Stanford's Fery falls in ITA Fall singles, doubles finals

   No. 3 seed August Holmgren, a University of San Diego redshirt senior from Denmark, defeated No. 2 seed Arthur Fery, a Stanford sophomore from Great Britain, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 today to win the ITA National Fall Championships in San Diego. Fery held a match point.

   In the men's doubles final, No. 1 seeds Matej Vocel and Robert Cash of Ohio State topped No. 2 seeds Fery and Alexandre Rotsaert 2-6, 6-4 [10-7].

   No. 5 seed Eryn Cayetano, a USC junior from Long Beach, Calif., won the women's singles title with a 6-0, 5-7, 7-5 victory over No. 2 seed Daria Frayman, a Princeton junior from Russia.

   Frayman handed Stanford freshman Connie Ma, from Dublin in the San Francisco Bay Area, her first collegiate loss in the quarterfinals. Ma swept the singles and doubles titles in last month's ITA Northwest Regional Championships at Stanford.

   In today's women's doubles final, No. 4 seeds Fiona Crawley and Elizabeth Scotty of North Carolina edged No. 3 seeds Tatsiana Sasnouskaya and Yuliia Starodubtseva of Old Dominion in Norfolk, Va., 4-6, 6-2 [11-9]. Scotty won the NCAA doubles title with Makenna Jones in May.

   ATP Tour — Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain outlasted Mackenzie McDonald, a 26-year-old product of Piedmont in the Bay Area, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 in the first round of the Stockholm Open.

   ATP Challenger Tour — JC Aragone of Yorba Linda, Calif., in the Los Angeles region dominated Dennis Novikov of San Jose, Calif., 6-2, 6-2 in first-round qualifying in the $52,080 Knoxville (Tenn.) Challenger.

Kasatkina, San Jose runner-up, helps Russians win Cup

Daria Kasatkina, playing in San Jose in August, beat Jil Teichmann of Switzer-
land 6-2, 6-4 today in the Billie Jean King Cup in Prague. Photo by Mal Taam

   The Russian Tennis Federation defeated Switzerland 2-0 today in Prague to win the Billie Jean King Cup (formerly Fed Cup) for the first time in 13 years and fifth time overall.

   Daria Kasatkina, the San Jose runner-up in August, began the day with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Jil Teichmann. Liudmila Samsonova then outlasted Belinda Bencic, who won the singles gold medal in this year's Tokyo Olympics, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

   Switzerland fell to 0-2 in Billie Jean King Cup finals.

   The World Anti-Doping Agency banned Russia from international competition for four years in August, but athletes not implicated in doping are allowed to compete under a neutral flag.

   WTA Tour — No. 3 seed Anna Bondar of Hungary beat No. 1 seed Mayar "Who Shot The" Sherif (Fresno State, 2015-16) of Egpyt 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals of the Argentina Open on clay in Buenos Aires. It's the first WTA tournament in Argentina in 34 years.

   College — No. 2 seed Arthur Fery "Cross the Mersey" of Stanford outlasted No. 5 seed Matej Vocel of Ohio State 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 in the semifinals of the ITA National Fall Championships in San Diego.

   Fery, who has won three consecutive three-set matches, is scheduled to face No. 3 seed August Holmgren of the University of San Diego on Sunday. Holmgren beat No. 1 seed Clement Chidekh of Washington 6-0, 1-6, 6-3.

   In the doubles semifinals, No. 4 seeds Fery and Alexandre Rotsaert defeated No. 7 seeds Lui Maxted and Pedro Vives Marcos of Texas Christian 6-3, 7-5. Fery and Rotsaert are set to meet No. 1 seeds Robert Cash and Vocel, who eliminated No. 3 seeds Andres Martin and Marcus McDaniel, from Vacaville, Calif., of Georgia Tech 5-7, 6-1 [10-6].

U.S. falls to Russians in Billie Jean King Cup semis

Danielle Collins, shown en route to the San Jose title in August, won all three
of her singles matches in the Billie Jean King Cup. She did not play doubles.
Photo by Mal Taam

   The Russian Tennis Federation defeated the United States 2-1 today to reach the final of the Billie Jean King Cup, formerly Fed Cup, in Prague.

   In the decisive doubles match, Veronika Kudermetova and Liudmila Samsonova outclassed Shelby Rogers and CoCo Vandeweghe 6-3, 6-3.

   With Samsonova serving for the match at 5-3, the Russians trailed 0-40 but reeled off the next four points to advance. They will face Switzerland, which beat Australia 2-0, on Saturday at 8 a.m. PDT (Tennis Channel).

   Vandeweghe reached the final of the now-defunct Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in 2012 and 2017.

   Samsonova gave the Russians a 1-0 lead with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Sloane Stephens, a Fresno, Calif., product who has tumbled from a career-high No. 3 in 2018 to No. 63.

   Danielle Collins, the San Jose champion in August, then outlasted Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who advanced to the French Open final in June, 6-7 (9), 7-6 (2), 6-2.

   Collins won all three of her singles matches this week. She did not play doubles. Pavlyuchenkova played for the now-defunct Sacramento Capitals of World Team Tennis as the world's top junior at 15 in 2006.

   The United States, which has won a record 18 Billie Jean King Cup titles, was missing its top four singles players — No. 15 Sofia Kenin, No. 20 Jessica Pegula, No. 23 Coco Gauff and No. 25 Jennifer Brady — and top five doubles competitors — No. 14 Nicole Melichar-Martinez, No. 16 Bethanie Mattek-Sands, No. 17 Caty McNally, No. 19 Gauff and No. 23 Desirae Krawczyk.

   The Russian Tennis Federation has its top five singles players — No. 12 Pavlyuchenkova, No. 28 Daria Kasatkina, No. 31 Kudermetova, No. 32 Ekaterina Alexandrova and No. 40 Samsonova — and its top doubles competitor, No. 11 Kudermetova. Kasatkina fell to Collins in the San Jose final.

   The World Anti-Doping Agency banned Russia from international competition for four years in August, but athletes not implicated in doping are allowed to compete under a neutral flag.

   WTA Tour — No. 1 seed Mayar Sherif (Fresno State, 2015-16) of Egypt beat No. 6 seed Ekaterine Gorgodze of Georgia 6-1, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Argentina Open on clay in Buenos Aires. It's the first WTA tournament in Argentina in 34 years.

   College — No. 2 seed Arthur Fery of Stanford won two three-set matches to reach the semifinals of the ITA National Fall Championships in San Diego.

   Fery also reached the doubles quarterfinals with Alexandre Rotsaert. Seeded fourth, they advanced by walkover. 

   No. 3 seeds Andres Martin and Marcus McDaniel, from Vacaville, Calif., of Georgia Tech eliminated Timothy Sah, playing in his hometown, and Max Basing of Stanford 6-4, 7-6 (4).

   In the women's singles quarterfinals, No. 5 seed Eryn Cayetano of USC beat unseeded Mariia Kozyreva of Saint Mary's in the San Francisco Bay Area 6-2, 6-2. Earlier today, Kozyreva ousted No. 1 seed Abigail Forges of UCLA in three sets.

   No. 2 seed Daria Frayman, a Princeton junior from Russia, eliminated Connie Ma, a Stanford freshman from Dublin in the Bay Area, 6-4, 6-4.    

   No. 4 doubles seeds Fiona Crawley and Elizabeth Scotty of North Carolina downed Angelica Blake and Ma 6-2, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals. Scotty won the NCAA doubles title with Makenna Jones in May.

   In a late match, No. 5 seeds Victoria Flores and Lisa Zaar of Pepperdine beat Jessica Alsola, from Fresno, Calif., and Erin Richardson of the University of California, Berkeley 6-4, 6-2.

Aussies, Swiss advance to Billie Jean King Cup semis

Alja Tomljanovic, the runner-up in the 2017 Sacramento (Calif.) Challenger and a
Wimbledon quarterfinalist this year, lifted Australia to a 2-1 victory over Belarus
today in the Billie Jean King Cup in Prague. 2017 photo by Rob Vomund

   Australia defeated Belarus 2-1 today to reach the semifinals of the Billie Jean King Cup, formerly Fed Cup, in Prague.

   Storm Sanders beat Yuliya Hatouka, making her Cup debut, 6-3, 6-3 to give the Aussies a 1-0 lead. Alja Tomljanovic, who reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at Wimbledon this year, then topped Aliaksandra Sasnovich 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. 

   Sanders and compatriot Daria Gavrilova won the doubles title in the 2014 Sacramento (Calif.) Challenger. Three years later, Tomljanovich advanced to the Sacramento singles final.

   The top two singles players in the world, Ashleigh Barty of Australia and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, and former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus skipped the Billie Jean King Cup. 

   In Friday's semifinals (Tennis Channel), the United States will face the Russian Tennis Federation at 2:30 a.m. PDT, and Australia will play Switzerland, a 2-1 winner over the Czech Republic, at 9 a.m.

   WTA Tour — No. 1 seed Mayar Sherif (Fresno State, 2015-16) of Egypt dismissed Katharina Gerlach of Germany 6-3, 6-2 in the second round of the Argentina Open on clay in Buenos Aires. It's the first WTA tournament in Argentina in 34 years.

   USTA Pro Circuit — In a second-round matchup of qualifiers, Moyuka Uchijima of Japan defeated Maegan Manasse, an assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley and ex-Bears All-American, 6-4, 6-2.

   No. 1 doubles seeds Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan and Valeriya Strakhova of Ukraine beat Fernanda Contreras Gomez of Mexico and Maribella Zamarripa of St. Helena, Calif., in the Napa region 6-1, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals.

   Meanwhile, No. 2 seed Sho Shimabukuro of Japan dominated qualifier Keenan Mayo of Sacramento, Calif., 6-2, 6-2 in the second round of a $15,000 tournament in Fayetteville, Ark.

   In the second round of the $15,000 Dick Savitt Futures in Ithaca, N.Y., No. 6 seed Luke Johnson of Great Britain beat Connor Farren, a San Francisco Bay Area product, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-2.

   Abraham Asaba of Ghana and Guy Orly Iradukunda of Burundi eliminated Farren and Jesse Flores of Costa Rica 6-2, 7-6 (0) to reach the quarterfinals.

   College — No. 2 seed Arthur Fery of Stanford dispatched Jordan Hasson of Oklahoma 6-3, 6-3 in the first round of the ITA National Fall Championships in San Diego.

   Fery also advanced in doubles with Alexandre Rotsaert; they are seeded fourth. Their teammates, Timothy Sah and Max Basing, are scheduled to meet third-seeded Marcus McDaniel (Vacaville, Calif.) and Andres Martin of Georgia Tech in the second round on Friday.

   In women's singles, Stanford freshman Connie Ma, from Dublin in the Bay Area, ousted No. 7 seed Snow Han of USC 6-3, 6-1, but another Cardinal freshman, Alexandra Yepifanova, lost to No. 5 seed Eryn Cayetano of USC 7-5, 6-4.

   Mariia Kozyreva of Saint Mary's in the San Francisco Bay Area eliminated Anna Riedmiller of Denver 6-4, 6-3.

   Advancing in doubles were Ma and Angelica Blake, and Cal's Jessica Alsola (Fresno, Calif.) and Erin Richardson. Yepifanova and Niluka Madurawe (Sunnyvale in the Bay Area) lost their opener.

U.S. beats Spain to reach Billie Jean King Cup semis

Sloane Stephens, playing in San Jose in August, beat Nuria Parrizas Diaz 6-4, 6-4
today in the United States' 2-1 win over Spain in the Billie Jean King Cup in Prague.
Photo by Mal Taam 

   One day after suffering an embarrassing loss, the United States somehow advanced to the semifinals of the Billie Jean King Cup, formerly Fed Cup, in Prague.

   Behind Sloane Stephens and Danielle Collins, the Americans defeated Spain 2-1 today to win Group C, even though all three teams finished round-robin play at 1-1 overall and 3-3 in matches. 

   The United States, which lost to Slovakia 2-1 on Tuesday, will meet the Russian Tennis Federation on Friday. The other semifinal matchup will be determined Thursday.

   Stephens, a Fresno, Calif., product who has plunged from a career-high No. 3 in 2018 to No. 63, beat Nuria Parrizas Diaz, ranked No. 66, 6-4, 6-4. Collins, ranked No. 30, then demolished No. 37 Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-1, 6-0 in 59 minutes to give the U.S. an insurmountable lead. Spain won the doubles match. 

   Collins, 27, claimed her first two WTA titles back-to-back in Palermo on clay and San Jose on hardcourts this summer. Sorribes Tormo ousted top-ranked Ashleigh Barty, the reigning Wimbledon champion, in the first round of the Tokyo Olympics in late July. 

   The United States, which has won a record 18 Billie Jean King Cup titles, is missing its top four singles players — No. 15 Sofia Kenin, No. 20 Jessica Pegula, No. 23 Coco Gauff and No. 25 Jennifer Brady — and top five doubles players — No. 14 Nicole Melichar-Martinez, No. 16 Bethanie Mattek-Sands, No. 17 Caty McNally, No. 19 Gauff and No. 23 Desirae Krawczyk.

   Five-time champion Spain played without its top two singles competitors, No. 5 Garbiñe Muguruza and No. 11 Paula Badosa, this week.

   The Russian Tennis Federation has its top five singles players — No. 12 Anasastia Pavlyuchenkova, No. 28 Daria Kasatkina, No. 31 Veronika Kudermetova, No. 32 Ekaterina Alexandrova and No. 40 Liudmila Samsonova — and its top doubles competitor, No. 11 Kudermetova. Kasatkina fell to Collins in the San Jose final.

   ATP Challenger Tour — In the first round of doubles in Charlottesville, Va., No. 3 seeds Treat Huey, a Washington, D.C., native who represents the Philippines, and Frederik Nielsen of Denmark defeated JC Aragone of Yorba Linda, Calif., in the Los Angeles region and Dennis Novikov of San Jose, Calif., 6-4, 6-1. 

   At Wimbledon in 2012, Nielsen and Great Britain's Jonathan Marray became the only wild cards in the tournament's 144-year history to capture the men's doubles title. Goran Ivanisevic (2001) is the only man to accomplish the feat in singles.

   Aragone graduated from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, helping the Cavaliers win three consecutive NCAA team titles (2015-17).

   USTA Pro Circuit — Qualifier Maegan Manasse, an assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley and former Bears All-American, topped American wild card Elizabeth Mandlik, the 20-year-old daughter of International Tennis Hall of Famer Hana Mandlikova of the Czech Republic, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the opening round of a $25,000 tournament in Orlando, Fla.

   In Fayetteville, Ark., qualifier Keenan Mayo of Sacramento, Calif., eliminated U.S. wild card Tyler Zink 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the first round of a $15,000 tournament.

   Mayo's younger brother, Aidan, lost to No. 6 seed Luke Johnson of Great Britain 6-0, 5-7, 6-2 in the opening round of the $15,000 Dick Savitt Futures in Ithaca, N.Y. Connor Farren, a San Francisco Bay Area product, beat lucky loser Jonathan Sorbo of Canada 7-6 (4), 6-4.

Slovakia shocks U.S. in Billie Jean King Cup

Danielle Collins, the San Jose champion in August, won her singles match today
in the Billie Jean Cup. 2021 photo by Mal Taam 

   Viktoria Kuzmova and Tereza Mihalikova, saving a match point in doubles, lifted Slovakia to a stunning 2-1 victory over the United States today in the round-robin phase of the Billie Jean Cup, formerly Fed Cup, in Prague.

   Kuzmova and Mihalikova edged CoCo Vandeweghe, the runner-up in the now-defunct Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in 2012 and 2017, and Caroline Dolehide 6-2, 6-7 (5) [12-10].

   The Slovaks led 8-4 in the match tiebreaker, but the Americans reeled off fourth consecutive points, escaped a match point at 8-9 and earned a match point at 10-9.

   Kuzmova defeated Shelby Rogers 6-4, 6-4 in the opening match. Danielle Collins, who won the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose in August, then defeated Anna Schmiedlova 6-3, 6-2.

   Slovakia improved to 1-1 in Group C, and the United States fell to 0-1. The Americans will meet Spain (1-0) on Wednesday. 

   Twelve teams are divided into four groups, with the group winners advancing to Friday's semifinals.

   The United States is missing its top four singles players (No. 15 Sofia Kenin, No. 20 Jessica Pegula, No. 23 Coco Gauff and No. 25 Jennifer Brady) and top five doubles players (No. 14 Nicole Melichar-Martinez, No. 16 Bethanie Mattek-Sands, No. 17 Caty McNally, No. 19 Gauff and No. 23 Desirae Krawczyk).

   WTA Tour — No. 1 seed Mayar Sherif (Fresno State, 2015-16) of Egypt edged Andrea Lazaro Garcia of Spain 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (2) in the first round of the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires. It's the first WTA tournament in Argentina in 34 years.

   In the opening round of the Dow Tennis Classic in Midland, Mich., No. 2 seed Misaki Doi of Japan edged Katie Volynets, 19, of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (5).

   Volynets saved five match points with Doi, a 30-year-old left-hander who won last week's $80,000 Challenger in Tyler, Texas., serving at 5-2 in the third set.

   USTA Pro Circuit — No. 7 seed Maegan Manasse, an assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley and former Bears All-American, beat No. 15 seed Alexa Graham from Garden City, N.Y., 6-4, 6-3 in the final round of qualifying for a $25,000 tournament in Orlando, Fla.

   Fernanda Contreras Gomez of Mexico and Maribella Zamarripa of St. Helena, Calif., in the Napa region triumphed in the first round of doubles.

   Meanwhile, No. 10 seed Keenan Mayo of Sacramento, Calif., outplayed No. 5 seed Oscar Mesquida Berg of Spain 6-3, 6-2 to qualify for a $15,000 tournament in Fayetteville, Ark.

   They met again in doubles, with Mesquida Berg and Matic Spec of Slovenia beating Mayo and Jake Van Emburgh from Belleair Beach, Fla., 4-1, retired. Mayo is scheduled to play in the first round of singles on Wednesday.

   In the $15,000 Dick Savitt Futures in Ithaca, N.Y., Connor Farren, a native of Redwood City in the Bay Area, and Jesse Flores of Costa Rica won in the opening round of doubles.

Brooksby pulls out of Paris Masters with injury

Jenson Brooksby practices during last month's BNP Paribas
Open in Indian Wells. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Rising star Jenson Brooksby, a 21-year-old qualifier from the Sacramento, Calif., suburb of Carmichael, withdrew from the Paris Masters today because of an abdominal injury.

   Brooksby, who has skyrocketed from No. 307 to No. 56 in his first year as a professional, won his qualifying matches in 2 hours, 33 minutes on Saturday and 3:02 on Sunday. He is scheduled to play in the Next Gen ATP Finals, featuring the top eight 21-and-under players this year, Nov. 9-13 in Milan.

   Replacing Brooksby in Paris was Dominik Koepfer, a 27-year-old German left-hander who saved seven match points in a 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (9) victory over 34-year-old wild card Andy Murray, the 2016 champion. The first-round match lasted 3:01.
   Koepfer, a former All-American at Tulane University in New Orleans, reached the Aptos (Calif.) Challenger final and U.S. Open round of 16 in 2019.

   Also in Paris, Dusan Lajovic of Serbia eliminated Mackenzie McDonald, a 26-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, 6-3, 6-4.

   In the opening round of doubles, Ariel Behar of Uruguay and Gonzalo Escobar of Ecuador topped Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Ben McLachlan (University of California, Berkeley, 2011-14) of Japan 6-7 (1), 7-6 (3) [10-6]. 

   Klaasen, 39, and McLachlan, 29, are winless in their last five tournaments. They advanced to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympics and won the Washington title in the summer.

   USTA Pro Circuit — No. 7 seed Maegan Manasse, a Cal assistant coach and former Bears All-American, advanced to the second (final) round of qualifying in a $25,000 tournament in Orlando, Fla., with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over McKenna Schaefbauer, a University of South Carolina commit from Normal Ill.

   But Maribella Zamarripa, a University of Texas freshman from St. Helena in the Napa region, lost to No. 16 seed Adriana Reami, a former North Carolina State star from Miami, by the same score.

   In Fayetteville, Ark., No. 10 seed Keenan Mayo, 6-foot-6 (1.98 meters), of Sacramento beat wild card Jake Sweeney, a University of Arkansas freshman from Hilton Head Island, S.C., 7-6 (4), 6-4 to reach the second (last) round of qualifying in a $15,000 tournament.

   College — Eleven days after Wimbledon boys singles champion Samir Banerjee verbally committed to Stanford, blue-chip recruit Nishesh Basavareddy of Carmel, Ind., did the same.

   Basavareddy is ranked No. 17 in the Class of 2022 by tennisrecruiting.net. He won the 14s in the Orange Bowl and USTA National Clay Court Championships.

   Signing day is Nov. 10.