Stanford women reach third straight NCAA final

   This is looking a lot like 2016 for the Stanford women.
   Then, the Cardinal became the lowest-seeded team to win the NCAA championship at No. 15.
   Stanford (23-3) can match that feat when it faces Vanderbilt (27-3), seeded first and ranked second, on Tuesday at 10 a.m. PDT in Winston-Salem, N.C. The match will be streamed live.
   The Cardinal, which has overcome early-season injuries, beat third-ranked Duke, playing near home, 4-2 today. The Commodores defeated fourth-ranked Georgia Tech 4-2.
   Stanford extended its winning streak to 19 matches and reached the NCAA final for the third consecutive year. The Cardinal lost to Florida 4-1 last year in Athens, Ga.
   Stanford also won the NCAA title as the No. 12 seed in 2013 and No. 8 seed in 2010. Overall, the Cardinal has won 19 of its last 22 NCAA matches when seeded lower than its opponent.
   Stanford's Michaela Gordon, a freshman from Saratoga in the San Francisco Bay Area, lost at No. 1 doubles and No. 1 singles against Duke.
   No. 9 Ellyse Hamlin and Kaitlyn McCarthy beat No. 3 Emily Arbuthnott and Gordon 6-3 as the Blue Devils won the doubles point.
   No. 6 Samantha Harris topped No. 15 Gordon 6-2, 7-6 (3) to cut Stanford's lead to 3-2 before No. 93 Caroline Lampl topped No. 116 McCarthy 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.
   In Tuesday's men's final, No. 1 Wake Forest (30-2) will meet No. 3 Ohio State (34-2). The Buckeyes defeated No. 2 UCLA 4-1 in a nearly seven-hour match featuring two lightning delays.
   On Court 4, No. 96 Kyle Seelig of Ohio State beat No. 103 Logan Staggs, a senior from Tracy in Northern California, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Staggs did not play doubles.

Ex-Stanford star takes 125K Bordeaux doubles title

Bradley Klahn, shown in January, won his sixth career Challenger
doubles title on Sunday. Photo courtesy of JFS Communications

   Bradley Klahn, a former Stanford star from Poway in the San Diego area, and Peter Polansky of Canada defeated Guillermo Duran and Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina 6-3, 3-6 [10-7] on Sunday to win the $125,000 BNP Paribas Primrose 2018 on clay in Bordeaux, France.

   Both teams were unseeded.

   Klahn, a 27-year-old left-hander, won his sixth Challenger doubles title and first with Polansky. Klahn reached the singles quarterfinals in Bordeaux, losing to unseeded Guido Andreozzi 6-3, 6-3.

   Unseeded Reilly Opelka, 20, won the singles title. The 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) American outlasted wild card Gregoire Barrere of France 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-5.
   It was the biggest title of Opelka's career and his first on clay.

Staggs, UCLA men advance to NCAA semifinals

   The No. 2 UCLA men, with senior Logan Staggs of Tracy in Northern California, edged No. 10 USC 4-3 today to reach the semifinals of the NCAA Championships in Winston-Salem, N.C.
   The Bruins (30-2) improved to 4-0 against their crosstown rival this season. Top-ranked Martin Redlicki clinched the victory by topping No. 11 Brandon Holt, the son of International Tennis Hall of Famer Tracy Austin, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 on Court 1.
   USC's Laurens Verboven defeated No. 103 Staggs, a senior left-hander, 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 on Court 4. Staggs did not play doubles.
   UCLA will play No. 3 Ohio State (33-2) on Monday. The Buckeyes nipped No. 7 Mississippi State 4-3 to reach the NCAA semis for the second consecutive year.
   Also, No. 1 Wake Forest (29-2) and No. 5 Texas A&M (26-5) reached the semis for the first time.

Stanford women upset Georgia to reach NCAA semis

   The Stanford women beat another higher-seeded team in the NCAA Championships today, and it wasn't even close.
   The No. 15 Cardinal routed No. 7 Georgia 4-0 to reach the semifinals in Winston-Salem, N.C. Stanford (22-3) has won 18 matches in a row and 18 of its last 21 NCAA matches as the lower seed.
   Stanford received singles wins from, in chronological order, No. 40 Melissa Lord on Court 2, No. 93 Caroline Lampl on Court 3 and No. 43 Emily Arbuthnott on Court 4.
   The Cardinal's Michaela Gordon, a freshman from Saratoga in the San Francisco Bay Area, did not finish her matches at No. 1 doubles and No. 1 singles. She is ranked third in doubles with Arbuthnott and 15th in singles.
   Stanford will seek its third consecutive berth in the final when it faces No. 3 Duke (27-3) on Monday at 9 a.m. PDT. The Cardinal lost to Florida 4-1 last year in Athens, Ga., and beat Oklahoma State 4-3 in 2016 in Tulsa, Okla. Stanford has won a record 18 NCAA team titles, 11 more than second-place Florida.
   Duke beat No. 11 Texas Tech, with junior Felicity Maltby of Sunnyvale in the Bay Area, 4-1. Maltby won at No. 2 doubles to help the Red Raiders lead 1-0 but lost to Meible Chi at No. 2 singles 2-6, 6-2, 6-4. Chi and Maltby are ranked No. 55 and No. 58, respectively, in singles.
   In the other semifinal, No. 2 Vanderbilt (26-3) is scheduled to meet No. 4 Georgia Tech (25-5) on Monday, also at 9 a.m. PDT.
   The Yellow Jackets nipped No. 14 UCLA, with junior Alaina Miller of Saratoga, 4-3 after trailing 3-1. Miller won at No. 3 doubles as the Bruins won the point and at No. 6 singles. Miller, ranked No. 121 in singles, defeated Victoria Flores 6-3, 6-4 on Court 6.

NorCal's Staggs loses, but UCLA men advance

   The UCLA men, featuring senior Logan Staggs of Tracy, today reached the Elite Eight in the NCAA Championships for the 23rd time in 25 seasons under head coach Billy Martin.
   The No. 2-ranked Bruins defeated No. 15 Michigan 4-2 at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. The match was delayed by rain and moved from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.
   Mattias Siimar beat Staggs, a 5-foot-9 (1.74-meter) left-hander ranked 103rd, 6-2, 6-4 on Court 4 to cut UCLA's lead to 3-1. Staggs did not play doubles.
   The Bruins (29-2) will face crosstown rival USC, ranked No. 10, on Sunday. The Trojans (20-8) topped No. 6 North Carolina 4-2 in Winston-Salem.
   UCLA is 3-0 this year against USC, including a 4-1 victory in the final of the Pac-12 Championships in Ojai, Calif., last month.
   USC leads all schools with 21 NCAA team titles, and UCLA ranks third with 16, one behind Stanford. The Trojans last won the championship in 2014 and the Bruins in 2005.
   The last school besides Virginia or USC to win the NCAA crown was Georgia in 2008. The three-time defending champion Cavaliers lost to Columbia in the second round this year.
   No. 16 Columbia, with two players from Northern California, lost to No. 1 Wake Forest 4-1 today at Wake Forest.
   No. 7 Borna Gojo of the Demon Deacons defeated No. 27 Victor Pham, a junior from Saratoga in the San Francisco Bay Area, 7-5, 6-3 on Court 1. Huang, a freshman from the Sacramento suburb of Elk Grove, topped Christian Seraphim, a 6-foot-10 (2.08-meter) senior from Germany, 6-1, 6-4 on Court 5.
   In doubles, No. 21 Gojo and Skander Mansouri led No. 47 Pham and Jackie Tang 5-4 when the match was abandoned. Huang did not play doubles.
   Wake Forest (28-2) will play No. 9 Illinois, which eliminated No. 8 Texas Christian 4-1.
   Keenan Mayo of Roseville has signed a letter of intent at Illinois, and Jenson Brooksby of Carmichael has verbally committed to Texas Christian. Roseville and Carmichael are in the Sacramento area.
   Huang and Brooksby train at the JMG Tennis Academy in Sacramento.

NorCal's Brooksby verbally commits to Texas Christian

Jenson Brooksby practices Wednesday at the Arden Hills
Resort and Spa in Sacramento. Photo by Paul Bauman

   SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Jenson (J.T.) Brooksby had scholarship offers from every big-time tennis university.

   Somewhat surprisingly, the Sacramento-area resident chose eighth-ranked Texas Christian.
   Brooksby verbally committed to the small, private school in Fort Worth shortly after winning the boys 18 singles title in the prestigious Easter Bowl on April 1.
   The 17-year-old high school junior from Carmichael said Wednesday that he will sign his binding National Letter of Intent "as soon as possible" -- Nov. 14 is signing day -- and enroll either in the fall of 2019 or in January 2020.
   "I felt the coaching was really good, the school fit itself was really good, I like the smaller school size, and they're really dedicated to (developing) pro players," Brooksby said after practice at the JMG Tennis Academy at the Arden Hills Resort and Spa. "I feel like their individual training for the players is really good as well. So I felt it was the best fit overall."
   Brooksby chose TCU and Fort Worth over UCLA and Los Angeles. TCU's undergraduate enrollment of 8,891 is almost one-fourth of UCLA's, and Fort Worth's population of 854,113 is almost one-fifth of Los Angeles'.
   Brooksby, a Sacramento native, has been home-schooled since the sixth grade and coached by Joseph Gilbert (no relation to renowned commentator and coach Brad Gilbert), JMG's founder and owner, since age 7.
   "It's a smaller bubble (at TCU), and that's very much what he has here," said Gilbert, who also has sent Collin Altamirano and Camille Favero to Virginia, Brandon Sutter to Stanford, Austen Huang to Columbia, Kassidy Jump to Arizona State and current pupil Eric Hadigian to Arizona.
   Altamirano, the USTA boys 18 champion in 2013, helped the Cavaliers win three NCAA team titles before turning pro last year. But Brooksby said Virginia is "too far away." Stanford and Cal are near Sacramento, but Brooksby added that they offered less than full scholarships. And Cal, like UCLA, has an undergraduate enrollment over 30,000.
   Brooksby, whose father is an anesthesiologist, said TCU and UCLA were among about 20 schools to offer him a rare full ride.
   Men's programs are allowed only 4.5 scholarships versus eight for women. Title IX requires equal opportunities, and women don't play football.
   TCU, under head coach David Roditi and assistant coach Devin Bowen, will try to reach the Elite Eight in the NCAA Championships for the second consecutive year when it faces No. 9 Illinois today in Winston-Salem, N.C.
   The Horned Frogs (20-4) are led by Alex Rybakov, a junior from Coral Springs, Fla. He is ranked No. 21 in singles and No. 6 in doubles (with senior Guillermo Nunez of Chile) by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
   Cameron Norrie, a left-hander from Great Britain, is ranked No. 102 in the world only one year after turning pro following his junior season at TCU. He won the $100,000 Tiburon and Stockton Challengers in Northern California back-to-back last fall.
   College coaches are prohibited from discussing recruits until they sign letters of intent.
   Brooksby has played in tournaments on the USTA Pro Circuit since he was 14. He reached the singles quarterfinals and doubles semifinals (with Altamirano) in the Claremont (Calif.) Futures last September and advanced to the final round of qualifying in the $100,000 San Francisco Challenger in February.
   Brooksby, who plays few junior tournaments, is ranked 34th nationally in the 18s. His gold ball in the Easter Bowl was his second. He also won the national hard court 12s in 2013 in Little Rock, Ark.
   In 2016, Brooksby advanced to the 16s final of the national hard courts in Kalamazoo, Mich., and the national clay courts in Delray Beach, Fla.

Joseph Gilbert, the founder and owner
of the JMG Tennis Academy, observes
his players at Arden Hills on Wednes-
day. Photo by Paul Bauman

   The 6-foot-1 (1.85-meter), 155-pound (70.3-kilogram) Brooksby's strengths are competitiveness and precise groundstrokes.
   "He doesn't have huge weapons," Gilbert conceded, "but he doesn't have a lot of holes. When he's able to get rallies going and keep (opponents) out there for two or three hours, (their games) break down over time. ... It's not easy to see because he doesn't do it by a huge serve or a big forehand winner. It's a process that he breaks guys down with. He does it very well."
   Brooksby is working to add power to his serve and curb his emotions.
   "His competitiveness is a blessing in some ways and hurts him in other ways," Gilbert said. "He has to constantly be working on controlling it so he can focus on the game plan. Sometimes the score and the emotions get the best of him. At the Easter Bowl, he was frustrated (in the final). You saw that. He was more focused on the win and the score than the game plan."
   In the Easter Bowl final at Indian Wells, the unseeded Brooksby beat top-seeded Tristan Boyer of Altadena in the Los Angeles area 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. Brooksby squandered a 5-2 lead in the first set and almost blew a 5-0 lead in the third set. He held on after serving at 5-3, 0-30.
   Brooksby also can become passive on the court.
   "Sometimes he relies on his consistency and gets too 'pushy' waiting for guys to miss," Gilbert said. "That's when he gets in the most trouble instead of having a plan with every shot. Once he's doing that, he's really strong."
   Off the court, the sports-loving Brooksby is polite and down-to-earth.
   "He has a very good heart," Gilbert said. "He means well. He wants to do the right thing. He's grown up in a small town. He has an innocent mindset. I like that about him."

Stanford women oust No. 1 N. Carolina in NCAAs

   The North Carolina women were ranked No. 1.
   They were playing only 90 minutes from home.
   And they won the double point.
   As usual, though, none of it mattered to Stanford.
   The No. 15-ranked Cardinal ousted the Tar Heels 4-1 today to reach the Elite Eight in the NCAA Championships in Winston-Salem, N.C. It was the Cardinal's 17th consecutive victory.
   Stanford (21-3) has won 17 of its last 20 NCAA matches when seeded lower than its opponent, according to gostanford.com. The stretch dates to 2010 and has produced three national championships (2010, 2013 and 2016).
   The Cardinal has won a record 18 NCAA team titles, 11 more than second-place Florida.
   Stanford's Michaela Gordon, a freshman from Saratoga in the San Francisco Bay Area, won at No. 1 doubles and trailed at No. 1 singles when the match was abandoned.
   No. 3 Emily Arbuthnott and Gordon defeated No. 4 Jessie Aney and Alexa Graham 6-4, and No. 2 Makenna Jones led No. 15 Gordon 7-6 (2), 1-2.
   The Cardinal will play No. 7 Georgia (18-6) on Saturday. The Bulldogs edged South Carolina, featuring two Bay Area players, 4-3 in Winston-Salem.
   No. 63 Paige Cline, a junior from Kentfield, and Hadley Berg, a senior from Greenbrae, won on Court 1 as the Gamecocks (21-7) took the doubles point. Mariana Gould beat Cline 6-4, 6-1 on Court 4 to give Georgia a 2-1 lead before No. 34 Berg beat No. 75 Kennedy Shaffer 6-2, 6-4 on Court 2 for a 2-2 tie.
   Also advancing in Winston-Salem were No. 11 Texas Tech, with junior Felicity Maltby of Sunnyvale, and No. 14 UCLA, with junior Alaina Miller of Saratoga.
   The Red Raiders (23-6) surprised No. 6 Texas 4-1, ending the Longhorns' winning streak at 19 matches. Maltby and Gabriela Talaba triumphed 6-1 on Court 2 to help Texas Tech earn the doubles point. No. 30 Anna Turati led No. 58 Maltby 2-6, 7-5, 3-2 on Court 2 when their match was halted.
   Texas Tech will face No. 3 Duke (26-3), also playing near home, on Saturday.
   UCLA knocked off No. 6 Mississippi 4-1 for the Bruins' 14th win in their last 15 matches. Miller clinched the victory with a 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-3 decision over Alexa Bortles on Court 6. Miller also won with Ena Shibahara on Court 3 as UCLA swept the doubles matches.
   The Bruins (23-5) will play No. 4 Georgia Tech (24-5) on Saturday. In the other quarterfinal, No. 2 Vanderbilt (25-3) will meet No. 21 Florida State (21-8).