Querrey, McDonald draw tough Italians in Aussie Open

Sam Querrey has never advanced past the third round
of the Australian Open in 14 appearances. Photo cour-
tesy of mvtpr.com

   San Francisco Bay Area natives Sam Querrey and Mackenzie McDonald are scheduled to play tough Italians in the first round of the Australian Open, which begins Sunday (PST) in Melbourne.

   Querrey, who has never advanced past the third round of the Australian Open in 14 appearances, will meet Lorenzo Sonego, seeded 31st, for the first time.

   Last fall, Sonego reached the fourth round of the French Open and, as a qualifier, routed top-ranked Novak Djokovic 6-2, 6-1 en route to the Vienna final. 

   McDonald will face Marco Cecchinato, who stunned Djokovic to reach the French Open semifinals in 2018, for the initial time.

   McDonald has reached the second round of the Australian Open twice in three appearances. As a qualifier in 2018, he extended third-ranked Grigor Dimitrov to 8-6 in the fifth set in the second round.

   On the women's side, Sloane Stephens, a 27-year-old Fresno, Calif., product, will take on 26th-seeded Yulia Putintseva, a Moscow native who plays for Kazakhstan. They have split four career matches, none in a Grand Slam tournament.

   Stephens reached the Australian Open semifinals in 2013 at age 19, won the 2017 U.S. Open and advanced to the 2018 French Open final. Since 2018, however, she has slumped from a career-high No. 3 to No. 40.

   Mayar Sherif (Fresno State, 2015-16) of Egypt is set to play fellow qualifier Chloe Paquet of France for the first time. 

   In her French Open debut last fall, Sherif survived qualifying and extended second-seeded Karolina Pliskova, the runner-up at Stanford in 2015, to 6-4 in the third set in the opening round.

   ATP Tour — Cameron Norrie and Jonny O'Mara of Great Britain surprised third-seeded Rajeev Ram, a volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley, and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain 4-6, 6-3 [10-7] in the second round of the Murray River Open.

   Norrie captured back-to-back Challenger singles titles in Tiburon, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, and Stockton in 2017. Ram and Salisbury won last year's Australian Open.

   In a second-round doubles match in the Great Ocean Road Open, sixth-seeded Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Matwe Middelkoop of the Netherlands eliminated 33-year-old wild cards Querrey and Robin Haase, a Dutchman, 6-4, 6-4.

   Arevalo won the doubles title in the 2019 Aptos, Calif., Challenger with Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela of Mexico.

   In the ATP Cup, Ben McLachlan (Cal, 2011-14) and Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan edged Evgeny Donskoy and Aslan Karatsev of Russia 4-6, 6-3 [12-10] in Group D. Russia beat Japan 2-1.

   McLachlan, a New Zealand native, and Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany reached the doubles semifinals in the 2018 Australian Open.

   WTA Tour — Third-seeded Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan held off Coco Gauff, 16, and Caty McNally, 19, of the United States 6-3, 3-6 [10-7] in the quarterfinals of the Yarra River Classic.

   The 5-foot-1 (1.54-meter) Aoyama, 33, and Shibahara, a 22-year-old native of Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area, improved to 7-0 this year. They won the Abu Dhabi title last month.

   Gauff and McNally defeated Aoyama and Shibahara in three sets in the third round of last year's Australian Open.

   ATP Challenger Tour — Treat Huey, a Washington, D.C., native who plays for the Philippines, and Sem Verbeek, a former University of the Pacific star from the Netherlands, topped second-seeded Harri Heliovaara of Finland and Zdenek Kolar of the Czech Republic 7-6 (3), 4-6 [10-7] in the quarterfinals of the €44,820 ($53,820) MTA Open in Antalya, Turkey.

   Heliovaara and Verbeek, playing separately, reached the doubles final in the 2018 and 2019 Fairfield, Calif., Challenger, respectively.

Worker tests positive; Melbourne matches postponed

   COVID-19 continues to play havoc with Australian Open tuneup tournaments.

   First, 72 players were confined to their Melbourne hotel rooms for 14 days after passengers on their flights tested positive for COVID.

   Today, all matches in the ATP Cup, two ATP 250 tournaments and three WTA 500 tournaments were postponed until Thursday PST after a worker at the Grand Hyatt, where many players are staying, tested positive.

   "Authorities have advised that everyone who stayed at the Grand Hyatt between 16-29 January will need to be tested and isolate until they receive a negative test result," according to a statement by Tennis Australia.

   Meanwhile, Sloane Stephens' struggles continued early today. Leylah Fernandez, an 18-year-old Canadian left-hander, improved to 3-0 against the 27-year-old Fresno, Calif., product with a 6-3, 6-1 victory early today in the first round of the Grampians Trophy in Melbourne. 

   Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion and 2018 French Open runner-up, has plunged from a career-high No. 3 in 2018 to No. 40.

   Also early today, 33-year-old wild cards Robin Haase of the Netherlands and Sam Querrey, who's originally from San Francisco, defeated 19-year-old Australian alternates Tristan Schoolkate and Dane Sweeny 6-4, 2-1, retired in the opening round of the Great Ocean Road Open in Melbourne.

   Querrey received a suspended fine of $20,000 for violating the COVID protocol at the St. Petersburg Open last October.

   The Australian Open, the year's first Grand Slam tournament, is scheduled for Sunday through Feb. 21 in Melbourne. The men's and women's singles draws are set for tonight at 11.

   ATP Challenger Tour — Treat Huey, a Washington, D.C., native who plays for the Philippines, and Sem Verbeek (University of the Pacific, 2013-16) of the Netherlands beat Joao Domingues and Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-3, 7-6 (8) in the first round of the €44,820 ($53,820) MTA Open in Antalya, Turkey.

Bay Area natives Querrey, McDonald lose in Melbourne

No. 10 seed Sam Querrey fell to Stefano Travaglia of
Italy in the second round of the Great Ocean Road Open.
File photo by Paul Bauman

   San Francisco Bay Area natives Sam Querrey and Mackenzie McDonald lost close matches today in the second round of Australian Open tuneup tournaments in Melbourne. 

   Stefano Travaglia of Italy topped the 10th-seeded Querrey, a 33-year-old San Francisco native, 6-7 (7), 6-3, 6-4 in the Great Ocean Road Open. 

   Travaglia, 6-foot-1 (1.85 meters), pounded 14 aces, won 93 percent of the points on his first serve (53 of 57) and saved all six break points against him. He broke serve at 4-4 in the third set.

   Querrey, 6-foot-6 (1.98 meters), had 11 aces, won 82 percent of the points on his first delivery (45 of 55) and escaped four of six break points against him. 

   Alex Bolt, a 28-year-old Australian left-hander, outlasted McDonald, a 25-year-old Piedmont product, 6-4, 6-7 (7), 7-5 in the Murray River Classic in Melbourne.

   McDonald won his first Challenger singles title in Fairfield, Calif., 40 miles (64.4 kilometers) north of Piedmont, in 2017. Bolt reached the Fairfield final the following year, losing to American Bjorn Fratangelo.

   In a second-round doubles match, sixth-seeded Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen of Belgium edged McDonald and countryman Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-7 (4) [10-8].

   Paul won the singles title in the 2019 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger. Tiburon is on the other side of San Francisco Bay from Piedmont.

   Wild cards Querrey and Robin Haase of the Netherlands are scheduled to play Australian alternates Tristan Schoolkate and Dane Sweeny in a late first-round contest.

   Querrey and McDonald are now based in Las Vegas and Orlando, Fla., respectively. Nevada and Florida do not have state income tax.

   The Australian Open, the year's first Grand Slam tournament, is scheduled for Sunday through Feb. 21 in Melbourne. The men's and women's singles draws are set for Wednesday at 11 p.m. PST.

   WTA Tour — Sloane Stephens, a 27-year-old Fresno, Calif., product, is set to meet Leylah Fernandez, an 18-year-old Canadian left-hander, in a late first-round match in the Grampians Trophy in Melbourne.

   Stephens, a Florida native and resident, won the 2017 U.S. Open and reached the final of the 2018 French Open. 

Querrey, seeded 10th, survives test in Melbourne opener

Sam Querrey narrowly avoided an upset in the first
round of the Great Ocean Road Open in Melbourne.
File photo by Paul Bauman

   No. 10 seed Sam Querrey, a 33-year-old San Francisco native, beat Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-0 tonight (PST) in the first round of the Great Ocean Road Open on the ATP Tour in Melbourne. 

   The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Querrey, now based in Las Vegas, hammered 15 aces and committed five double faults.

   Laaksonen reached the doubles final in the $100,000 Fairfield (Calif.) Challenger in 2018 with Harri Heliovaara of Finland. 

   Querrey, ranked No. 51 after climbing to a career-high No. 11 in 2018, is scheduled to play Italy's Stefano Travaglia, ranked No. 71, for the first time. Travaglia edged Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (2) on Monday. 

   The Australian Open, the year's first Grand Slam tournament, is scheduled for Sunday through Feb. 21 in Melbourne.

   ATP Tour — Mackenzie McDonald, a 25-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Tommy Paul of Delray Beach, Fla., defeated Andres Molteni of Argentina and Hugo Nys of Monaco 6-4, 6-2 in the first round of the Murray River Open in Melbourne.

   Paul won the singles title in the $108,320 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger in 2019. Tiburon is on the other side of San Francisco Bay from Piedmont.

   WTA Tour — Third-seeded Ena Shibahara, 22, and Shuko Aoyama of Japan lead Ankita Raina of India and Rosalie Van Der Hoek of the Netherlands 6-2, 1-1 in the second round of the Yarra River Classic in Melbourne.

   Shibahara, a 22-year-old native of Mountain View in the Bay Area, and Aoyama received a first-round bye.

   UTR Pro Tennis Series — Taylor Ng, 25, of Collingswood, N.J., defeated Priya Nelson, 15, of Sacramento, Calif., 6-3, 6-1 in the final of the third-place playoff in Newport Beach, Calif.

   In the fourth-place final in the $25,000 singles-only tournament, Mika Ikemori, a high school sophomore from Huntington Beach in the Los Angeles area, beat Hind Abdelouahid, a former Saint Mary's standout from nearby San Jose, 7-6 (4), 3-0, retired. 

McDonald ousts 14th-seeded Gasquet in Melbourne

Mackenzie McDonald, a San Francisco Bay Area
product, practices during the 2017 Challenger in
nearby Fairfield. He went on to win the title.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   For someone who's only 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters) and 160 pounds (73 kilograms), Mackenzie McDonald has an excellent serve.

   The 25-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area put on a serving clinic in his 7-6 (2), 7-5 victory over 14th-seeded Richard Gasquet of France tonight (PST) in the first round of the Murray River Open in Melbourne.

   McDonald blasted eight aces, committed no double faults, won 81 percent of the points on his first serve (42 of 52) and faced only one break point in his first career meeting against the 34-year-old Gasquet, a former top-10 player.

   McDonald, now based in Orlando, Fla., is scheduled to play Alex Bolt, a 28-year-old left-hander from Australia, on Tuesday. Bolt, the runner-up in the 2018 Fairfield (Calif.) Challenger, defeated compatriot Thanasi Kokkinakis 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.

   Kokkinakis, in between his many injuries, stunned Roger Federer in 2018, won the Aptos (Calif.) Challenger later that year and was the runner-up in the 2019 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger. 

   McDonald and Bolt have split two career matches, both on grass.

   The Australian Open is scheduled for Sunday through Feb. 21 in Melbourne.

   USTA Pro Circuit — Qualifier Irene Burillo Escorihuela of Spain beat unseeded American Grace Min, the runner-up to Sofia Kenin in the 2016 Sacramento, Calif., Challenger, 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-1 to win the $60,000 Rome, Ga., Challenger on outdoor hardcourts.

   Burillo Escorihuela, 23, won four of her five main-draw matches in three sets. She also defeated Allura Zamarripa, a University of Texas signee from Saint Helena in the Napa Valley, 10-6 in a match tiebreaker in the first round of qualifying.   

   UTR Pro Tennis Series — Second-seeded Vivian Ovrootsky, 16, of San Jose, Calif., lost to Jwany Sherif of Huntington Beach in the Los Angeles area 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals of the second-place in Newport Beach, Calif. Ovrootsky has verbally committed to Texas.

   In other semis in the $25,000 singles-only tournament:

   —Priya Nelson, 15, of Sacramento, demolished second-seeded Katie Codd, a high school junior from Carlsbad in the San Diego region, 6-1, 6-0 in the third-place playoff. 

   Nelson is scheduled to face Taylor Ng, 25, of Collingswood, N.J., on Monday. Ng, a former Dartmouth standout, defeated Skyler Grishuk of Newport Beach 5-1, retired.

   —Hind Abdelouahid of San Jose beat Misa Malkin, a South Carolina signee from Tucson, Ariz., by walkover in the fourth-place playoff.

   Abdelouahid, who starred at Saint Mary's in the Bay Area, is slated to meet Mika Ikemori, a high school sophomore from Huntington Beach, on Monday. Ikemori defeated Leyden Games, a USC signee from Irvine, Calif., by walkover.

NorCal's Jovic falls in $60K Rome, Ga., doubles final

Jovana Jovic (formerly Jaksic) and Olga Govortsova
lost 10-8 in a match tiebreaker in the final of the
$60,000 Rome (Ga.) Challenger. 2018 photo by
Paul Bauman

   Emina Bektas of the United States and Tara Moore of Great Britain edged Olga Govortsova of Belarus and Jovana Jovic (formerly Jaksic) of Serbia 5-7, 6-2 [10-8] in a battle of unseeded teams today to win the $60,000 Rome (Ga.) Challenger.

   The tall, slender Bektas, 27, and the short, stocky Moore, 28, led 3-0, 5-1 and 9-6 in the match tiebreaker. On the pair's third championship point, Moore's topspin lob landed inside the baseline as Govortsova and Jovic watched at the net in vain.

   Bektas and Moore claimed their third and biggest ITF title together, including the $25,000 Redding, Calif., Challenger in 2019.

   Govortsova, who played for the Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis in 2013, and Jovic, who lives in Sacramento, were seeking their first ITF title as a team.

   Jovic is projected to soar 49 places to No. 311 in the world in doubles on Monday.

   In singles, unseeded Grace Min of the United States and qualifier Irene Burillo Escorihuela of Spain advanced to Sunday's final in contrasting fashion. 

   Min, the runner-up to Sofia Kenin in the 2016 Sacramento Challenger, routed qualifier Bektas 6-0, 6-3 in 65 minutes. Burillo Escorihuela then outlasted qualifier Ana Sofia Sanchez of Mexico 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 in 2 hours, 58 minutes.

   The singles final, scheduled for 8 a.m. PST, will be streamed live.

   UTR Pro Tennis Series — Priya Nelson, 15, of Sacramento defeated Emma Sun, a high school junior from Newbury Park in the Los Angeles area, 6-3, 6-2 in Newport Beach, Calif.

   Nelson finished 2-2 in round-robin play in the $25,000 singles-only tournament. Sun went 0-4.

NorCal's Jovic gains doubles final in $60K Rome, Ga.

Jovana Jovic (formerly Jaksic), a 27-year-old Serbian
living in Sacramento, Calif., seeks her fifth ITF doubles
title. 2018 photo by Paul Bauman

   Belarus' Olga Govortsova and Serbia's Jovana Jovic (formerly Jaksic), both of whom have ties to Sacramento, Calif., edged Americans Catherine Harrison and Sophia Whittle 6-2, 2-6 [12-10] in a battle of unseeded teams in the semifinals of the $60,000 Rome (Ga.) Challenger. 

   The 32-year-old Govortsova, who played for the Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis in 2013, and the 27-year-old Jovic, who lives in Sacramento, are scheduled to face unseeded Emina Bektas of the United States and Tara Moore of Great Britain on Saturday at about noon PST. Live streaming will be available.

   Bektas and Moore, the doubles champions in the $25,000 Redding (Calif.) Challenger in 2019, beat unseeded Despina Papamichail of Greece and Katie Swan of Great Britain 6-4, 6-2.

   Jovic seeks her fifth ITF doubles title, first since $60,000 Ashland, Ky., in 2018 and first with Govortsova.

   Meanwhile, three singles qualifiers — Bektas, Irene Burillo Escorihuela of Spain and Ana Sophia Sanchez of Mexico — reached Saturday's semifinals.

   Bektas is set to meet unseeded American Grace Min, the runner-up to Sofia Kenin in the 2016 Sacramento Challenger, at 8 a.m., followed by Burillo Escorihuela against Sanchez. The matches also will be streamed live.

   UTR Pro Tennis Series — Priya Nelson, 15, of Sacramento is slated to play Emma Sun, a high school junior from Newbury Park in the Los Angeles area, on Saturday in a round-robin finale in Newport Beach, Calif.

   Nelson is 1-2 in the $25,000 singles-only tournament, and Sun is 0-3.

   Cal women — No. 19 California blitzed visiting San Francisco 7-0 to improve to 3-1. Haley Giavara, a sopohomore All-American from San Diego, dominated Mya Bui, a senior from Canada, 6-2, 6-2 on Court 1.