New West Coast Tour will feature two Bay Area stops

   The West Coast Tennis Tour will debut this spring and summer with 13 open prize money tournaments from San Diego to Seattle.
   The coed circuit will begin May 20-21 and May 27-29 in San Diego and end Aug. 8-13 in the San Francisco Bay Area suburb of Moraga at the Moraga Country Club. The only other Northern California tournament on the tour is scheduled for June 8-11 in Danville, also in the Bay Area, at the Crow Canyon Country Club.
   "We want to get young players to compete more," tour organizer West Nott,  a former USC women's assistant coach, said in a news release. "The tour is geared toward high school and college players who are seeking more pressure-filled match play. All levels are welcome. This is one giant road trip, and we are connecting all the dots A to Z for a memorable life experience and seeing sights along the way."
   All results will go toward a player's Universal Tennis Rating.
   For more information on the West Coast Tennis Tour, visit westcoasttennistour.com.
   Nott also will host a trip to the NCAA Men's and Women's Team Championships, May 17-22 at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., for juniors 13-18. For more information, go to info@collegetennistours.com.

Bellis, 18, loses to Muguruza in late Dubai match

   In a match that began at about midnight (noon PST), second-seeded Garbine Muguruza beat 18-year-old wild card CiCi Bellis 6-3, 7-5 today in the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in the United Arab Emirates.

   Muguruza, a 6-foot (1.82-meter) Spaniard, pounded six aces and won 64 percent of the points on her first serve (29 of 45). Bellis, a 5-foot-7 (1.68-meter) native of San Francisco who grew up in nearby Atherton, had no aces and took 49 percent of the points on her first delivery (26 of 53).

   It was the first meeting between the third-ranked Muguruza, who won the French Open in 2016 and Wimbledon last year, and the 41st-ranked Bellis, the youngest player in the top 50 by almost two years.

   Bellis will fall about seven spots in the rankings on Monday after reaching the Dubai quarterfinals last year. The tournament dropped from the Premier 5 level with a 64 draw to the Premier classification with a field of 32 this year.

Bellis beats Mertens in Dubai, will face Muguruza

   Elise Mertens became CiCi Bellis' latest high-profile victim today.
   And it wasn't close.
   Bellis, an 18-year-old wild card who was born in San Francisco and raised in nearby Atherton, dispatched Mertens, an Australian Open semifinalist last month, 6-3, 6-3 in the opening round of the Dubai (United Arab Emirates) Duty Free Tennis Championships.
   Mertens, a Belgian ranked 21st, won only 29 percent of the points on her second serve (8 of 28) versus 50 percent (13 of 26) for Bellis, ranked 41st, in their first career meeting.
   Bellis will face Garbine Muguruza, ranked third and seeded second, for the first time in Wednesday's late match at about 9 a.m. PST. Muguruza, who won the French Open in 2016 and Wimbledon last year, received a first-round bye.
   A victory over Muguruza would be the biggest of Bellis' career, topping her win over No. 5 Karolina Pliskova in the third round at Doha last week. It also would be Bellis' fourth triumph over a Grand Slam singles champion after her victories over Jelena Ostapenko (who later won the French Open), Petra Kvitova and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
   ATP World Tour -- In a battle of California natives, 20-year-old Taylor Fritz edged fourth seed and 2016 champion Sam Querrey 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the first round of the Delray Beach (Fla.) Open. 
   The 30-year-old Querrey, originally from San Francisco, played two days after he lost to Kevin Anderson, also in a third-set tiebreaker, in the final of the inaugural New York Open in Uniondale, N.Y.

Staggs, UCLA lose in Men's Team Indoors final

   Top-ranked Wake Forest won its first national championship today, defeating No. 7 UCLA 4-2 in the ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championships in Seattle.
   Skander Mansouri, ranked 22nd, clinched the match for the Demon Deacons (9-0) with a 6-4, 7-6 (7) victory over No. 107 Keegan Smith on Court 3.
   Wake Forest's Bar Botzer, ranked 112th, topped Logan Staggs, a senior from Tracy ranked 58th, 6-4, 6-4 on Court 4.
   The Demon Deacons overcame deficits of 1-0 and 2-1.
   The match between top-ranked Martin Redlicki of UCLA (11-2) and 100th-ranked Borna Gojo on Court 1 was abandoned at one set apiece and 40-40 in the first game of the third set.

Querrey falls in final; Stanford loses heartbreaker

Kevin Anderson of the Sacramento Capitals serves in a
2012 World TeamTennis match in the Sacramento area.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Talk about anticlimactic ...
   Today's final between top-seeded Kevin Anderson and second-seeded Sam Querrey, a 30-year-old San Francisco native, in the inaugural New York Open came down to a tiebreaker.
   But Anderson reeled off the first six points, leading the normally mild-mannered Querrey to slam his racket on the court, and then won 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1) in Uniondale, N.Y.
   The 6-foot-8 (2.03-meter) Anderson slammed 16 aces in the match, and the 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Querrey had nine. Each player double-faulted once.
   Anderson won all four of his matches in three sets, three of them in third-set tiebreakers, after receiving a first-round bye. The 31-year-old South African, who lives in Florida with his American wife, won his fourth career title and first since 2015.
   Anderson had been 3-11 in ATP finals, including a loss to Gilles Simon of France in Pune, India, during the first week of this year.
   "I have been runner-up quite a few times in my career," Anderson, a former University of Illinois star (2005-07), lamented to reporters. "One of the big goals I had for this year was to try to be a bit more successful in that final stage. I fell a little short earlier this year in India, and it feels great to come through and get today's win. It gives me a lot of confidence for the year."
   Anderson, the runner-up to Rafael Nadal in the U.S. Open in nearby Flushing Meadows, N.Y., last September, will rise two places to a career-high No. 9 in Monday's rankings. He was ranked 10th for one week in 2015.
   Querrey, who was seeking his 11th ATP title, would have moved up one spot to a career-high No. 11 with a victory.
   Anderson improved to 8-9 against Querrey with four victories in their last five matches. They first met in the first round of the 2007 Sacramento Challenger, with Querrey winning 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
   Both Querrey and Anderson played part-time for the now-defunct Sacramento Capitals in World TeamTennis in 2012, but not together.
   College men -- In a match that came down to a third-set tiebreaker, top-ranked Wake Forest beat No. 5 Stanford 4-3 in the semifinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championship in Seattle.
   In the deciding match on Court 1, 100th-ranked Borna Gojo edged No. 33 Tom Fawcett 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5). The Cardinal (8-1) twice fought back to even the dual match.
   Wake Forest (8-0) will play No. 7 UCLA (11-1) for the title on Monday. The Bruins, with senior Logan Staggs of Tracy, defeated No. 6 Texas A&M 4-2. Staggs, ranked 58th, beat Valentin Vacherot, ranked 35th, 7-5, 7-5 on Court 4.

Querrey reaches N.Y. final; Stanford advances

   Even the pros forget the score occasionally.
   Second-seeded Sam Querrey, a 30-year-old San Francisco native, didn't realize the match had ended when he beat fourth-seeded Adrian Mannarino of France 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-3 today in the semifinals of the inaugural New York Open in Uniondale, N.Y.
   Querrey thought he had one more game left after recording his second straight service break.
   "I broke, I kind of gave a fist pump, and I was walking to the bench, then the crowd was a little too loud for just a break of serve," Querrey told reporters. "I looked up and, Oh my gosh, I won."
   Querrey said he couldn't remember losing track of the score before on the ATP World Tour.
   "I think I was just so dialed in because I wanted to beat him so badly because I've never beaten him before," said Querrey, who was 0-3 against the 29-year-old left-hander.
   Querrey, ranked a career-high 12th, will face top-seeded Kevin Anderson, last year's U.S. Open runner-up from South Africa, on Sunday (12:30 p.m. PST on Tennis Channel). Anderson edged fifth-seeded Kei Nishikori, who won the title from 2013 to 2016 when the tournament was played in Memphis, Tenn., 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (4).
   Nishikori was playing in his first ATP tournament since hurting his right wrist in August.
   Anderson, ranked 11th, is guaranteed to return to the top 10 for the first time since October 2015. With his fourth career title, he would climb to a career-high No. 9. Querrey seeks his 11th crown.
   The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Querrey is 9-7 against the 6-foot-8 (2.03-meter) Anderson, but the 31-year-old Anderson has won three of their last four matches. Most recently, Anderson won 7-6 (5), 6-7 (9), 6-3, 7-6 (7) in the U.S. Open quarterfinals last year.
   Querrey and Anderson first met in the 2007 Sacramento Challenger, with Querrey prevailing 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the first round.  
   College men -- No. 5 Stanford defeated No. 4 Georgia 4-2 in the quarterfinals of the ITA National Men's Indoor Championship in Seattle.
   Tom Fawcett, ranked 33rd, clinched the victory by beating Wayne Montgomery, ranked 17th, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-3 on Court 1.
   Stanford, off to its best start in 18 years at 8-0, will face No. 1 Wake Forest (7-0) on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. The Demon Deacons (7-0) beat No. 8 USC 4-1.

Stanford men reach quarters in National Indoors

   No. 5 seed Stanford defeated No. 12 Baylor 4-2 today in the first round of the ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championship in Seattle.
   Eric Fomba clinched the victory for the Cardinal (7-0) by topping 104th-ranked Will Little 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 on Court 4.
   Stanford's Tom Fawcett, ranked 33rd, routed Bjoern Petersen, ranked 64th, 6-2, 6-1 on Court 1.
   Stanford will face No. 4 Georgia in the quarterfinals on Saturday. The Bulldogs beat No. 13 Columbia 4-1.