Friendly foes: Keys tops CoCo for Stanford title

Madison Keys sits on CoCo Vandeweghe's
lap after winning the Bank of the West
Classic at Stanford. Photo by Mal Taam

   STANFORD, Calif. -- A touching, likely unprecedented, scene occurred today in the cutthroat world of professional tennis.
   After defeating fellow American CoCo Vandeweghe 7-6 (4), 6-4 for the title in the Bank of the West Classic, Madison Keys walked to Vandeweghe's chair, hopped on her good friend's lap and hugged her.
   The horde of photographers, who had been aiming their cameras toward one end of the court for the impending trophy presentation, suddenly pivoted 90 degrees to capture the tender moment.
   Vandeweghe then walked to Keys' side of the court and sat next to her for the awards ceremony.
   Keys said the title "means a lot. It's my first title in the States and against a friend. Truly, I think the moments afterwards are part of what makes it so special and what I will always remember about this week."
   Keys and Vandeweghe became friends when they helped the United States rout host Australia 4-0 in the World Group playoffs of the Fed Cup in April 2016.
   "The whole team really bonded -- myself, Bethanie (Mattek-Sands), Maddie and Christina (McHale)," said Vandeweghe, also the runner-up to Serena Williams five years ago at Stanford as a lucky loser. "It was the first time really that we were all together for that long of a time because the tie (series) was in Australia. We had pretty much like two weeks together. It was a lot of fun, a lot of instances where the Australian media really did a good job in making it fun for us out there. And we won the tie, so that's a bonus of making everyone really like each other."
   Entering today, Keys and Vandeweghe each had won two WTA titles, both on grass in Europe. Aside from Keys' 6-3, 6-2 dismantling of top seed and reigning Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza in Saturday's semfinals, there was little indication that Keys would add to her total.

   Keys, a right-hander with a two-handed backhand, underwent surgery on her left wrist last November, returned to the tour in March and had arthroscopic surgery on the wrist in early June after losing in the second round of the French Open.
   Keys missed the Wimbledon grass-court tune-up tournaments, withdawing from Birmingham after winning the 2016 title there, and lost in the second round at the All England Club.

Madison Keys, 22, won her third career WTA title
but first in the United States. Photo by Mal Taam

   Keys arrived at Stanford, her first tournament since Wimbledon, with modest expectations.
   "I came into this tournament with the goal of having good, solid matches and trying to get consistent and feel good on the tennis court, and I think I did that," said Keys, who had lost in the second round in both of her previous Stanford appearances (2013 and 2015). "That's going to be my goal not only for the next tournament, but the tournament after that and for the rest of the season."

   Keys, who received a first-round bye as the No. 3 seed, trailed by a set and a break against U.S. qualifier Caroline Dolehide in the second round before prevailing 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
   "I think that first match really tested me in the sense of staying composed and figuring things out and just playing smarter," Keys said. "I think that match really, really helped me for the rest of the week."
   Both the 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) Keys and the 6-foot-1 (1.85-meter) Vandeweghe have powerful serves and groundstrokes. But Keys is more athletic, which is saying something considering Vandeweghe's background. Her uncle Kiki and grandfather Ernie played in the NBA. Her mother, Tauna, competed in the Olympics in swimming in 1976 and volleyball in 1984.
   Keys' parents are lawyers, but she chose a different kind of court.
   There were no service breaks in the first set of the initial meeting between Keys, 22, and Vandeweghe, 25, on a beautiful 75-degree (23.9 Celsius) day in front of an announced crowd of 2,391. Keys saved three break points, and Vandeweghe escaped a set point serving at 4-5.
   Keys pulled out the first set with the help of a net cord. With the sixth-seeded Vandeweghe serving at 4-5 in the tiebreaker, Keys slugged a forehand passing shot down the line set up by her ball that clipped the tape and went over the net.
   "I felt, in the first set especially, I was putting the most pressure on her service games," said Vandeweghe, who began working with 1987 Wimbledon champion Pat Cash at the start of the grass-court season. "I had three or four break points, and I want to say at least three of them were second serves. She came up with really good shots off those second serves, but if you look back and (say) coulda, woulda, shoulda, you're going to drive yourself crazy. Tennis is a game of millimeters, centimeters, whatever you want to call it. I looked at the end, and I think it was 72 points to 68 (correct), so there you go. That's how close it was.
   The only service break of the match came with Vandeweghe serving at 4-4 in the second set.  Vandeweghe fought back from 15-40 to deuce but lost the next two points. Keys laced a backhand winner down the line with Vandeweghe at the net, and Vandeweghe wasted an open court by sailing a runaround forehand long.
   Still, Keys was wary.
   "I definitely didn't know it was over," she said, "I just knew that if I kept hanging in on my service games (during the match) that hopefully I would have a chance to break. I knew there probably weren't going to be very many opportunities, so I knew when I had a break point in that game that I really needed to step up."
   Keys' worries were misplaced. She held serve at love, converting her first match point with a runaround forehand passing shot down the line.

Madison Keys, who had two operations on her left wrist, questioned whether
she could regain the form that took her to No. 7 in the world. Photo by Mal Taam 

   Keys earned $132,380 for the title. Vandeweghe collected $70,550 as the singles runner-up and added $20,825 for winning the doubles title with American Abigail Spears.
   Both singles finalists rose four places in the world rankings, Keys to No. 17 and Vandeweghe to No. 20, one spot off her career high in May.
   During Keys' layoffs, she had doubts that she could return to the form that carried her to a career-high No. 7 in the world last October.
   "There was lots of times when I thought maybe it just wasn't ever going to happen again," Keys confessed. "There's lots of low moments, but as great as this week is, I don't expect my wrist to be perfect forever and never have an issue with it again. It's going to be something I have to keep up and have a really good mentality about."
   Keys, though, wasn't surprised to win the title.
   "It definitely felt like my wrist has been the final missing piece in my game," said Keys, who's coached by former world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport and Dieter Kindlmann. I've actually felt pretty good about my game for a while. It was just really good to finally feel healthy for lots of matches."
   Notes -- The tournament's future is uncertain following the expiration of the Bank of the West's five-year contract. The Bank of the West Classic, in its 47th year, is the longest-running women's professional tournament in the world. It has been sponsored by Bank of the West since 1992 and held at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Stadium since 1997.
   Former Bank of the West champions include Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Andrea Jaeger, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Davenport, Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters.
   --Vandeweghe and Spears, seeded third, outclassed unseeded Alize Cornet of France and Alicja Rosolska of Poland 6-2, 6-3 in the final. It was the 36-year-old Spears' second consecutive Bank of the West doubles crown and third overall. The first two came with Raquel Atawo (formerly Kops-Jones) of nearby San Jose.
   --Here are the complete Bank of the West singles and doubles draws.
   --Here are the men's $100,000 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger qualifying draw, singles and doubles main draws, and Monday's schedule. Aptos, situated on the Pacific Ocean, is a one-hour drive south of Stanford.

Americans Vandeweghe, Keys gain Stanford final

CoCo Vandeweghe routed local favorite CiCi Bellis 6-3, 6-1 today in the semifinals
of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford. Photo by Mal Taam

   The local favorite won't play for the Bank of the West Classic title.
   But two Americans will.
   No. 6 seed CoCo Vandeweghe overwhelmed No. 8 CiCi Bellis 6-3, 6-1 in 65 minutes this afternoon at Stanford.
   It was the first semifinal in a WTA Premier Level tournament for Bellis, who grew up a five-minute drive from Stanford in Atherton. At 18, she became the youngest semifinalist in the Bank of the West Classic since 17-year-old Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic in 2006.
   In the evening semifinal, third-seeded Madison Keys ousted top seed and reigning Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza 6-3, 6-2 in 57 minutes to end the Spaniard's winning streak at nine matches. Keys improved to 3-0 against Muguruza, who also won tlast year's French Open.
   Vandeweghe will play in her second Bank of the West final. As a lucky loser in 2012, she held a set point in the first set of a 7-5, 6-3 loss to Serena Williams.
   "I'm five years older, and hopefully I'm more mature," Vandeweghe said today in her on-court interview. "I think (I'm) a little bit of a different tennis player. You grow and evolve as a tennis player and as a person, and I think especially in the last two years, it's been kind of clicking in that regard."

Madison Keys ousted top seed and reigning Wim-
bledon champion Garbine Muguruza 6-3, 6-2 in
less than an hour. Photo by Mal Taam

   Keys had lost in the second round in her two previous appearances at Stanford, in 2013 and 2015.
   Surprisingly, Vandeweghe and Keys will meet for the first time (2 p.m. PDT on ESPN2). But the similarities between them are uncanny. Besides being American (Vandeweghe is from Rancho Santa Fe in the San Diego area, and Keys resides in Boca Raton, Fla.), both:
   --Are young. Vandeweghe is 25 and Keys 22.
   --Are tall. Vandeweghe is 6-foot-1 (1.85 meters) and Keys 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters).
   --Are ranked in the 20s, Keys at No. 21 and Vandeweghe at No. 24.
   --Seek their third WTA title.
   --Have won two titles on grass in Europe.
   --Have reached one Grand Slam semifinal in the Australian Open, Keys in 2015 and Vandeweghe this year.
   Vandeweghe played for now-defunct Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis at 17 in 2009, one year after winning the U.S. Open girls singles title, and 2012.
   Vandeweghe comes from a renowned athletic family. Her uncle Kiki averaged 19.7 points during his 13-year NBA career (1980-93), and her grandfather Ernie played for the New York Knicks in the 1950s. CoCo's mother, Tauna, competed in the Olympics in swimming in 1976 and volleyball in 1984.
   Keys, a right-hander with a two-handed backhand, had left wrist surgery last November and returned to the tour in March.
   Vandeweghe also will play for the doubles title with Abigail Spears of Colorado Springs, Colo. Seeded third, they will face unseeded Alize Cornet of France and Alicja Rosolska of Poland after the singles final.
   ATP Tour -- Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native like Bellis, completed a Sombrero Double by winning the title in Los Cabos, Mexico.
   Seeded second, Querrey defeated wild card Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. The victory will put Querrey in the top 20 for the first time since 2013.
   Querrey also defeated Rafael Nadal for the Acapulco title in March.
   Men's Challenger -- Here are the singles main draw, qualifying draw and Sunday's schedule for the men's $100,000 Nordic Naturals Challenger at the Seascape Sports Club in Aptos, a one-hour drive south of Stanford.

Bellis, 18, crushes Kvitova in Stanford quarters

CiCi Bellis exults after demolishing two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova
6-2, 6-0 tonight in the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
Photo by Mal Taam

   It was one thing for CiCi Bellis to beat Petra Kvitova tonight in the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
   But 6-2, 6-0 in 62 minutes?
   We're talking about a two-time Wimbledon champion, not some obscure qualifier.
   Yes, Kvitova returned to the tour in May after suffering career-threatening cuts to her left (playing) hand in a knife attack at her home in the Czech Republic in December.
   But it's not as if the 27-year-old left-hander has been playing badly (a second-round loss to No. 95 Madison Brengle at Wimbledon notwithstanding).
   Kvitova won Birmingham on grass in the second tournament of her comeback and dispatched Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-2, 6-2 in the second round at Stanford on Thursday.
   Tonight, the second-seeded Kvitova had only one ace, double-faulted six times and committed 26 unforced errors to Bellis' nine.
   "I think this is definitely one of the biggest wins of my career,” the 18-year-old Bellis, who grew up a five-minute drive from Stanford in Atherton, told reporters. “I’m just really happy with how I played, and really excited I was able to get through it.
   “I don’t think Kvitova played her best tennis, but on my side I feel like just played a real unbelieveable match.”
    Kvitova is ranked No. 14 after reaching a career-high No. 2 in 2011. At 6 feet (1.83 meters), she towers over the 5-foot-7 (1.70-meter) Bellis.
   Bellis, the youngest player in the top 50 at No. 44, beat a top-20 player for the fourth time. She stunned No. 13 Dominika Cibulkova in the first round of the 2014 U.S. Open at age 15, knocked off No. 6 Agnieszka Radwanska in the third round at Dubai in February and upended No. 18 Kiki Bertens in the second round of the French Open in May.
   Cibulkova and Radwanska have reached one Grand Slam final each, but this was Bellis' first victory over a major champion. That does not include her win over Jelena Ostapenko in the first round of last year's Bank of the West Classic. Ostapenko won the French Open two days after her 20th birthday in June.
   Bellis also advanced to the semifinals of a WTA Premier Level tournament for the first time. Seeded eighth, she will face No. 6 seed and 24th-ranked CoCo Vandeweghe, 6-foot-1 (1.85 meters) from Rancho Santa Fe in the San Diego area, for the first time on Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPN2).
   Vandeweghe, the runner-up to Serena Williams as a lucky loser five years ago at Stanford, downed No. 4 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 6-2, 6-3.
   Hey, if CiCi can beat Kiki, she might beat CoCo, the oldest Stanford semifinalist at 25.
   In the other semifinal, top seed and reigning Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza of Spain will play third-seeded Madison Keys of Boca Raton, Fla., at 7 p.m. (ESPN2). Keys, 22, is 2-0 against Muguruza, 23.
   Muguruza, ranked fourth, outclassed No. 5 seed Ana Konjuh, a 19-year-old Croatian ranked 20th, 6-1, 6-3. Muguruza has lost only six games in her two Stanford matches. The top four seeds received first-round byes.
   Keys, a right-hander who had left wrist surgery last November and returned to the tour in March, eliminated seventh-seeded Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-4, 6-3.
   Here are the Bank of the West singles and doubles draws and Saturday's schedule.
   Here are the qualifying draw in the men's $100,000 Nordic Naturals Challenger in Aptos, Calif., and Saturday's schedule. Aptos, situated on the Pacific Ocean, is a one-hour drive south of Stanford.

Bellis, 18, to face Kvitova in Stanford quarterfinals

   For the second consecutive year, CiCi Bellis will face a former Wimbledon champion in the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
   The eighth-seeded Bellis will take on second-seeded Petra Kvitova for the first time tonight at 7 (ESPN3) after losing to Venus Williams 6-4, 6-1 last year.
   Williams owns five Wimbledon crowns (2000, 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2008) and Kvitova two (2011 and 2014).
   Both Williams and Kvitova are 6-foot (1.82 meters) or taller, and both have had physical issues off the court.
   Williams was diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome, an energy-sapping autoimmune disease, in 2011. Kvitova suffered career-threatening cuts on her left (playing) hand while fending off a knife attack at her home in the Czech Republic in December. She returned to the circuit in May.
   Williams, a 37-year-old right-hander, lost to Johanna Konta in last year's final. Neither player returned this year.
   Kvitova, 27, debuted in the Bank of the West Classic with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine in the second round on Thursday. The top four seeds received first-round byes.
   The 18-year-old Bellis, who grew up a five-minute drive from Stanford in Atherton, defeated qualifier Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay 7-6 (3), 6-2.
   Bellis, the youngest player in the top 50 at No. 44, evened her record against the 5-foot-4 (1.63-meter) Cepede Royg at 1-1. Cepede Royg won 6-4, 6-0 in the first round of qualifying for the 2015 French Open.
   All eight singles seeds reached the Bank of the West quarterfinals, the first time that has happened in a WTA tournament since Philadelphia in 2004.
   In the other quarterfinal in the bottom half of the draw, fourth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia will meet sixth-seeded CoCo Vandeweghe of Rancho Santa Fe in the San Diego area at about 2 p.m.
   Vandeweghe, the runner-up to Serena Williams at Stanford five years ago as a lucky loser, overpowered former Stanford star Nicole Gibbs of Santa Monica in the Los Angeles region 6-0, 6-2.
   Pavlyuchenkova also debuted in the Bank of the West Classic. She downed American Alison Riske, a semifinalist last year and quarterfinalist two years ago at Stanford, 6-4, 6-0.
   In the top half of the draw, top seed and reigning Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza will play fifth-seeded Ana Konjuh, a 19-year-old Croatian ranked 20th, at noon.
   Third-seeded Madison Keys of Boca Raton, Fla, will face seventh-seeded Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine at about 4 p.m.
   Here are the Bank of the West singles and doubles draws and today's schedule.

Sharapova, like Azarenka, withdraws from Stanford

Maria Sharapova, shown on Monday night, withdrew from her second-round
match in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford today with soreness in her
left arm. Photo by Mal Taam

   STANFORD, Calif. -- First Victoria Azarenka, now Maria Sharapova.
   Midway through the second round of the Bank of the West Classic, withdrawals have cost the tournament two of its four marquee players.
   Sharapova pulled out with soreness in her left arm, officials announced shortly before noon PDT today. She was to have played seventh-seeded Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine not before 2:30 p.m.
   "Unfortunately, I have to withdraw from today's match," Sharapova, a 30-year-old right-hander with a two-handed backhand, said in a statement. "Toward the end of Monday night's match, I felt pain in my left forearm. After yesterday's scan, the doctor has recommended I don't risk further injury. Monday night's crowd was so special, and I wish I could continue playing, but I have to make a preventative decision."
    Sharapova, a wild card ranked No. 171, returned from a 15-month doping suspension in April. In the third tournament of her comeback, she retired from her second-round match in the Italian Open in May with a thigh injury. Stanford was Sharapova's first tournament since then.    
   Tsurenko, playing in the Bank of the West for the first time this year, will meet third-seeded Madison Keys of Boca Raton, Fla., in Friday's quarterfinals.
   Keys, who underwent left wrist surgery last fall and returned to the circuit in March, defeated qualifier Caroline Dolehide 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. Dolehide, who's scheduled to play in a doubles quarterfinal with fellow U.S. teenager Kayla Day on Friday, is competing in her first WTA tournament.
   Azarenka, who won the 2010 Bank of the West Classic (beating Sharapova in the final), withdrew from this year's tournament on Friday with a viral illness. She gave birth to her first child in December and came back to the tour in June.
   Both Sharapova and Azarenka have reached No. 1 in the world. Sharapova has won Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open once each and the French Open twice. Azarenka owns two Australian Open titles.

Top-seeded Garbine Muguruza, playing her first match since winning Wim-
bledon last month, crushed 17-year-old Kayla Day 6-2, 6-0 in the second
round of the Bank of the West Classic. Photo by Mal Taam

   In tonight's featured match, top-seeded Garbine Muguruza of Spain crushed Day, a 17-year-old left-hander from Santa Barbara, Calif., 6-2, 6-0 in 58 minutes. Muguruza hammered her serve, pounded her groundstrokes into the corners and kept Day on her heels with deep returns of serve.
   It was Muguruza's first match since she won Wimbledon last month for her second Grand Slam singles title. The top four seeds received first-round byes.
   "I'm happy because it's never easy -- I remember that from last year -- to go back to a tournament pretty soon (after winning a Slam)," said Muguruza, who won the 2016 French Open. "To forget about what just happened, just concentrate on a new tournament, that match, and start fresh, so I'm happy it went my way because it's easy to make a mess of it."
   Muguruza, who won the doubles title at Stanford in 2014 with compatriot Carla Suarez Navarro, beat Day 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 in the third round at Indian Wells in March in their only previous meeting.
   "In that match, I started a little bit bad," Muguruza recalled. "My game was not there, and I missed a lot of shots. I really wanted to start well here, especially trying to return her serve. She has a big serve, and she's lefty, and I was working on that. That made a huge difference to start well in the match and not almost losing in the second set and trying to survive."
   Muguruza will play fifth-seeded Ana Konjuh of Croatia for the first time in the quarterfinals. Konjuh, ranked 20th at 19 years old, topped Natalia Vikhlyantseva of Russia 7-5, 6-4.
   Second-seeded Petra Kvitova, who accepted a late wild card, is scheduled to make her Bank of the West debut against Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine in the second round on Thursday not before 1 p.m.
   Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon singles champion, suffered career-threatening injuries to her left (playing) hand when she was attacked with a knife during a home invasion in Prostejov, Czech Republic, in December. She returned to the tour in May.
   In a doubles quarterfinal today, third-seeded Abigail Spears of Colorado Springs, Colo., and CoCo Vandeweghe of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., in the San Diego area edged former Stanford teammates Kristie Ahn of Orlando, Fla., and Nicole Gibbs of Santa Monica in the Los Angeles area 6-7 (7), 6-4 (10-6].
   Vandeweghe, the singles runner-up to Serena Williams as a lucky loser at Stanford in 2012, was treated for a nosebleed after the second set.
   Here are the Bank of the West singles and doubles draws and Thursday's schedule.

Bellis, making the grade as pro, breezes at Stanford

   STANFORD, Calif. -- At this time last year, CiCi Bellis was entering her senior year of high school and planning to attend Stanford University.
   One year later, the product of neighboring Atherton returned to the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford as a professional and the youngest player in the world's top 50 at No. 44.
   "It's crazy," the eighth-seeded Bellis marveled after using her impeccable groundstrokes to dismiss French veteran Alize Cornet 6-3, 6-2 in 1 hour, 17 minutes on Tuesday night in the first round. "The two choices I had last year, being on this path or going to Stanford, are great ones. If I had chosen Stanford, I would probably be going there in a few weeks. It's crazy how different life could be if I had chosen that."
   Bellis, 18, turned pro last September after reaching the third round of the U.S. Open as a qualifier. Seeded in a WTA tournament for the first time at Stanford, she raised her arms after converting her first match point as if she had won the title.
   "This being my home tournament, I just get so much more excited for every winning points and matches," gushed Bellis, who estimated that she had "40, maybe more" family members and friends in the announced crowd of 1,179.
   Cornet, 27, is ranked one spot lower than Bellis. In 2014, Cornet became the first player to defeat Serena Williams three consecutive times since Justine Henin in 2007. One of Cornet's victories over Williams came in the third round at Wimbledon; another came via retirement.
   Cornet has the most Grand Slam appearances (46) without reaching a quarterfinal of all active players.
   Bellis, now based in Orlando, Fla., will face Veronica Cepede Royg, a 25-year-old qualifier from  Paraguay, on Thursday in a bid to reach the quarterfinals at Stanford for the second consecutive year.
   Cepede Royg, only 5-foot-4 (1.63 meters), downed Kristie Ahn, a 25-year-old former Stanford star also based in Orlando, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1.
   Cepede Royg defeated Bellis 6-4, 6-0 in the first round of qualifying in the 2015 French Open in their only previous meeting.
   Bellis could play second-seeded Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion, in the quarterfinals on Friday. Kvitova returned to the tour in May after her left (playing) hand was severely injured in a knife attack at her home in the Czech Republic in December.
   During Tuesday's day session, sixth-seeded CoCo Vandeweghe of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., in the San Diego area beat Alja Tomljanovic (pronounced Eye-la Tom-lee-on-o-vich) of Croatia 6-2, retired (right shoulder).
   Tomljanovic, 24, withdrew from Sunday's final against 15-year-old U.S. sensation Amanda Anisimova in the $60,000 Sacramento Challenger with soreness in her surgically repaired shoulder.
   By playing one set in the Bank of the West Classic, Tomljanovic pocketed $7,225 (minus 30 percent tax), far exceeding the $4,863 (minus tax) she earned in Sacramento.
   Vandeweghe reached the final of the 2012 Bank of the West Classic as a lucky loser, falling to Serena Williams. Vandeweghe, then 20, held a set point in the first set of her 7-5, 6-3 loss.
   American Alison Riske, a semifinalist last year at Stanford and quarterfinalist in 2015, defeated Magda Linette of Poland 6-2, 6-4.
   Also, qualifier Caroline Dolehide, from Hinsdale, Ill., outplayed Naomi Osaka of Japan 6-4, 6-2 in a matchup of teenagers. It was the 18-year-old Dolehide's first main-draw match in a WTA tournament.
   Among the four doubles seeds, only the No. 3 team of Abigail Spears of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Vandeweghe remains alive after the first round.
   Americans Jennifer Brady and Madison Keys ousted top seeds Raquel Atawo (formerly Kops-Jones) of nearby San Jose and Hao-Ching Chan of Taiwan 4-6, 7-5 [10-6]. Atawo and Spears won the title last year and in 2013.
   Highlighting today's day session, former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova will meet seventh-seeded Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine not before 2:30 p.m. in the second round.
   In the featured night match, top seed and reigning Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza will face 17-year-old Kayla Day of Santa Barbara, Calif., at 7. The top four singles seeds received first-round byes.
   Here are the Bank of the West singles and doubles draws and today's schedule.

Sharapova triumphs in U.S. return at Stanford

Maria Sharapova won in her first tournament match in North America in more
than two years on Monday night at Stanford. Photo by Mal Taam

   Former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova defeated Jennifer Brady 6-1, 4-6, 6-0 Monday night in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
   It was Sharapova's first tournament match in North America in more than two years and her first anywhere since the Italian Open in May.
   Sharapova, 30, returned from a 15-month doping suspension in April. In the third tournament of her comeback, she retired from her second-round match against Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in Rome with a thigh injury.
   "I feel like I face a lot of things: not competing for a long time, an opponent who's able to play some great tennis -- what a year she's had already!" Sharapova, a wild card ranked No. 171, told reporters. "I feel like I'm playing catch-up against everyone who's had a head start.
   "All that matters is that I keep playing. As long as I'm the one winning the last point, I get to play another match, and another. The more I play, the better I'll do. That's the goal."
   Brady, 22, of Orlando, Fla., reached the fourth round of the Australian Open as a qualifier in January and the quarterfinals of last week's $60,000 Gold River Women's Challenger in the Sacramento area.
   Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam singles champion, will play seventh-seeded Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine on Wednesday or Thursday. Tsurenko, who reached the third round at Wimbledon and the French Open and won Acapulco this year, dismissed Lara Arruabarrena of Spain 6-3, 6-3.
   After Sharapova's victory, former Stanford star Nicole Gibbs edged 17-year-old wild card Claire Liu 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5) in a battle of Southern Californians. Liu, the Wimbledon girls champion, is ranked No. 1 in the juniors.
   Gibbs, 24, will face the winner of today's scheduled match between sixth-seeded and 24th-ranked CoCo Vandeweghe of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., in the San Diego area and Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia.
   Tomljanovic withdrew from Sunday's final in the Gold River Challenger with soreness in her surgically repaired right shoulder.
   Vandeweghe reached the final at Stanford five years ago as a lucky loser, falling to Serena Williams.
   In tonight's featured match at 7, local favorite CiCi Bellis will take on Alize Cornet of France. Bellis, 18, is the youngest player in the top 50 at No. 44. Cornet, 27, is one spot lower.
   Bellis was born in San Francisco and grew up in Atherton, a five-minute drive from Stanford. She now lives in Orlando, Fla.
   Here are the Bank of the West singles and doubles draws and today's schedule.