Three players quit matches in Tiburon

   There were more retirements in Tiburon on Tuesday than in Brett Favre's recent past.
   Three players quit, all against seeds, in the first round of the $100,000 First Republic Bank Tiburon Challenger at the Tiburon Peninsula Club.
   Most notably, Denis Gremelmayr of Germany retired because of dizziness while leading second-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 7-6 (4), 1-2. The 6-foot-10 Karlovic won last week's Sacramento Challenger.
   Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands strained his groin while trailing seventh-seeded Wayne Odesnik 6-1. Finally, Denis Kudla, a 19-year-old wild card from Arlington, Va., sprained his ankle against fifth-seeded Vasek Pospisil of Canada while behind 7-5, 2-0.
   The only other seed in action, No. 4 Bobby Reynolds of Acworth, Ga., actually had to play two sets to advance. A quarterfinalist in Sacramento last week, Reynolds dispatched Raven Klaasen of South Africa 6-4, 6-3.
  Former doubles stars Ken Flach, 48, of Mill Valley and Rick Leach, 46, of Laguna Beach lost to Las Vegas residents Brian Battistone and Chris Wettengel 6-4, 6-2 in the first round. Leach won five Grand Slam men's doubles titles and Flach four. They teamed to win the 1993 U.S. Open crown.
   ATP World Tour in Shanghai -- Folsom resident Dmitry Tursunov and Tommy Robredo of Spain defeated Chinese wild cards Gong Mao-Xin and Li Zhe 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) in the first round of doubles at the $3.24 million Shanghai Rolex Masters.
   Former Stanford All-American Scott Lipsky and Kevin Anderson of South Africa lost to Nicolas Almagro of Spain and Bruno Soares of Brazil 6-2, 6-3.   

 $100,000 FIRST REPUBLIC BANK TIBURON CHALLENGER

At Tiburon Peninsula Club

Final-round singles qualifying

   Artem Sitak (8), New Zealand, def. Luka Gregorc, Slovenia, 6-3, 6-4. Alex Bogdanovic (6), Great Britain, def. Tim Smyczek (2), Milwaukee, Wis., 7-5, 6-4. Alejandro Gonzalez (3), Colombia, def. Dimitar Kutrovsky, Bulgaria, 6-3, 6-4. Pierre-Ludovic Duclos (4), Canada, def. Greg Ouellette, Ormand Beach, Fla., 4-6, 7-6 (7), 6-3.

First-round singles

    Laurynas Grigelis, Lithuania, def. Frederik Nielsen, Denmark, 6-3, 6-3. Bobby Reynolds (3), Acworth, Ga., def. Raven Klaasen, South Africa, 6-4, 6-3. Wayne Odesnik (7), Weston, Fla., def. Thiemo de Bakker, Netherlands, 6-1, 0-0, retired. Martin Fischer, Austria, def. Simon Greul, Germany, 6-3, 6-3. Robert Farah, Colombia, def. Daniel Kosakowski, Downey, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (4). Vasek Pospisil (5), Canada, def. Denis Kudla, Arlington, Va., 7-5, 2-0, retired. Roman Borvanov, Moldova, def. Juan Sebastian Cabal, Colombia, 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (6). Ivo Karlovic (2), Croatia, def. Denis Gremelmayr, Germany, 6-7 (4), 2-1.

First-round doubles

   Steve Johnson, Orange, and Sam Querrey, Las Vegas, def. Jordan Kerr, Australia, and David Martin (4), Huntington Beach, 6-1, 3-6, 10-8 tiebreak. Brian Battistone and Chris Wettengel, Las Vegas, def. Ken Flach and Rick Leach, 6-4, 6-2. Alex Kuznetsov, Tampa, Fla., and Ryan Sweeting, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., def. Sanchai Ratiwatana and Sonchat Ratiwatana, Thailand, 7-5, 6-1.

Tursunov continues to haunt Brazil; new rankings

   Dmitry Tursunov is driving Brazil nuts.
   After giving host Russia a 3-2 Davis Cup victory over Brazil last month, the Folsom resident outlasted Brazilian No. 1 Thomaz Bellucci 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-5 early today in the first round of the $3.24 million Shanghai Rolex Masters.
   Tursunov did not play Bellucci in the Davis Cup. In fact, they had never faced each other before today. They have similar rankings, Bellucci at No. 35 and Tursunov at No. 41. But Bellucci is a 23-year-old left-hander and Tursunov a 28-year-old right-hander.
   Bellucci probably would just as soon not see another Russian for a while. Mikhail Youzhny saved two match points to edge Bellucci 2-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 14-12 in five hours and even the Davis Cup series at 2-2, setting up Tursunov's heroics against Ricardo Mello.
   But Tursunov isn't in such an enviable position, either. He must face red-hot Andy Murray, who received a first-round bye as the second seed in Shanghai. Murray, ranked fourth, is coming off titles in Bangkok and Tokyo in the past two weeks In the Tokyo final Sunday, Murray beat Rafael Nadal 3-6, 6-2, 6-0.
   Murray, a 24-year-old Scotland native, is 5-0 lifetime against Tursunov. They will meet for the first time in three years.
   Tursunov's former teammate on the Sacramento Capitals, Mark Knowles, lost in the first round of doubles. The 40-year-old Bahamian teamed with Lukasz Kubot of Poland in a 2-6, 7-6 (5), 10-7 tiebreak decision against Marcel Granollers of Spain and Viktor Troicki of Serbia.
   WTA tour in Osaka, Japan --Third-seeded Raquel Kops-Jones, a former Cal star from Fresno, and Abigail Spears of San Diego defeated Japanese wild cards Misaki Doi and Kurumi Nara 6-2, 6-2 in the first round of doubles at the $220,000 HP Japan Women's Open.
   ATP Challenger Tour in Tiburon -- All first-round matches in the $100,000 First Republic Bank Tiburon Challenger were rained out.
   Seeded in singles are No. 1 Ryan Sweeting of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., No. 2 Ivo Karlovic of Croatia, No. 3 Sam Querrey of Las Vegas, No. 4 Bobby Reynolds of Acworth, Ga., No. 5 Vasek Pospisil of Canada, No. 6 Izak Van der Merwe of South Africa, No. 7 Wayne Odesnik of Weston, Fla., and No. 8 Bjorn Phau of Germany.
   The 6-foot-10 Karlovic won the singles title in last week's $100,000 RelyAid Natomas Racquet Club Challenger in Sacramento. Odesnik, who won the 2007 Sacramento Challenger, returned to action in January after serving a one-year suspension for importing human growth hormone into Australia.
   The doubles seeds are No. 1 Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah of Colombia, No. 2 Treat Conrad Huey of the Philippines and Van der Merwe, No. 3 Frederik Nielsen of Denmark and Travis Parrott of Portland, Ore., and No. 4 Jordan Kerr of Australia and David Martin of Huntington Beach.
   Martin returns to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he starred at Stanford from 2000 to 2003.
   New rankings -- Following are this week's world rankings of professional players with Northern California ties (change from last week in parentheses):

Men

   Bob Bryan, 1998 NCAA doubles champion from Stanford -- No. 1 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Mike Bryan, 1998 NCAA doubles champion from Stanford -- No. 1 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Scott Lipsky, 2002 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford -- No. 26 in doubles (-1), unranked in singles.
   Mark Knowles, Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis (2001-07, 2009-11) -- No. 43 in doubles (-3), unranked in singles.
   Dmitry Tursunov, Folsom resident -- No. 41 in singles (-1), No. 168 in doubles (-61).
   Sam Querrey, San Francisco native -- No. 120 in singles (no change), No. 34 in doubles (+1).
   David Martin, 2002 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford -- No. 94 in doubles (-4), No. 707 in singles (-5).
   John Paul Fruttero, Cal All-American in 2001 and 2002 -- Career-high No. 133 in doubles (+3), 1,249 in singles (-+11).
   Conor Niland, 2006 Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Year and two-time All-American at Cal -- No. 193 in singles (+10), unranked in doubles. 
   Jimmy Wang, Folsom resident -- No. 382 in singles (+9), No. 668 in doubles (-).
   Dusan Vemic, Capitals (2010-11) -- No. 503 in doubles (+5), No. 1,531 in singles (+5).
   Kiryl Harbatsiuk, three-time Big Sky Conference MVP (2009-11) at Sacramento State -- No. 731 in singles (+30), No. 1,256 in doubles (-5).

Women

   Vania King, Capitals (2010-11) -- No. 9 in doubles (no change), No. 83 in singles (-1).
   Raquel Kops-Jones, 2003 NCAA doubles champion from Cal -- No. 37 in doubles (+5), unranked in singles.
   Yasmin Schnack, Elk Grove resident, Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis (2011) -- No. 210 in doubles (+12), No. 386 in singles (+7).
   Maria Sanchez, Modesto resident -- No. 376 in doubles (+3), No. 697 in singles (+13).

After almost flunking out, Karlovic aces big test

   He came within an eyelash of losing in the first round, struggled with his serve in the semifinals and met a player formerly ranked No. 4 in the world in the final.
   But Ivo Karlovic overcame everything the $100,000 RelyAid Natomas Racquet Club Challenger threw at him. It helps when you're 6-foot-11, well-coordinated and mentally tough.
   In a tantalizing matchup of power vs. speed, the second-seeded Karlovic edged top-seeded James Blake 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 Sunday in Sacramento for his first title in three years.
   Karlovic, a 32-year-old Croat, attributed his drought to "injuries and ups and downs." Ranked a career-high No. 14 in 2008, he missed the last six months of 2010 because of Achilles' tendon-related surgery and plunged to No. 239 in March.
   "Now everything is good. I've been playing since January," said Karlovic, who rose from No. 76 to No. 61 with the Sacramento title.
   Karlovic, the tallest player ever to be ranked in the top 100 and owner of the world's fastest serve (156 mph), also is enjoying life off the court. He took a month off after the U.S. Open to stay home in Miami while his Jamaican wife, Alsi, gave birth to the couple's first child, a daughter named Jada.
   "It's the best thing that can happen in life," Karlovic said.
   In his first match after his layoff, Karlovic saved two match points in a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (8) victory over Martin Fischer of Austria. On the first match point, Fischer ripped what appeared to be a winning first-service return deep to Karlovic's backhand. But Karlovic, showing surprising quickness, slugged a cross-court shot, and Fischer netted an ill-advised backhand drop shot. 
   In the quarterfinals, Karlovic survived in two tough sets against Thiemo de Bakker, the 2006 Wimbledon junior champion who reached No. 40 in the world last year. Then Karlovic converted only 56 percent of his first serves in a 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-4 victory over former top-20 player Sam Querrey.  
   Karlovic found his rhythm in the final, increasing his first-service percentage to 71. He improved to 6-3 lifetime against Blake, a 31-year-old Tampa, Fla., resident who missed three months last year because of knee tendinitis. Six of the previous meetings came on the ATP World Tour (the major leagues of tennis), one occurred in the French Open, and one took place in the Davis Cup.
   Adding to the ATP-like atmosphere Sunday were an announced sellout crowd of 725, the largest in the tournament's seven-year history, and the presence of Brad Gilbert, the renowned coach, commentator and author who served as the master of ceremonies.
   The match was even closer than the score indicated. When Blake stepped to the line to serve at 4-5 in the third set, each player had won 14 games and broken the other once. 
   But Blake double-faulted to trail 0-30, and Karlovic's backhand return of a first serve handcuffed the approaching Blake to make it 0-40. Blake then hit a cross-court forehand that appeared to be long, but the ball was ruled in, and Karlovic netted a forehand for 15-40. It was only a brief reprieve for Blake, though. On the next point, he sprayed a backhand wide to end the match.
   Karlovic fired 23 aces overall, faced only one break point in the match and — brace yourself — won all 20 points on his serve in the last set, including 12 aces. Several times in the match, after watching another Karlovic missile whiz past him out of reach, Blake flailed weakly at an imaginary ball as if to say, "This is hopeless."
   Facing Karlovic's serve is "not fun," said Blake, who improved from No. 75 to No. 67 by reaching the final. "His serve is part of it, but the rest of his game was in form today. He returned well and put a lot of pressure on me. There's nothing you can do about the serve."
   Nicholas Monroe and Jack Sock know the feeling. The American wild cards lost to hard-serving Australian left-handers Carsten Ball, 6-foot-6, and Chris Guccione, 6-7, in the doubles final, 7-6 (3), 1-6, 10-5 tiebreak.
   Ball, 24, and Guccione, 26, reached the quarterfinals of the 2009 U.S. Open and have represented Australia in the Davis Cup. Ball, a Newport Beach native and resident, plays for Australia because his father, former top-25 doubles player Syd, is from Down Under.
   Monroe, 29, and Sock, 19, played in their first tournament together but have known each other for years in the Kansas City, Mo., area.
   Sock turned pro in July and won the U.S. Open mixed doubles title with Melanie Oudin last month. Monroe, who's listed at 5-10 but appears smaller, lost in doubles final at Natomas for the second consecutive year. He played with Donald Young in 2010. Young, the 2008 Sacramento Challenger singles champion, is playing in Asia on the ATP World Tour.
   Intercollegiate Tennis Association in Pacific Palisades -- Stanford's Mallory Burdette and Nicole Gibbs defeated Florida's Sophie Oyen and Allie Will 6-2, 7-6 (2) to win the doubles title in the Women's All-American Championships.

Karlovic, Blake advance to Sacramento final

   Ivo Karlovic was disappointed in his serve.
   Sam Querrey was disgusted with his.
   Within minutes of edging Querrey 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-4 Saturday in the semifinals of the $100,000 RelyAid Natomas Racquet Club Challenger in Sacramento, Karlovic was practicing his serve on a side court.
   "Today my serve didn't work at all," lamented the second-seeded Karlovic, a 6-foot-10 veteran who holds the record for the fastest serve (156 mph). "I had a really low (first-serve) percentage, but I was able to make it up with my baseline game and fighting."
   Karlovic, who converted 56 percent of his first deliveries, recorded the only service break of the third set in the last game. Querrey committed his second double fault of the match to trail 30-40, then missed a first serve. The second serve allowed Karlovic to get into the point, and he capitalized by ripping a runaround forehand passing shot down the line for the victory.
   The normally mild-mannered Querrey was incensed after the match, played before an announced capacity crowd of 650 that included Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and coach Dennis Green of the Sacramento Mountain Lions in the United Football League.
   "My second serve sucked the whole week,"  snapped the third-seeded Querrey, a 6-6 native of San Francisco who lives in Las Vegas. "Pathetic ... "
   Karlovic, whose wife gave birth to the couple's first child on Sept. 15, is playing in his first tournament since the U.S. Open one month ago. He agreed that his layoff affected the timing on his serve Saturday.
   Querrey, meanwhile, was competing in his second tournament since undergoing arthroscopic elbow surgery in June. But he didn't use that as an excuse for his serving woes.
   "I just need to go for it more," he said. "I'm too conservative on my serve and forehand."
   Karlovic will meet top-seeded James Blake of Tampa, Fla., for the title after today's 12:30 p.m. doubles final pitting American wild cards Nicholas Monroe and Jack Sock against Australians Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione.
  Blake outclassed unseeded Alex Kuznetsov of Tampa 6-2, 7-5 in the other semifinal. Kuznetsov, a Ukraine native who moved to the United States at 3, also reached the semifinals of the Sacramento Challenger five years ago at 19. The tournament was held at the Sutter Lawn Tennis Club at the time.
   At first glance, Blake and Karlovic couldn't be more different. Blake is nine inches shorter and an African-American. Karlovic is a white Croat.
   On further inspection, however, they are remarkably similar.
   Both were born in 1979 (Karlovic, 32, is exactly 10 months older). Both have reached the top 15 in the world, Blake peaking at No. 4 in 2006 and Karlovic at No. 14 in 2008.
   Both have played on Davis Cup championship teams, Karlovic helping Croatia win in 2005 for its only title and Blake helping the United States end its longest title drought (12 years).
   Both endured long injury layoffs last year, Blake for three months with knee tendinitis and Karlovic for six months after Achilles' tendon-related surgery.        
   Their current rankings? Blake is No. 75, Karlovic No. 76.  
   Karlovic leads the head-to-head series 5-3 overall and 3-2 on hardcourts. In their last meeting, Karlovic won 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1 on a hardcourt in the quarterfinals at Delray Beach, Fla., in February 2010.
   "I didn't watch him in the last year or two, but I know he was injured like me," said Karlovic, who saved two match points in the first round of the Natomas Challenger against Martin Fischer of Austria. "He can play really well. It will be an interesting match."
   ATP Challenger Tour in Tiburon -- Kiryl Harbatsiuk, a former Sacramento State star from Belarus, lost to Blake Strode of Cary, N.C., 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the first round of qualifying for the $100,000 First Republic Bank Tiburon Challenger.
   Strode, the Chico Futures runner-up in June, has deferred his acceptance to Harvard Law School several times to play professional tennis.
    ITF Women's Circuit in Kansas City, Mo. -- Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove and Amanda Fink of Calabasas lost to Jamie Hampton of Auburn, Ala., and Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia 7-5, 2-6, 10-8 tiebreak in the doubles semifinals of the $50,000 Women's Tennis Classic.
   Intercollegiate Tennis Association in Pacific Palisades -- Jacqueline Cako of Arizona State knocked off  Jana Juricova, the top seed and reigning NCAA champion from Cal, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (1) in the quarterfinals of the Women's All-American Championships.
   Stanford's Stacey Tan, the NCAA runner-up, and Nicole Gibbs, an NCAA semifinalist, lost in the first round of doubles. The Cardinal's Mallory Burdette, who won the NCAA doubles title with Hilary Barte in May, and Gibbs will play Florida's Sophie Oyen and Allie Will in the finall.
   Intercollegiate Tennis Association in Tulsa, Okla. -- Cal's Nick Andrews (Folsom), Carlos Cueto and Ben McLachlan and Stanford's Ryan Thacher lost in the first round of the Men's All-American Championships.
   In doubles, fifth-seeded Andrews and Christoffer Konigsfeldt and qualifiers Cueto and McLachlan also fell n the first round.
  
RELYAID NATOMAS CHALLENGER
At Natomas Racquet Club
Singles semifinals
   Ivo Karlovic (2), Croatia, def. Sam Querrey (3), Las Vegas, 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-4. James Blake (1), Tampa, Fla., def. Alex Kuznetsov, Tampa, Fla., 6-2, 7-5.
Sunday’s schedule
(Beginning at 12:30 p.m.)
Center Court
   Monroe and Sock vs. Ball and Guccione. Blake (1) vs. Karlovic (2).

Blake is head and shoulders above Sock

   A sprained ankle and sore hip were the least of Jack Sock's problems Friday.
   Much more damaging was his inexperience against a cagey veteran.
   Top-seeded James Blake, who will turn 32 in December, dismantled Sock, a wild card who turned 19 two weeks ago, 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the $100,000 RelyAid Natomas Racquet Club Challenger in Sacramento.
   An announced capacity crowd of 650, the largest in the tournament's seven-year history, watched the matchup of players representing the United States' past and future on a gorgeous afternoon following several days of cold, rainy weather.
   Blake will face fellow Tampa, Fla., resident Alex Kuznetsov in today's second semifinal. The unseeded Kuznetsov, who also reached the Sacramento semifinals five years ago at 19, beat fourth-seeded Bobby Reynolds of Acworth, Ga., 7-6 (0), 6-3.
   Blake is 2-0 lifetime against Kuznetsov, a Ukraine native who moved to the United States at 3, with both matches coming in 2007.
   In today's first semifinal at noon, second-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia will meet third-seeded Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native living in Las Vegas. Don't look for a lot of long rallies in this one. Karlovic, 6-foot-10, and Querrey, 6-6, are two of the hardest servers in tennis.
   Querrey, who turned 24 Friday, leads the series 3-1 (3-0 on hardcourt). All of the matches came in 2007 and 2008.  
   Blake, ranked a career-high No. 4 in the world in 2006, missed three months last year with knee tendinitis and plunged to No. 173 in March. He has rebounded to No. 75.
   Sock, from Overland Park, Kan., turned pro in July and won the U.S. Open mixed doubles title with Melanie Oudin last month. Last year, he became the first American since Andy Roddick in 2000 to win the U.S. Open junior boys title. This summer, he became the first player since Donald Young in 2006 to win two consecutive USTA Boys 18 National Championships.
   "He's a great player," Blake said of Sock. "He has a lot of talent. He would have beaten the pants off me at 19. He has a lot to learn, for sure, but he's already done a lot at 19. I can see him being a completely different player next year at this time."
   Sock rolled his ankle running down a drop shot Wednesday but said it was 95 percent of normal Friday. He also hurt his hip running for a ball early in the first set Friday but said the pain subsided during the match and that the injury didn't affect the outcome.
   Sock has the firepower to play with Blake, but mentally there's no comparison. Blake, unlike Sock, has learned how to control his emotions on the court and maintain his concentration.
   With Blake serving at 5-4 in the first set, Sock earned his only break point of the match but failed to convert.
   "He probably felt he should have gotten into a tiebreaker," Blake said. "He got a little negative after that, and I used it to my advantage."
   After Sock lost his serve to open the second set, he swatted a ball halfway to Yolo County and received a warning from the chair umpire for ball abuse. In contrast, the most emotion Blake showed when he missed a shot was muttering "James ... "
   When Sock later double-faulted on break point to trail 4-1, the match was essentially over.
   "I started well and overall wasn't bad," Sock said. "But these guys have been out here a long time. You can't have loose points and games, or it'll cost you the match, and that's what happened."
   Sock finished with seven double-faults, which mystified him.
   "I've been serving well all week," said Sock, who will play in Sunday's doubles final with Nicholas Monroe of Chapel Hill, N.C. "One of (Blake's) better shots is his backhand return. When it's on, he can do whatever he wants with it. I thought I'd take some chances, and they didn't go in today."
   ATP, WTA tours in Beijing -- Two teams with Northern California ties lost in doubles semifinals of the China Open.
   Bob and Mike Bryan, the No. 1 men's seeds and former Stanford All-Americans, lost to third-seeded Michael Llodra of France and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia 3-6, 7-6 (4), 10-3.
   Vania King of the Sacramento Capitals and Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova, seeded fourth in women's doubles, fell to No. 1 seeds and reigning Wimbledon champions Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia 6-4, 6-4.
    
RELYAID NATOMAS MEN’S CHALLENGER
At Natomas Racquet Club
Singles quarterfinals
   James Blake (1), Tampa, Fla., def. Jack Sock, Lincoln, Neb., 6-4, 6-2. Alex Kuznetsov, Tampa, Fla., def. Bobby Reynolds (4), Acworth, Ga., 7-6 (0), 6-3. Sam Querrey (3), Las Vegas, def. Uladzimir Ignatik, Belarus, 7-5, 7-6 (9). Ivo Karlovic (2), Croatia, def. Thiemo de Bakker, Netherlands, 6-4, 7-6 (2).
Doubles semifinals
   Nicholas Monroe, Chapel Hill, N.C., and Jack Sock, Overland Park, Kan., def. Travis Rettenmaier, Los Angeles, and Simon Stadler, Germany, 6-4, 6-4. Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione, Australia, def. Vasek Pospisil, Canada, and Bobby Reynolds, Acworth, Ga., 6-2, 6-4.
Today’s schedule
(Beginning at noon)
Center Court
   Querrey (3) vs. Karlovic (2), Blake (1) vs. Kuznetsov.

Blake, 31, to face Sock, 19, in match for the ages

   It will be the past vs. the future in American men's tennis at the $100,000 RelyAid Natomas Racquet Club Challenger.
   Top-seeded James Blake, who turns 32 in December, will face wild card Jack Sock, who turned 19 two weeks ago, today at noon in the quarterfinals of the Sacramento tournament.
   "I could have babysat one of these guys," Blake quipped Thursday after beating Chris Guccione, a 6-foot-7 left-hander from Australia, 6-4, 6-4. "Now I'm the old guy.  It's fun to see the new generation. I remember when I started in these tournaments. It's exciting.
   "He can swing for the fence. He has nothing to lose. I've been in that situation."
   Second-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia and third-seeded Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native living in Las Vegas, also advanced. But sixth-seeded Izak Van der Merwe of South Africa lost to Alex Kuznetsov of Richboro, Pa., and Tampa, Fla., 6-4, 6-2, and seventh-seeded Bjorn Phau of Germany fell to Uladzimir Ignatik of Belarus 6-4, 7-6 (4). 
   Karlovic, the tallest player in the tournament at 6-foot-10, dispatched the shortest, 5-8 Victor Estrella of the Dominican Republic, 6-3, 6-2. They played doubles together in the tournament, losing in the first round to wild cards Nicholas Monroe of Chapel Hill, N.C., and Sock 6-4, 4-6, 15-13.
   Kuznetsov reached the semifinals of the Sacramento Challenger five years ago at 19 years old.
   The United States is guaranteed to have a player in the final, as all four remaining players in the top half of the draw -- Blake, Sock, Kuznetsov and fourth-seeded Bobby Reynolds -- are American.
   The 6-6 Querrey, who fired 19 aces in his 6-7 (4), 7-6 (1), 6-3 victory over veteran left-hander Denis Gremelmayr of Germany, is the only American left in the bottom half. Joining Querrey are Karlovic, Ignatik and 2006 Wimbledon junior boys champion Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands.
   Ironically, given their ages, Blake is healthier than Sock entering their first career meeting.
   Blake, ranked a career-high No. 4 in 2006, missed three months last year with chronic tendinitis in his right knee and plummeted to No. 173 in March. But he has rebounded to No. 74 and showed no ill effects against the hard-serving Guccione.
   Sock, meanwhile, sprained his left ankle early in the third set of his second-round victory over Roman Borvanov of Moldova on Wednesday. But Sock won in doubles later that day and again Thursday.
   "I don't worry about the other guy," said Blake, who splits his time between his training base in Tampa and his childhood home of Fairfield, Conn. "If you start playing differently because he's hurt, it's going to affect you negatively. I'm not changing my game."
   Sock, a native of Lincoln, Neb., living in Overland Park, Kan., already has an impressive resume. Six weeks after turning pro in July, he won the U.S. Open mixed doubles title with Melanie Oudin. Last year, he became the first American since Andy Roddick in 2000 to win the U.S. Open junior boys title. This year, Sock became the first player since Donald Young in 2005-06 to win the USTA Boys 18 National Championships two years in a row.
   "He has a ton of talent," said Blake, who has practiced with Sock. "He'll be a great player."
   Ripping his returns, Blake broke Guccione's serve once in each set. Meanwhile, Blake never faced a break point on his own serve, winning 15 of 16 points on his second delivery against the 2010 Sacramento quarterfinalist.
   "It's tough playing Guccione," said Blake, who nevertheless improved to 3-0 lifetime against the red-headed Aussie. "He controls everything when he serves. You have to take chances on his serve.
   "My biggest concern was taking care of  my serve, and I did that really well. He only got to deuce twice.
   "I got a little lucky on his serve. I took advantage of some opportunities and got a couple of breaks. That's all you can ask for."
   ATP World Tour -- No. 1 seeds and former Stanford All-Americans Bob and Mike Bryan breezed to a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic and Florian Mayer of Germany in the doubles quarterfinals at the China Open in Beijing.
   The Bryan twins, trying to bounce back from losing in the first round of a Grand Slam for the first time in 10 years, have lost only seven games in two matches in Beijing. They fell to Karlovic and Frank Moser of Germany at the U.S. Open last month. Karlovic and Moser then lost in the second round to Italians Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini.
   WTA tour -- Fourth-seeded Vania King of the Capitals and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan defeated eighth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia and Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-0, 7-5 in the doubles quarterfinals at Beijing.
   King and Shvedova are trying to rebound from a 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) loss to Americans Lizel Huber and Lisa Raymond  in the U.S. Open final.
   ITF Women's Circuit -- Unseeded Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove and Amanda Fink of Calabasas received a walkover from fourth-seeded Alexandra Mueller of Abington, Pa., and Asia Muhammed of Las Vegas in the quarterfinals of the $50,000 Women's Pro Tennis Classic in Kansas City, Mo.

RELYAID NATOMAS CHALLENGER
At Natomas Racquet Club
Second-round singles

   James Blake (1), Tampa, Fla., def. Chris Guccione, Australia, 6-4, 6-4. Alex Kuznetsov, Tampa, Fla., def. Izak Van der Merwe (6), South Africa, 6-4, 6-2. Thiemo de Bakker, Netherlands, def. Pierre-Ludovic Duclos, Canada, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. Ivo Karlovic (2), Croatia, def. Victor Estrella, Dominican Republic, 6-3, 6-2. Uladzimir Ignatik, Belarus, def. Bjorn Phau (7), Germany, 6-4, 7-6 (4). Sam Querrey (3), Las Vegas, def. Denis Gremelmayr, Germany, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (1), 6-3.
Doubles quarterfinals
   Vasek Pospisil, Canada, and Bobby Reynolds, United States, def. Frederik Nielsen, Denmark, and Travis Parrott (3), Portland, Ore., 7-6 (7), 7-6 (5). Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione, Australia, def. Sanchai Ratiwatana and Sonchat Ratiwatana, Thailand, 7-6 (5), 6-4. Nicholas Monroe, Chapel Hill, N.C., and Jack Sock, Lincoln, Neb., def. John Paul Fruttero, San Jose, and Raven Klaasen, South Africa, 6-3, 3-6, 10-8 tiebreak. Travis Rettenmaier, Los Angeles, and Simon Stadler, Germany, def. Jordan Kerr, Australia, and David Martin (4), Huntington Beach, 6-3, 4-6, 11-9 tiebreak.

Friday's schedule

(Beginning at noon)

Center Court

   Blake (1) vs. Sock, Ignatik vs. Querrey (3), Monroe and Sock vs. Rettenmaier and Stadler.

Court 1

   Reynolds (4) vs. Kuznetsov, De Bakker vs. Karlovic (2), Pospisil and Reynolds vs. Ball and Guccione.

Ex-Cal star makes hair-raising rise in rankings

   It isn't hard to find John Paul Fruttero at the $100,000 Sacramento Challenger.
   Let's face it. There aren't a whole lot of people with blue and gold spiked hair walking around the Natomas Racquet Club.
   "It started in April on my 30th birthday," the former Cal All-American said Wednesday after he and Raven Klaasen of South Africa knocked off top-seeded Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah of Colombia in the first round of doubles. "In the tennis world, that's pretty old. It's safe to say I was having a mid-life crisis. I lost in the first round four times in a row. I told the stylist in Tampa (Fla.) to do something crazy, change things up. ... It was light brown in Tampa, pretty tame. I asked for gray in China and got platinum blond."
   Fruttero switched to blue and gold in honor of his alma mater last week while he was at home in San Jose.
  "I'm very loyal to my school, and there are a lot of Cal supporters here," he explained. "You can't wear a (school) logo in your matches, so why not do something different?"
  With his new hairstyle, the doubles specialist has soared from No. 299 in the world to No. 136, one spot below his career-high last week. During his rise, he has won three tournaments and reached two finals and eight semifinals in tennis minor leagues.
   The right-handed Fruterro played Wednesday with tape on his right index finger to protect a ligament he strained during practice three months ago.
   "I'll try to get through the end of the year and take care of it in the offseason," Fruttero said.
   Fruttero has advanced to the Sacramento doubles final twice, in 2005 (the inaugural tournament) with Mirko Pehar and 2007 with Sacramento native Sam Warburg. Both partners have since retired.
   "It's always nice to play here," Fruttero said. "I always feel extra mojo and motivation playing near Cal. The tour is tough. Anytime you can play in front of family and friends, it's a breath of fresh air. You feel like it's not just yourself."
   Fruttero missed almost two years after the 2007 Sacramento Challenger after testing positive for the banned substance Modafinil at the Aptos Challenger in July that year. He argued that his doctor had prescribed the drug under its brand name -- Provigil, which was not on the banned list -- to combat jet lag.
   A tribunal accepted Fruttero's explanation but ruled he was still responsible. His suspension was reduced from two years to 14 months, and he returned to Cal to get his bachelor's degree in American studies.
   "I still have pretty strong ties there," he said.