Ex-NorCal star cruises into first Masters 1000 semifinal

Cameron Norrie was 0-2 in the main draw in Indian Wells
before this year. 2016 photo by Paul Bauman

   No. 21 seed Cameron Norrie reached his first ATP Masters 1000 semifinal today, routing No. 11 seed Diego Schwartzman 6-0, 6-2 in 73 minutes in the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif.

   Masters 1000 tournaments are the highest level besides the Grand Slams.

   All three of Norrie's previous matches against Schwartzman had gone the distance, including a first-round victory in last year's U.S. Open.

   Norrie, a 26-year-old left-hander, was born in South Africa, grew up in New Zealand, starred at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, and represents Great Britain. He improved to 3-1 against the 5-foot-7 (1.70-meter), 141-pound (64-kilogram)  Schwartzman, 29, of Argentina.

   "Everything went my way today," Norrie, who won back-to-back Northern California Challengers in Tiburon and Stockton in 2017, said in an on-court interview. "Right from the beginning, I was timing the ball well. I thought I was in for a long match because the previous times we have played have been so long and so physical, so I was ready for that. I hit a lot of lines in the first set and stayed tough in the second and served well when I needed to. I am so happy to be through; it is such a big win for me."

   Norrie, who was 0-2 in the main draw in Indian Wells before this year, is scheduled to face No. 23 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria on Saturday. Dimitrov, who ousted top-seeded Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday, edged No. 8 seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2).

   Norrie is projected to improve at least six notches to a career-high No. 20 on Monday. He will pocket a minimum of $335,000 (plus $8,435 as a first-round loser in doubles).

   On the women's side, No. 12 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia defeated No. 18 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia 7-5, 6-3 to reach her first WTA 1000 semifinal. 

   Jabeur, who will become the first Arab (male or female) to crack the top 10 on Monday, is slated to meet No. 21 seed Paula Badosa of Spain after Friday's 6 p.m. semifinal between No. 24 seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and No. 27 seed and two-time Indian Wells champion Victoria Azarenka (Tennis Channel).

   Badosa, a quarterfinalist in this year's French Open and Tokyo Olympics, eliminated No. 10 seed Angelique Kerber, the 2019 BNP runner-up to Bianca Andreescu, 6-4, 7-5. Badosa beat another Grand Slam champion, No. 3 seed Barbora Krejcikova, in the round of 16.

   In the women's doubles semifinals, No. 2 seeds Hsieh Su-Wei of Chinese Taipei and Elise Mertens of Belgium overwhelmed No. 3 seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan 6-2, 6-0 in 54 minutes.

   Hsieh won the Indian Wells doubles title in 2014 with Peng Shuai of China and in 2018 with Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic. Mertens took the last (2019) crown with Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka, who missed this year's tournament because of COVID. 

   Hsieh and Mertens are set to meet unseeded Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elena Rybakina, a Moscow native who plays for Kazakhstan, on Saturday.

   USTA Pro Circuit — No. 3 seed Katie Volynets, 19, of Walnut Creek, Calif., routed Fernanda Contreras Gomez of Mexico 6-3, 6-0 to reach the quarterfinals of the $25,000 Florence (S.C.) Open on hardcourts.

Dimitrov makes big comeback, shocks Medvedev in BNP

Grigor Dimitrov leaves the court after practicing with Alexander
Zverev last week in Indian Wells, Calif. Photo by Paul Bauman

   No. 23 seed Grigor Dimitrov rallied from a set and two breaks down to stun Daniil Medvedev, seeded first and ranked second, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 today in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open.

   Dimitrov, a 30-year-old Bulgarian, overcame a 1-4 deficit in the second set and reached the quarterfinals in Indian Wells for the first time.

   "He is such a tough player and competitor," Dimitrov said in an on-court interview after improving to 2-3 against Medvedev, who won his first Grand Slam title in the U.S. Open last month. "Over the past year, I have played him a few times and haven't been able to find a way. But today, I just felt something at 1-4, and I calmed myself down and started to take better decisions and started to control the pace of the game, which I really believe helped me. In the end, it was just very solid and smart play."

   Dimitrov, ranked No. 28 after climbing as high as No. 3 in 2017, next will face Poland's Hubert Hurkacz, seeded eighth and ranked 12th. Hurkacz, who advanced to his first major semifinal at Wimbledon in July and won his third ATP title of the year in Metz, France, last month, dismissed No. 19 seed Aslan Karatsev of Russia 6-1, 6-3 in 63 minutes.

   Also reaching the quarterfinals were No. 21 seed Cameron Norrie of Great Britain and No. 31 seed Taylor Fritz of Rancho Palos Verdes in the Los Angeles area. Both won back-to-back Northern California Challengers, Norrie in Tiburon and Stockton in 2017 and Fritz in Sacramento and Fairfield at 17 in 2015.

   In the BNP women's quarterfinals, No. 27 seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus defeated No. 19 seed Jessica Pegula of Boca Raton, Fla., 6-4, 6-2.

   Azarenka, a 32-year-old mother and former world No. 1, won Indian Wells in 2012 and 2016 and the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in 2010. Pegula reached a NorCal Challenger final in 2012 at 18 and semifinal in 2018. 

   Azarenka is scheduled to meet Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko, the No. 24 seed who eliminated unseeded Shelby Rogers of Charleston, S.C., 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Rogers played on her 29th birthday.

   Ostapenko ousted No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland on Tuesday in a matchup of former French Open champions. Rogers reached the round of 16 in the recent U.S. Open, knocking off top-ranked Ashleigh Barty before losing to eventual champion Emma Raducanu.

   The other two women's quarterfinals are set for Thursday.

Three more high women's seeds lose in Indian Wells

No. 24 seed Jelena Ostapenko ousted No. 2 seed Iga
Swiatek 6-4, 6-3 in the round of 16 in Indian Wells.
2016 photo by Paul Bauman

   One day after No. 1 seed Karolina Pliskova lost to lucky loser Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil in the BNP Paribas Open, the second, third and fourth women's seeds also fell in straight sets.

   In a matchup of former French Open champions, No. 24 seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia surprised No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland 6-4, 6-3 today in the round of 16 in Indian Wells.

   No. 21 seed Paula Badosa, a quarterfinalist in this year's French Open and Tokyo Olympics, beat No. 3 seed Barbora Krejcikova, the reigning French Open champion, 6-1, 7-5.

   And No. 19 seed Jessica Pegula of Boca Raton, Fla., routed No. 4 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-1, 6-1 in 68 minutes. Pegula reached the Sacramento final in 2012 at 18 and Stockton semifinals in 2018 in Northern California Challengers.

   No. 10 Angelique Kerber is the highest remaining women's seed. The three-time Grand Slam singles champion reached the final of the last (2019) BNP Paribas Open, losing to 19-year-old Bianca Andreescu, and won the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.

   Pegula is the highest seed left in the bottom half of the women's draw.

   In yet another women's upset, unseeded Shelby Rogers of Charleston, S.C.,  edged No. 23 seed Leylah Fernandez, the U.S. Open runner-up last month, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4).

   No. 18 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia dismissed Haddad Maia 6-0, 6-2 in 65 minutes.

   On the men's side, No. 31 seed Taylor Fritz of Rancho Palos Verdes in the Los Angeles area dispatched No. 5 seed Matteo Berrettini, the Wimbledon runner-up in July, 6-4, 6-3. Fritz won the Sacramento and Fairfield (Calif.) Challengers in consecutive weeks at 17 in 2015.

   In the BNP women's doubles quarterfinals, No. 3 seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan beat unseeded Makoto Ninomiya of Japan and Sabrina Santamaria of Los Angeles 6-1, 7-6 (2).

   Shibahara, 23, was born in Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area and starred at UCLA.

Lucky loser stuns top seed Pliskova in BNP

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Beatriz Haddad Maia, shown in the final round of qualifying last week, reached
the round of 16 in a WTA 1000 tournament for the first time. Photo by Paul Bauman

    Lucky loser Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil shocked Karolina Pliskova, seeded first and ranked third, 6-3, 7-5 in the wind today in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

   Haddad Maia had lost to Usue Arconada, coming off the title in the $60,000 Berkeley (Calif.) Challenger, in the final round of qualifying. But the 6-foot (1.85-meter) left-hander advanced to the main draw when No. 29 seed Nadia Podoroska of Argentina withdrew because of a thigh injury.

   Haddad Maia, ranked No. 115, reached the round of 16 in a WTA 1000 tournament for the first time and recorded her second win over a top-10 player. She surprised then-No. 4 Sloane Stephens in the second round in Acapulco in 2019 as a qualifier.

   Haddad Maia is scheduled to play No. 18 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia on Tuesday. Kontaveit, who won two WTA titles in her previous four tournaments, eliminated No. 16 seed Bianca Andreescu, the BNP and U.S. Open champion in 2019, 7-6 (5), 6-3.

   In the second round of men's doubles, Tim Puetz of Germany and Michael Venus of New Zealand defeated No. 2 seeds and reigning U.S. Open champions Rajeev Ram, a volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley from Carmel, Ind., and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain 4-6, 6-4 [10-6]. 

   Ram won the 2017 BNP doubles title with Raven Klaasen of South Africa.

   Also today, No. 5 seeds Kevin Krawietz of Germany and Horia Tecau of Romania beat Los Angeles-area residents Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey, a 34-year-old San Francisco native, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (4). 

Zverev overpowers Brooksby, 20, in third set in BNP

Alexander Zverev ended today's match with 142- and 143-mph aces,
his fastest ones of the afternoon. 2016 photo by Paul Bauman 

   INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — The longer the match went, the harder Alexander Zverev pummeled his serve and groundstrokes.

   That was bad news for Jenson Brooksby.

   The third-seeded Zverev, a 24-year-old German, overpowered Brooksby, a 20-year-old wild card from Carmichael, Calif., in the Sacramento area, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 today in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open.

   Zverev, 6-foot-6 (1.98 meters), won three of his four service games in the third set at love in 16,100-seat Stadium 1, the second-largest tennis facility in the world behind 23,771-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

   Ten of Zverev's 12 aces came in the final set, including missiles of 142 mph (229 kph) and 143 mph (230 kph), his two fastest of the afternoon, on the last two points. Overall, he won 73 percent of the points on his first serve (35 of 48) and 58 percent (14 of 24) on his second delivery.

   "I actually thought I didn't serve well today, so I thought, OK, I'll let it all out on the last two serves," Zverev, the singles gold medalist in the Tokyo Olympics last month, said in an on-court interview. "He's a tricky opponent. ... You're going to see a lot more of him in the future."

    Brooksby, who lost to Novak Djokovic in four sets in the round of 16 in the U.S. Open last month, is projected to improve nine more spots to a career-high No. 70. He was No. 307 when he turned pro last December.

   The ATP recently announced that it is investigating Zverev after a former girlfriend accused him of domestic abuse. Zverev has strongly denied the accusations.

   In the first round of men's doubles, top-seeded Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic of Croatia routed Mackenzie McDonald, a product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Brandon Nakashima of San Diego 6-2, 6-2 in 37 minutes.

   Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Matwe Middelkoop of the Netherlands edged Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Ben McLachlan (University of California, Berkeley, 2011-14) of Japan 6-2, 0-6 [11-9]. Klaasen won the 2017 title with Rajeev Ram.

   In the second round of women's doubles, Makoto Ninomiya of Japan and Sabrina Santamaria of Los Angeles eliminated eighth-seeded Sharon Fichman of Canada and Giuliana Olmos, an Austria native who grew up in Fremont in the Bay Area and represents Mexico, 6-4, 6-2.

   USTA Pro Circuit — Unseeded Catherine Harrison, a former UCLA All-American from Germantown, Tenn., in the Memphis region, routed No. 6 seed Dalila Jakupovic of Slovenia 6-1, 6-1 to win the $25,000 Team Ascension Women's Pro Open in Redding, Calif.

Medvedev masters McDonald again in Indian Wells

No. 1 seed Daniil Medvedev, foreground, serves to Mackenzie
McDonald under the lights in 16,100-seat Stadium 1 in Indian
Wells on Saturday night. Photo by Paul Bauman

   INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Daniil Medvedev, seeded first and ranked second, continued his mastery of Mackenzie McDonald on Saturday night with a 6-4, 6-2 victory in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open.

   The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Medvedev, who won his first Grand Slam title in the U.S. Open last month, has won all 13 sets in six career matches against the 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) McDonald, ranked No. 57. They met for the third time this year and the second time in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open.

   McDonald, 26, was born in Berkeley, Calif., grew up in neighboring Piedmont and starred at UCLA, a two-hour drive west of Indian Wells. 

   In the first featured match of the night in 16,100-seat Stadium 1, Medvedev won 82 percent of the points on his first serve (23 of 28) and 74 percent on his second delivery (14 of 19) and did not face a break point.

   Medvedev, 25, has never advanced past the third round of the BNP Paribas Open.

   "I'm actually really pleased, because usually I haven't played well in Indian Wells, and I haven't been playing that well in practices before (the tournament)," Medvedev, who has won 17 of his last 18 matches, said in an on-court interview. "(I'm) really happy with my performance. That's the most important (thing), no matter how I played before the tournament."

   On the women's side, Mayar Sherif (Fresno State, 2015-16) of Egypt made repeated errors in a 6-3, 6-0 loss to lucky loser Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil in the second round.

   Since losing in the first round of the Tokyo Olympics in July, Sherif became the first Egyptian to reach a WTA final (losing to Andrea Petkovic of Germany on clay in Cluj-Napoca, Romania), reached the final of a $60,000 clay-court tournament in Gran Canaria, Spain, qualified for the U.S. Open (falling in the first round to Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine) and won a $115,000 clay-court tourney in Karlsruhe, Germany.

   Also today, No. 3 seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan reached the doubles quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Americans Asia Muhammad and Jessica Pegula. Shibahara, 23, was born in Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area and also starred at UCLA.

   USTA Pro Circuit — Unseeded Catherine Harrison, a former UCLA All-American from Germantown, Tenn., in the Memphis area, outlasted No. 3 seed Katie Swan of Great Britain 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the semifinals of the $25,000 Team Ascension Women's Pro Open in Redding, Calif.

   Harrison is set to meet No. 6 seed Dalila Jakupovic of Slovenia on Sunday at 1 p.m. Jakupovic topped No. 4 seed Lu Jia-Jing of China 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

   In the doubles final, No. 4 seeds Mirjam Bjorklund of Sweden and Swan beat No. 3 seeds Jakupovic and Lu 6-3, 1-6 [10-3]. Lu also lost in the doubles final of last week's $60,000 Berkeley (Calif.) Challenger with Liang En-Shuo of Chinese Taipei.

Brooksby beats qualifier in BNP debut, will face Zverev

Jenson Brooksby, a 20-year-old wild card from Carmichael, Calif., in the Sacramento
area, celebrates his first-round victory in Indian Wells on the giant screen outside
 Stadium 1. Photo by Paul Bauman

   INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Jenson Brooksby often attended the BNP Paribas Open as a young junior. Now he's playing in it.

   Making his BNP debut, the 20-year-old wild card from Carmichael, Calif., in the Sacramento area defeated qualifier Cem Ilkel of Turkey 7-6 (5), 6-4 today in front of a sparse crowd in 16,100-seat Stadium 1, the second-largest tennis facility in the world behind 23,771-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

   "When he was younger — 10 or 11 — he was over there (on the walkway next to the field) trying to get autographs all the time," Brooksby's father, Glen, said at a tree-shaded picnic table in a small park on the grounds. "It was really cute. He'd be out there with a million other kids trying to get autographs. He'd come back with his big ball and show us who he had.

   "(Ernests) Gulbis was one of his favorite players at that time, and he got a photo with him that he still has, and he got a photo I think with (Vasek) Pospisil. He really was excited about seeing all these top players here and getting autographs. Probably his favorite player all along has been (Rafael) Nadal just because of his energy and never-give-up attitude."

   Yes, Jenson also secured Nadal's autograph and still has the big ball, Glen noted.

   "(Jenson) had goals when he came down to get the top three or four (players) and then maybe get whoever else he could," said Glen, a Sacramento anesthesiologist. "He got Nadal's one year. I think he got (Roger) Federer's. I'm not sure he ever got (Novak) Djokovic's, though."

   Jenson took a set off Djokovic in the fourth round of the U.S. Open last month. Ranked No. 307 when he turned pro in late December, Brooksby has skyrocketed to No. 79.

   Brooksby's serve supposedly is the weakest part of his game, but it didn't seem that way against the 26-year-old Ilkel, ranked No. 179. The 6-foot-4 (1.93-meter) Brooksby won 90 percent of the points on his first serve (36 of 40) and 68 percent on his second delivery (13 of 19). He did not face a break point.

   The tiebreaker was vintage Brooksby. He rallied from 0-3 to 4-4 and won three of the last four points on two passing shots that caught the outside of the sideline sandwiched around a net-cord winner. After Brooksby's set-winning shot, Ilkel put his hands on his hips in disbelief as he watched the replay. 

   Brooksby earned the only service break of the second set with a backhand passing shot down the line to lead 3-2. 

   Now comes the hard part. Brooksby is scheduled to face 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) German Alexander Zverev, ranked fourth and seeded third, for the first time on Sunday. All seeds receive first-round byes.

   Zverev, who's under investigation for domestic abuse, reached the U.S. Open final last year, losing to Dominic Thiem 7-6 in the fifth set after leading two sets to none, and won the singles gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics in August.

   Did Glen Brooksby ever think his only child would play in the BNP Paribas Open one day?

   "It's a good question," he said. "You always hope that your kid succeeds in what they want to do, but you just always feel like there's so much competition. In every age group, he was in the top 10 in the U.S., but we always played him up a lot, so it seemed like he was losing a lot of matches and winning a lot of matches. You always have this sense that maybe someone else is going to beat him out, someone else is better. You feel like the odds are against you. ... We hoped."

   In a late second-round women's match, No. 19 seed Jessica Pegula of Boca Raton, Fla., dispatched Sloane Stephens, a Fresno, Calif., product now based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 6-2, 6-3.

   Pegula, whose parents own the Buffalo Bills and Sabres, reached a Northern California final at 18 in 2012 and semifinal in 2018. Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion, has plunged from a career-high No. 3 in 2018 to No. 73. 

   In the first round of men's doubles, No. 2 seeds and reigning U.S. Open champions Rajeev Ram, a volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley from Carmel, Ind., and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain edged Cameron Norrie of Great Britain and Luke Saville of Great Britain 4-6, 6-3 [10-8]. Ram won the BNP doubles title in 2017 with Raven Klaasen of South Africa.

   Steve Johnson of Redondo Beach, Calif., and Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native now living in Agoura Hills in the Los Angeles region, edged Lloyd Harris and Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 6-3, 6-7 (2) [10-7]. 

   USTA Pro Circuit — No. 6 seed Dalila Jakupovic of Slovenia outclassed No. 2 seed Mirjam Bjorklund of Sweden 6-1, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the $25,000 Team Ascension Women's Pro Open in Redding, Calif.

   Jakupovic is set to play No. 4 seed Lu Jia-Jing of China on Saturday. Lu reached the doubles final of last week's $60,000 Berkeley (Calif.) Challenger with Liang En-Shuo of Chinese Taipei.

   In the other semifinal, No. 3 seed Katie Swan of Great Britain will meet unseeded Catherine Harrison of Germantown, Tenn. Swan won a $25,000 tournament in Orlando, Fla., in February and qualified for Wimbledon before losing to No. 23 seed Madison Keys in the first round.

   College — Eryn Cayetano of USC bested Carolyn Campana (Hillsborough in the San Francisco Bay Area) of Wake Forest 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the ITA Women's All-American Championships in Mt. Pleasant, S.C.