Kudla, other top Americans enter NorCal Challengers

   Denis Kudla heads a strong American contingent in the upcoming Napa, Sacramento and Tiburon Challengers.
   At No. 95 in the world this week, Kudla is the fourth-ranked American and only top-100 player entered in any of the tournaments. Next are fellow Americans Tim Smyzcek (No. 104), Rajeev Ram (No. 118), Rhyne Williams (No. 125), Alex Kuznetsov (No. 128) and Bradley Klahn (No. 133).

Qualifier Tim Smyczek signs autographs after beating fifth seed
and 2010 champion Fernando Verdasco in the first round of the
SAP Open in San Jose in February.  Smyczek and Daniel Evans,
below, reached the third round of the recent U.S. Open to earn
$93,000 each. Photos by Paul Bauman

   All except Ram are scheduled to play in each of the three tournaments. Ram is entered only in Sacramento and Tiburon.
   Smyczek and Great Britain's Daniel Evans, who also is entered in all three tournaments, reached the third round of the recent U.S. Open.
   The $50,000 Napa Valley Challenger, $100,000 Sacramento Pro Circuit Challenger and $100,000 First Republic Bank Tiburon Challenger will be held in consecutive weeks beginning Monday.
   The Napa tournament, at the Napa Valley Country Club, will be staged for the first time. Sacramento has been played annually since 2005, at the Sutter Lawn Tennis Club for the first four years and the Natomas Racquet Club since then. Tiburon has been contested since 2003 with a break from 2005 through 2008.
   Last year's singles champions in Sacramento and Tiburon -- James Blake and Jack Sock, respectively -- are not scheduled to return. Blake, who reached a career-high No. 4 in 2006, retired after the recent U.S. Open. Sock, ranked No. 88, plays primarily on the elite ATP World Tour. 
   Kudla, a 21-year-old Ukraine native who moved to Fairfax, Va., on his first birthday, played in the singles main draw of three Grand Slam tournaments this year. As a qualifier, he lost in the first round of the French Open on clay and reached the second round at Wimbledon on grass. Kudla earned direct acceptance into the U.S. Open on hardcourts and advanced to the second round, facing two of the top four Czechs.
   Kudla, a 5-foot-11 (1.80-meter) right-hander, beat Jiri Vesely, a 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) left-hander, at Flushing Meadows before losing to fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych. Vesely, 20, climbed to No. 1 in the world junior rankings in January 2011.
   Kudla also reached the quarterfinals at Queen's Club, a Wimbledon tuneup tournament in London on the ATP World Tour, before losing to fourth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
   Smyczek, only 5-foot-9 (1.75 meters), was the last American left in men's singles at the U.S. Open. John Isner and Sock also reached the third round. That was worth $93,000 for each player.

Evans gained the final of the Aptos Challenger
in July, losing to former Stanford star Bradley
Klahn after holding a championship point.

   Evans, also 5-9, held a championship point before losing to Klahn in the final of the $100,000 Aptos Challenger in July. As a qualifier at Flushing Meadows, Evans stunned 11th-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan and 2011 Wimbledon quarterfinalist Bernard Tomic of Australia.
   Evans then fell to 19th-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain. Robredo ousted five-time champion Roger Federer in the fourth round before losing to eventual winner Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals.
   Also scheduled to make the NorCal swing are 30-year-old American Robby Ginepri, a U.S. Open semifinalist in 2005, and Australian Samuel Groth, who holds the record for the world's fastest serve (163.4 mph or 263 kph).
   Ram, 29, gained the second round of the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open this year. At Flushing Meadows, he routed 16th-seeded Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 in the opening round.
   Williams, 22, lost in the first round of the Australian Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open. He reached the semifinals on clay in Houston in April for his best result on the ATP Tour and won last year's doubles title in Sacramento with former University of Tennessee teammate Tennys Sandgren.
   Kuznetsov, a Sacramento semifinalist in 2011 and 2006, qualified for Wimbledon in June before losing to Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands in the opening round.               
   Klahn, the 2010 NCAA champion as a sophomore at Stanford, reached the second round of the U.S. Open for the second consecutive year. The 2012 Stanford graduate won his first Challenger title two months ago in Aptos. 
   Brian Baker, one of the greatest comeback stories of all time in any sport, is entered in Sacramento and Tiburon. The 28-year-old American missed six years while undergoing five operations, including the Tommy John (elbow ligament replacement) procedure dreaded by baseball pitchers.
   Baker returned in 2011 and, as a qualifier, advanced to the final at Nice on clay on the ATP World Tour and the round of 16 at Wimbledon last year.
   Disaster struck again in January, when Baker tore the lateral meniscus in his right knee in the second round of the Australian Open. He underwent surgery on Jan. 21 and returned the competition in Aptos. 
   Here are links to the Napa, Sacramento and Tiburon entry lists:
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/Napa.pdf
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/Sacramento_CH.pdf
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/Tiburon.pdf
   Aggie Pro Am -- The Sixth Annual UC Davis Aggie Pro-Am is scheduled for Saturday at 9 a.m. at the Marya Welch Tennis Center.
   Lunch, side events for prizes and T-shirts are included in a $100 donation to UC Davis women’s and men’s tennis programs. To enter or help sponsor the event, call Ashley Williams at (530) 754-2593.
   Clay Court League -- The registration deadline for the Sacramento Clay Court League at Ben Combs' house in the suburb of Orangevale is Oct. 4. The season is scheduled for Oct. 19 through Nov. 3.
   For more information, visit www.sacramentoclaycourtleague.com.

New rankings, TV schedule, calendar

PRO RANKINGS

     Following are this week's world rankings of professional players with Northern California ties (change from last week in parentheses):

Men

   Bob Bryan, 35 years old, 1998 NCAA doubles champion from Stanford -- Career-high No. 1 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.

   Mike Bryan, 35 years old, 1998 NCAA doubles champion from Stanford -- Career-high No. 1 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Mardy Fish, 31 years old, Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis (2012-13) -- No. 359 in singles (no change), No. 126 in doubles (-2).
   Bradley Klahn, 23 years old, 2010 NCAA singles champion and 2011 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford -- No. 133 in singles (-1), No. 180 in doubles (no change).
   Scott Lipsky, 32 years old, 2002 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford -- No. 29 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Sam Querrey, 25 years old, San Francisco native, Capitals (2012-13) -- No. 31 in singles (no change), No. 170 in doubles (no change).
   Ryan Sweeting, 26 years old, Capitals (2012-13) -- No. 525 in singles (+3), No. 873 in doubles (-3).
   Dmitry Tursunov, 30 years old, trains at Gorin Tennis Academy in Sacramento suburb of Granite Bay -- No. 34 in singles (-2), No. 198 in doubles (+2).

Women

   Mallory Burdette, 22 years old, NCAA singles runner-up in 2012 and NCAA doubles champion in 2011 and 2012 from Stanford -- No. 121 in singles (+1), No. 433 in doubles (-1).
   Nicole Gibbs, 20 years old, NCAA singles champion in 2012 and 2013 and NCAA doubles champion in 2012 from Stanford -- No. 210 in singles (no change), No. 557 in doubles (-5).

   Macall Harkins, Redding resident -- No. 244 in doubles (+5), No. 757 in singles (+4).
   Raquel Kops-Jones, 30 years old, 2003 NCAA doubles champion from Cal -- No. 16 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.

   Megan Moulton-Levy, 28 years old, Capitals (2013) -- No. 53 in doubles (+1), unranked in singles.

   Maria Sanchez, 23 years old, Modesto product -- No. 115 in singles (+1), No. 128 in doubles (+1).

   Yasmin Schnack, 25 years old, Elk Grove resident -- No. 438 in doubles (-1), No. 958 in singles (+2.

   Taylor Townsend, 17 years old, Capitals (2013) -- No. 277 in singles (-3), No. 295 in doubles (-3).

TV SCHEDULE

(All Times PDT)

Tuesday

   Metz (men), early rounds, Tennis Channel, 4-10 p.m. (delay).

Wednesday

   Metz (men), early rounds, Tennis Channel, 4-10 p.m. (delay).

Thursday

   Metz (men), early rounds, Tennis Channel, 5-9 a.m., 4-8 p.m. (delay). 
   Guangzhou (women), quarterfinals, noon-4 p.m., 8-10 p.m. (delay).

Friday

   Guangzhou (women), semifinals, Tennis Channel, noon-4 p.m. (delay).      
    Metz (men), quarterfinals, Tennis Channel, 4-8 p.m. (delay).
   St. Petersburg (men), quarterfinals, Tennis Channel, 8-10 p.m. (delay).

Saturday

   Guangzhou (women), final, Tennis Channel, 10 a.m.-noon (delay), 8-10 p.m. (replay).
   St. Petersburg (men), semifinals, Tennis Channel, noon-4 p.m. (delay).
   Metz (men), semifinals, Tennis Channel, 4-8 p.m. (delay).

Sunday

   Seoul (women), final, Tennis Channel, noon-2 p.m. (delay), 7-9 p.m. (replay).
   St. Petersburg (men), final, Tennis Channel, 2-4 p.m. (delay), 9-11 p.m. (repeat).
   Metz (men), final, Tennis Channel, 5-7 p.m. (delay). 

CALENDAR

   Saturday -- Sixth annual UC Davis Aggie Pro Am, Marya Welch Tennis Center, tennis at 9 a.m., lunch ($25) at 11:30 a.m.
   Monday-Sept. 29 -- $50,000 Napa Valley Challenger (men), Napa Valley Country Club, 3385 Hagen Road, Napa, Calif., 94558, www.napavalleychallenger.com, (707) 252-2299. Qualifying begins Saturday at 9 a.m., main draw Monday not before 11:30 a.m. 2012 champions -- Inaugural tournament.
   Sept. 30-Oct. 6 -- $100,000 Natomas Challenger (men), Natomas Racquet Club, 2450 Natomas Park Drive, Sacramento, Calif., 95833, www.natomaschallenger.com, (916) 649-0909. Qualifying begins Sept. 28 at 9 a.m., main draw Sept. 30 at 10 a.m. 2012 champions: James Blake, Tennys Sandgren-Rhyne Williams.
   Oct. 7-13 -- $100,000 First Republic Bank Tiburon Challenger (men), Tiburon Peninsula Club, 1600 Mar West Street, Tiburon, Calif., 94920, (415) 789-7900, www.tiburonchallenger.com. Qualifying begins Oct. 5 at 10 a.m., main draw Oct. 7 not before 11:30 a.m. 2012 champions: Jack Sock, Rik de Voest-Chris Guccione.
   Oct. 19-Nov. 3 -- Sacramento Clay Court League, Ben Combs' house, 8582 Westin Lane, Orangevale, Calif., 95662, registration deadline Oct. 4, www.sacramentoclaycourtleague.com.

Perez completes amazing run to Redding title

Adriana Perez, left, beat Robin Anderson, right, to win the Redding Challenger.
In the middle is Sun Oaks director of tennis Jeremiah Walsh. Photo by Paul Bauman

   REDDING, Calif. -- Adriana Perez pulled off the most improbable run to a title in memory this week in The Ascension Project Women's Challenger.
   The fifth-seeded Perez survived two match points in the first round. Then she escaped three match points in the second round. Then she blanked the top seed 6-0 in the third set in the quarterfinals.
   After coasting in Saturday's semifinals, Perez wore down unseeded Robin Anderson 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 today to win the $25,000 tournament at Sun Oaks Tennis & Fitness.
   "I (almost) lost in the first round, and (to) win the tournament is unbelievable," the Venezuelan marveled in broken English. "All change (in) my week. I'm here talking to you, and I (almost) lost in the first round. In the second round, too. It's the first time that happened to me in my life. It's incredible."
   Anderson was coming off a nearly three-hour semifinal in 94-degree (34.4 Celsius) heat and took a medical timeout for a strained left thigh muscle after the second set of the final. She declined to use either as an excuse, though, saying Perez outplayed her.   
   Perez ended a streak of four American champions in the 11-year-old Redding Challenger. Former Stanford star Laura Granville won in 2009, Jamie Hampton in 2010, Julia Boserup in 2011 and qualifier Chelsey Gullickson last year. Hampton is now ranked No. 25 in the world.
   Anderson, from Matawan, N.J., would have made it five Americans in a row.     
   Perez earned $3,919 for her second career Challenger singles title. Already the top Venezuelan, she will jump from No. 237 in the world to a career high of about No. 208.
   Anderson, who will begin her junior year at UCLA later this month, can accept only expenses from the runner-up prize money of $2,901. She will soar from No. 624 to about No. 470 after reaching her first Challenger singles final.
   Anderson did pick up her first Challenger doubles crown, teaming with Lauren Embree to edge Jacqueline Cako and Allie Kiick 4-6, 7-5 [10-7] in a battle of unseeded American teams. Cako won last year's title with American Sanaz Marand.
   Today's singles final matched diminutive 20-year-olds on a breezy, 86-degree (30 Celsius) day, mercifully down from 105 (40.6 Celsius) earlier in the week.
   Perez, 5-foot-4 (1.63 meters), and Anderson 5-3 (1.61), showed great athleticism in their first career meeting. They pounded groundstrokes into the corners, dug out low balls, slugged high ones, ran down apparent winners and occasionally ventured to the net. In the end, Perez had a bit more firepower with her hard, flat forehand.
   "She hits a really heavy ball that I kind of struggled with," conceded Anderson, who reached the singles round of 16 and doubles final in the NCAA Championships in May. 
   After Perez lost the last four games of the first set, she raised her game in the last two sets.
   "She was ripping through her forehands and serving really well," Anderson said. "I didn't play as aggressively as I wanted to play today, and I wasn't making as many balls, either."
   Said Perez, "I just started fighting more."
   Of Perez's many assets -- including her punishing forehand, steady two-handed backhand, high-kicking serve and deft volleying -- one of the most impressive is her poise. In addition to saving the five match points in the early rounds, she had two opportunities to implode in the final but refused.
   With Perez facing set point on her serve in the first set, Anderson slugged a forehand that appeared long but was called good. Perez hit a short reply, and Anderson nailed a forehand cross-court passing shot for the set.
   Walking to her chair, Perez held her thumb and index finger half an inch apart toward the umpire to indicate how much she thought Anderson's shot was long. Perez, however, didn't utter a word.
   "You cannot do (anything) about it, so why get mad?" she said. " ... Just keep playing and try (not to dwell) on it."
   Trying to serve out the second set, Perez double-faulted twice in a row. However, she quickly regained her form and converted her fifth set point.
   Perez, who turned pro at 17, said she's always calm on the court.
   "This is a hard sport," Perez reasoned. "If you get mad one moment, one second, one minute, you probably lost the match because of that."
   Even Perez's post-match celebration was restrained. After smacking a runaround forehand winner on her first match point, she just grinned broadly and pumped her fist.
   Anderson was much more emotional during the match, though never out of control. After misses, she shrieked, slapped her thigh or bent over in dismay. Perez, meanwhile, was stoical throughout the match.
   Maybe Perez was destined to win the title of The Ascension Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of local youth and collegiate and professional athletes through a team approach. After all, Perez's initials are the same as the project's.

Little women: Perez, Anderson reach Redding final

No. 5 seed Adriana Perez of Venezuela volleys during her
2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (2) victory over Catherine Harrison on Thurs-
day in the second round of the $25,000 Redding Challenger.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Professional tennis isn't just the land of the giants, although it sometimes seems that way.
   Petite Adriana Perez of Venezuela and tiny Robin Anderson of Matawan, N.J., will meet today at 12:30 p.m. for the title of the $25,000 The Ascension Project Women's Challenger at Sun Oaks Tennis & Fitness in Redding, Calif.
   Perez, seeded fifth, dismissed seventh-seeded Allie Kiick of Plantation, Fla., 6-3, 6-3 in Saturday's semifinals. Kiick, 18, is the daughter of Jim Kiick, the fifth-leading rusher in Miami Dolphins history.
   Anderson, 5-foot-3 (1.61 meters), topped 5-11 (1.80-meter) Julia Boserup of Newport Beach 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 in a matchup of unseeded players. Boserup, who turned 22 on Monday, won the 2011 Redding title but missed the first six months of this year with a bulging disc.
   Perez and Anderson, both 20, will face each other for the first time. Perez, ranked No. 237 in the world, seeks her second Challenger title in her third final. Anderson, a UCLA junior ranked No. 624, will play in her first Challenger final.

Unseeded Robin Anderson, shown in the second
round on Thursday, beat Julia Boserup in the semi-
finals after trailing 4-6, 3-5. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Both players survived close calls en route to the final.
   Perez edged unseeded Catherine Harrison, Anderson's teammate at UCLA, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (6) in the second round. The No. 1 Venezuelan then beat top-seeded Olivia Rogowska of Australia 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-0 in the quarterfinals.
   Anderson, who reached the singles round of 16 and doubles final in the NCAA Championships in May, trailed Boserup 5-3 in the second set. Boserup double-faulted nine times in the match, and Anderson converted five of 16 break points.
   Anderson also will play in the doubles final, which follows the singles. In an all-American encounter, Anderson and Lauren Embree will face Jacqueline Cako and Kiick. Both teams are unseeded. Cako (pronounced CAY-ko) won last year's doubles title with American Sanaz Marand.
   Cako graduated in three years from Arizona State in biological sciences in May and was named the Pacific-12 Conference Women's Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She plans to attend medical school after her pro tennis career.

Top three seeds ousted in Redding Challenger

Fifth-seeded Adriana Perez, a Venezuelan shown
on Thursday, beat top-seeded Olivia Rogowska
of Australia in the Redding quarterfinals.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   The top three seeds lost on Friday in the quarterfinals of the $25,000 The Ascension Project Women's Challenger at Sun Oaks Tennis & Fitness in Redding, Calif.
   Fifth-seeded Adriana Perez of Venezuela knocked off top-seeded Olivia Rogowska of Australia 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-0.
   Second-seeded Ksenia Pervak of Russia retired with a back injury while trailing unseeded Julia Boserup, the 2011 champion from Newport Beach, 6-4, 2-2.
   And seventh-seeded Allie Kick, 18, of Plantation, Fla., ousted third-seeded Chanel Simmonds of South Africa 6-4, 6-4.
  The only quarterfinal that held form was unseeded Robin Anderson of Matawan, N.J., beating Christina Makarova, a 17-year-old qualifier from San Diego, 6-1, 7-5.
   Rogowska eached the second round of last year's Australian Open in her hometown of Melbourne. She's ranked No. 138 in the world.
   Pervak climbed to a career-high No. 37 in 2011 after advancing to the fourth round at Wimbledon and winning the title in Tashkent on the WTA tour, the major leagues of women's tennis. Hampered by injuries this year, the 22-year-old left-hander has fallen to No. 142.
   In today's first semifinal at 11 a.m., Boserup will face Anderson for the first time.

Unseeded Julia Boserup, shown on Thursday,
advanced when No. 2 seed Ksenia Pervak retired
with a back injury. Boserup, the 2011 Redding
champion, led 6-4, 2-2 at the time. Photo by
Paul Bauman 

   Boserup, a hard hitter at 5-foot-11 (1.80 meters), missed the first six months of the year with a bulging disc. She did not have surgery.
   Anderson, only 5-foot-3 (1.61 meters), reached the round of 16 in singles and the final in doubles at the NCAA Championships in May as a UCLA sophomore.
   After the Boserup-Anderson match, Perez will take on Kiick. They have met once, with Kiick winning 7-6 (10), 6-2 on a hardcourt in the first round of the $25,000 Rock Hill (S.C.) Challenger last October. The Redding Challenger also is played on hardcourts.
   Kiick's father, Jim, was the starting halfback on the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only team in NFL history to go undefeated. Jim Kiick and his '72 teammates were honored last month at the White House.
   Macall Harkins, who moved from the Los Angeles area to Redding in March, lost in the doubles semifinals. Unseeded Jacqueline Cako and Kiick topped fourth-seeded Harkins and Sanaz Marand 6-4, 7-6 (4) in an all-American matchup.
   Cako and Kiick will meet unseeded Anderson and Lauren Embree of Marco Island, Fla., in Sunday's final. Cako and Marand won last year's title.
   The Ascension Project is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of local youth, collegiate and professional athletes through a team approach.
   Here are links to the singles and doubles draws:
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/singles_draw283.PDF
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/doubles_draw284.PDF

Veteran Harkins makes unusual career move

Macall Harkins moved from the Los Angeles
area to Redding to train under Jeremiah Walsh
and Jo Campbell. Photo by Paul Bauman

    REDDING, Calif. -- Every September for three years, Macall Harkins made the eight-hour drive up Interstate 5 from her home in the Los Angeles area to Redding for the women's Challenger.
   Even though both cities are in California, Harkins might as well have been traveling to a different planet.
   With a population of more than 13 million, sprawling Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan area in the United States behind New York. L.A. is known for freeways, smog, Hollywood, Disneyland, the Dodgers and the Lakers.
   Harkins, 27, grew up in the suburb of Palos Verdes and played at the Jack Kramer Club, the former home of Tracy Austin, Pete Sampras and Lindsay Davenport.
   Redding is (choose one):
   a. A city of 92,000 people.
   b. A furnace in the summer.
   c. An outdoor paradise.
   d. All of the above.
   If you chose "d," you win a brand new Mercedes-Benz, as Sacramento Capitals coach Wayne Bryan often jokes with players at his clinics.
   Harkins, though, doesn't have to make the trek anymore. She and her husband moved to Redding in March, Harkins said Thursday after losing to No. 2 seed Ksenia Pervak of Russia 6-2, 6-3 in the second round of the $25,000 The Ascension Project Women's Challenger at Sun Oaks Tennis & Fitness.
   Say what? Move from a tennis mecca to remote Redding?

Ksenia Pervak reached No. 37 in the world
in 2011. Photo by Paul Bauman

   At last year's Challenger, Harkins met Jeremiah Walsh and Jo Campbell, the director of tennis and tennis coordinator at Sun Oaks, respectively.
   "I believe they can take my game to the next level (so I can) play at the WTA level," Harkins explained. "We moved here so I can get more one-on-one time with (Walsh)."
   Walsh serves as Harkins' tennis coach and Campbell as her mental coach.
   Whereas Harkins was a classic small fish in a big pond in Palos Verdes, the opposite is true in Redding. And let's face it -- the cost of housing in Redding is a fraction of that in Los Angeles.
   Harkins was accorded rock-star status during her match against Pervak. A crowd of about 100 fans -- an excellent turnout for a second-round Challenger match at 10 a.m. on a weekday -- erupted with cheers for her winners and groaned after her misses.
   Despite the one-sided score, Harkins put up a good fight, engaging Pervak in many hard-hitting rallies. Unfortunately for Harkins, Pervak won most of them.
   "Her defense was incredible," Harkins said. "She got to a lot of balls that I thought were going to be unreturnable or I would get a weak ball, but she managed to get a lot of balls back. So it made me hit more and more. That was really good on her part."
   Pervak, a 5-foot-7 (1.70-meter) left-hander, climbed to a career-high No. 37 in the world in 2011 after advancing to the fourth round at Wimbledon and winning a WTA tournament in Tashkent. Hampered by injuries this year, the 22-year-old Pervak has fallen to No. 142.
   Harkins, who played at the University of Illinois and Texas Christian University, is ranked No. 249 in doubles with nine career minor-league titles and No. 761 in singles with three career minor-league crowns. She needs to crack the top 100 to play regularly on the WTA tour, the major leagues of women's tennis.
   Like Pervak, Harkins is left-handed. Plus, she's 6 feet (1.84 meters) tall. That gives her two enormous advantages, and Walsh calls her "a tremendous ball-striker."
   So what's the problem? Basically, impatience and shot selection.
   "It's at a place of decision-making," Walsh said. "We're at a place where (she's) learning how to make choices in milliseconds and process and let go of feelings and stick to plans and return to plans.
   "You watched her match? She's not far off. That gal was 37 in the world, and you can see why. The opportunities did present themselves. It's just a matter of learning how to get deeper into a match (when) things might open up for you. Some players have a hard time with that. We're getting to the place where Macall is going to recognize opportunities even if it takes a set and half to get to them."
   Harkins, added Walsh, "has spent a career hitting hard and flat. You get to a certain level, and that doesn't get you through anymore. She's learning to recognize when to change the flight patterns and how to adjust to a difficult ball.
   "Sometimes her old instinct is, 'Oh, no, I'm in trouble; I better hit this hard,' instead of, 'I'm in trouble; I better work my way out of this spot.' It's not such a panic decision. That's what I mean by decision-making in that millisecond."
   Why doesn't hitting hard and flat work?
   "Cuz there's a net, and it's three feet high," Walsh quipped. " ... You don't just get to hit hard and flat cuz you want. If the ball is low, if the ball is difficult, you may not be able to create the right trajectory with pace."
   Harkins got a measure of revenge against Pervak later Thursday. The fourth-seeded team of Harkins and American Sanaz Marand, another left-hander, defeated Pervak and Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove in the Sacramento area 6-4, 6-4 in the doubles quarterfinals.
   Harkins reached last year's doubles final with Chieh-Yu Hsu. They fell to Jacqueline Cako and Marand 7-6 (5), 7-5 in an All-American battle.
   The 25-year-old Schnack launched a comeback in Redding, where she won the doubles title in 2010 and 2011, after leaving the tour last fall. She is deferring her acceptance to nursing school for at least six months. The 2010 UCLA graduate reached career highs of No. 140 in doubles and No. 371 in singles last year.
   Unseeded Robin Anderson, who advanced to the NCAA doubles final as a UCLA sophomore in May, beat fourth-seeded Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 to reach the singles quarterfinals at Sun Oaks.
   Christina Makarova, a 17-year-old qualifier from San Diego, outlasted Cako 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 to gain her first Challenger quarterfinal.
   Top-seeded Olivia Rogowska of Australia and unseeded Julia Boserup, the 2011 Redding champion, each won 6-2, 6-0. In two matches, Boserup has lost only four games and Rogowska six.
   Boserup, who turned 22 on Monday, missed the first six months of the year with a bulging disc.
   Here are links to the singles and doubles draws and today's schedule:
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/singles_draw283.PDF
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/doubles_draw284.PDF
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/schedule284.PDF

Redding top seed bounces back from shutout loss

Top seed Olivia Rogowska serves during her 6-4, 6-0
victory over Montserrat Gonzalez, 19, of Paraguay
in the first round of the Redding Challenger.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   REDDING, Calif. -- It took a few days, but Olivia Rogowska overcame the trauma.
   The 22-year-old Australian recently endured a tennis player's worst nightmare, a 6-0, 6-0 loss.
   Futhermore, the humiliation wasn't hidden from public view in Azerbaijan on an outside court at 10 a.m.
   No, it occurred at the U.S. Open. In Louis Armstrong Stadium. On television. In prime time.
   Ouch.
   On the bright side, Rogowska had survived qualifying to earn a berth in the main draw and a guaranteed $31,455, and the perpetrator, Sara Errani of Italy, was ranked fifth in the world.
   "I was really upset after the match, but every player has to have a tough loss to learn from," the top-seeded Rogowska said after beating Montserrat Gonzalez, 19, of Paraguay 6-4, 6-0 today in the first round of the $25,000 The Ascension Project Women's Challenger at Sun Oaks Tennis & Fitness. "It was a good experience now that I look back on it."
   It was the first time Rogowska, now ranked 138th in the world, had been shut out since she turned pro in June 2007.
   Rogowska described Errani, last year's French Open runner-up to Maria Sharapova, as "the best in the world at not missing, getting every single ball back. She's the most solid player in the world. I just have to work on attacking in the right moments and smarter shot selection against her. There were a lot of close games, and she just seemed to win the tighter points, just being a bit smarter and more solid."
   After slinking away from New York, Rogowska spent a week training at the Chris Evert Academy in Boca Raton, Fla. Evert, though, was still commentating at the U.S. Open for ESPN.
   Rogowska was not particularly pleased with her performance against Gonzalez, who has won four $10,000 tournaments (three on clay) this year.                    
   "I guess the first match is always the toughest at a tournament, just getting used to the conditions, the court," said Rogowska, who reached the second round of last year's Australian Open in her hometown of Melbourne. "The first set, I was just a bit nervous, but once I settled down, once I won the first set, I thought I started playing a bit better.
   "I started making more balls, and she started missing a bit more. Once that started, I felt like I got a bit more aggressive and a bit more dominant. I felt like I played some pretty good tennis at the end."
   Rogowska's biggest strength is her mobility.
   "I like to get a lot of balls back," said Rogowska, who's rail thin at 5-foot-9 (1.75 meters) and 125 pounds (58 kilograms). "I like to change direction sometimes. That puts my opponents off -- they don't really know where I'm hitting it.   "I feel like my serve has improved a lot. I don't think I got broken today, so I feel like my serve really helped me win that first set and in the end win the match."
   Both players grew up on clay, even though Australia is known more for hardcourts and formerly grass. Rogowska's affinity for clay showed at Sun Oaks as she often slid into shots, her shoes screeching against the hardcourt.
   "Sliding to me is pretty natural," Rogowska said. "Sometimes it's a bad habit. You shouldn't really do it all the time on hard, but it's just the way I move and feel comfortable. We have a lot of clay courts in Melbourne."
   Several times during the match, the chair umpire referred to Rogowska as "Radwanska," confusing the Aussie with Polish star Agnieszka Radwanska.
   "I actually get that quite a lot," said Rogowska, whose parents moved from Poland to Australia two years before she was born. "They struggle with my surname here in the States. It should be pronounced Ro-GOFF-ska, but I've had so many mispronunciations, I'm used to it."
   Speaking of name problems, third-seeded Chanel Simmonds narrowly avoided an upset by winning the last four games to beat qualifier Michelle Sammons 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 in a battle of South Africans.
   Sammons served for the match at 5-4 in the third set, but the 26-year-old former Texas A&M and Purdue standout choked big-time and was broken at love. She double-faulted twice to trail 0-30, hit a backhand that clipped the tape and bounced back, then double-faulted.
   In addition to facing Simmonds, Sammons later lost in doubles with American Sianna Simmons. Seriously. Unfortunately, forward John Salmons of the Sacramento Kings in the NBA didn't make the 2 1/2-hour drive up Interstate 5 for the matches.
   One seed fell for the second straight day as qualifier Anamika Bhargava knocked off fellow American Samantha Crawford, the sixth seed and last year's U.S. Open junior girls champion, 7-6 (2), 6-4. American Sanaz Marand, seeded eighth, lost to 17-year-old qualifier Christina Makarova of San Diego on Tuesday.
   Unseeded Julia Boserup, the 2011 champion, advanced easily with her laser-like groundstrokes. The Newport Beach resident, who turned 22 on Monday, missed the first six months of the year with a bulging disc.
   However, the back problems of 2005 runner-up Ivana Lisjak flared up. She retired against fifth-seeded Adriana Perez of Venezuela with the match tied 1-1 in the third set. Lisjak, a 26-year-old Croat who lives in Las Vegas, returned to the tour in July after missing almost all of a 2 1/2-year stretch with a lower-back injury.

$25,000 THE ASCENSION PROJECT WOMEN'S CHALLENGER

In Redding, Calif.

First-round singles

   Macall Harkins, United States, def. Maria-Fernanda Alves, Brazil, 6-1, 6-1.
   Chanel Simmonds (3), South Africa, def. Michelle Sammons, South Africa, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5.
   Olivia Rogowska (1), Australia, def. Montserrat Gonzalez, Paraguay, 6-4, 6-0.
   Adriana Perez (5), Venezuela, def. Ivana Lisjak, Croatia, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 1-1, retired (back injury).
   Catherine Harrison, United States, def. Angelina Gabueva, Russia, 6-4, 6-2.

   Julia Boserup, United States, def. Ulrikke Eikeri, Norway, 6-0, 6-2.
   Anamika Bhargava, United States, def. Samantha Crawford (6), United States, 7-6 (2), 6-4.
   Beatrice Capra, United States, def. Caitlin Whoriskey, United States, 6-2, 6-1.

First-round doubles

   Robin Anderson and Lauren Embree, United States, def. Roxanne Ellison and Sierra A. Ellison, United States, 6-1, 6-4.
   Ksenia Pervak, Russia, and Yasmin Schnack, Elk Grove, def. Angelina Gabueva, Russia, and Ivana Lisjak, Croatia, walkover (Lisjak back injury).
  Macall Harkins and Sanaz Marand (4), United States, vs. Michelle Sammons, South Africa, and Sianna Simmons, United States, late.
   Anamika Bhargava and Ashley Weinhold, United States, vs. Ulrikke Eikeri, Norway, and Chanel Simmonds (3), South Africa, late.

Thursday's schedule

(Starting at 10 a.m.)

Court 2

   Macall Harkins, United States, vs. Ksenia Pervak (2), Russia.
   Robin Anderson, United States, vs. Veronica Cepede Royg (4), Paraguay.
   Olivia Rogowska (1), Australia, vs. Lauren Embree, United States.
   Emily Harman and Elizabeth Lumpkin, United States, vs. Jacqueline Cako and Allie Kiick, United States.

Court 1

   Anamika Bhargava, United States, vs. Julia Boserup, United States.
   Christina Makarova, United States, vs. Jacqueline Cako, United States.
   Chanel Simmonds (3), South Africa, vs. Beatrice Capra, United States.
   Robin Anderson and Lauren Embree, United States, vs. Anamika Bhargava and Ashley Weinhold, United States.

Court 3

   Despina Papamichail, Greece, vs. Allie Kiick (7), United States.
   Catherine Harrison, United States, vs. Adriana Perez (5), Venezuela.
   Macall Harkins and Sanaz Marand (4), United States, vs. Ksenia Pervak, Russia, and Yasmin Schnack, Elk Grove.
   Erin Clark, United States, and Despina Papamichail, Greece, vs. Veronica Cepede Royg, Paraguay, and Adriana Perez (2), Venezuela.