan Manasse, 20-year-old Cal junior -- No. 514 in doubles (-4), No. 748 in singles (+1).
   Maria Sanchez, 25-year-old Modesto product -- No. 84 in doubles (-1), No. 196 in singles(-18).
   Carol Zhao, 20-year-old Stanford junior -- Career-high No. 186 in doubles (+15), No. 341 in singles (+58).

Bellis, 16, to make hometown tournament debut

Wild card CiCi Bellis, shown in the recent Sacramento Challenger,
will play qualifier Misaki Doi of Japan today in the first round of
the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford. Bellis lives in neighbor-
ing Atherton. Photo by Paul Bauman

   CiCi Bellis has waited most of her young life for this day.
   The 16-year-old wild card will make her Bank of the West Classic debut today at 11 a.m. against qualifier Misaki Doi of Japan in the first round at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
   Bellis, who lives in neighboring Atherton, said recently that she attended the Bank of the West Classic as a spectator every year since she was 5 or 6 years old.
   After winning the USTA national 12-and-under title in 2011, Bellis did the coin flip for the second-round match between Maria Sharapova and Daniela Hantuchova.
   Playing in the Bank of the West "means everything to me," Bellis said two weeks ago at the $50,000 Sacramento Challenger. "Every year I've gone, I've been thinking about how long it'll take for me to be able to play in that tournament, and I never thought it would be this soon.
   "It's basically in my back yard. I played there so many times when I was younger in clinics and practices. It's one of my favorite places to play, and it's such a beautiful campus, so I think it's going to be amazing to play there."
   At 15 last year, Bellis stunned 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova, the 2014 Australian Open runner-up, in the first round of the U.S. Open and ended the season as the youngest No. 1 junior in the world since 2006.
   Doi, a 24-year-old left-hander, is ranked No. 104 to Bellis' No. 157. Bellis, 5-foot-6 (1.68 meters) and 110 pounds (50 kilograms), is three inches (7.6 centimeters) taller than Doi but 11 pounds (five kilograms) lighter. This will be their first meeting.
   Doi or Bellis will face second-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, the runner-up at Wimbledon in 2012 and Stanford in 2013, on Wednesday night. The top four seeds receive a first-round bye.
   Following Bellis' match today, qualifier Nicole Gibbs, a 22-year-old former Stanford star, will play Caroline Garcia of France. Gibbs won NCAA singles titles in 2012 and 2013 and the doubles crown in 2012 with Mallory Burdette.
   At 7 p.m., seventh-seeded Madison Keys of Boca Raton, Fla., will face Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia. The 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) Keys, who turned 20 in February, has reached the Australian Open semifinals and Wimbledon quarterfinals this year.
   Krunic, only 5-foot-4 (1.63 meters), turned 22 in March. As a qualifier in last year's U.S. Open, she shocked Keys and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova to gain the fourth round.
   In tonight's last match, Mona Barthel of Germany will meet Canadian wild card Carol Zhao, who advanced to the NCAA singles final in May as a Stanford sophomore.
   Kimiko Date-Krumm, 44, of Japan advanced to the main draw with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada.
   Date-Krumm, who climbed to a career-high No. 4 in the world 20 years ago but retired at 26 for 12 years, will face 2013 Wimbledon runner-up Sabine Lisicki of Germany late Tuesday night in the first round.
   Lisicki set women's records with a 131-mph (210.8-kph) serve in last year's Bank of the West Classic and 27 aces in a June match in Birmingham, England.

BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC

At Stanford

Final-round qualifying

   Misaki Doi (1), Japan, def. Julia Boserup, United States, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
   Kateryna Bondarenko (2), Ukraine, def. Petra Martic (6), Croatia, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
   Kimiko Date-Krumm, Japan, def. Gabriela Dabrowski, Canada, 6-4, 6-1.
   Nicole Gibbs (5), United States, def. Anna Tatishvili, United States, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Today's schedule

Stadium Court

(Starting at 11 a.m.)

   Misaki Doi, Japan, vs. CiCi Bellis, United States.

(Not before 1 p.m.)

   Caroline Garcia, France, vs. Nicole Gibbs, United States.
   Andrea Petkovic (6), Germany, vs. Carina Witthoeft, Germany.

(Not before 7 p.m.)

   Madison Keys (7), United States, vs. Aleksandra Krunic, Serbia.
   Mona Barthel, Germany, vs. Carol Zhao, Canada.

Court 6
(Starting at 11 a.m.)

   Alison Riske, United States, vs. Tatjana Maria, Germany.

(Not before 12:30 p.m.)

   Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan, Taiwan, vs. Kimiko Date-Krumm, Japan, and Mandy Minella, Luxembourg.
   Asia Muhammad, United States, and Ajla Tomljanovic, Croatia, vs. Maria Irigoyen, Argentina, and Paula Kania, Poland.
   Kateryna Bondarenko, Ukraine, and Tatjana Maria, Germany, vs. Eva Hrdinova, Czech Republic, and Petra Martic, Croatia.   

Stanford, Cal women fall in NCAA individual finals

North Carolina's Jamie Loeb defeated Stanford's Carol
Zhao for the NCAA title. 2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   This is getting a bit old for Stanford and Cal women.
   Today in Waco, Texas, they fell to 0-3 in NCAA singles or doubles finals in the past two years.
   In an all-sophomore singles match, second-seeded Carol Zhao of Stanford lost to seventh-seeded Jamie Loeb of North Carolina 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.
   Then No. 5-8 seeds Klara Fabikova and Zsofi Susanyi of Cal dropped a 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3 decision to top seeds and defending champions Maya Jansen and Erin Routliffe of Alabama.
   In last year's singles final in Athens, Ga., Cal's Lynn Chi lost to Danielle Collins of Virginia. Until then, Stanford or Cal women had won the NCAA singles or doubles title for five straight years. In fact, in 2011 and 2012, they swept the crowns.  
   Zhao, whose winning streak was snapped at 15 matches, attempted to become the third Cardinal in four years to earn the NCAA women's singles title. Nicole Gibbs, who lost in her French Open debut today, triumphed in 2012 and 2013. Danielle Collins of Virginia prevailed in 2014.
   Both Zhao and Loeb have had success playing as amateurs in professional tournaments. The 5-foot-5 (1.65-meter) Zhao, from Canada, is ranked No. 289 in the world. The 5-foot-6 (1.68-meter) Loeb, from Ossining, N.Y., reached the quarterfinals in the $50,000 Sacramento Challenger last July.
   Jansen and Routliffe became the first women to repeat as NCAA doubles champions since Amanda Augustus and Amy Jensen of Cal in 1998 and 1999. Augustus is now Cal's coach.
   Stanford's Hilary Barte (2011 and 2012) and Mallory Burdette (2012 and 2013) each won back-to-back NCAA doubles crowns but with different partners.
    Fabikova, a junior from the Czech Republic, and Susanyi, a senior from Hungary, tried to become the first Bears to win the doubles title since Mari Andersson and Jana Juricova in 2009. Juricova also won the 2011 singles crown at Stanford.
   In today's men's singles final, eighth-seeded Ryan Shane of NCAA champion Virginia used his massive power to beat No. 7 Noah Rubin of Wake Forest 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-1.
   Shane, a 6-foot-4 (1.94-meter) junior from Falls Church, Va., avenged a 7-6 (5), 6-3 loss to the 5-foot-9 (1.75-meter) Rubin in last month's Atlantic Coast Conference final.
   Rubin would have been just the second player to win the Wimbledon juniors, USTA Boys 18 National Championships and NCAAs, and he would have been the first freshman to accomplish the feat. Only UCLA men's coach Billy Martin has won all three titles.
   Both singles finals were moved indoors because of rain.
   As American NCAA champs, Loeb and Shane will receive wild cards into the main draw of the U.S. Open in August. Loeb, like Rubin a product of the Manhattan-based John McEnroe Tennis Academy, lives only 30 minutes from the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.  
   In an all-Big 12 Conference men's doubles final, Lloyd Glasspool and Soren Hess-Olesen of Texas defeated Hugo Dojas and Felipe Soares of Texas Tech 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. Both teams were unseeded.

Stanford's Zhao rallies to gain NCAA final

   It turns out that Carol Zhao plays pretty well from behind, too.
   The Stanford star, seeded second, reeled off the last nine games in her 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 victory over No. 9-16 Josie Kuhlman of Florida today in Waco, Texas, to reach the NCAA singles final.
   Zhao lost only two games in each of her first three matches and won her quarterfinal in straight sets.
   Zhao, a 5-foot-5 (1.65-meter) sophomore from Canada, will play seventh-seeded Jamie Loeb of North Carolina on Monday at 10 a.m. PDT. Loeb, a 5-foot-6 (1.68-meter) sophomore from Ossining, N.Y., beat No. 9-16 Stephanie Wagner of Miami 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
   Zhao, ranked No. 289 in the world, will attempt to become the third Cardinal in four years to win the NCAA women's singles title. Nicole Gibbs triumphed in 2012 and 2013; Danielle Collins of Virginia prevailed in 2014.
   Loeb, who eliminated Collins in this year's quarterfinals, reached the quarters in the $50,000 Sacramento Challenger last July.
   San Francisco Bay Area schools could sweep the singles and doubles titles. No. 5-8 seeds Klara Fabikova and Zsofi Susanyi of Cal topped No. 5-8 Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan of Florida 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the final.
   It's the second straight year that a Cal woman has reached an NCAA final. Lynn Chi lost to Collins last year.
   Fabikova, a junior from the Czech Republic, and Susanyi, a senior from Hungary, will face No. 1 seeds and defending champions Maya Jansen and Erin Routliffe of Alabama following the women's singles final.
   Jansen and Routliffe eliminated unseeded Caroline Doyle and Ellen Tsay of Stanford 5-7, 6-3, 6-0. Like Zhao, Routliffe lives in Ontario, Canada. Doyle is from San Francisco and Tsay from Pleasanton.
   Fabikova and Susanyi will attempt to become the first Bears to win the doubles title since Mari Andersson and Jana Juricova in 2009. Juricova also won the 2011 singles crown at Stanford.
   In the men's singles final, seventh-seeded Noah Rubin of Wake Forest will meet eighth-seeded Ryan Shane of NCAA champion Virginia in a rematch of last month's Atlantic Coast Conference final.
   Rubin, a freshman who won the Wimbledon junior boys title last year, beat unseeded Thai-Son Kwiatkowski of Virginia 6-4, 6-4. Shane, a junior, outclassed No. 9-16 Quentin Monaghan of Notre Dame 6-4, 6-1.     
   Rubin, a product of the Manhattan-based John McEnroe Tennis Academy along with Loeb, defeated Shane 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the ACC final.
   In an all-Big 12 Conference men's doubles final, Lloyd Glasspool and Soren Hess-Olesen of Texas will face Hugo Dojas and Felipe Soares of Texas Tech. Both teams are unseeded.

Stanford's Zhao reaches NCAA semis on wild day

   Suddenly, Stanford's Carol Zhao is favored to win the NCAA women's singles title.
   On a day when top-seeded Robin Anderson of UCLA and defending champion Danielle Collins of Virginia lost, the second-seeded Zhao reached the semifinals with another straight-set victory.
   Unlike in her first three matches, Zhao was tested. The 5-foot-5 (1.65-meter) sophomore from Canada topped unseeded Chanelle Van Nguyen of UCLA 6-4, 7-5 on Saturday in Waco, Texas, after dropping only two games in each of her previous contests.
   Zhao, ranked No. 289 in the world, will meet No. 9-16 seed Josie Kuhlman of Florida. Kuhlman beat unseeded Sinead Lohan of Miami 6-3, 6-4.
   In the top half of the draw, No. 9-16 Stephanie Wagner of Miami ousted Anderson 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, and seventh-seeded Jamie Loeb of North Carolina eliminated No. 9-16 Collins, the defending champ, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4.
   Stanford and Cal each have one team in the doubles semifinals, even though second-seeded Taylor Davidson and Zhao lost to No. 5-8 Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan of Florida 6-0, 1-6, 6-4.
   Austin and Keegan will face Cal's Klara Fabikova and Zsofi Susanyi, a No. 5-8 team that dismissed unseeded Ashleigh Antal and Astra Sharma of NCAA champion Vanderbilt 6-2, 6-2.
   In the other semifinal, unseeded Caroline Doyle and Ellen Tsay of Stanford will play No. 1 seeds and defending champions Maya Jansen and Erin Routliffe of Alabama.  Like Zhao, Routliffe is from Ontario, Canada.
   Doyle, a sophomore from San Francisco, and Tsay, a senior from Pleasanton, upset fourth-seeded Beatrice Gumulya and Jessy Rompies of Clemson 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
   Meanwhile, two men from NCAA champion Virginia reached the singles semifinals. Eighth-seeded Ryan Shane will play No. 9-16 Quentin Monaghan of Notre Dame, and unseeded Thai-Son Kwiatkowski will take on seventh-seeded Noah Rubin of Wake Forest.
   Rubin, last year's Wimbledon junior boys singles champion, and Loeb, a Wimbledon junior girls quarterfinalist in 2013, are products of the Manhattan-based John McEnroe Tennis Academy.
   As in women's singles, the top seeds and defending champions lost in separate men's doubles quarterfinals.
   No. 1 Austin Smith and Ben Wagland of Georgia fell to unseeded Hugo Dojas and Felipe Soares of Texas Tech 6-2, 6-3. Fourth-seeded Mikelis Libietis and Hunter Reese, the 2014 winners from Tennessee, succumbed to No. 5-8 Diego Galeano and Julian Lenz of host Baylor 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4.
   Three teams in the men's doubles semifinals are from Texas schools, although none of the six players are American.
   Galeano (Paraguay) and Lenz (Germany) will face unseeded Lloyd Glasspool (England) and Soren Hess-Olesen (Denmark) of Texas, and unseeded Dojas and Soares (both Brazil) will meet unseeded Harry Jadun and John Patrick Mullane of Michigan State.
   Oddly enough, Jadun and Mullane are from Michigan.

Stanford's Zhao gains NCAA quarters; Cal star upset

   The Stanford women had a great day in the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships.
   The Cal women, not so much.
   Stanford's Carol Zhao, seeded second in singles, reached the singles quarterfinals with another dominating victory on Friday in Waco, Texas, and the Cardinal has two of the remaining eight doubles teams.
   Meanwhile, Cal's only remaining representatives are No. 5-8 doubles seeds Klara Fabikova and Zsofi Susanyi. Most notably, No. 4 singles seed Maegan Manasse lost to No. 9-16 seed Josie Kuhlman of Florida 4-6, 6-0, 6-1.
   Zhao, a sophomore from Canada, lost only two games in singles for the third consecutive match. She whipped Susanyi, a senior from Hungary who advanced to the NCAA singles semifinals as a freshman, 6-2, 6-0.
   Zhao will face unseeded Chanelle Van Nguyen, a UCLA senior who reached the quarterfinals for the second consecutive year.
   The other quarterfinal matchups are top-seeded Robin Anderson of UCLA against No. 9-16 Stephanie Wagner of Miami,  No. 7 Jamie Loeb of North Carolina vs. No. 9-16 and defending champion Danielle Collins of Virginia, and Kuhlman against unseeded Sinead Lohan of Miami.
   Collins, who won a set against world No. 2 Simona Halep in the first round of the U.S. Open last August, defeated UCLA's Jennifer Brady, ranked No. 209 in the world, 6-1, 7-5.
   Advancing to the doubles quarterfinals were Stanford's Taylor Davidson and Zhao, the second seeds, and Caroline Doyle and Ellen Tsay. Doyle, a sophomore from San Francisco, and Tsay, a senior from Pleasanton, outlasted No. 5-8 seeds Manasse and Denise Starr 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.
   Three more seeds fell in men's singles: No. 5 Sebastian Stiefelmeyer of Louisville and No. 9-16s Mikelis Libietis of Tennessee and Yannick Hanfmann of USC. The highest remaining seed is No. 7 Noah Rubin, a Wake Forest freshman who won the Wimbledon junior boys singles title last year.
   Columbia's Winston Lin, who upset Stiefelmeyer 7-5, 6-4, will meet Thai-Son Kwiatkowski of Virginia in the quarterfinals. Also, Rubin will face unseeded Jared Hiltzik of Illinois, No. 9-16 Quentin Monaghan of Notre Dame will play unseeded Cameron Norrie of Texas Christian, and No. 8 Ryan Shane of Virginia will take on Felipe Soares of Texas Tech.

Cal, Stanford women combine for 7 NCAA singles spots

Stanford sophomore Carol Zhao is seeded second for the NCAA
Division I Singles Championships, May 20-25 in Waco, Texas.
2014 photo by Tri Nguyen/TriNguyenPhotography.com

   Cal will send four women and Stanford three to the NCAA Division I Singles Championships on May 20-25 in Waco, Texas.
   However, Bears junior Lynn Chi, last year's runner-up, was bypassed. 
   One man from each school will go to the tournament.
   The NCAA today selected the 64 singles players and 32 doubles teams for both the men's and women's championships, which will follow the May 14-19 team tournaments in Waco.
   Cal sophomore Maegan Manasse is seeded fourth in women's singles. Joining the third-ranked Manasse (36-7) from the No. 3 Bears are No. 25 Klara Fabikova (31-8), No. 41 Szofi Susanyi (31-10) and No. 42 Denise Starr (33-7).
   Susanyi in 2012 became Cal's first freshman to reach the semifinals. She lost in the round of 16 in 2013 and the second round last year.
   Carol Zhao leads No. 13 Stanford's contingent of three sophomores. Zhao (24-7), ranked and seeded second behind Robin Anderson of UCLA, is accompanied by No. 17 Taylor Davidson (27-8) and No. 27 Caroline Doyle (27-5), a San Francisco resident.
   USC's Giuliana Olmos, a junior from Fremont, is seeded 9-16. Sophie Watts, the Mountain West Conference Player of the Year, received an automatic berth.
   Earning men's berths were Cal sophomore Andre Goransson (25-9), ranked 29th, and Stanford 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) freshman Tom Fawcett (26-9), ranked 30th.
   UCLA's Mackenzie McDonald (28-4), a sophomore from Piedmont, is seeded third.
   Stanford and Cal have two teams each in women's doubles, and all but one are seeded. Davidson and Zhao (29-6) are No. 2. Fabikova-Susanyi (31-6) and Manasse-Starr (29-8) are each No. 5-8. Stanford's Doyle and Ellen Tsay (25-8) are unseeded, as are USC's Olmos and Zoe Scandalis (15-7).
   Stanford's John Morrissey and Robert Stineman (14-3) and UCLA's Mackenzie and Martin Redlicki (18-6) are unseeded in men's doubles.