No. 4 Stanford men stunned at home in NCAA thriller

   William Genesen had three match points to send the Stanford men to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Championships in Winston-Salem, N.C.
   But Mississippi's Finn Reynolds, a freshman from New Zealand, survived the predicament and went on to beat Genesen, a sophomore from Tulsa, Okla., 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-2 on Court 6 and give the No. 38 Rebels a 4-3 victory over the No. 4 Cardinal today at Stanford. Genesen led 2-0 in the third set.
  Mississippi (16-12) went ahead 2-0, but the Cardinal (22-4) rallied for a 3-2 advantage. No. 33 Tim Sandkaulen defeated No. 83 Axel Geller, a freshman from Argentina who reached No. 1 in the world junior rankings last November, 7-6 (4), 6-3 on Court 2 to tie the score before Reynolds' heroics.
   No. 16 Columbia, with three Northern California players, beat three-time defending champion Virginia 4-2 in New York on Saturday to reach the last 16.
   No. 27 Victor Pham, a junior from Saratoga in the San Francisco Bay Area, lost to No. 24 Carl Soderlund 6-1, 7-6 (5) on Court 1. Austen Huang, a freshman from Elk Grove in the Sacramento area, defeated Matthew Lord 6-4, 6-1 on Court 5. Alex Keyser, a sophomore from Danville in the Bay Area, did not play.
   Columbia (19-4) will face top-ranked Wake Forest (27-2) on Friday in Winston-Salem.  
   No. 2 UCLA, with senior Logan Staggs of Tracy (near San Francisco), dominated No. 39 San Diego 4-0 today.
   No. 22 Vanderbilt, with junior Cameron Klinger of San Jose, lost to No. 9 Illinois 4-0 in Champaign, Ill. Klinger fell at No. 1 singles and doubles.
   On Saturday, No. 15 Stanford and three other women's teams with NorCal players advanced to the Sweet 16 in Winston-Salem.
   No. 10 South Carolina features senior Hadley Berg of Greenbrae and junior Paige Cline of Kentfield. Playing for No. 11 Texas Tech is junior Felicity Maltby of Sunnyvale. Also, No. 14 UCLA has junior Alaina Miller of Saratoga.

No. 15 Stanford women coast into NCAA Sweet 16

   The 15th-ranked Stanford women rolled into the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Championships with a 4-0 victory over No. 17 Michigan today at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
   It was the 16th consecutive victory for Stanford (20-3).
   On Court 1, No. 29 Kate Fahey of Michigan led No. 15 Michaela Gordon, a freshman from Saratoga in the San Francisco Bay Area, 7-5, 1-5 when their match was abandoned.
   No. 40 Melissa Lord of Stanford routed Brienne Minor, the defending NCAA singles champion, 6-1, 6-2 on Court 2 to improve to 11-0 in NCAA team matches.
   No. 3 Emily Arbuthnott and Gordon lost to Fahey and Minor 6-4 in doubles on Court 1.
   Stanford improved to 40-5 in May since 2010, a stretch that has produced three of its record 18 NCAA team titles. The Cardinal will need every bit of its NCAA karma when it takes on No. 2 North Carolina (28-3) on Thursday in Winston-Salem, N.C.
   In Los Angeles, No. 12 UCLA blitzed No. 25 Baylor 4-0 to reach the last 16. The Bruins' Alaina Miller, a junior from Saratoga, coasted to victories at No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles.
   UCLA (22-5) will face No. 4 Mississippi (22-6) on Thursday in Winston-Salem.
   Also at Stanford today, the fourth-ranked Cardinal men routed New Mexico State 4-0 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
   Stanford (22-3) will face No. 38 Mississippi on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Stanford. The Rebels (15-12) edged No. 28 Duke 4-3.
   No. 34 Cal lost to No. 12 and host Texas 4-0 in Austin in the second round.
   Bears seniors Billy Griffith of Fresno and J.T. Nishimura of San Jose did not finish their matches at No. 1 and 2 singles, respectively. No. 110 Christian Sigsgaard led No. 54 Griffith 7-5, 5-2, and No. 52 Yuya Ito led Nishimura 4-6, 6-4, 1-0.
   Cal's Paul Barretto, a freshman from Tiburon in the Bay Area, lost to No. 104 Rodrigo Banzer 6-4, 6-0 on Court 5. The Bears' No. 3 through 6 singles players are freshmen.
   No. 2 UCLA, with senior Logan Staggs of Tracy, blanked Idaho 4-0 in Los Angeles in the first round. Staggs was tied with Guilherme Scarpelli at one set apiece on Court 4 when their match was halted. Staggs did not play doubles.
   The Bruins (27-2) will host No. 39 San Diego on Sunday. The Toreros (17-8) eliminated No. 30 Texas Tech 4-2 in Los Angeles.

Cal men upset N.C. State in first round of NCAAs

   The No. 34 Cal men defeated No. 24 North Carolina State 4-1 today in Austin, Texas, in the first round of the NCAA Championships.
   Paul Barretto, a freshman from Tiburon in the San Francisco Bay Area, clinched the victory with a 7-5, 6-4 decision over Robert Turzak on Court 5.
   Seniors Billy Griffith of Fresno and J.T. Nishimura of San Jose won at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, respectively, for Cal, which had lost the doubles point.
   The Bears (12-9) will meet host Texas, ranked 12th, on Saturday at 1 p.m. PDT for the right to advance to the round of 16 in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Longhorns (18-6) dismissed Bryant of Smithfield, R.I., 4-0.
   In the first round of the NCAA women's tournament, No. 15 Stanford routed St. John's 4-0 at Stanford for its 15th consecutive victory. Michaela Gordon, a Cardinal freshman from Saratoga in the Bay Area, led at No. 1 doubles and No. 1 singles when her matches were abandoned.
   The Cardinal (19-3), last year's runner-up to Florida, will host No. 17 Michigan on Saturday at 4 p.m. for a berth in Winston-Salem. The Wolverines (18-9) dispatched Hawaii 4-0 at Stanford.
   No. 14 UCLA dominated Fresno State 4-0 in Los Angeles. The Bruins' Alaina Miller, a junior from Saratoga who uses two hands on both sides, won easily at No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles.
   UCLA (21-5) will play No. 25 Baylor on Saturday at 3 p.m. in Los Angeles. The Bears topped No. 36 North Carolina State 4-3 to improve to 18-13.

Serena enters Mubadala Classic in San Jose

Serena Williams poses after beating Angelique Kerber in 2014
for her third title in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
Tri Nguyen/TriNguyenPhotography.com

    In March, the consensus greatest male player of all time made his first appearance in the San Francisco Bay Area.
   This summer, probably the greatest female player ever plans to play in the Bay Area for the first time in four years.
   Serena Williams, attempting a comeback at 36 after having her first child last September, is scheduled to play in the inaugural Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic at San Jose State. The tournament, which replaces the longtime Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, is set for July 30-Aug. 5.
   Roger Federer defeated Jack Sock 7-6 (9), 6-4 on March 5 in a lighthearted exhibition before a sellout crowd of 17,496 at SAP Arena in San Jose.
   Williams won the Bank of the West in 2011, 2012 and 2014. She owns 23 Grand Slam singles titles, one short of Margaret Court's record.
   Williams has played in only two tournament this year, reaching the third round at Indian Wells and losing in the first round at Miami, both in March. She withdrew from next week's Italian Open, saying she needs more time to be "100 percent ready to compete."
   CiCi Bellis, a 19-year-old product of Atherton in the Bay Area, will replace Williams in the Rome draw. Bellis has been sidelined since late March with an arm injury.
   Williams will join another former world No. 1, Maria Sharapova, in the San Jose field. Also entered are defending champion and 2017 U.S. Open runner-up Madison Keys and two-time Bank of the West finalist CoCo Vandeweghe.
   For Mubadala ticket information, go to MubadalaSVC.com or call (866) 982-8497.

Stanford, Cal players earn NCAA berths

   Stanford and Cal each will send three women to the NCAA Singles Championships this month in Winston-Salem, N.C.
   Representing the 15th-ranked Cardinal will be No. 15 Michaela Gordon, a freshman from Saratoga; No. 40 Melissa Lord, a junior from Bloomfield, Conn.; and No. 43 Emily Arbuthnott, a sophomore from England. Gordon will be seeded 9-16.
   Heading to the NCAAs from unranked Cal will be No. 36 Julia Rosenqvist, a freshman from Sweden; No. 45 Anna Bright, a freshman from Boca Raton, Fla.; and No. 50 Olivia Hauger, a junior from Tulsa, Okla.
   On the men's side, No. 4 Stanford and No. 34 Cal each will have one player in NCAA singles. No. 9 Tom Fawcett, a Cardinal senior from Winnetka, Ill., will be seeded 9-16. No. 54 Billy Griffith, a Bears senior from Fresno, will be unseeded.
   NCAA subcommittees selected 64 singles players and 32 doubles teams for both the men and women. The singles and doubles tournaments are set for May 23-28 after the team competitions May 17-22 in Winston-Salem.
   In doubles, No. 3 Arbuthnott and Gordon will be seeded third. No. 32 Fawcett and freshman Axel Geller of Argentina will be unseeded, as will No. 33 Griffith and senior J.T. Nishimura of San Jose.
   Other players from Northern California picked for NCAA singles and/or doubles (with rankings):

Men's singles

   No. 26 Cameron Klinger, Vanderbilt junior from San Jose.
   No. 27 Victor Pham, Columbia junior from Saratoga.

Men's doubles

   No. 11 Klinger and Billy Rowe.
   No. 41 Pham and Jackie Tang (alternates).

Women's singles

   No. 34 Hadley Berg, South Carolina senior from Greenbrae.
   No. 58 Felicity Maltby (alternate), Texas Tech junior from Sunnyvale.

McDonald wins Seoul Challenger, nears top 100

Mackenzie McDonald improved to No. 114
in the world by winning the $100,000 Seoul
Challenger. 2016 photo by Paul Bauman

   Less than two years after turning pro, diminutive Mackenzie McDonald is on the verge of cracking the top 100 in the world.
   The fifth-seeded McDonald, a 23-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, topped third-seeded Jordan Thompson of Australia 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 today to win the $100,000 Seoul Challenger.
   McDonald, only 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters) and 160 pounds (73 kilograms), jumped 32 places in the rankings to No. 114.
   He almost lost to 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) Lloyd Harris, a 21-year-old South African, in the Seoul quarterfinals, surviving 6-7 (4), 7-6 (8), 6-3.
   McDonald, now based in Miami, earned his second career Challenger singles title. He defeated former Stanford star Bradley Klahn to win the $100,000 Northbay Healthcare Men's Pro Championships in Fairfield, 38 miles (61 kilometers) north of Piedmont, last October.
   McDonald turned pro in June 2016 after sweeping the NCAA singles and doubles titles as a UCLA junior. He became the first man to accomplish the feat since Matias Boeker of Georgia in 2001.
   ATP Tour -- Unseeded Dominic Inglot of Great Britain and Robert Lindstedt of Sweden edged top-seeded Ben McLachlan of Japan and Nicholas Monroe of Austin, Texas, 3-6, 6-3 [10-8] to win the Istanbul Open on clay.
   Lindstedt, 41, played at Fresno State before transferring to Pepperdine and reaching the 1998 NCAA doubles final with Kelly Gullett. They lost to Bob and Mike Bryan of Stanford.
   McLachlan, a 25-year-old former Cal All-American, was born and raised in New Zealand but plays for his mother's native country. He and Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany advanced to the semifinals of the Australian Open in January in their first tournament together.
   In the Istanbul singles final, 25-year-old Taro Daniel of Japan beat Malek Jaziri of Tunisia 7-6 (4), 6-4 for his first career ATP title. Both players were unseeded.
   Daniel was born in New York to an American father, Paul, and Japanese mother, Yasue. The family moved from New York to Japan when Taro was an infant and to Spain when he was 14.
   Paul Daniel grew up in Santa Cruz, 73 miles (117.5 kilometers) south of San Francisco on the Pacific Ocean.

Stanford men, women could go far in NCAAs

   The Stanford men and women could make deep runs in this month's NCAA Tournament.
   The Cardinal men (21-3) are seeded fourth, and the 15th-seeded women (18-3) have a 14-match winning streak after struggling with injuries early in the season.
   In the first round on May 12 at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Stadium, the Cardinal men will meet New Mexico State at 1 p.m., and Duke will play Mississippi at 10 a.m.. The two winners will meet on May 13 at 2 p.m. at Stanford.

   The NCAA announced the 64-team men's and women's brackets today.

   Stanford completed its best regular season in 17 years under fourth-year coach Paul Goldstein. The fourth-ranked Cardinal has won 17 NCAA team titles, second to USC's 21 and one ahead of UCLA, but none since 2000. Stanford will face New Mexico State (16-8) for the first time.

   All first- and second-round men's and women's matches are played at campus sites. The final 16 men's and 16 women's teams advance to the NCAA Championships, May 17-22 in Winston-Salem, N.C. The NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships are set for May 23-28 in Winston-Salem.

   The Cal men (11-9), ranked No. 32, will take on No. 22 North Carolina State (17-8) for the first time on May 11 at 11 a.m. PDT in Austin, Texas. Texas, seeded 11th and ranked 15th, will host Bryant at 2 p.m.

   Second-seeded UCLA (26-2), with senior Logan Staggs of Tracy at No. 4 singles, will host Idaho (15-7) on May 12 at noon.

   In the first round of the women's tournament, Stanford will host St. John's (17-5) on May 11 at 2 p.m. The Cardinal leads all schools with 18 NCAA team titles (Florida is next with seven). Stanford has reached the last two finals and five of the last eight, winning in 2010, 2013 and 2016.

   Michaela Gordon, a freshman from Saratoga, plays No. 1 singles and doubles for the Cardoma;. She is ranked 16th in singles and second in doubles with sophomore Emily Arburthnott of England.

   In another first-round match at Stanford on May 11, Michigan (17-9) will meet Hawaii (12-6) at 11 a.m. The winners of the two matches will meet on May 12 at 4 p.m.

   Twelfth-seeded UCLA (20-5), with junior Alaina Miller of Saratoga at No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles, will host Fresno State (12-12) on May 11 at 1 p.m.