Britain's Norrie rises to the occasion in Tiburon

Cameron Norrie defeated Tennys Sandgren 6-2, 6-3
on Sunday to win the $100,000 Tiburon (Calif.)
Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   TIBURON, Calif. -- Cameron Norrie earned more than a title and $14,400 on Sunday.
   The 22-year-old South African/Kiwi/American/Briton gained redemption with his 6-2, 6-3 victory over Tennys Sandgren in the $100,000 Tiburon Challenger.
   "Obviously, it was a big match for me," crowed Norrie, who won his second and biggest Challenger singles title only four months after turning pro out of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. "My last final, I had a terrible performance. I wanted to make sure I got every detail right.
   "I stuck to my game plan. I tried to be aggressive and be the one dictating play. I played really well when I needed to. My serve went (away) a little bit at the start of the second set, but it started coming around. I really wanted to win, and I'm happy I beat him today."
   Two weeks ago in the final of a $50,000 hard-court tournament in Cary, N.C., Norrie lost to unheralded American Kevin King 6-4, 6-1. In the second round, Norrie defeated Sandgren 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 to even their head-to-head series at 2-2.
   This time, Norrie was fresher than Sandgren on a typically gorgeous fall day at the Tiburon Peninsula Club in the hills across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. While the eighth-seeded Norrie dispatched unseeded Prajnesh Gunneswaran of India 6-3, 6-2 in 57 minutes in Saturday's semifinals, the second-seeded Sandgren needed 1 hour, 48 minutes to subdue local favorite Mackenzie McDonald 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3).
   "Cam played too good today," conceded Sandgren, a 26-year-old American. "I feel like my legs are a little tired from yesterday's match. It kind of took a lot out of me against Mackie yesterday, but Cam played too good. He came up with some fantastic shots on some big points. I feel like the longer the points went, the better it was for him, but he's not a particularly easy guy to finish points off quickly against. All credit to him."
   The 1-hour, 16-minute final was more competitive and entertaining than the score indicates. Norrie and Sandgren engaged in many long, athletic points, eliciting "oohs" and "aahs" from the estimated crowd of 600.
   Both players, however, had serving issues.
   Norrie overcame eight double faults, including three in a game twice. He managed to hold serve the first time his serve deserted him but was broken the second time in the opening game of the second set. It was the only time Norrie lost his serve in the match, as he saved five of six break points against him.

Tennys Sandgren received a check for $8,480 from Wells Fargo executive
Thomas Sands, left, and tournament director Brendan Curry. Photo by
Paul Bauman

   Sandgren was called for two foot faults. Even though he lost his serve both times, once in each set, he said the miscues were not a factor in the outcome of the match.
   Norrie, a left-hander, was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, to a Scottish father and Welsh mother. The family moved to New Zealand, and Norrie starred at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth for three years. He reached the NCAA quarterfinals in 2015 and semifinals in 2016, and also was the runner-up to British countryman Daniel Evans in the $100,000 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger last year. Aptos is a two-hour drive south of affluent Tiburon.
   After leading the Horned Frogs to the NCAA quarterfinals in May as a junior, Norrie bypassed the individual tournament and turned pro.
   "I thought I was going to get into the French Open (qualifying)," he explained. "I ended up missing out my a couple of spots (in the rankings), and I needed a break before the grass-court season. It was the smartest move possible for my pro career, and I couldn't really gain anything from winning (the NCAA singles title), so there was no point in playing the individual tournament for me."
   Norrie said he "feels British. My parents are both British, and I lived in London for three or four years before college. I feel at home there. My dad has a filthy Scottish accent, so I feel British."
   Norrie receives financial support from the British federation, but that's only one reason he plays for Great Britain.
   "No one cares about tennis in New Zealand," Norrie groused. "All the money goes into rugby, and New Zealand is so far away to play tournaments, and there's no tournaments in New Zealand. To me, it was a no-brainer to move (to Great Britain)."

Former Cal stars Florian Lakat, left, and Andre Goransson
won the doubles title. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Sandgren has his own family story. For the record, he was not named after tennis. He was given his great grandfather's Swedish name. Tennys, however, is from Tennessee. He rebounded from 2014 hip surgery to crack the top 100 for the first time in June. Sandgren was seeking his fourth Challenger singles title and third this year.
   Both Norrie and Sandgren played in their first two Grand Slam singles main draws this year. Norrie lost in the first round at Wimbledon and reached the second round of the U.S. Open. Sandgren fell in the first round of the French Open and U.S. Open.
   Both players also attained career-high rankings with their Tiburon results. Sandgren, who earned $8,480, improved seven places to No. 97. Norrie jumped 29 spots to No. 136.
   Wild cards Andre Goransson and Florian Lakat, both of whom completed their eligibility at Cal in May, surprised top-seeded Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela of Mexico 6-4, 6-4 for the doubles title.
   Goransson, from Sweden, and Lakat, from France, collected $3,100 each.
   Here are the completed Tiburon Challenger singles and doubles draws.
   Also, here are the $100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger singles qualifying draw, singles and doubles main draws and Monday's schedule. The tournament is being held at the Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center at the University of the Pacific.

For McDonald, loss is same old, same old

Tennys Sandgren, above, improved to 5-0 against Mackenzie
McDonald today with a win in the semifinals of the $100,000
Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger. File photo by Paul Bauman

   Mackenzie McDonald couldn't end two winless streaks today.
   He had his chances, though.
   Playing in his native San Francisco Bay Area, the unseeded McDonald lost to second-seeded Tennys Sandgren of Gallatin, Tenn., 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3) in the semifinals of the $100,000 Tiburon Challenger at the Tiburon Peninsula Club.
   McDonald fell to 0-5 against Sandgren and 0-7 in Challenger semifinals. Seven weeks ago, Sandgren routed McDonald 6-1, 6-2 in the second round of a $100,000 Challenger in Aptos, a two-hour drive south of affluent Tiburon.
   Sandgren, 26, will face eighth-seeded Cameron Norrie of Great Britain on Sunday not before 2:30 p.m. Norrie, a 22-year-old left-hander, dismantled unseeded Prajnesh Gunneswaran of India 6-3, 6-2.
   Sandgren saved four set points serving at 4-5 in the first set against the 22-year-old McDonald, who was playing in his third consecutive Tiburon semifinal.
   McDonald, who grew up across the bay in Piedmont, served for the second set at 5-4, but Sandgren broke. Sandgren also trailed 0-3 in the tiebreaker.
   Overall, the 6-foot-2 (1.88-meter) Sandgren escaped seven of eight break points against him and blasted 10 aces against three double faults. McDonald, only 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters), had three aces and three double faults.
   Sandgren, ranked No. 104, is 2-2 against Norrie, ranked No. 165. They met only two weeks ago, when Norrie won 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 in the second round of a $50,000 hardcourt tournament in Cary, N.C. Norrie reached the final, in which he lost to American Kevin King.
   Sandgren, who underwent hip surgery in 2014, seeks the fourth Challenger singles title of his career and third of the year. Norrie, who turned pro in June after his junior year at Texas Christian, won a $50,000 tournament in Binghamton (N.Y.) in July for his only Challenger title. He was the runner-up to countryman Daniel Evans in Aptos last year.
   The Tiburon title will be the biggest of either player's career.        
   In Sunday's doubles final at noon, top-seeded Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela of Mexico will meet unseeded former Cal stars Andre Goransson of Sweden and Florian Lakat of France.
   Here are the Tiburon Challenger singles and doubles draws and Sunday's schedule. The tournament is being streamed live.
   Here are the singles qualifying draw, singles main draw and Sunday's schedule for next week's $100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger at the University of the Pacific's Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center.

McDonald to face nemesis in Tiburon semis

Mackenzie McDonald, from Piedmont in the San
Francisco Bay Area, will play Tennys Sandgren
in the semifinals of the $100,000 Tiburon (Calif.)
Challenger. 2016 photo by Paul Bauman

   Local favorite Mackenzie McDonald reached the semifinals of the $100,000 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger for the third consecutive year today.
   Now comes the hard part.
   The unseeded McDonald, who grew up in nearby Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, beat Alejandro Gonzalez, a former top-70 player from Colombia, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 at the Tiburon Peninsula Club.
   McDonald, 22, will take on second-seeded Tennys Sandgren, a 26-year-old resident of Gallatin, Tenn., who routed wild card Christian Harrison of Bradenton, Fla., 6-1, 6-2. Harrison's older brother, 51st-ranked Ryan, reached the Tiburon final in 2010 at age 18.
   McDonald, ranked No. 196, is 0-4 against Sandgren, ranked No. 104, and 0-6 in Challenger semifinals. This will be their fourth meeting of the year and first ever past the second round.
   In their last encounter, Sandgren demolished McDonald 6-1, 6-2 in one hour in the second round of a $100,000 Challenger in Aptos, Calif., a two-hour drive south of Tiburon, in August.
   Saturday's other semifinal will be a matchup of 6-foot-2 (1.88-meter) left-handers. Eighth-seeded Cameron Norrie, 22, of Great Britain will meet unseeded Prajnesh Gunneswaran, 27, of India for the first time.
   Norrie, the Aptos runner-up last year, outclassed fourth-seeded Michael Mmoh of Bradenton, Fla., 7-5, 6-2. Mmoh reached the 2016 Tiburon final as an 18-year-old qualifier.
   Gunneswaran held off another former top-70 player, 33-year-old Frank Dancevic of Canada, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
   Sandgren has rebounded from 2014 hip surgery to break through this year. He played in his first two Grand Slam main draws, first-round losses in the French Open and U.S. Open, and cracked the top 100 for the first time in June.
   McDonald turned pro in June 2016 after sweeping the NCAA singles and doubles titles as a UCLA junior. He has yet to play in the main draw of a Slam.
   In the doubles semifinals, unseeded former Cal stars Andre Goransson of Sweden and Florian Lakat of France will play second-seeded Luke Bambridge of Great Britain and David O'Hare of Ireland on Saturday at 11 a.m. The winner will face top-seeded Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela of Mexico on Sunday.
   As soon as his doubles match ends Lakat will rush to Stockton, where he is scheduled to play 34-year-old Dmitry Tursunov of Russia not before 3 p.m. in the first round of qualifying. Stockton is a one-hour, 40-minute drive east of Tiburon.
   Tursunov moved from his native Moscow to Los Altos in the Bay Area at age 12 to train and climbed to No. 20 in the world in 2006. He owns residences in Moscow and the Sacramento suburb of Folsom.
   Here are the Tiburon Challenger singles and doubles draws and Saturday's schedule. The tournament is being streamed live.
   Here are the singles qualifying draw for the $100,000 Stockton Challenger at the University of the Pacific's Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center and Saturday's schedule.

McDonald tops rival to gain Tiburon quarters

San Francisco Bay Area native Mackenzie McDonald,
shown at last year's Tiburon Challenger, evened his re-
cord against Denis Kudla at 2-2. All four matches have
occurred in Northern California. Photo by Paul Bauman

   After beating Mackenzie McDonald in three sets in the second round of a $100,000 indoor tournament in San Francisco in February, Denis Kudla guaranteed that his then-21-year-old opponent eventually would reach the top 100 in the world.
   Kudla might have been too prophetic for his own good.
   McDonald, playing in his native San Francisco Bay Area, defeated Kudla, from Arlington, Va., and Tampa, Fla., 7-6 (6), 6-2 today to reach the quarterfinals of the $100,000 Tiburon Challenger at the Tiburon Peninsula Club.
   McDonald, now 22, evened his record against Kudla, 25, at 2-2. All four matches between the undersized players -- Kudla is 5-foot-11 (1.80 meters), and McDonald is 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters) -- have occurred in Northern California.
   This was the first match between McDonald and Kudla decided in straight sets and a rematch of their 2015 Tiburon semifinal, which Kudla won 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 in their initial meeting. Kudla then lost to his good friend Tim Smyczek, who saved four match points.
   McDonald, from Piedmont on the other side of the bay from Tiburon, turned pro in June 2016 after sweeping the NCAA singles and doubles titles as a UCLA junior. He has risen from No. 266 in the world in singles during the San Francisco tournament to No. 196.
   Kudla moved from his native Ukraine to Fairfax, Va., on his first birthday with his parents and turned pro out of high school. He was the last remaining American man at Wimbledon in 2015, reaching the round of 16, and climbed to a career-high No. 53 in May 2016. Currently, however, he is No. 166.
   McDonald will seek his third consecutive berth in the Tiburon semifinals when he meets Alejandro Gonzalez of Colombia on Friday at 11 a.m. Gonzalez eliminated third-seeded Quentin Halys, a 20-year-old Frenchman, 6-4, 6-3.
   Also in the bottom half of the draw, second-seeded Tennys Sandgren will play fellow American Christian Harrison, a 23-year-old wild card. Harrison's brother, Ryan, was the Tiburon runner-up in 2010 at age 18. He is now ranked 51st.
   In the top half of the draw, fourth-seeded Michael Mmoh of Bradenton, Fla., will take on eighth-seeded Cameron Norrie of Great Britain, and Frank Dancevic of Canada will face Prajnesh Gunneswaran of India. Mmoh advanced to last year's final as an 18-year-old qualifier, losing to Darian King of Barbados.
   Both Gonzalez, 28, and Dancevic, 33, are former top-70 players.
   Here are the Tiburon Challenger singles and doubles draws and Friday's schedule. The tournament is being streamed live.

Mmoh, 19, reaches 100K Tiburon quarters -- barely

   Michael Mmoh came within a fraction of an inch of losing today in the $100,000 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger.
   Mmoh, the fourth seed and last year's runner-up as an 18-year-old qualifier, saved two match points and edged 2010 champion Tobias Kamke 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7) in the second round at the Tiburon Peninsula Club.
   Kamke's first match point came while he served at 6-5 in the tiebreaker. On the 31-year-old German's  second serve, a Mmoh forehand struck the net cord and went over. Kamke managed to return the ball, but Mmoh countered with a backhand lob, and Kamke netted a backhand overhead.
   On the next point, with Kamke still serving, Mmoh netted a backhand to hand Kamke his second match point. But Mmoh, from Bradenton, Fla., responded with a service winner and an ace to earn his first match point. Kamke, ranked No. 210 after climbing as high as No. 64 in 2011, then hit an inside-out forehand wide to end it.
   Last year, Mmoh survived three match points against Tennys Sandgren in the first round and one against third seed and defending champion Tim Smyczek in the semifinals. Mmoh, the son of former journeyman pro Tony Mmoh from Nigeria, then lost to Darian King of Barbados.
   Mmoh, ranked No. 141, will face eighth-seeded Cameron Norrie of Great Britain in Friday's quarterfinals. The left-handed Norrie, who reached the final of last year's $100,000 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger, beat American Mitchell Krueger, a Tiburon quarterfinalist in the past two years, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.
   In the other quarterfinal in the top half of the draw, Frank Dancevic of Canada will meet Prajnesh Gunneswaran of India.
   Like Kamke, Dancevic is a former top-70 player in his 30s. The 33-year-old veteran, who reached No. 65 in 2007, dispatched wild card Tom Fawcett of Winnetka, Ill., 6-3, 6-4. The 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) Fawcett, a Stanford senior, ousted top-seeded Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium in the first round on Tuesday for his first Challenger main-draw victory.
   Gunneswaran, a 27-year-old left-hander, defeated U.S. qualifier Deiton Baughman 7-6 (5), 6-4.
   The quarterfinal matchups in the bottom half of the draw will be determined on Thursday.
   Here are the Tiburon Challenger singles and doubles draws and Thursday's schedule. The tournament is being streamed live.

Top seed, defending champ ousted in 100K Tiburon

   Tom Fawcett's first Challenger main-draw victory was a big one.
   The 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) wild card, a Stanford senior, shocked top-seeded Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 today in the first round of the $100,000 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger.
   It was Fawcett's first win over a top-100 player. Bemelmans, a 29-year-old left-hander, is ranked No. 92. He won a $25,000 tournament in Burlingame, a one-hour drive south of Tiburon in the San Francisco Bay Area, last October and reached the third round at Wimbledon in July as a qualifier.

   However, Bemelmans was playing in his first tournament since losing in the first round of the U.S. Open to 16th-seeded Lucas Pouille of France in late August. Bemelmans' rustiness showed, as he made numerous forehand errors.
   Three other seeds, including defending champion Darian King of Barbados, lost today at the Tiburon Peninsula Club.
   Bay Area native Mackenzie McDonald knocked out the sixth-seeded King 7-5, 6-3. McDonald, a 22-year-old former UCLA star, has reached the Tiburon semifinals in each of the past two years. He fell to King 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in last year's semis.
   Lucky loser Jan Choinski of Germany ousted fifth-seeded Ramkumar Ramanathan of India 6-1, 6-2, and qualifier Deiton Baughman, a 21-year-old American, surprised seventh-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime, a 17-year-old Canadian phenom, 6-2, 6-2.

   McDonald will face Denis Kudla, who avenged a loss to Tim Smyczek in the scintillating 2015 Tiburon final. Kudla, 25, beat his friend and fellow American 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-3. Like Choinski, Smyczek was a lucky loser.
   In the last match of the day, second-seeded Tennys Sandgren downed qualifier Sekou Bangoura 6-4, 6-4 in an all-American encounter.
   Bangoura also qualified for Tiburon two years ago and ousted fourth-seeded Dustin Brown of Germany in the opening round. Bangoura then lost to McDonald 7-6 in the third set in the second round.
   Brown is 2-0 against current world No. 1 Rafael Nadal. Both wins have come on grass, including a second-round meeting at Wimbledon in 2015.

   Fawcett, from Winnetka, Ill., pounded eight aces and committed four double faults. Bemelmans had one ace and six double faults.

   Fawcett broke serve to lead 5-3 in the third set on a Bemelmans forehand error. Fawcett, rather than fold under pressure, held serve at 30 with a service winner for the match.

   Fawcett will play Frank Dancevic, a 33-year-old Canadian, in the second round. Dancevic, ranked No. 356 after climbing to a career-high No. 65 in 2007, beat U.S. wild card Alexander Sarkissian 7-6 (5), 6-4.
   Here are the singles and doubles draws and Wednesday's schedule.

Mmoh mauls Rubin in matchup of U.S. prospects

Michael Mmoh, shown in last year's Tiburon final, coasted to a 6-1, 6-2 victory
over Noah Rubin today. Photo by Getty Images

   Michael Mmoh had little trouble with Noah Rubin this time.
   In a matchup of top U.S. prospects, the fourth-seeded Mmoh routed Noah Rubin 6-1, 6-2 in 1 hour, 6 minutes today in the first round of the $100,000 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger.
   Mmoh, last year's runner-up to Darian King of Barbados, won all 20 points on his first serve against Rubin, 21, at the Tiburon Peninsula Club in the San Francisco Bay Area.
   Rubin, the 2014 Wimbledon boys champion, defeated Mmoh 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals of last year's $100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger in their only previous meeting. Mmoh aggravated an abdominal strain at 2-2 in the first set. Rubin, only 5-foot-9 (1.75 meters) and 150 pounds (68 kilograms), went on to lose to U.S. phenom Frances Tiafoe in the final.
   Mmoh, the 19-year-old son of former journeyman pro Tony Mmoh, will play Tobias Kamke, the 2010 Tiburon champion, on Wednesday in the second round. Kamke, a 31-year-old German, dismissed Christian Garin of Chile 6-3, 6-1 in one hour.
   Meanwhile, Mitchell Krueger of Orlando, Fla., defeated Sam Groth of Australia 6-4, 7-5. Groth, unofficially the world's fastest server, had eight aces and five double faults.
   In the final round of qualifying, Sekou Bangoura of Bradenton, Fla., defeated 2015 champion Tim Smyczek of Tampa, Fla., 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.
   However, Smyczek (pronounced SMEE-check) advanced to the main draw as a lucky loser when Dennis Novikov of Milpitas in the San Francisco Bay Area withdrew with an ankle injury.
   Novikov reached the singles quarterfinals and doubles final (with Quentin Halys of France) last year.
   Smyczek will play fellow American and friend Denis Kudla on Tuesday in a rematch of the 2015 final, a thriller won by Smyczek.
   Here are the singles qualifying draw, singles and doubles main draws, and Tuesday's schedule. Live streaming of the tournament is available.