Collins, Kenin head U.S. team for Fed Cup final

Danielle Collins, playing at Indian Wells in March, and two other Americans
will make their Fed Cup debut in the Nov. 10-11 final against the Czech Republic
in Prague. Photo by Mal Taam

   Danielle Collins, a semifinalist at the inaugural Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose in August, will lead the defending champion United States against the Czech Republic in the Fed Cup final Nov. 10-11 in Prague.
   The 35th-ranked Collins and No. 48 Sofia Kenin will make their Fed Cup debuts, as will Nicole Melichar, a Czech native ranked 15th in doubles. Joining them will be Alison Riske, a member of last year's team that beat host Belarus in the final. She is ranked 63rd in singles.
   Absent will be the United States' top three singles players -- No. 6 Sloane Stephens, No. 15 Serena Williams and No. 16 Madison Keys -- as well as No. 40 Venus Williams and 2017 team members CoCo Vandeweghe and Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
   Kenin, the youngest player in the top 50, will turn 20 three days after the final. She has won a Northern California Challenger in each of the past three years, including the $60,000 Berkeley Tennis Club Challenge in July.
   Riske reached the semifinals of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in 2016 and the quarterfinals there in 2015.
   The Czech Republic will field a formidable team with No. 7 Petra Kvitova, No. 8 Karolina Pliskova, doubles No. 1 Katerina Siniakova and doubles No. 5 Barbora Strycova. All four played in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford before it moved to San Jose this year. Pliskova advanced to the 2015 final, losing to Angelique Kerber, and Siniakova was the doubles runner-up in 2014 at age 18 with Paula Kania of Poland.
   The United States leads all nations with 18 Fed Cup titles. The Czech Republic is next with 10, including five in the last seven years.
   Tennis Channel will televise the best-of-five-match series, on a hard court in Prague's 10,700-seat O2 Arena, beginning at 5 a.m. PST on Nov. 10.

Svitolina subdues Stephens for title in WTA Finals

   Five of the last seven women's Grand Slam singles champions have been first-time winners.
   Elina Svitolina could add to that list in 2019.
   The 24-year-old Ukrainian, seeded sixth, defeated 25-year-old Fresno product Sloane Stephens, seeded fifth, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 in 2 hours, 23 minutes today to win the WTA Finals in Singapore.
   "This is a very special moment for me in my career, and it will give me plenty of confidence for the season coming ahead," Svitolina said.
   Svitolina went 5-0, including four three-set victories, in the tournament for the biggest title of her career. She pocketed $2,209,000 and evened her career record against Stephens at 2-2 (1-1 in 2018). Stephens, who played in the tournament for the first time, collected $1,049,000.
   Svitolina finished the year with four singles titles, also winning Brisbane, Dubai and Rome. Stephens' only singles crown of 2018 came in Miami.
   Jelena Ostapenko began the run of first-time Grand Slam champions by winning last year's French Open two days after turning 20. Then came Stephens in the U.S. Open, Caroline Wozniacki in the Australian Open, Simona Halep in the French Open and Naomi Osaka in the U.S. Open. The exceptions were Garbine Muguruza and Angelique Kerber at Wimbledon in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
   Second-seeded Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic of France won the doubles title in the WTA Finals, beating top-seeded Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 7-5.
   Babos claimed her second consecutive title in the tournament after pairing with Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic last year in Singapore.
   Babos and Mladenovic shared $500,000, and Krejcikova and Siniakova split $260,000.
   The teams combined to capture three of this year's four Grand Slam titles. Babos and Mladenovic won the Australian Open for their first major crown together, and Krejcikova and Siniakova became the first pair in 15 years to sweep the French Open and Wimbledon.
   ATP World Tour in Vienna -- Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski of Great Britain won their first ATP title as a team, defeating Mike Bryan (Stanford, 1997-98) of Wesley Chapel, Fla., and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 7-6 (5), 6-3. Both teams were unseeded.
   Both Salisbury and Skupski won doubles titles with other partners in $100,000 Northern California Challengers last year. Salisbury and countryman Brydan Klein triumphed in Stockton, and Skupski and Jonathan Erlich of Israel prevailed in Aptos.
   Skupski also played for the Sacramento-based California Dream of World TeamTennis in 2015, the squad's only year of existence.

Stephens stages huge rally to gain final in elite tourney

   Sloane Stephens overcame a terrible start today to reach the title match in her first WTA Finals.
   Seeded fifth, Stephens downed seventh-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 0-6, 6-4, 6-1 after losing the first eight games in Singapore.
   "I came out here a little bit nervous, and I wasn't really feeling the ball," Stephens, a 25-year-old Fresno product now based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said on wtatennis.com. " ... I had a bit of an adrenaline dump after I finally won one game. I was really fired up, so I was like, 'OK, come on, let's do this. I can win one game; maybe I can win two, then three.' And I just started to feel the ball a little bit better. ... I just tried to stay in it and get as many balls back as I could. I'm just really proud of my fight today."
   Stephens, who won last year's U.S. Open and reached the French Open final in June, will meet sixth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine on Sunday not before 4:30 a.m. PDT. Svitolina, 24, outlasted eighth-seeded Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-4 in 2 hours, 38 minutes.
   Stephens leads Svitolina 2-1 (2-0 on hardcourts) in their head-to-head series. Stephens won the last meeting 6-3, 6-3 in the Montreal semifinals in August before losing to Simona Halep 6-4 in the third set.
   ATP World Tour in Vienna -- Unseeded Mike Bryan (Stanford, 1997-98) of Wesley Chapel, Fla., and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France edged top-seeded Oliver Marach of Austria and Mate Pavic of Croatia 6-4, 6-7 (2) [10-7] in the semifinals.
   Bryan and Roger-Vasselin, playing in their second tournament together, will meet unseeded Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski of Great Britain for the title on Sunday.
   Salisbury and Skupski ended the winning streak of second-seeded Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Marcelo Melo of Brazil at 10 matches with a 2-6, 6-3 [10-8] triumph on Friday.

Stephens stops Kerber to reach semis in WTA Finals

   Sloane Stephens continued her domination of Angelique Kerber today to reach the semifinals in her first WTA Finals.
   The fifth-seeded Stephens, a 25-year-old Fresno product, dismissed the top-seeded Kerber, a 30-year-old German left-hander, 6-3, 6-3 to finish 3-0 in the Red Group in Singapore.
   After losing her first meeting against Kerber, at Indian Wells in 2012, Stephens has won their last five matches without dropping a set.
   Also today, eighth-seeded Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands led 6-3 when third-seeded Naomi Osaka of Japan retired with a hamstring injury. Bertens finished 2-1 in the Red Group, followed by Kerber at 1-2 and Osaka at 0-3.
   None of the top four seeds reached the semifinals. No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki (1-2), the defending champion from Denmark, and No. 4 Petra Kvitova (0-3) of the Czech Republic were eliminated Thursday in the White Group.
   In Saturday's semifinals, Bertens will meet sixth-seeded Elina Svitolina (3-0 in the White Group) of Ukraine not before 1 a.m. PDT, followed by Stephens against seventh-seeded Karolina Pliskova (2-1 in the White Group) of the Czech Republic in the White Group) not before 4:30 a.m. PDT.
   Bertens and Svitolina have split two career matches, both on hardcourts. In their last meeting, Bertens won 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals at Cincinnati en route to the title in August.
   Stephens is 2-1 against Pliskova, winning on a hardcourt and grass and losing on clay.
   It will be the fourth consecutive year in which the champion of the WTA Finals did not win a Grand Slam singles title. Dominika Cibulkova and Agnieszka Radwanska won the crown in 2016 and 2015, respectively.
   In fact, Stephens is the only semifinalist this year who has ever won a major singles championship. She broke through in last year's U.S. Open.

Stephens beats Bertens, improves to 2-0 in WTA Finals

   Sloane Stephens snapped Kiki Bertens' streak and improved to 2-0 with one round-robin match left in the WTA Finals.
   But Stephens, a 25-year-old Fresno product, still hasn't clinched a berth in the semifinals of the tournament, featuring the top eight singles players and top eight doubles teams of the year, in Singapore.
   Stephens, seeded fifth and ranked sixth, defeated Bertens, seeded eighth and ranked ninth, 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-3 in a match that ended at almost 1 a.m. Thursday local time.
   Bertens, a 26-year-old Dutchwoman who replaced injured Simona Halep in the field, had beaten her last nine top-10 opponents. But Stephens needed to win in straight sets to advance.
   Earlier today, top-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany outlasted third-seeded Naomi Osaka of Japan 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in 2 hours, 30 minutes. On Friday in the Red Group, Stephens will face Kerber (1-1), and Bertens (1-1) will take on Osaka (0-2).
   On Thursday in the White Group, fourth-seeded Petra Kvitova (0-2) will play seventh seed and fellow Czech Karolina Pliskova (1-1) not before 1 a.m. PDT, followed by second seed and defending champion Caroline Wozniacki (1-1) of Denmark against sixth-seeded Elina Svitolina (2-0) of Ukraine.
   Kerber defeated Pliskova to win the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford. The tournament moved to San Jose this year under a new sponsor, Mubadala, after 21 years at Stanford.
   Osaka earned her first big win in the 2014 Bank of the West Classic. As a 16-year-old qualifier playing her first main-draw match on the WTA tour, Osaka ousted 2011 U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur 4-6, 7-6 (7), 7-5 in the first round. Osaka saved a match point in the tiebreaker and overcame a 3-5 deficit in the third set.
   Osaka then fell to eighth-seeded Andrea Petkovic of Germany 6-2, 6-2. Petkovic reached a career-high No. 9 in 2011.

Stephens tops Osaka as both debut in WTA Finals

   In a matchup of the last two U.S. Open champions, No. 5 seed Sloane Stephens of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., beat No. 3 Naomi Osaka of Japan 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 today in a round-robin opener at the WTA Finals in Singapore.
   The 20-year-old Osaka, who defeated Serena Williams in a controversial final at Flushing Meadows in September, committed 46 unforced errors and fell to 0-2 against Stephens, a 25-year-old Fresno product.
   Both players debuted in the tournament, which features the top eight singles players and top eight doubles teams of the year.
   Also in the Red Group today, No. 8 seed Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands surprised No. 1 Angelique Kerber of Germany 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. Bertens replaced top-ranked Simona Halep, who withdrew from the tournament with a herniated disc.
   No. 6 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine and No. 7 Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic lead the White Group at 1-0. No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki, the defending champion, and No. 4 Petra Kvitova are 0-1.
   On Wednesday, Kerber is scheduled to face Osaka at 4:30 a.m. PDT, followed by Stephens versus Bertens. If Stephens wins in straight sets, she will qualify for the semifinals. If Stephens and Osaka win, Stephens will qualify as the group winner, and Kerber will be eliminated.

Volynets, 16, falls to Osaka's sister in semis of $25K

Katie Volynets, playing in the Stockton (Calif.)
Women's $60K two weeks ago, lost to Mari Osaka,
the older sister of reigning U.S. Open champion
Naomi Osaka, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in the semifinals of the
$25,000 Florence (S.C.) Open. Photo by Paul Bauman 

   Katie Volynets' run in her breakthrough tournament ended today.
   The 16-year-old qualifier from Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area lost to unseeded Mari Osaka of Japan 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in the semifinals of the $25,000 McLeod for Health Florence (S.C.) Open.
    Osaka's younger sister Naomi won her first Grand Slam title in the U.S. Open in September.
   Volynets, a 5-foot-6 (1.68-meter) amateur, shocked the Netherlands' Arianne Hartono, who won the NCAA Division I singles title as a Mississippi senior in May, in the final round of qualifying in the hardcourt tournament.
   Volynets then eliminated former collegiate All-Americans Anna Danilina and Emina Bektas and sixth-seeded Sherazad Reix of France before falling to Osaka.
   Danilina, a 23-year-old Moscow native who plays for Kazakhstan, reached the NCAA quarterfinals in 2017 and 2018 in her last two years at Florida. Bektas, a 25-year-old Indianapolis product, won a $80,000 tournament in Albuquerque, N.M., last fall. Reix, a 29-year-old left-hander, is ranked No. 287.
   Volynets had never won a main-draw match in three previous professional tournaments.
   Osaka, 22, will meet third-seeded Bianca Andreescu, 18, of Canada for the title. Andreescu routed eighth-seeded Maria Mateas, a 19-year-old freshman at Duke from nearby Chapel Hill, N.C., 6-1, 6-2.