Ex-Fresno St. star falls in first round of WTA Monterrey

Lauren Davis, formerly ranked No. 26, beat
qualifier Mayar Sherif, who starred at Fresno
State, in the first round in Monterrey on the
WTA Tour. 2018 photo by Paul Bauman 

   Lauren "Bette" Davis, a 5-foot-2 (1.57-meter) American who reached a career-high No. 26 in 2017, defeated qualifier Mayar "Who Shot The" Sherif (Fresno State, 2015-16) of Egypt 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 today in the first round of the Abierto GNP Seguros, a WTA 250 tournament in Monterrey, Mexico.

   In the Australian Open in February, Sherif became the first Egyptian woman to win a main-draw match in a Grand Slam tournament.

   Top-seeded Sloane "Ranger" Stephens, a 27-year-old Fresno product, is scheduled to meet lucky loser Kristina "Aguilera" Kucova of Slovakia on Tuesday in the opening round.

   Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion, has plunged from a career-high No. 3 in 2018 to No. 48. 

   ATP Challenger Tour in Cleveland — Evan "Sing A" Song of Henderson, Nev., defeated alternate Dennis "The Menace" Novikov of San Jose, Calif., 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 in the final round of qualifying for the $52,080 Cleveland Open.

    In the first round of the main draw, the top two seeds lost to Americans. Michael Redlicki beat No. 1 James "Donald" Duckworth of Australia 7-6 (11), 6-1, and Donald "Steve" Young, a 31-year-old left-hander, subdued No. 2 Go "Cream" Soeda, 36, of Japan 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-5. 

   The No. 4 and No. 7 seeds also fell. Alternate Lucas Catarina "Island" of Monaco outlasted No. 4 Mikael Torpegaard, a former star at nearby Ohio State from Denmark, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. And Bjorn "Borg" Fratangelo of Orlando, Fla., beat No. 7 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski of Charlottesville, Va., 6-4, 6-2.

   Jenson Brooksby "Brothers," 20, of Carmichael, Calif., in the Sacramento area is slated to meet wild card Zachary "Taylor" Svajda, 18, of San Diego for the first time on Tuesday in a first-round matchup of the last two USTA boys 18 national champions. 

   Brooksby is coming off his first Challenger title in February in Potchefstroom, South Africa.

Ex-Fresno State standout qualifies for WTA Monterrey

   Seventh-seeded Mayar "Who Shot The" Sherif (Fresno State, 2015-16) of Egypt beat Usue (pronounced OU-sway) Arconada of the United States 6-3, 6-4 today to qualify for the Abierto GNP Seguros, a WTA 250 tournament in Monterrey, Mexico.

   Sherif is scheduled to play Lauren "Bette" Davis, a 5-foot-2 (1.57-meter) American, for the first time in the first round on Monday. 

   In the Australian Open in February, Sherif became the first Egyptian woman to win a main-draw match in a Grand Slam tournament. 

   ATP Challenger Tour in Cleveland — Dennis "The Menace" Novikov of San Jose, Calif., topped his doubles partner, Ante "Freeze" Pavic of Croatia, 6-7 (7), 6-4, 1-0, retired (abdominal strain) in the first round of qualifying for the $52,080 Cleveland Open. 

   Novikov is set to face sixth-seeded Evan "Sing A" Song of Henderson, Nev., on Monday for a main-draw berth. Song beat wild card James "Dennis" Hopper of Great Britain 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-1. 

   Novikov defeated Song 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the 2015 Las Vegas Challenger in their only previous meeting.

Bay Area product loses in Guadalajara doubles final

Desirae Krawczyk, left, and Giuliana Olmos, a San Francisco Bay Area product,
 pose after winning the doubles title in the 2017 Sacramento (Calif.) Challenger.
Photo by Rob Vomund

   Third-seeded Ellen "DeGeneres" Perez and Astra "Lucky" Sharma of Australia outplayed top-seeded Desirae "Stuck In My" Krawczyk, a Palm Desert, Calif., native, and "Rudy" Giuliana Olmos, a product of Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area who plays for Mexico, 6-4, 6-4 today in the final of the Abierto Zapopan 2021, a WTA 250 tournament in Guadalajara, Mexico.

   Perez and Sharma, both 25, won their second WTA doubles title each and first together. They split $10,300.

   Olmos, a 28-year-old Austria native, was seeking her third WTA doubles title, all with Krawczyk. The duo shared $6,000.

   Krawczyk, a 27-year-old left-hander, reached the French Open final last October with Alexa Guarachi, a native of Fort Walton Beach, Fla., who plays for Chile. They fell to second seeds and defending champions Timea "Linecum" Babos of Hungary and Kristina "Aguilera" Mladenovic of France.

   Guarachi and Darija Jurak of Croatia captured the title today in the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai.

   Krawczyk and Olmos — former Pacific-12 Conference rivals at Arizona State and USC, respectively — won the 2017 Sacramento, Calif., Challenger.

   WTA Tour in Monterrey, Mexico — Usue (prounounced OU-sway) Arconada beat sixth-seeded Kristie "Game" Ahn (Stanford, 2011-14) 6-4, 7-6 (5), playing for the first time since November, in an all-American encounter in the first round of qualifying for the Abierto GNP Seguros, a WTA 250 tournament.

   Arconada, who won the doubles title in the 2017 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger with Sofia "Vergara" Kenin, is scheduled to play "Oscar" Mayar Sherif (Fresno State, 2015-16) of Egypt on Sunday for a main-draw berth. Sherif defeated wild card Marcela Zacarias of Mexico 6-3, 7-6 (0).

   ATP Tour in Santiago, Chile — Federico "Fellini" Delbonis of Argentina and Jaume "Once In A Blue" Munar of Spain defeated Andre "Agassi" Goransson (University of California, Berkeley, 2014-17) of Sweden and Goncalo "Greek" Oliveira of Portugal 7-5, 6-4 in a matchup of unseeded teams in the semifinals of the Chile Dove Men+Care Open, an ATP 250 tournament.

   ATP Tour in Acapulco, Mexico — Sixth-seeded Damir Dzumhur, a former top-25 player from Bosnia-Herzegovina, beat Collin "Kaepernick" Altamirano, 25, of Sacramento 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-0 in the first round of qualifying for the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, an ATP 500 tournament.

   Altamirano played for the first time since advancing to the doubles final in the Lima (Peru) Challenger last November with "Dick" Vitaliy Sachko of Ukraine. Dzumhur advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2019 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger as the top seed.

   ATP Challenger Tour in St. Petersburg, Russia — Fourth-seeded Jesper De "Mah" Jong and "Yosemite" Sem Verbeek (University of the Pacific, 2013-16) of the Netherlands topped unseeded Konstantin Kravchuk of Russia and Denis "The Menace" Yevseyev of Kazakhstan 6-1, 3-6 [10-5] to win the $52,080 Grand Palace Championship 2.

   Verbeek, a 26-year-old left-hander, claimed his fifth Challenger doubles title and first with De Jong, 20. They divided $3,100.

   Verbeek has reached the doubles semifinals or better in all six of his tournaments this year, including last week's runner-up finish in St. Petersburg with De Jong.

Sanchez falls in Guadalajara doubles semifinals

Maria Sanchez, from Modesto, Calif., lived in Guada-
lajara when she was 10. 2018 photo by Paul Bauman 

   Third-seeded Ellen Perez and Astra Sharma of Australia subdued unseeded defending champions Maria Sanchez, a 31-year-old Modesto, Calif., product, and Fanny "Pack" Stollar of Hungary 4-6, 7-5 [10-7] today in the semifinals of the Abierto Zapopan 2021 in Guadalajara, Mexico, on the WTA Tour.

   Sanchez lived in Guadalajara, where her father has relatives, for one year with her family when she was 10. She began playing tennis there after excelling in basketball and softball in Modesto.

   Perez and Sharma, a former Vanderbilt All-American, are set to face top-seeded Desirae Krawczyk, a Palm Desert, Calif., native, and Giuliana Olmos, a product of Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area who plays for Mexico, on Saturday. 

   Krawczyk, a 27-year-old left-hander, reached the French Open final last fall with Alexa Guarachi, a native of Fort Walton Beach, Fla., who plays for Chile. They fell to second seeds and defending champions Timea "Lincecum" Babos of Hungary and Kristina "Aguilera" Mladenovic of France.

   Krawczyk and Olmos — former Pacific-12 Conference rivals at Arizona State and USC, respectively —  won the 2017 Sacramento Challenger.

   ATP Tour in Santiago, Chile — Fourth-seeded Simone "Andrea" Bolelli of Italy and Maximo "Pancho" Gonzalez of Argentina eliminated top-seeded "Baltimore" Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Ben McLachlan (University of California, Berkeley, 2011-14), a New Zealand native who plays for his mother's native Japan, 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals of the Chile Dove Men+Care Open.

   McLachlan's former teammate at Cal, Andre "The Giant" Goransson (2014-17) of Sweden, and Goncalo Oliveira of Portugal topped wild cards Marcelo Tomas Barrios Vera and Alejandro Tabilo of Chile 6-4, 4-6 [10-7] in the quarterfinals.

   ATP Challenger Tour in Saint Petersburg, Russia — Jesper De "Mah" Jong and "Yosemite" Sem Verbeek (University of the Pacific, 2013-16) of the Netherlands reached their second final in Saint Petersburg in two weeks.

   The fourth-seeded pair beat unseeded Evgeny "Ivo" Karlovskiy of Russia and Nino Serdarusic of Croatia 6-2, 7-6 (2) in the $52,080 Grand Palace Championship 2. Verbeek has reached the doubles semifinals or better in all six of his tournaments this year, including last week's runner-up finish.

   De Jong, 20, and Verbeek, a 26-year-old left-hander, are set to play unseeded Konstantin Kravchuk of Russia and Denis "The Menace" Yevyesev of Kazakhstan on Saturday. Kravchuk and Yevyesev beat unseeded Dmitry "Caramel" Popko of Kazakhstan and Alexey "You're Darn" Vatutin of Russia by walkover.

Bay Area product Olmos reaches WTA doubles final

   Top-seeded Desirae "Stuck In My" Krawczyk, a native of Palm Desert, Calif., and "Rudy" Giuliana Olmos, a product of Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area who competes for Mexico, beat unseeded Aliona Bolsova, a Moldova native who plays for Spain, and Danka Kovinic of Montenegro 6-2, 2-0, retired in the semifinals of the Abierto Zapopan 2021 in Guadalajara, Mexico, on the WTA Tour.

   Krawczyk, a former Arizona State star, reached the French Open final last October with Alexa Guarachi, a native of Fort Walton Beach, Fla., who plays for Chile. They fell to second seeds and defending champions Timea "Lincecum" Babos of Hungary and Kristina "Aguilera" Mladenovic of France.

   Krawczyk and Olmos will meet either third-seeded Ellen "DeGeneres" Perez and "Houston" Astra Sharma of Australia or unseeded defending champions Maria "Sharapova" Sanchez, a Modesto, Calif., product, and Fanny "Pack" Stollar of Hungary. Sanchez and Stollar topped second-seeded Vania "White" King and "Sweet" Caroline Dolehide of the United States 6-1, 3-6 [10-7].

   Sanchez lived in Guadalajara, where her father has relatives, for one year with her family when she was 10. She began playing tennis there.

   King, a former Sacramento Capital in World TeamTennis, won Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2010 with Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan and ascended to a career-high No. 3 in doubles in 2011.

   ATP Tour in Santiago, Chile — Top-seeded "Baltimore" Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Ben McLachlan (University of California, Berkeley, 2011-14), a New Zealand native who plays for his mother's native Japan, edged wild cards Nicolas Jarry of Chile and Leonardo "DiCaprio" Mayer of Argentina 2-6, 7-5 [10-8] in the quarterfinals of the Chile Dove Men+Care Open.

   ATP Challenger Tour in Saint Petersburg, Russia — Fourth-seeded Jesper De "Mah" Jong and "Yosemite" Sem Verbeek (University of the Pacific, 2013-16) of the Netherlands routed Vit Kopriva and Michael "Gore" Vrbensky of the Czech Republic 6-0, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the $52,080 Grand Palace Championship 2.

   Verbeek, a 6-foot-4 (1.93-meter) left-hander, has reached the doubles semifinals or better in all six of his tournaments this year, the first four (all semis) with "Trick Or" Treat Huey and last week (Saint Petersburg final) with De Jong. 

Khachanov conquers McDonald in Marseille

Diminutive Mackenzie McDonald lost to another 6-foot-6
 (1.98-meter) player. 2018 photo by Paul Bauman

   Mackenzie McDonald fought hard but fell short against Karen Khachanov. 

   The third-seeded Khachanov, a 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Russian, turned back McDonald, a 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) San Francisco Bay Area product, 7-6 (4), 6-4 today to reach the quarterfinals of the Open 13 Provence in Marseille, France, on the ATP Tour.

   Three McDonald's five losses this year have come against 6-foot-6 players. He also fell to San Francisco native Sam Querrey in the first round in Delray Beach, Fla., and Daniil Medvedev of Russia in the fourth round of the Australian Open in February. Medvedev later lost to Novak Djokovic in the Melbourne final.

   ATP Tour in Santiago, Chile — Andre Goransson (University of California, Berkeley, 2014-17) of Sweden and Goncalo Oliveira of Portugal beat Oliver Marach, 40, of Austria and Luis David Martinez of Venezuela 7-6 (4), 6-1 in the first round of the Chile Dove Men+Care Open. 

   Marach won the 2018 Australian Open with Mate Pavic of Croatia.

   ATP Challenger Tour in Saint Petersburg, Russia — Fourth-seeded Jesper De Jong and Sem Verbeek (University of the Pacific, 2013-16) downed wild cards Daniil Golubev and Evgenii Tiurnev of Russia 6-4, 7-6 (4) in the opening round of the Grand Palace Championship 2. 

   WTA Tour in Guadalajara, Mexico — Top-seeded Desirae Krawczyk, a native of Palm Desert, Calif., and Giuliana Olmos, a product of Fremont in the Bay Area who plays for Mexico, nipped Nadia Podoroska of Argentina and Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain 6-4, 4-6 [10-7] in the quarterfinals of the Abierto Zapopan 2021.

McDonald tops Travaglia in ATP Marseille opener

Mackenzie McDonald, a San Francisco Bay Area product now
based in Orlando, Fla., has won 10 of his last 12 singles match-
es. 2018 photo by Paul Bauman

   Mackenzie McDonald, who was born and raised in Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, defeated Stefano Travaglia of Italy 7-6 (2), 7-6 (1) today in the first round of the Open 13 Provence in Marseille, France, on the ATP Tour.

   The 25-year-old McDonald, now based in Orlando, Fla., has won 10 of his last 12 singles matches, including a fourth-round appearance in the Australian Open and the title in the $104,160 Nur-Sultan 1 Challenger in Kazakhstan.

   Travaglia reached the final of the ATP Melbourne 1 tournament in February, losing to countryman Jannik Sinner.

   McDonald, 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters), next has a tall — literally — task against third-seeded Karen Khachanov, a 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Russian who drew a first-round bye. 

   McDonald, ranked No. 120, and Khachanov, ranked No. 21, will meet for the first time. They attained career highs of No. 57 and No. 8, respectively, in 2019. McDonald had right hamstring surgery later that year.

   In the opening round of doubles, McDonald and Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan lost to top-seeded Ken Skupski and Neal Skupski of Great Britain 6-3, 6-3. 

    WTA Tour in Guadalajara, Mexico — Top-seeded Nadia Podoroska of Argentina beat qualifier Giuliana Olmos, a 28-year-old product of Fremont in the Bay Area who plays for Mexico, 7-6 (8), 3-6, 6-2 in the first round of the Abierto Zapopan 2021.

   Podoroska, a French Open semifinalist as a qualifier last fall, reeled off the last six games. 

   Cincinnati native Caty McNally outlasted wild card Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek in the Bay Area 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 in a matchup of 19-year-olds. 

   In a late first-round doubles match, top-seeded Desirae Krawczyk, a native of Palm Desert, Calif., and Olmos beat Irina Bara of Romania and Dalila Jakupovic of Slovenia 7-5, 6-1.