High hopes: Querrey, Anderson to meet in U.S. Open

    Ten years ago, two towering prospects met for the first time in the opening round of the $75,000 Sacramento Challenger at the venerable Sutter Lawn Tennis Club.
   On Tuesday, Sam Querrey and Kevin Anderson will square off for a berth in the U.S. Open semifinals.
   The 17th-seeded Querrey, a San Francisco native, dismantled 23rd-seeded Mischa Zverev of Germany 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 in 1 hour, 16 minutes in Sunday's late match at 23,771-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   Zverev, the older brother of sixth-ranked Alexander Zverev, stunned then-No. 1 Andy Murray to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in January.
   South Africa's Anderson, seeded 28th, defeated Paolo Lorenzi of Italy 6-4, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-4 during the day session in Louis Armstrong Stadium.
   The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Querrey ripped 55 winners, including 18 aces, and committed just eight unforced errors in the fastest men's match of the tournament.
   "I really couldn't have done anything better out there tonight," Querrey, 29, crowed in his on-court interview. "It was my first time playing out here at night, so I wanted to make the most of it.
   "I was a little nervous at first, but I came out playing hot. Tennis is a game of momentum, and once I broke early, I felt like I was off to the races. I felt comfortable three minutes into the match, and that was the key."
   With the win, Querrey will become the No. 1 American for the first time since July 2013. He currently is third at No. 21 behind John Isner (No. 15) and Jack Sock (No. 16).
   On the women's side, Fresno product Sloane Stephens also reached the quarterfinals by beating a seeded German. Stephens, who had foot surgery in January, topped No. 30 Julia Goerges 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
  Stephens, who ousted Serena Williams to advance to the Australian Open semifinals in 2013, will face 16th-seeded Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia for the first time.
   Sevastova defeated wild card Maria Sharapova 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 to move into the U.S. Open quarterfinals for the second consecutive year.
   Querrey is the first American man to gain the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open since Andy Roddick and Isner in 2011 and the only one remaining in singles this year.
   The 6-foot-8 (2.03-meter) Anderson, though, might as well be American. A 31-year-old veteran, he starred at the University of Illinois (2005-07), has an American wife and lives in Gulf Stream, Fla.
   Both Querrey and Anderson played part-time for the now-defunct Sacramento Capitals in World TeamTennis in 2012, but not together.
   Querrey is 9-6 against the 32nd-ranked Anderson, beginning with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory in Sacramento. They have split two matches this year, Querrey prevailing in five sets in the fourth round at Wimbledon in July and Anderson winning 6-4, 6-1 in the third round in Montreal last month.
   Their half of the draw will produce a first-time Grand Slam finalist, and the stars seem aligned for Querrey.
   Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are in the other half of the draw. The highest seed in Querrey and Anderson's half is No. 12 Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain. Murray, Novak Djokovic, Milos Raonic, Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori -- the top five players, in order, in the 2016 year-end rankings -- missed the tournament with injuries.
   Also, Querrey is riding a wave of confidence after advancing to his first Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon and winning Los Cabos last month to give him a "Sombrero Double" with the Acapulco title in March.
   Last but not least, Querrey will have the support of the boisterous New York crowd.
   Anderson, meanwhile, will play in his second major quarterfinal. He lost to Wawrinka at that stage two years ago in the U.S. Open after upsetting Murray in the round of 16.
   In the first round of the junior tournaments at Flushing Meadows, two players from Northern California beat seeds in singles.
   Sam Riffice, an 18-year-old Sacramento native now based in Orlando, Fla., knocked off No. 4 Yuta Shimizu of Japan 6-3, 6-2. And Katie Volynets, 15, of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area, took out No. 13 Emily Appleton of Great Britain 6-4, 6-4.

DOUBLES RESULTS
(Matches involving players with Northern California connections)

Women's doubles

Second round

   Timea Babos, Hungary, and Andrea Hlavackova (5), Czech Republic, def. Raquel Atawo (Fresno native; Cal, 2001-04; San Jose resident), United States, and Sabine Lisicki, Germany, 6-3, 6-4. 
   Kiki Bertens, Netherlands, and Johanna Larsson (11), Sweden, def. Julia Boserup and Nicole Gibbs (Stanford, 2011-13), United States, 6-2, 6-3.

Mixed doubles

Second round

   Lucie Hradecka, Czech Republic, and Marcin Matkowski (8), Poland, def. Raquel Atawo (Fresno native; Cal, 2001-04; San Jose resident), United States, and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, Pakistan, 3-6, 6-3 [10-4].

Bryans rout Aussies; Gibbs' doubles match halted

   Fifth-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan routed Australians Nick Kyrgios and Matt Reid 6-1, 6-1 today in the second round of the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   The 39-year-old Bryans (Stanford, 1997-98) will meet ninth-seeded Oliver Marach of Austria and Mate Pavic of Croatia on Monday for a quarterfinal berth.
   Marach and Pavic reached the Wimbledon final in July, falling 13-11 in the fifth set to Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Marcelo Melo of Brazil. It was the first Grand Slam men's doubles final for Marach, Pavic and Kubot and second for Melo, who lost in the 2013 Wimbledon title match with Ivan Dodig of Croatia.
   The Bryans grew up in Camarillo in the Los Angeles area and now live in Florida. They are trying to end a three-year Grand Slam title drought in men's doubles. They own a record 16 major crowns, including five in the U.S. Open.
   In women's doubles, the second-round match pitting 11th-seeded Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands and Johanna Larsson of Sweden against Los Angeles-area residents Julia Boserup and Nicole Gibbs (Stanford, 2011-13) was suspended by rain at 1-1.
   The match is scheduled to resume on Sunday at about 5 p.m. EDT. More rain is forecast for the morning but should end by noon. Matches are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. 
   Gibbs' first-round singles match against Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay also was suspended overnight by rain. Gibbs won in three sets before falling to top-ranked Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic in three sets in the second round.

Querrey advances, but no U.S. showdown

Sam Querrey, right, plays doubles with Gilles Mueller at Indian Wells in March.
Querrey, a 29-year-old San Francisco native, beat Radu Albot of Moldova in four
sets today in the U.S. Open. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Sam Querrey did his part.
   But John Isner was upset, preventing an all-American showdown on Labor Day weekend for a berth in the U.S. Open quarterfinals.
   Querrey, seeded 17th, defeated Radu Albot of Moldova 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 today in the third round in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., to equal his best showing in the U.S. Open. He also reached the round of 16 in 2008 and 2010.
   No. 10 seed Isner fell to No. 23 Mischa Zverev, a Moscow native who plays for Germany, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (5) in the first match of the night session in 23,771-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium. Halfway through the third round, Querrey is the only remaining U.S. man in singles.
   On the women's side, resurgent Sloane Stephens beat Ashleigh Barty of Australia 6-2, 6-4 to reach the fourth round of a major for the first time since the 2015 French Open.
   Querrey, a 29-year-old San Francisco native now living in Santa Monica in the Los Angeles area, will meet Zverev, a 30-year-old left-hander, for the first time on Sunday.
   Querrey is riding a wave of confidence after reaching his first Grand Slam semifinal in July at Wimbledon and completing a "Sombrero Double" with the Los Cabos title last month. He also won Acapulco in March.
   The bottom half of the U.S. Open draw, in which Querrey and Zverev are situated, will feature a first-time Grand Slam finalist following No. 29 seed Diego Schwartzman's 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, 6-4 victory over No. 5 Marin Cilic.
   The tournament is missing Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, defending champion Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori and Milos Raonic because of injuries.
   Stephens, a 24-year-old Fresno product, returned to competition at Wimbledon after missing 11 months because of foot surgery. The layoff changed her perspective.
   "Before I was, like, so emotional. Everything always got to me," Stephens, who upset Serena Williams to reach the semifinals of the 2013 Australian Open, told reporters. "Now, my life is good, everything's good. I play a sport for a living. I don't operate on people. This is not life or death. It's hard to realize that when you're out there playing, because there's a lot riding on it: prize money, points, so many things go into it.

    "Now I'm kind of, like, I do this for fun. I love tennis. There's not a lot of people that can say, like, Oh, yeah, I go and play tennis every day, and sweat, see all my friends, hang out, work out, and take pictures. That's it, right? I think I have it pretty good."

   Stephens will play No. 30 seed Julia Goerges of Germany on Sunday and could face 2006 champion Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals. Stephens is 4-1 (4-0 on hardcourts) against Goerges, including a 6-1, 7-6 (3) victory two weeks ago in the Cincinnati quarterfinals.

   Sharapova defeated 18-year-old American Sofia Kenin 7-5, 6-2 in a late matchup of wild cards in Arthur Ashe Stadium and will face No. 16 seed Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia.

   Kenin, a Moscow native who grew up idolizing Sharapova, won $60,000 Challengers in Stockton in July and Sacramento last year. She could turn pro, allowing her to keep $144,000 for reaching the third round of the U.S. Open.

OTHER RESULTS

(Matches involving players with Northern California connections)

Women's doubles

First round

   Julia Boserup and Nicole Gibbs (Stanford, 2011-13), United States, def. Naomi Osaka, Japan, and Francesca Schiavone, Italy, 6-3, 6-2.
   Sorana Cirstea, Romania, and Sara Sorribes Tormo, Spain, def. Kristie Ahn (Stanford, 2011-14), and Irina Falconi, United States, 6-3, 6-2.
   Qiang Wang and Yafan Wang, China, def. Sloane Stephens (Fresno product) and Taylor Townsend, United States, 6-4, 6-4.
  

No. 1 Pliskova survives scare from Gibbs

Nicole Gibbs, shown last year at Indian Wells, lost to top-ranked Karolina Pliskova
2-6, 6-3, 6-4 today in the second round of the U.S. Open. Photo by Mal Taam

   For one set, Nicole Gibbs was brilliant.
   The former Stanford star was scurrying around the court, even though her left thigh was wrapped, and lacing passing shots against the top-ranked player in the world.
   It didn't last, as Karolina Pliskova rallied for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over the American qualifier today in the second round of the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   The turning point in the daytime match at Arthur Ashe Stadium came when Pliskova broke serve at love to lead 4-3 in the second set. Pliskova, a 6-foot-1 (1.86-meter) Czech, won all 17 points on her first serve in the third set.
   Gibbs, a 5-foot-6 (1.68-meter) resident of Santa Monica in the Los Angeles area, had 14 winners and only four errors in the first set but finished with 32 and 28, respectively. She had lost to Pliskova 6-0, 6-0 in their previous meeting in the second round at Sydney in 2015.
   Pliskova avoided joining the list of upset victims in the U.S. Open. Through two rounds, five of the top eight seeds have been eliminated: No. 2 Simona Halep, No. 5 and two-time runner-up Caroline Wozniacki, No. 6 and defending champion Angelique Kerber, No. 7 Johanna Konta, and No. 8 and 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
   Gibbs won three NCAA individual titles in her three years at Stanford. She had two in singles (2012 and 2013) and one in doubles (2012), and added one NCAA team championship (2013).
   Two other ex-Stanford standouts, Bob and Mike Bryan, got off to a good start as they try to end their three-year Grand Slam title drought in men's doubles. The fifth-seeded Bryan twins, 39, defeated Czechs Roman Jebavy and Jiri Vesely 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
   The Bryans have won a record 16 Grand Slam men's doubles titles, including five in the U.S. Open. Their last major crown came in 2014 in Flushing Meadows.

OTHER RESULTS

(Matches involving players with Northern California connections)

Men's doubles

First round

   Rohan Bopanna, India, and Pablo Cuevas (10), Uruguay, def. Bradley Klahn (Stanford 2009-12) and Scott Lipsky (Stanford, 2000-03), United States, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Women's doubles

First round

    Raquel Atawo (born in Fresno; Cal, 2001-04; San Jose resident), United States, and Sabine Lisicki, Germany, def. Nicole Melichar, United States, and Anna Smith, Great Britain, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.

  Nadiia Kichenok, Ukraine, and Anastasia Rodionova, Australia, def. CiCi Bellis (born and raised in San Francisco Bay Area), United States, and Marketa Vondrousova, Czech Republic, 6-3, 6-4.

Mixed doubles

First round

   Raquel Atawo (born in Fresno; Cal, 2001-04; San Jose resident), United States, and Aisam-Ul-Haq Quereshi, Pakistan, def. Louisa Chirico and Bradley Klahn (Stanford 2009-12), United States, 6-4, 6-4.
   Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Spain, and Nicholas Monroe, United States, def. Kristie Ahn (Stanford, 2011-14), and Tennys Sandgren, United States, 6-4, 6-2.

Bellis suffers stunning collapse in U.S. Open

   The U.S. Open has been the scene of some of CiCi Bellis' greatest triumphs.
   Today, it was the scene of one of her most disappointing losses.
   Bellis, who was born in San Francisco and grew up in nearby Atherton, fell to Nao Hibino of Japan 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., in a first-round match postponed by rain.
   Bellis, 18, led 5-3 in the third set but collapsed in a blaze of unforced errors, especially on the forehand side. She was clearly perturbed afterward, giving the 22-year-old Hibino a perfunctory handshake at the net.
   Bellis, the youngest player in the top 50 at No. 36, will drop to about No. 43 after the U.S. Open. She reached the third round as a qualifier last year, then turned pro.
   Three years ago, Bellis stunned 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova in the opening round to become the youngest player to win a singles match at the U.S. Open since Anna Kournikova, also 15, in 1996. Cibulkova had advanced to the Australian Open final that year.
   Hibino, ranked No. 80, earned her first main-draw victory in a Grand Slam tournament after seven losses and topped Bellis for the first time after two defeats. Hibino won the inaugural Stockton Challenger in 2015.
   Meanwhile, Sloane Stephens, a 24-year-old Fresno product, upset No. 11 seed Cibulkova 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 in the second round. Stephens, who climbed to No. 11 in the world in 2013, returned to competition last month at Wimbledon after missing 11 months because of foot surgery. She will play Ashleigh Barty of Australia.
   Ex-Stanford star Nicole Gibbs beat Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay 6-0, 1-6, 6-1 in the completion of a first-round match suspended by rain. Gibbs, 24, will face top-ranked Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic.
   Sofia Kenin, who won last month's Stockton Challenger, topped qualifier Sachia Vickery 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (0) in a second-round matchup of Miami-area residents who often practice with each other.
   Kenin, 18, was born in Moscow and moved to the United States as a baby. She will take on her idol, wild card Maria Sharapova. If Kenin loses and remains an amateur, she will forfeit $144,000 for reaching the third round of the U.S. Open.
   On the men's side, No. 17 seed Sam Querrey, a 29-year-old San Francisco native, beat 32-year-old Dudi Sela of Israel 6-4, 6-1, 6-4 in the second round.
   Querrey, 6-foot-6 (1.98 meters) and 210 pounds (95 kilograms), is 9 inches (22.9 centimeters) taller and 66 pounds (30.0 kilograms) heavier than Sela.
   Querrey, who reached his first Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon, has not lost a set in two matches at the U.S. Open. He will meet another 5-foot-9 (1.75-meter) veteran, 27-year-old Radu Albot of Moldova, and could face Davis Cup teammate John Isner, seeded 10th, in the round of 16.

Teen stuns defending champion Kerber in U.S. Open

   Two champions of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford played today in first round of the U.S. Open.
   Only one advanced.
   No. 6 seed Angelique Kerber, the defending champion at Flushing Meadows, lost to Naomi Osaka, 19, of Japan 6-3, 6-1 during the day session at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York. Kerber won the 2015 Bank of the West.
   It was Osaka's first top-10 victory and the first time the defending champion lost in the first round of the U.S. Open since Svetlana Kuznetsova in 2005.

Madison Keys applauds the crowd at last month's
 Bank of the West Classic, which she won, at
Stanford. Photo by Mal Taam

   No. 15 seed Madison Keys, who won last month's Bank of the West Classic, opened the evening session with a 6-3, 7-6 (6) victory over Elise Mertens of Belgium at Ashe.
   Ex-Stanford star Nicole Gibbs leads Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay 6-0, 1-6, 1-0 in a match suspended by rain. The contest is scheduled to resume on Wednesday at 8 a.m. PDT. Partly cloudy weather with only a 10 percent chance of rain is forecast.
   Ashe is the only stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center with a roof.
   Cepede Royg, 25, is ranked No. 75, and Gibbs, a 24-year-old Southern Californian, is No. 127. But Gibbs won their only previous meeting, 6-3, 6-2 in the second round at Carlsbad, Calif., in 2015 on a hardcourt. Both players are undersized, Gibbs at 5-foot-6 (1.68 meters) and Cepede Royg at 5-foot-4 (1.63).
   The winner will face top-ranked Karolina Pliskova, who outclassed Magda Linette of Poland 6-2, 6-1.
   CiCi Bellis' first-round match against Nao Hibino of Japan was pushed back to Wednesday after the 8 a.m. match between No. 18 seed Gael Monfils and fellow Frenchman Jeremy Chardy on Court 17.
   Bellis, who grew up a five-minute drive from Stanford in Atherton, is 2-0 against Hibino, who won the inaugural Stockton Challenger in 2015. Bellis, 18, is the youngest player in the top 50 at No. 36. Hibino, 22, is ranked No. 80.
   In second-round matches scheduled for Wednesday:
   --No. 17 seed Sam Querrey, a 29-year-old San Francisco native, will meet diminutive Dudi Sela (5-foot-9 or 1.75 meters and 144 pounds or 65 kilograms) of Israel.
   --Sloane Stephens, a 24-year-old Fresno product, will take on No. 11 seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia.
   --Sofia Kenin, who won last month's Stockton Challenger, will play qualifier Sachia Vickery in a matchup of Miami-area residents. Kenin, 18, ousted No. 32 seed Lauren Davis of Orlando, Fla., in the first round.

Querrey dominates former top-10 player in Open

No. 17 seed Sam Querrey defeated former top-10
player Gilles Simon 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 today in the first
round of the U.S. Open. 2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   Sam Querrey could go far in the U.S. Open.  
   With his confidence at an all-time high, the 29-year-old San Francisco native opened with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Gilles Simon, a former top-10 player from France, today at Flushing Meadows.
   The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Querrey, coming off his first Grand Slam semifinal last month at Wimbledon, fired 10 aces in the 1-hour, 52-minute match.
   "I thought I did everything pretty well," the 17th-seeded Querrey, who now lives in Santa Monica in the Los Angeles area. told reporters. "The best thing I thought I did well was not get too down on myself. I lost serve three or four times in a row at one point, which doesn't happen too often. I did a good job of battling through that. Every part of my game felt good today, so overall I was pretty happy."
   Simon, 32, ascended to a career-high No. 6 in 2009. Both Querrey, ranked No. 21, and Simon, ranked No. 39, have reached the round of 16 in the U.S. Open twice.
   Querrey will face another 32-year-old veteran, Dudi Sela of Israel, in the second round on Wednesday. Sela, only 5-foot-9 (1.75 meters) and 144 pounds (65 kilograms), dismissed U.S. wild card Christopher Eubanks 6-2, 6-4, 6-2. Querrey leads Sela 3-2 in their head-to-head series.
   Querrey could face 10th-seeeded John Isner, 6-foot-10 (2.08 meters), in an all-American showdown in the round of 16. Querrey is 4-2 against Isner.
   Earlier today, Dmitry Tursunov lost to qualifier Cameron Norrie 7-6 (7), 6-1, retired. Tursunov, a 34-year-old Russian who owns a townhouse in the Sacramento suburb of Folsom, had his right knee taped during the match.
   Norrie, a 22-year-old left-hander, was born in South Africa, grew up in New Zealand, starred at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, still lives there, and plays for Great Britain.
   On the women's side, Sloane Stephens beat 2015 U.S. Open runner-up Roberta Vinci of Italy 7-5, 6-1 for her first victory at Flushing Meadows in three years. Stephens, a 24-year-old Fresno product, won eight of the last nine games.
   Stephens missed last year's U.S. Open with a foot injury and lost in the first round in 2015. The former world No. 11 had foot surgery and missed 11 months. She returned at Wimbledon, then reached the semifinals in Toronto and Cincinnati.
   Two years ago in the U.S. Open, Vinci pulled off one of the biggest upsets in sports history when she ended Serena Williams' bid for the first calendar-year Grand Slam since Steffi Graf's in 1988.
   The unseeded Vinci, playing in her first major semifinal at age 32, shocked the top-ranked Williams 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
   Stephens, a semifinalist in the 2013 Australian Open (beating Williams), will face No. 11 seed Dominika Cibulkova in the second round.
    Sofia Kenin, who won the $60,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger last month, stunned No. 32 seed and fellow American Lauren Davis 7-5, 7-5 for her first Grand Slam victory. Kenin, 18, trailed 4-0 in the first set.
   “My dad and I made a deal (that) if I win my first round, I get to go to Tiffany's," Kenin, who was born in Moscow and moved to the United States as a baby, told reporters. “I'm going to take him out tonight in the city and we'll go.”
   If Kenin remains an amateur, she will forfeit $86,000 for reaching the second round and at least $144,000 if she beats qualifier Sachia Vickery on Wednesday.
   Kenin and Vickery, 22, live five minutes from each other in the Miami area and "practice (together) almost every single day," Vickery said.
   The winner could take on wild card Maria Sharapova, who ousted No. 2 seed Simona Halep 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.