Stanford women reach NCAA semifinals

Freshman Carol Zhao, shown against Long Beach State last Satur-
  day at Stanford, clinched the Cardinal's 4-2 win over Virginia in the
NCAA quarterfinals. Tri Nguyen/TriNguyenPhotography.com

   Stanford's freshmen came through again.
   Rookies led the way for the second straight match in the NCAA Championships as the No. 11 seed and defending champion Cardinal women defeated No. 3 Virginia 4-2 in the quarterfinals today in Athens, Ga.
   Stanford (20-2), which has won nine consecutive NCAA Tournament matches as the lower seed,  will face No. 7 North Carolina on Monday at 10 a.m. PDT (live streaming and scoring at www.ncaasports.com) for a berth in the final.
   The Tar Heels (28-5) upset No. 2 Alabama 4-2.
   With the score 2-2 against Virginia, Stanford received victories from freshmen Caroline Doyle and Carol Zhao.
   The 57th-ranked Doyle, from San Francisco, wore down Caryssa Peretz 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 at No. 6 singles to give the Cardinal a 3-2 lead. The 21st-ranked Zhao, from Canada, clinched the victory with a 7-6 (1), 7-6 (4) victory over No. 53 Stephanie Nauta at No. 3 singles.
   Freshman Taylor Davidson, ranked 50th, had given Stanford a 2-0 lead by beating 76th-ranked Rachel Pierson 6-4, 6-1 at No. 4 singles.
   Stanford's three freshmen are 9-0 in singles in four matches in the NCAA Championships.

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

In Athens, Ga.

Women's quarterfinals

Stanford 4, Virginia 2

Doubles

   1. No. 10 Kristie Ahn and Carol Zhao (S) def. Stefanie Nauta and Li Xi, 8-2.
   2. No. 50 Taylor Davidson and Ellen Tsay (S) def. No. 7 Julia Elbaba and Rachel Pierson, 8-5.
   3. Danielle Collins and Maci Epstein (V) def. Caroline Doyle and Amelia Herring, 8-2.
   Order of finish: 1, 3, 2. 

Singles

   1. No. 4 Julia Elbaba (V) led No. 3 Kristie Ahn, 7-5, 4-4, unfinished.
   2. No. 32 Danielle Collins (V) def. No. 51 Krista Hardebeck, 6-4, 6-2.
   3. No. 21 Carol Zhao (S) def. No. 53 Stephanie Nauta, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (4).
   4. No. 50 Taylor Davidson (S) def. No. 76 Rachel Pierson, 6-4, 6-1.
   5. Maci Epstein (V) def. No. 54 Ellen Tsay, 7-6 (5), 6-3.
   6. No. 57 Caroline Doyle (S) def. Caryssa Peretz, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0.
   Order of finish: 4, 2, 5, 6, 3.

Cal men fall to Texas in NCAA round of 16

   The 17th-ranked Cal men lost to ninth-ranked and ninth-seeded Texas 4-1 today in the round of 16 at the NCAA Championships in Athens, Ga.
   Filip Bergevi, a freshman from Sweden, gave the Bears (17-8) their point with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Adrien Berkowicz at No. 3 singles.
   The Longhorns (23-5), who also beat Cal during the regular season, will face top-seeded USC (29-3) in Sunday's quarterfinals.
   Senior women -- As usual, Northern California struggled against more populous Southern California.
   Tracy Houk of Montara and Martha Downing of Shingle Springs lost one-sided finals in the USTA National Women's Hard Court Championships in La Jolla.
   Houk, the No. 2 seed and defending champion, fell to top-seeded Ros (Fairbank) Nideffer of San Diego 6-2, 6-3 in the 50-and-overs. Downing, seeded second, succumbed to top-seeded Tina Karwasky of Glendale 6-1, 6-0 in the 60s.
   Nideffer, a 53-year-old former touring professional originally from South Africa, reached career highs of No. 12 in the world in doubles in 1986 and No. 15 in singles in 1990. She won the French Open women's doubles title in 1981 with Tanya Harford of South Africa and in 1983 with Candy Reynolds of the United States.
   Houk was coming off a 4-hour, 15-minute victory over fourth-seeded Judy Newman of Scotts Valley in the semifinals.
   Karwasky, who won the title for the third consecutive year, dropped only three games in the tournament.  

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

In Athens, Ga.

Men's round of 16

Texas 4, Cal 1

Doubles

   1. No. 16 Soren Hess-Olesen and Lloyd Glasspool (T) def. No. 28 Gregory Bayane and Chase Melton, 8-3.
   2. Adrien Berkowicz and George Goldhoff (T) def. No. 86 Andre Goransson and Ben McLachlan, 8-1.
   3. David Holiner and Jacoby Lewis (T) led Filip Bergevi and Mads Engsted, 6-4, abandoned.
   Order of finish: 2, 1.

Singles

   1. No. 16 Soren Hess-Olesen (T) def. No. 55 Ben McLachlan (C), 6-4, 6-3.
   2. Campbell Johnson (C) led No. 40 Lloyd Glasspool, 7-5, 3-0, abandoned.
   3. Filip Bergevi (C) def. Adrien Berkowicz, 6-3, 6-3.
   4. No. 102 George Goldhoff (T) def. Andre Goransson, 7-5, 6-3.
   5. Gregory Bayane (C) led Nick Naumann, 6-4, 4-5, abandoned.
   6. Clement Homs (T) def. Nikhil Jayashankar, 6-1, 6-2.
   Order of finish: 1, 6, 3, 4.

Stanford women edge Cal in NCAA thriller

Caroline Doyle, shown on Saturday against Long Beach State at Stanford, saved
two match points and beat fellow freshman Maegan Manasse in a third-set tie-
breaker to give the Cardinal a 4-3 victory over Cal in the NCAA Championships.
Tri Nguyen/TriNguyenPhotography.com

   The Stanford women had no business beating Cal on Thursday in the round of 16 at the NCAA Championships.
   The defending champion Cardinal trailed 2-0 and 3-2, leaving the match in the hands of two freshmen. The first suffered cramps and fatigue. The second faced two match points.
   Yet 11th-seeded Stanford rallied to stun sixth-seeded Cal 4-3 in Atlanta. The match was moved indoors from Athens, Ga., because of rain.
   Stanford (19-2) ended Cal's 14-match winning streak. The Cardinal, which had been the last team to beat the Bears (20-5), is scheduled to meet third-seeded Virginia on Saturday at 9 a.m. PDT (live streaming and scoring at www.ncaasports.com) in the quarterfinals in Athens. The Cavaliers (24-5) defeated No. 14 Baylor 4-1.
   Another freshman, 21st-ranked Carol Zhao, put Stanford on the board with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over No. 18 Anett Schutting, a senior, at No. 2 singles.
   No. 3 Kristie Ahn evened the score 2-2, downing No. 30 Denise Starr 6-4, 6-2 at No. 1 singles.
   No. 87 Klara Fabikova put Cal of the brink of victory with a win at No. 5.
   After splitting sets at No. 4, Stanford's Taylor Davidson took an injury timeout for cramps and fatigue. She battled to 3-3 in the third set, then reeled off three straight games to beat Lynn Chi 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
   In the deciding contest, No. 57 Caroline Doyle of San Francisco survived match points serving at 4-5, 15-40 in the second set and went on to beat No. 62 Maegan Manasse, also a freshman, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (0).
   "We came all the way out here to go far in the tournament, and I was just trying to leave it all on the court," Doyle said on gostanford.com. "Even if I ended up losing, I just wanted to know that I gave it 100 percent. I ended up getting those points and securing the game."
   Said Cal coach Amanda Augustus: "Obviously that was heartbreaking from Maegan. We knew that this match was going to come down to the wire, as it does every time we play our rival. It was just great tennis on every court. Unfortunately, we had a couple of match points that we didn't convert, but that's what can happen when you have two freshmen out there at the end. You don't really know what you're going to get.
   "I think Stanford will go really far now in the tournament. I think we're two of the better teams this year, so I wish them luck. If it can't be us, I want it to be someone from our conference. My team fought really hard today and left it all out on the court. You can't ask for anything else."
   Please see full results below.
   Senior women -- In an all-Northern California showdown, No. 2 seed and defending champion Tracy Houk of Montara outlasted No. 4 seed Judy Newman of Scotts Valley 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 in 4 hours, 15 minutes to reach the women's 50 final of the USTA National Women's Hard Court Championships in La Jolla.
   Houk will meet top-seeded Ros (Fairbank) Nideffer of San Diego today for the title. Nideffer, a two-time French Open doubles champion, topped third-seeded Frances Chandler of Jackson, Tenn., 6-4, 6-1.
   Second-seeded Martha Downing of Shingle Springs in the Sacramento area will face top-seeded Tina Karwasky of Glendale in the women's 60 final. Downing beat third-seeded Sherri Bronson of Scottsdale, Ariz., 6-4, 6-2.

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Women's round of 16

Stanford 4, Cal 3

In Atlanta

Doubles

   1. No. 10 Kristie Ahn and Carol Zhao (S) def. No. 41 Lynn Chi and Anett Schutting, abandoned.
   2. No. 47 Maegan Manasse and Denise Starr (C) def. No. 50 Taylor Davidson and Ellen Tsay, 8-3.
   3. No. 83 Klara Fabikova and Zsofi Susanyi (C) def. Caroline Doyle and Amelia Herring, 8-4.
   Order of finish: 3, 2.

Singles

   1. No. 3 Kristie Ahn (S) def. No. 30 Denise Starr, 6-4, 6-2.
   2. No. 23 Zsofi Susanyi (C) def. No. 41 Krista Hardebeck, 6-2, 6-1.
   3. No. 21 Carol Zhao (S) def. No. 18 Anett Schutting, 6-2, 6-3.
   4. No. 50 Taylor Davidson (S) def. Lynn Chi, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
   5. No. 87 Klara Fabikova (C) def. No. 54 Ellen Tsay, 6-4, 6-3.
   6. No. 57 Caroline Doyle (S) def. No. 62 Maegan Manasse, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (0).
   Order of finish: 2, 3, 1, 5, 4, 6.

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

   Mike Bryan, 36 years old, 1998 NCAA doubles champion from Stanford -- Career-high No. 1 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Bradley Klahn, 23 years old, 2010 NCAA singles champion and 2011 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford -- No. 71 in singles (-5), No. 154 in doubles (+1).
   Scott Lipsky, 32 years old, 2002 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford -- No. 38 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Sam Querrey, 26 years old, San Francisco native, Sacramento Capitals (2012-13) -- No. 66 in singles (+6), No. 129 in doubles (-15).
   Dmitry Tursunov, 31 years old, trains at Gorin Tennis Academy in Sacramento suburb of Granite Bay -- No. 33 in singles (-1), No. 120 in doubles (+2).

Women

   Mallory Burdette, 23 years old, NCAA singles runner-up in 2012 and NCAA doubles champion in 2011 and 2012 from Stanford -- No. 288 in singles (+7), No. 1,132 in doubles (+8).
   Nicole Gibbs, 21 years old, NCAA singles champion in 2012 and 2013 and NCAA doubles champion in 2012 from Stanford -- No. 165 in singles (+1), No. 540 in doubles (+4).

   Macall Harkins, 28 years old, Redding resident -- No. 370 in doubles (+2), No. 705 in singles (+8).
   Raquel Kops-Jones, 31 years old, 2003 NCAA doubles champion from Cal -- No. 15 in doubles (no change), No. 1,078 in singles (+10).

   Maria Sanchez, 24 years old, born and raised in Modesto -- No. 101 in doubles (-2), No. 242 in singles (+2).

   Allie Will, 23 years old, born in San Mateo -- No. 112 in doubles (+1), No. 412 in singles (+2).

TV SCHEDULE

(All times in California)

Wednesday

   Italian Open (men and women), early rounds, Tennis Channel, 3 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (live), 1:30 p.m.-2 a.m. Thursday (repeat). 

   Thursday

   Italian Open (men and women), round of 16, Tennis Channel, 3 a.m.-2 p.m. (live), 2:30 p.m.-2 a.m. Friday (repeat). 

Friday

   Italian Open (men and women), quarterfinals, Tennis Channel, 3 a.m.-2 p.m. (live), 2:30 p.m.-2 a.m. Saturday (repeat).

Saturday

   Italian Open (men and women), semifinals, Tennis Channel, 3 a.m.-1:30 p.m. (live), 2-11  p.m.  (repeat).    

Sunday  

   Italian Open (men and women), finals, Tennis Channel, 4:30-9:30 a.m. (live), 11 a.m.-10 p.m. (repeat). 

CALENDAR

(All times in California) 

   Thursday-May 20 -- NCAA Men's and Women's Championships, round of 16 through finals, Athens, Ga. Cal women vs. Stanford, Thursday, 9 a.m.; Cal men vs. Texas, Friday, 6 a.m.

   May 21-26 -- NCAA Men's and Women's Singles and Doubles Championships, Athens, Ga. 

   MAY 25-JUNE 8 -- FRENCH OPEN. 2013 champions: Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Bob Bryan-Mike Bryan, Ekaterina Makarova-Elena Vesnina, Lucie Hradecka-Frantisek Cermak.
   June 7-8, 14-17 -- NorCal Boys 18 and 16 Junior Sectional Championships, Rio Del Oro Racquet Club, Sacramento, Calif. 

    June 7-8, 14-17 -- NorCal Girls 18 and 16 Junior Sectional Championships, Arden Hills Resort & Spa, Sacramento, Calif. 

    June 7-8, 14-17 -- NorCal 14s Junior Sectional Championships, University of the Pacific, Stockton, Calif. 

    June 7-8, 14-17 -- NorCal 12s Junior Sectional Championships, Sunnyvale Tennis Center, Sunnyvale, Calif.

   JUNE 23-JULY 6 -- WIMBLEDON. 2013 champions: Andy Murray, Marion Bartoli, Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan, Hsieh Su-Wei/Peng Shuai, Daniel Nestor/Kristina Mladenovic. 

   July 7-12 -- $50,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger, Gold River Racquet Club, Gold River, Calif. 2013 champions: Mayo Hibi, Naomi Broady-Storm Sanders. 

   July 28-Aug. 3 -- Bank of the West Classic, Stanford. 2013 champions: Dominika Cibulkova, Raquel Kops-Jones-Abigail Spears. 

   Aug. 4-10 -- $100,000 Comerica Bank Challenger, Seascape Sports Club, Aptos, Calif. 2013 champions: Bradley Klahn, Jonathan Erlich-Andy Ram.

Cal men win NCAA shocker; NorCal takes Maze Cup

   The 17th-ranked Cal men stunned Texas A&M, seeded eighth and ranked 10th, 4-3 on the Aggies' home courts on Sunday to reach the round of 16 in the NCAA Championships.
   Campbell Johnson won the deciding match at No. 2 singles in high humidity and temperatures in the upper 80s in College Station, Texas. The unranked senior from Rancho Santa Fe, a suburb of San Diego, defeated 22nd-ranked Shane Vinsent 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 to hand Texas A&M its first home loss in 16 matches this season.
   The Bears (17-7) will face Texas (22-5), seeded and ranked ninth, on Friday at 6 a.m. (PDT) in Athens, Ga. The Longhorns will be Cal's third straight opponent from the Lone Star State. The Bears whipped No. 41 Texas Tech 4-0 in the first round on Saturday in College Station.
   Stanford, which has won 17 NCAA men's team titles but none since 2000, lost in the first round of the NCAAs for the second consecutive year. The Cardinal fell to No. 43 Tulsa 4-2 on Saturday in Waco, Texas, to end its season at 14-6.
   NCAA Women's Championships -- Sixth-ranked Cal will meet archrival and defending champion Stanford, ranked 11th, on Thursday at 9 a.m. (PDT) in the round of 16 in Athens.
   The Bears (20-4) extended their winning streak to 14 matches with a 4-0 victory over Pepperdine in the second round on Saturday in Berkeley. The Cardinal (18-2) pounded No. 53 Long Beach State 4-0 at Stanford to reach the last 16 for the 29th consecutive year.
   Stanford and Cal have split their two meetings this season, with each team winning on the other's courts. The Cardinal handed the Bears their last loss, 5-2 in Berkeley on March 8, and Cal rolled to a 6-1 victory at Stanford on April 19.
   Stanford seeks its 18th women's team title and Cal its first. Florida ranks second behind the Cardinal with six crowns.
   ITF Women's Circuit -- Modesto product Maria Sanchez, seeded eighth, lost to fifth-seeded Heidi El Tabakh of Canada 6-3, 6-4 on clay in the final of a $25,000 Challenger in Raleigh, N.C.
   Sanchez, the 2011 Pacific-12 Conference Women's Player of the Year as a senior at USC, tumbled from a career-high No. 107 in the world last July to No. 244 entering the Raleigh tournament.  
   Maze Cup -- Northern California juniors defeated Southern California 13-7 at the Berkeley Tennis Club to win the title for only the third time in the tournament's 41-year history but second in a row.
   Andrew Gu of El Cerrito won the clinching match, routing Jacob Brumm of Rancho Santa Fe 6-1, 6-1 in the boys 16s.
   NorCal ended a 28-year drought in the tournament last year. Past participants include Pete Sampras, Michael Chang and Lindsay Davenport.

NCAA women's tourney opens; Maze Cup to begin

   The 11th-ranked Stanford women opened the defense of their NCAA championship with a 4-0 victory over Quinnipiac on Friday at Stanford.
   In the clinching match at No. 2 singles, 51st-ranked Krista Hardebeck routed Jacqueline Raynor 6-1, 6-0.
   The Cardinal (17-2) will meet No. 53 Long Beach State in the second round today at 1 p.m. at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium. The 49ers edged No. 21 Tulsa 4-3 in 4 hours, 53 minutes.
   Meanwhile, the sixth-ranked Cal women trounced Fairleigh Dickinson 4-0 in the opening round at the Hellman Tennis Complex in Berkeley. Freshman Denise Starr, ranked 30th, provided the clincher at No. 1 singles by dismantling Ksenija Tihomirova 6-1, 6-1.
   The Bears (19-4), the Pacific-12 Conference champions, will face 24th-ranked Pepperdine (19-4) in the second round today at noon at the Hellman Tennis Complex. The Waves pounded No. 40 LSU 4-0.
   Sacramento State lost to third-ranked UCLA 4-0 at UCLA to end the season at 12-17.
   The NCAA men's tournament will begin today at sites around the country. 
   No. 17 Cal (15-7) will take on No. 41 Texas Tech (13-10) in College Station, Texas, at 7 a.m. PDT, with the winner likely facing host and 10th-ranked Texas A&M (24-6).
   No. 27 Stanford (14-5) will play No. 43 Tulsa (15-12) in Waco, Texas, at 9 a.m. PDT, with the survivor probably meeting host and sixth-ranked Baylor (23-5).      
   Juniors -- The Maze Cup, pitting Northern California against Southern California, is scheduled to begin today at 9 a.m. at the Berkeley Tennis Club.
   Representing NorCal are:
   --Billy Griffith of Fresno and Logan Staggs of Tracy in the boys 18s.
   --Victor Pham of Saratoga, Andrew Gu of El Cerrito and Alexander Keyser of Danville in the boys 16s.
   --Michaela Gordon of Saratoga and Rachel Chong of Danville in the girls 18s.
   --Alaina Miller of Saratoga, Vanessa Nommensen of San Jose and Sarah Hu of Oakland in the girls 16s.
   Gordon, 14, beat 24-year-old Denise Muresan, ranked No. 481 in the world, in the first round of a $25,000 Challenger tournament in Raleigh, N.C., this week. Gordon then lost to eighth-seeded Maria Sanchez, a Modesto product who will play in today's semifinals.

Altamirano to attend Virginia -- maybe

Collin Altamirano will enroll at Virginia in January
unless he turns pro. 2013 photo by Paul Bauman

   Sacramento native Collin Altamirano has verbally committed to NCAA defending champion Virginia.
   Altamirano confirmed recently that he will enroll at Virginia, founded by Thomas Jefferson in Charlottesville in 1819, in January unless he turns professional. Last year's USTA boys 18 national champion, who trains at the Arden Hills Resort and Spa in Sacramento, said he will decide by the end of the year based on his results in pro tournaments.
   The 6-foot-2 (1.87-meter) Altamirano has played as an amateur in eight pro tournaments, all in the United States, this year. He has had some overall success in five Futures, comparable to Class A in baseball, and struggled in three Challengers, equivalent to Triple A.
   In the Futures, Altamirano reached the singles semifinals at Bakersfield in March and quarterfinals at Sunrise, Fla., in February. He won the doubles title at Boynton Beach, Fla., in February and advanced to the doubles final at Sunrise the following week, playing with fellow 18-year-old Deiton Baughman of Carson in each tournament. 
   In the singles semis at Bakersfield, Altamirano came within a tiebreaker of beating third seed and eventual champion Daniel Kosakowski of Downey before falling 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3. Kosakowski, who turned pro in 2011 after playing No. 1 at UCLA as a freshman, has four wins over top-100 players.
   Virginia won its first NCAA Division I men's tennis title last year, ending USC's four-year reign. The fourth-ranked Cavaliers (23-2), coached by Brian Boland, will open their defense on Saturday at home against Army.
   Altamirano said last summer that he also had received scholarship offers from Illinois, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest and Washington. He added that he was not being recruited by Stanford, Cal, USC or UCLA but didn't elaborate. Altamirano could not be reached today.

   Last August, Altamirano became the first unseeded player in the 71-year history of the USTA Boys 18 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich., to capture the title. Past winners include International Tennis Hall of Famers Michael Chang, Stan Smith and Dennis Ralston. 
   The title gave Altamirano a wild card into the U.S. Open men's singles draw, in which he lost to 22nd-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 in the first round. Altamirano then  reached the junior boys quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows.
   Altamirano trained with Roger Federer in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where the Swiss star has a residence, for two weeks in December and served as a practice partner for the U.S. Davis Cup team's first-round matchup against Great Britain, Jan. 31-Feb. 2 in San Diego. Great Britain upset the Americans 3-1.