Stephens falls to Kasatkina at Indian Wells

Sloane Stephens, playing at Indian Wells last year, fell to 3-10 since winning
the U.S. Open last September. Photo by Mal Taam

   Sloane Stephens' post-U.S. Open letdown continued today with a mild upset.
   Stephens, seeded 13th, lost to Daria Kasatkina, a 20-year-old Russian seeded 20th, 6-4, 6-3 in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.
   "I mean, not going to be too down about it," Stephens told reporters following the afternoon match in 16,100-seat Stadium 1. "There's always next week and the week after."
   Stephens, a 24-year-old Fresno product, fell to 3-10 since winning her first Grand Slam title last September. All three victories have come in her last two tournaments. She reached the quarterfinals in Acapulco the week before Indian Wells.
   Kasatkina, ranked 19th, has beaten all four of the current Grand Slam champions in the last year: Jelena Ostapenko (French Open), Caroline Wozniacki (Australian Open), Garbine Muguruza (Wimbledon) and Stephens.
   Kasatkina is scheduled to meet Wozniacki, seeded second, on Tuesday in 8,000-seat Stadium 2 not before 6 p.m. for a quarterfinal berth.
   Sam Querrey, a 30-year-old San Francisco native, reached the doubles quarterfinals with Gilles Muller, a 34-year-old left-hander from Luxembourg. They upset fourth-seeded Jamie Murray of Great Britain and Bruno Soares of Brazil 7-5, 6-7 (4) [10-2].
   Muller and Querrey will play the winner of Tuesday's match between fifth-seeded Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, the 2016 champions from France, and Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina.    

Anisimova, 16, shocks Kvitova at Indian Wells

Amanda Anisimova, playing in the Sacramento Challenger
last July, became the first 16-year-old to reach the fourth
round at Indian Wells since Viktoriya Kutuzova of Ukraine
in 2005. Photo by Rob Vomund

   Wild card Amanada Anisimova, who won the $60,000 Sacramento Challenger at 15 last July, ousted ninth-seeded Petra Kvitova 6-2, 6-4 today in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.
   Anisimova, from Aventura, Fla., became the first 16-year-old to reach the fourth round at Indian Wells since wild card Viktoriya Kutuzova of Ukraine in 2005.
   Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion, had her winning streak ended at 14 matches. After receiving a first-round bye, the 28-year-old Czech left-hander outlasted Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-4 in 3 hours, 17 minutes, the longest match on the WTA tour this year.
   Anisimova became the third young American woman to pull off a big upset at Indian Wells this year. In the second round, 22-year-old qualifier Sachia Vickery knocked off third-seeded Garbine Muguruza, a two-time Grand Slam champion, and 24-year-old wild card Danielle Collins eliminated 15th-seeded Madison Keys, last year's U.S. Open runner-up to Sloane Stephens and Bank of the West Classic champion at Stanford.
   Caroline Dolehide, 19, almost joined the list, falling to top seed and 2015 BNP champion Simona Halep 1-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2.
   Stephens, a Fresno product seeded 13th, beat wild card Victoria Azarenka, the 2012 and 2016 BNP champion, 6-1, 7-5 in a second-round match that had been postponed by rain. Azarenka, who remains alive in doubles, had not played a tournament since Wimbledon last July because of a custody battle over her 1-year-old son, Leo.
   On the men's side, qualifier Taro Daniel of Japan ousted 10th seed and five-time champion Novak Djokovic 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-1 in the second round. Djokovic had minor surgery on his right elbow after losing to 21-year-old Hyeon Chung of South Korea in the fourth round of the Australian Open in January.
   No. 18 seed Sam Querrey, a 30-year-old San Francisco native, topped Mischa Zverev of Germany 6-4, 7-5. After two rounds, Querrey, No. 8 Jack Sock and 20-year-old Taylor Fritz are the only remaining Americans in men's singles.
   Anisimova, who won the U.S. Open girls singles title last September, is scheduled to play fifth-seeded Karolina Pliskova on Tuesday for a quarterfinal berth.
   Anisimova was born in Freehold Township, N.J., to Russians Konstantin Anisimov and Olga Anisimova. Amanda speaks Russian at home but as of last fall had never been to her parents' homeland.

Bellis loses to defending champ at Indian Wells

CiCi Bellis eyes a backhand during her 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 loss to No. 24 seed and
defending champion Elena Vesnina today in the second round of the BNP
Paribas Open at Indian Wells. Photo by Mal Taam

   No. 24 seed and defending champion Elena Vesnina of Russia beat CiCi Bellis, an 18-year-old product of Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area, 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 today in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.
   Vesnina, 31, received a first-round bye before facing Bellis for the first time.
   "I'm really happy that I won this (first) match," Vesnina told reporters. "It's never easy to play first match in any tournament, and in this tournament especially for me.
   "CiCi, she's having a great season. She's only 18 years old. When they announced that and they said her highest ranking is 35 in the world, I was like, Whoa, that's impressive.
   "She has a bright future. She's a really talented girl, good fighter. Yeah, I'm just happy that I won this match."
   After playing in 16,100-seat Stadium 1 in her first two career matches at Indian Wells, the 45th-ranked Bellis played Vesnina in Stadium 4. Oddly, No. 3 seed Grigor Dimitrov faced Fernando Verdasco in Stadium 1 instead. Verdasco, a 34-year-old left-hander who won the 2010 SAP Open in San Jose, prevailed 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3.
   The late match between No. 13 seed Sloane Stephens and wild card Victoria Azarenka was postponed by rain until Sunday not before 12:30 p.m.
   Stephens, who grew up in Fresno, has slumped badly since winning her first Grand Slam title in the U.S. Open last September. Azarenka reached No. 1 in the world in 2012 and won the BNP Paribas Open that year and in 2016.
   Azarenka is playing in her first tournament since Wimbledon last July because of a custody battle over her 1-year-old son, Leo.
   In a first-round battle of brothers, former Stanford stars Bob and Mike Bryan defeated Alexander and Mischa Zverev 6-3, 4-6 (10-1). The seventh-seeded Bryans seek their third Indian Wells title.

Bellis to face defending champ Vesnina in BNP

   CiCi Bellis wasted no time setting up a match against defending champion Elena Vesnina in the BNP Paribas Open, considered the "fifth" Grand Slam tournament.
   Bellis, an 18-year-old San Francisco native who grew up in nearby Atherton, dismissed qualifier Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain 6-0, 6-3 in 65 minutes today in the first round at Indian Wells. The afternoon match was played in at 16,100-seat Stadium 1.
   It was Bellis' first victory in the BNP Paribas Open. In her tournament debut last year, she lost to 2013 Wimbledon semifinalist Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 after leading 3-0 (one service break) in the final set. That match also was played at Stadium 1, as Bellis' first encounter with Vesnina undoubtedly will be on Saturday.
   Vesnina, ranked and seeded 24th, received a first-round bye.
   Bellis, ranked 45th, is by far the youngest player in the top 50. She's 22 months younger than No. 6 Jelena Ostapenko and 23 months younger than No. 19 Daria Kasatkina.
   However, No. 54 Marketa Vondrousova almost three months younger than Bellis. They reached the French Open girls doubles final in 2014, losing 6-1, 5-7 [11-9] to Romanians Ioana Ducu and Ioana Loredana.

Sellout crowd sees Federer beat Sock in San Jose

Roger Federer hits a backhand volley during Monday night's exhibition.
Photo by Mal Taam

   Playing in Northern California for the first time, Roger Federer defeated Jack Sock 7-6 (9), 6-4 tonight in a lighthearted exhibition before a sellout crowd of 17,496 at SAP Arena in San Jose.
   The Match for Africa 5 raised $2.5 million for Federer's foundation, which provides access to education for children in southern African countries. Federer's mother, Lynette, is South African.
    At 36, Federer last month became the oldest man or woman to earn the No. 1 ranking. He broke the marks of Andre Agassi (33) and Serena Williams (35).
   "Those are definitely special times in my life and my career," Federer told reporters. "The dream as a little boy was to make it one day to world No. 1, but not at 36 years old -- I can tell you that. It was probably at some point at 25 maybe if things went really well.
   "I had a tough year in 2016 with my knee and stayed positive, was resilient and fought to come back and really believed I could actually win again. I didn't think it was going to be at this level. It's been an unbelievable journey the last 14 months, and my team has been incredible. I'm loving every moment that I can still play on tour because you never know when it's going to end."
   Earlier tonight, Federer and Bill Gates beat Sock and "Today" hostess Savannah Guthrie 6-3.

From left, Jack Sock, Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker, Bill Gates and Roger Fed-
erer pose before Monday night's celebrity doubles match. Photo by Mal Taam

Rain ends $2,500 Rio del Oro tournament early

   The $2,500 Rio del Oro Open/Senior/NTRP, a Sacramento tournament featuring four current or former professional players, ended prematurely on Sunday because of rain.
   All three open doubles events were completed, but men's and women's open singles were halted in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively, at the Rio del Oro Racquet Club. Tournament director Todd Stanley said work, school and tournament commitments prevent those draws from finishing.
   Advancing to the men's open singles quarters were No. 1 seed Alexios Halebian of Glendale, No. 2 Leonardo Kirche of Granite Bay, No. 4 Anton Stryhas, No. 5 Stefan Leustian of Mather, No. 5 Nitzan Ricklis of Sunnyvale, No. 5 Stevie Gould of Corte Madera, No. 5 Max Pham of Newport Coast and No. 9 Cambell Nakayama of San Francisco.
   Halebian, a 23-year-old left-hander, is ranked No. 686 in the world. He qualified for Washington on the elite ATP World Tour last August and lost to Lukas Lacko, a Slovakian now ranked No. 103 after reaching a career-high No. 44 in 2013, 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round.
   Kirche, a 33-year-old Brazil native, climbed to a career-high No. 196 in 2013. He played one Davis Cup match, beating Mauricio Echazu of Peru 6-2, 6-1 in the fifth match of Peru's 4-1 victory in 2004.
   Unseeded Dan Goldie, a 54-year-old resident of Los Gatos who peaked at No. 27 in the world in 1989, lost in the second round to ninth-seeded James Roberts of Sacramento 7-5, 5-7 [11-9].
   The semifinal matchups in women's open singles were No. 1 seed Oleksandra Andrieieva of San Jose against No. 4 Jillian Taggart of Fair Oaks and unseeded Maryia Hrynashka vs. unseeded Deimante Bulatovaite of Sacramento.
   Winning doubles titles were Halebian and Benjamin Keyser of Vienna, Va., Taggart and Elena Van Linge of Menlo Park, and Rajan Bhatia of Benicia and Allie Will of Modesto. Each team was seeded first. Will, 26, reached a career-high No. 98 in the world in women's doubles in 2014.

Swiss stuns top seed Stephens in Acapulco

   Stephanie Voegele, ranked 183rd, stunned top-seeded Sloane Stephens, ranked 13th, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco.

   Voegele, a 27-year-old Swiss, improved to 3-1 against Stephens, a 24-year-old Fresno product.

   Like Stephens, Voegele arrived in Acapulco seeking her first win in the main draw of a WTA tournament this year. Stephens had lost eight straight matches since winning the U.S. Open in September for her first Grand Slam title.

   Stephens beat Pauline Parmentier of France in straight sets in the first round and saved a match point in her three-set victory over Dutch qualifier Arantxa Rus in the second round.

   Voegele, who reached a career-high No. 42 in 2013, will play Swedish qualifier Rebecca Peterson in the semifinals.