Klahn outlasts Evans in rematch of Aptos final

Bradley Klahn, a former Stanford star, beat Daniel Evans of
Great Britain in a tight match in Northern California for the
second month in a row. 2012 photo by Paul Bauman

   The match lived up to expectations.
   In a battle of 23-year-olds, fifth-seeded Bradley Klahn topped Daniel Evans 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 today in the first round of the inaugural Napa Valley Challenger at the Napa Valley Country Club.
   Klahn, a former Stanford star from Poway in the San Diego area, also outlasted Evans of Great Britain 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 last month in Aptos, Calif., for his first Challenger title. Evans lost after holding one or more championship points for the second straight week. He had one against Klahn and three the previous week against Vasek Pospisil of Canada in the Vancouver Challenger.
   Evans reached the third round of the recent U.S. Open as a qualifier, stunning 11th-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan and 2011 Wimbledon quarterfinalist Bernard Tomic. Evans lost to 19th-seeded Tommy Robredo, who then eliminated five-time champion Roger Federer in straight sets before falling to eventual champion Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals.
   Klahn, a wild card at Flushing Meadows, advanced to the second round for the second consecutive year. He defeated 6-foot-8 (2.03-meter) Kenny De Schepper of France but lost to 23rd-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain. All three players are left-handed.
   Klahn will meet Thanasi Kokkinakis, a 17-year-old qualifier from Australia, on Wednesday in the second round of the $50,000 Napa tournament. Kokkinakis, the U.S. Open and Australian boys runner-up and Wimblebon boys doubles champion this year, edged 30-year-old qualifier Jesse Witten of Naples, Fla., 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (4) in 2 hours, 42 minutes.
   Witten reached the third round of the 2009 U.S. Open as a qualifier before falling to Novak Djokovic.
   Robby Ginepri, the only active American man to have reached a Grand Slam singles semifinal, thrashed Nicolas Barrientos of Colombia 6-1, 6-1.
   Ginepri, who lost to Andre Agassi in five sets in the 2005 U.S. Open semis, will face Michael Venus of New Zealand of Thursday. Venus, a former LSU All-American, upset seventh-seeded Steve Johnson of Orange, Calif., in the opening round.
   Here are links to the singles and doubles draws and Wednesday's schedule:
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/singles_draw287.PDF
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/doubles_draw288.PDF
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/schedule288.PDF

No. 7 seed Johnson falls in Napa Challenger

Seventh-seeded Steve Johnson lost to Michael Venus of New
Zealand in the first round of the Napa Valley Challenger.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Michael Venus of New Zealand upset seventh-seeded Steve Johnson of Orange, Calif., 7-6 (4), 6-4 today in the first round of the $50,000 Napa Valley Challenger at the Napa Valley Country Club.
   Johnson, who won two NCAA singles and four team titles at USC from 2009 to 2012, had beaten Venus 6-1, 6-4 in the second round of the $50,000 Winnetka (Ill.) Challenger in July in their only previous meeting.
   Venus, a 25-year-old former LSU All-American, will meet the winner of Tuesday's match between Robby Ginepri of Kennesaw, Ga., and Nicolas Barrientos of Colombia.
   Ginepri, 30, is the only active U.S. man to have reached a Grand Slam singles semifinal, losing to Andre Agassi in five sets in 2005.
   Ginepri, who climbed to a career-high No. 15 in the world in 2006, has plunged to No. 229. The right-hander broke his left elbow in September 2010 when he fell off his bicycle trying to avoid a squirrel and missed 10 months.
   The top three seeds in the Napa Valley Challenger -- Americans Denis Kudla, Tim Smyczek and Rhyne Williams, respectively -- won easily in the first round. Williams dispatched Collin Altamirano, a 17-year-old wild card from Elk Grove in the Sacramento area, 6-2, 6-2.
   In the final round of qualifying, former Sacramento State star Kiryl Harbatsiuk lost to third-seeded Jesse Witten of Naples, Fla., 6-4, 6-1. Witten avenged a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 loss to Harbatsiuk, a native of Minsk, Belarus, living in Sacramento, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the final round of qualifying in the 2010 Tiburon Challenger.
   Here are links to the Napa singles, doubles and qualifying draws and Tuesday's schedule:
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/singles_draw265.PDF
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/doubles_draw288.PDF
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/qualifying_draw285.PDF
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/schedule288.PDF   

Ex-Sac State star advances in Napa qualifying

   Wild card Kiryl Harbatsiuk of Sacramento defeated seventh-seeded Chris Wettengel of Las Vegas 7-6 (4), 6-4 Sunday to reach the final round of qualifying in the $50,000 Napa Valley Challenger at the Napa Valley Country Club.
   Harbatsiuk, a 25-year-old native of Minsk, Belarus, was named the Big Sky Conference MVP for three consecutive years (2009-11) at Sacramento State. He will play third-seeded Jesse Witten, 30, of Naples, Fla., on Monday.
   Witten, who reached the third round of the 2009 U.S. Open as a qualifier, beat Dane Webb, a junior at the University of Oklahoma from Richardson, Texas, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-1.
   The top three seeds in the main draw -- Americans Denis Kudla, Tim Smyczek and Rhyne Williams, respectively -- will play on Monday in the first round. Williams will face wild card Collin Altamirano, 17, of Elk Grove in the Sacramento area.
   Altamirano won the USTA Boys 18 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich., last month to earn an automatic wild card at the U.S. Open in the main draw of men's singles. He lost to 22nd-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany in the first round but reached the boys singles quarterfinals.
   Harbatsiuk is 1-0 against Witten, winning 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the final round of qualifying for the 2010 Tiburon Challenger. Harbatsiuk then lost to second-seeded Donald Young of Atlanta 6-1, 6-0 in the first round of the main draw.
   Two other Northern California wild cards, Anthony Tsodikov and Matt Seeberger, lost in the second round of qualifying in the Napa Valley Challenger.
   Fifth-seeded Alex Blumenberg of Brazil edged Tsodikov, a Stanford sophomore from San Francisco, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
   Sixth-seeded Greg Ouellette of Ormond Beach, Fla., held off Seeberger, an ex-UC Santa Cruz star, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3. Seeberger won a record eight NCAA Division III titles (two team, three singles and three doubles).
   Ouellette, a former All-American at the University of Florida, will play Mico Santiago of Corvallis, Ore. Santiago, 19, knocked off top seed Daniel Smethurst of Great Britain 7-5, 6-1.
   Here are links to the singles, doubles and qualifying draws and Monday's schedule:
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/singles_draw287.PDF
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/doubles_draw288.PDF
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/qualifying_draw285.PDF
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/schedule288.PDF

Aptos finalists to meet in first round at Napa

Bradley Klahn, far right, beat Daniel Evans, far left, in the final of the $100,000
  Comerica Bank Challenger in Aptos, Calif., last month.

    Last month, Bradley Klahn saved a championship point and defeated Daniel Evans in Aptos, Calif., for his first Challenger title.
   Early next week, they will meet in the first round of the $50,000 Napa Valley Challenger at the Napa Valley Country Club.
   The draw for the inaugural tournament was held Saturday. Monday's schedule will be released today.
   Klahn, a 2012 Stanford graduate from the San Diego suburb of Poway, is seeded fifth with a world ranking of No. 133. Evans, from Great Britain, is unseeded at No. 152. Both players are 23 years old.
   Evans reached the third round of the recent U.S. Open, stunning 11th-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan and 2011 Wimbledon quarterfinalist Bernard Tomic, to earn $93,000. Klahn advanced to the second round at Flushing Meadows for the second consecutive year, pocketing $53,000.
   Americans Denis Kudla and Tim Smyczek are seeded first and second, repectively, in Napa. Kudla, ranked 95th, will face No. 345 Edward Corrie of Great Britain. Smyczek, ranked 104th, will meet No. 446 Vijayant Malik of India.
   Two wild cards with Northern California ties will play seeds from the United States in the first round. Collin Altamirano, 17, of Elk Grove in the Sacramento area will take on third-seeded Rhyne Williams. Ben McLachlan, a senior at Cal from New Zealand, will go against fourth-seeded Alex Kuznetsov.
   In an intriguing first-round qualifying match on Saturday, Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia subdued Mitchell Frank of Annandale, Va., 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
    Kokkinakis, 17, reached the boys singles final at this year's U.S. Open and Australian Open and won the boys doubles title at Wimbledon with countryman Nick Kyrgios in July.
   Frank returned to the University of Virginia for his junior year after giving the Cavaliers  4-3 victory over UCLA in May for their first NCAA team title in tennis. Frank overcame a championship point to win the decisive match at No. 3 singles.
   In a matchup of wild cards from Stanford, sophomore Anthony Tsodikov of San Francisco dismissed senior Jamin Ball of Palo Alto 6-3, 6-2.
   Matt Seeberger, a former UC Santa Cruz star, coasted past fellow wild card Robert Stineman, a Stanford junior from Winnetka, Ill., 6-1, 6-2.
   Here are links to the main draw, qualifying draw and Sunday's schedule:
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/singles_draw287.PDF
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/qualifying_draw285.PDF
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/schedule288.PDF  

College, junior stars to meet in Napa qualifying

   Mitchell Frank will face Thanasi Kokkinakis on Saturday in a matchup of top young players in the first round of qualifying for the inaugural $50,000 Napa Valley Challenger at the Napa Valley Country Club.
   The match will follow the 10 a.m. encounter between wild cards Robert Stineman of Stanford and Matt Seeberger, a former UC Santa Cruz star, on the Stadium Court.
   Frank gave the University of Virginia its first NCAA team title in tennis last May. Now a junior, the Annandale, Va., resident saved a championship point in a 0-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory over Adrien Puget of UCLA at No. 3 singles.
   Kokkinakis, 17, of Australia this year reached the boys singles final in the Australian Open and U.S. Open and won the boys doubles title at Wimbledon with countryman Nick Kyrgios.
   Frank's teammate, sophomore Mac Styslinger, will play in the next match on the Stadium Court. Styslinger, who won the NCAA doubles title with Jarmere Jenkins, will play wild card Philip Holbrook of Napa.
   At 10 a.m. on Court 7, Stanford teammates Jamin Ball and Anthony Tsodikov will meet. Both are wild cards.
   Seeberger won a record eight NCAA Division III titles (two team, three singles and three doubles) at UC Santa Cruz.
   Here are links to the qualifying draw and Saturday's schedule:
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/qualifying_draw285.PDF
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/schedule288.PDF

        
     

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Schnack ends retirement on trial basis

Yasmin Schnack, 25, of Elk Grove returned to the
pro circuit last week on a six-month trial basis. She
retired at the end of last year. Photo by Paul Bauman 

   SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- It began with a spark last month at the $12,500 Macys.com Women's Tennis Open in San Rafael, Calif.
   A flame rose the next week at the U.S. Open National Playoffs in New Haven, Conn.
   And a raging fire erupted the following week at the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows.
   At that point, Yasmin Schnack was overcome by a desire to return to professional tennis.
   The 25-year-old resident of Elk Grove in the Sacramento area ended her nine-month retirement last week at the $25,000 The Ascension Project Women's Challenger in Redding, Calif. The former UCLA All-American, who reached career highs of No. 140 in the world in doubles and No. 371 in singles last year, plans to put off nursing school and play on a six-month trial basis.
   Schnack, 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters), competed only in doubles in Redding. She and Ksenia Pervak of Russia received a walkover in the first round, then lost in the quarterfinals to fourth-seeded Americans Macall Harkins and Sanaz Marand.
   Schnack won the Redding doubles title with Sacramento native Christina Fusano in 2010 and Modesto native Maria Sanchez in 2011. Marand captured it last year with Jacqueline Cako.
   At the Macys.com tournament in Brad Gilbert's hometown, Schnack won the singles and doubles titles.
   Seeded second in singles, Schnack beat seventh-seeded Katsyarina Zheltova 6-3, 6-4 in the final. Zheltova, a former All-American at Sacramento State from Belarus, had ousted Jana Juricova, the top seed and 2011 NCAA champion from Cal, 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals. Schnack and Zheltova, seeded first in doubles, demolished Lejla Hodzic and Juricova 6-1, 6-0 for the title.
   "I played well in the Macys Open in singles and doubles," Schnack said in a recent interview. "Katya is an incredible player. I felt every match I was playing well, hitting well and mentally fresh."
   In New Haven, Schnack and Eric Roberson of Sacramento won the mixed doubles title to earn an automatic berth in the main draw at the U.S. Open. The playoffs were held in conjunction with the New Haven Open on the WTA tour, the major leagues of women's tennis.
   "Being in that atmosphere, seeing (the WTA players') work ethic and training, they're so professional," marveled Schnack, who had played almost exclusively in tennis' minor leagues in her two-plus years as a professional. "To be around that atmosphere was transforming for me. It renewed my energy. I wanted to go out there and practice."
   At the U.S. Open, Schnack and Roberson lost in the first round to Slovakians Janette Husarova and Filip Polasek 6-4, 7-6 (3). Husarova, 39, reached No. 3 in the world in women's doubles in 2003. Polasek, 28, climbed to No. 20 in January 2012.
  "Playing in the Open was even more eye-opening," Schnack said. "I'm in the gym surrounded by (Rafael) Nadal and (Tommy) Robredo. They're lifting, stretching ... it's inspiring, infectious. You can't help but want to train. Eric had the same feeling: 'I want to be back here.'
   "I was bummed after our first-round loss, but Vania (King) said: 'Great playing. Your level is right here. Go for it if you want to.' It's going to take a lot of work -- my ranking has dropped so much -- but I'm not afraid of a challenge."
   King, who won the Wimbledon and U.S. Open women's doubles titles in 2010 with Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan, is Schnack's best friend. They lost in the first round of women's doubles at Wimbledon last year to eighth-seeded Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic in Schnack's only other appearance in a Grand Slam tournament as an adult.
   King said in March that Schnack "is more talented than I am. She has very clean strokes. She has a great body, great physical ability and an all-court game. She has all the tools. The game came naturally to her."
   Schnack was named after Yasmin Azir, played by Sophia Loren in the 1966 movie "Arabesque."
   As a sophomore at UCLA in 2008, Schnack helped the Bruins win their only NCAA women's team title. In 2010, she was named the Pacific-10 Conference Women's Player of the Year and graduated in sociology.
   Schnack has won 11 doubles and two singles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. She also played for Sacramento in World TeamTennis in 2011 and 2012, helping the Capitals advance to the WTT Finals in her second year.
   Citing loneliness, financial struggles and her father's declining health, Schnack left the pro circuit at the end of last year. William Schnack is a retired physician.
   Yasmin has been teaching at the Rio del Oro Racquet Club in Sacramento, applying to nursing schools and playing open tournaments in Northern California. She was accepted at Roseman University in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson, Nev. Meanwhile, her world rankings have plunged to No. 438 in doubles and No. 958 in singles.
   Schnack hopes to play singles and doubles in the $50,000 Party Rock Open in Las Vegas next week. After competing in mixed doubles with Roberson in the Sacramento Clay Court League in October, she plans to play one or two pro tournaments in November and full-time at the beginning of next year.
   "There's no pressure," Schnack said. "I can go out and have fun. I don't have to pay the bills. I can still go to school."