NorCal Tennis Czar

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Klahn to face ex-Pac-10 rival in Aptos quarters

Wild card Bradley Klahn, a former Stanford star, beat qualifier
Matt Reid of Australia 7-5, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals of the
$100,000 Comerica Bank Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   APTOS, Calif. -- It will be like old times for Bradley Klahn in the quarterfinals of the $100,000 Comerica Bank Challenger.
   The 21-year-old left-hander will face his former Pacific-10 Conference rival, Robert Farah, on Friday at the Seascape Sports Club. Klahn, the 2010 NCAA singles champion, graduated from Stanford in March and completed his eligibility in May. Farah won the 2008 NCAA doubles with Kaes Van't Hof and finished at USC in 2010.
   "It will be a fun match," Klahn, a wild card from Poway in the San Diego area, said after defeating qualifier Matt Reid of Australia 7-5, 6-4 Wednesday. "We have a rivalry that goes back to my first two years at Stanford. We played multiple times, and every one seemed to go to five or six in the third (set)."
   Well, two of them did. Farah, a 25-year-old Colombian, won both in 2010 and went 4-2 overall against Klahn in college. They have not met on the pro circuit. Farah advanced to the Comerica quarterifinals with a 7-6 (2), 6-3 victory over Amir Weintraub of Israel.
   Farah's ex-USC teammate, Steve Johnson, also moved into the quarterfinals after qualifier Dmitry Tursunov, a Sacramento-area resident from Russia, retired with a groin injury with Johnson leading 6-4, 0-0.

Qualifier Dmitry Tursunov, a Sacramento-area resident
from Russia, retired from his second-round match against
ex-USC standout Steve Johnson. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Johnson ended his collegiate career in May after helping the Trojans win their fourth consecutive NCAA team title and capturing his second straight singles crown. He will play 32-year-old South African Rik de Voest, who won the inaugural Sacramento Challenger in 2005.
   Klahn reached his first quarterfinal since turning pro last month and his second overall on the USTA Pro Circuit. He upset second-seeded Igor Andreev, ranked 95th in the world after climbing to a career-high 18th in 2008, Monday in the first round. Wednesday's match featured many spirited baseline rallies, but Reid double-faulted three times in the last game.
   "It's nice when you get those gifts in the last game," Klahn said.
   He is playing only a one-hour drive south of Stanford.
   "It's nice to get support from some of the same fans I see at Stanford," Klahn said. "I'm familiar with this tournament after playing the last two years even though I lost in the first round. I feel comfortable this week."
   Klahn was anything but comfortable as a junior at Stanford. He was plagued by a herniated disc, underwent surgery last October and sat out until February.
   Ironically, Reid took a medical timeout at 5-7, 0-1 for a lower-back problem. It could have been gamesmanship, as he seemed fine before and after.
   Klahn's back problems appear to be behind him, so to speak.
   "It's held up great," he said.

CALENDAR

   Through Thursday -- USTA National Championships, girls 14s, Peachtree City, Ga.., www.usta.com.
   Through Friday -- USTA National Championships, boys 14s, San Antonio., www.usta.com.
   Through Friday -- USTA National Championships, boys 12s, North Little Rock, Ark.., www.usta.com.
   Through Friday -- USTA National Championships, girls 12s, Alpharetta, Ga., www.usta.com.
   Through Sunday -- USTA National Championships, boys 18s and 16s, Kalamazoo, Mich., www.usta.com.
   Through Sunday -- USTA National Championships, girls 18s and 16s, San Diego., www.usta.com.
   Through Sunday -- $100,000 Comerica Bank Challenger, Seascape Sports Club, 1505 Seascape Blvd., Aptos, Calif., 95003, www.seascapesportsclub.com/challenger, (831) 688-1993.
   Aug. 27-Sept. 9 -- U.S. OPEN, Flushing Meadows, N.Y., www.usopen.org.
   Sept. 9-16 -- $25,000 USTA Oak River Rehab Challenger, Sun Oaks Tennis & Fitness, 3452 Argyle Road, Redding, Calif., 96002, www.sunoakschallenger.com, (530) 227-3498.
   Sept. 14 -- World TeamTennis, Western Conference finals, Sacramento Capitals vs. Orange County Breakers, 3:30 p.m. PDT, Charleston, S.C.
   Sept. 15 -- WTT, Eastern Conference finals, Washington Kastles vs. New York Sportimes, 3:30 p.m. PDT, Charleston, S.C.
   Sept. 16 -- WTT Finals, Western Conference champion vs. Eastern Conference champion, 12:30 p.m. PDT, Charleston, S.C.
   Sept. 29-Oct. 7 -- Natomas Men's $100,000 Challenger, Natomas Racquet Club, 2450 Natomas Park Drive, Sacramento, Calif., 95833, www.natomaschallenger.com, (916) 649-0909.
   Oct. 6-14 -- First Republic Bank Men's $100,000 Challenger, Tiburon Peninsula Club, 1600 Mar West St., Tiburon, Calif., 94920, www.tiburon challenger.com, (415) 789-7900.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

No. 1 Baker becomes latest victim in Aptos Challenger

Top-seeded Brian Baker of Nashville, Tenn., lost to Maxime Authom of Belgium
5-7, 6-4, 6-2 Tuesday in the first round of the $100,000 Comerica Bank Challenger
in Aptos, Calif. Photo by Paul Bauman

   APTOS, Calif. -- In any other tournament, top-seeded Brian Baker's first-round loss would have been shocking.
   But not in the wild, wacky $100,000 Comerica Bank Challenger.
   Baker -- "one of the greatest stories in the history of our sport," television analyst Justin Gimelstob told the New York Times in May -- was just the latest seed to fall. After the first round, only No. 6 Florent Serra of France remains.
   On a typically cool summer evening at the Seascape Sports Club, near the Pacific Ocean 80 miles south of San Francisco, Maxime Authom of Belgium rifled returns of serve and groundstrokes to oust Baker of Nashville, Tenn., 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 Tuesday.
   No top seed has won the title in the 25-year history of the tournament, the second-longest-running men's event on the USTA Pro Circuit behind Little Rock, Ark. (32 years).

Sacramento-area resident Dmitry Tursunov, middle, poses with fellow Moscow
natives Mischa Zverev, left, and Igor Andreev. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Joining Baker on the sideline were No. 3 Rajeev Ram of Carmel, Ind., and No. 5 Tobias Kamke of Germany. Ram lost to qualifier Dmitry Tursunov, a Russian with residences in Moscow and the Sacramento suburb of Folsom, 6-3, 6-4 in a matchup of former Aptos runners-up. Kamke fell to Sergei Bubka of Ukraine 6-3, 7-6 (2).
   Three other seeds -- No. 2 Igor Andreev of Russia, No. 7 Izak Van der Merwe of South Africa and No. 8 Denis Kudla of Arlington, Va. -- exited Monday.
   An ex-Aptos champion also was upset Tuesday. Alex Kuznetsov, the 2006 titlist, succumbed to lucky loser and fellow American Michael McClune 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (2). Kuznetsov, a Ukraine native who moved to the United States as a young child, complained about line calls throughout the match and declined the customary handshake with the chair umpire afterward.
   The craziness in the Comerica Bank Challenger actually started before the first ball was struck. Defending champion Laurynas Grigelis, 20, of Lithuania came to Aptos but didn't enter the tournament. He didn't feel good about his game with five straight losses and a No. 291 world ranking, according to Linda Feldbrugge, whose family housed Grigelis last year.
   Grigelis showed up anyway with the Italian contingent -- his coach is Italian -- for three days last week "to hang out and surf," Feldbrugge said. "My husband taught them how to surf last year."
   The runner-up to Grigelis -- Serbia's Ilija Bozoljac, flashy as always with his bandanna, sunglasses and earrings -- had to survive qualifying to reach this year's main draw and won his first-round match in three sets Tuesday.
   Authom was ebullient and Baker distraught after their encounter.
   "I think it was the best match of my life, " Authom gushed after his Aptos debut. The tournament is already perfect. Now is a bonus."
   Authom, 25, has struggled with physical and mental issues. The right-hander underwent surgery for tendinitis in his left wrist in 2010 and sat out for one year.
   "I had three tournaments (before Aptos) that were really bad, but they were very good players," Authom said in halting English. "My coach said to try to have fun on the court. Even after the first set, for the first time in my life I was happy. Normally, it would be 7-5, 6-2.
   "My problem is I think a lot. I say, '(Opponents) are very good. I'm not (good enough) to beat them.' Here, my goal is mental (toughness)."
   Baker, head in hands in the locker room, was not available for comment after his fourth consecutive loss. However, he repeatedly criticized himself aloud during the match.
   --After netting a down-the-line backhand: "That's not your shot today. Go cross-court."
   --After another miss with his two-fisted backhand: "If you're not going to move your feet, chip the ball."
   --And in the last game: "I've never hit my backhand this bad four weeks in a row."
   Baker, 27, launched a comeback last year after missing six years with injuries. He underwent five operations, including the Tommy John (elbow ligament replacement) surgery dreaded by baseball pitchers.
   As a qualifier, Baker reached the final at Nice on clay in May and the round of 16 at Wimbledon last month. His ranking has skyrocketed from No. 456 to No. 78 this year.
   Baker is one of the few players who has been injured more than Tursunov. Ranked a career-high No. 20 in 2006, he has plunged to No. 150.
   Tursunov, a right-hander with a two-fisted backhand, is struggling with not only a lingering left wrist injury but motivation and added responsibility following the death of his father last summer. Igor Tursunov was a tennis fanatic who recognized his son's talent when Dmitry was very young and pushed him hard to become a professional player. Dmitry's mother, Svetlana, lives in Moscow.
   "My mom feels she doesn't have a pillar," revealed Tursunov, who moved to Northern California at 12 and speaks English like a native. "I feel quite a bit of responsibility. It forces me to be there a little bit more. It definitely affects my life. Sometimes I have to compromise and go there. There's not much I can do about it."
   Tursunov's only sibling -- brother Denis, who's seven years older and single -- also lives in Moscow. But Dmitry conceded that his mother and Denis "are fighting a little bit here and there."
   Tursunov was buoyed by a one-week training camp with the rest of the Russian Olympic men's tennis team in England before competing last week in the London Games.
   "I did some fitness, and it was fun to be with the team," he said. "It was one of the rare occasions this year when I felt pretty motivated to work hard. It helps when people around you are trying to help you out."
   Tursunov fell in the first round of the Olympics to 29th-ranked Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-7 (5), 6-2, 9-7 at Wimbledon. Lopez, a left-hander, is a three-time quarterfinalist there.
   "It was a good barometer," said Tursunov, a member of Russia's 2006 Davis Cup championship team. "It shows I haven't forgotten how to play tennis. But it's still a loss. I'm not ready mentally to play well. I'm in better physical condition, but it takes more than one week."
   Tursunov has no lofty goals at this point in his career. He will turn 30 in December.
   "I want to do well in this tournament," said Tursunov, who will face 2011 and 2012 NCAA champion Steve Johnson in Wednesday's featured match at 5:30 p.m. "I want to get back in the mind-set of winning a few matches in a row, not lose my marbles on the court and play well day in and day out."
   Tursunov hopes to play for a few more years.
   "Right now, it's definitely a tough proposition," he admitted. "Sometimes I wake up and don't want to do it. But I want to get through it. If I can't, I'll quit."

CALENDAR

Ex-Stanford star shocks No. 2 seed in Aptos

   The $100,000 Comerica Bank Challenger got off to a wild start as all three seeds in action lost.
   Wild card Bradley Klahn topped the list of upsets, stunning No. 2 Igor Andreev of Russia 7-6 (3), 6-4 Monday at the Seascape Sports Club in Aptos, Calif. The tournament site is 80 miles south of San Francisco.
   Klahn, a 21-year-old left-hander from the San Diego suburb of Poway, turned pro last month after completing his eligibility at Stanford. He won the 2010 NCAA singles title.
   Andreev is ranked 95th in the world after reaching a career-high No. 18 in 2008. The 29-year-old veteran advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2007 French Open.
   Meanwhile, No. 7 Izak Van der Merwe of South Africa lost to Amir Weintraub of Israel 6-4, 7-6 (1), and and No. 8 Denis Kudla, 19, of Arlington, Va., fell to Rik de Voest of South Africa 6-2, 6-2. De Voest, 32, won the inaugural Sacramento Challenger in 2005.
   Longtime Sacramento-area resident Dmitry Tursunov, seeded first in qualifying, advanced to the main draw with a 6-1, 6-3 triumph over seventh-seeded Daniel Kosakowski of Downey in the Los Angeles area. Kosakowski won last year's Sacramento Futures after his freshman year at UCLA, then turned pro.
   Tursunov, a Russian who reached a career-high No. 20 in 2006, will meet third-seeded Rajeev Ram of Carmel, Ind., today at about 2 p.m.
Top-seeded Brian Baker of Nashville, Tenn., will face Maxime Authom of Belgium in the opening round today at 5:30 p.m. or later.

CALENDAR

Monday, August 6, 2012

Stanford's Burdette wins $100,000 tourney

   Even if Mallory Burdette were a professional, she would be having a great summer.
   But she's still in college.
   Two weeks after winning a $10,000 tournament for her first pro singles title, Burdette won the $100,000 Odlum Brown VanOpen in Vancouver, British Columbia, as a wild card.
   Burdette, who has said she will return to Stanford next month for her senior year, drubbed unseeded Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-0 in Sunday's final. With the title, Burdette earned a wild card into the main draw of the U.S. Open, Aug. 27-Sept. 9 in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., and soared from No. 409 in the world to No. 245.
   At last month's Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, Burdette recorded her first career victory on the elite WTA tour by beating No. 75 Anne Keothavong of Great Britain 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the first round. Burdette, this year's NCAA singles runner-up and doubles champion from Jackson, Ga., then fell to second seed and 10th-ranked Marion Bartoli of France 7-5, 6-0 after holding a set point.
   Pegula, an 18-year-old resident of Boca Raton, Fla., lost to Maria Sanchez of Modesto in the final of the $50,000 Gold River Women's Challenger in the Sacramento area in June.
   Olympics at Wimbledon -- Former Stanford All-American Mike Bryan picked up his second medal of the London Games.
   Bryan and fellow American Lisa Raymond, the third seeds, topped unseeded Sabine Lisicki and Christopher Kas of Germany 6-3, 4-6, 10-4 tiebreak to win the bronze medal in mixed doubles.
   On Saturday, Bryan and his identical twin brother, Bob, earned the gold medal in men's doubles.
   ATP World Tour in Washington, D.C. -- Kevin Anderson and Sam Querrey, who both played for the Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis during last month's regular season, lost to Treat Conrad Huey and Dominic Inglot 7-6 (7), 6-7 (9), 10-5 tiebreak in the final of the Citi Open. Both teams were unseeded.
   Anderson, a 6-foot-8 South African, and Querrey, a 6-6 native of San Francisco living in Dallas, made their ATP World Tour debut as a team during the week.
   Huey, a Washington, D.C., native who plays for the Philippines, and Inglot, from Great Britain, won their first doubles title on the ATP World Tour. They played together at the University of Virginia in nearby Charlottesville.
   Men's Challenger in Aptos, Calif. -- Top-seeded Dmitry Tursunov, a Russian and longtime Sacramento-area resident, downed Austin Krajicek of Brandon, Fla., 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 in the second round of qualifying for the $100,000 Comerica Bank Challenger.
   Tursunov, the 2003 runner-up to former Stanford star Jeff Salzenstein, will meet seventh-seeded Daniel Kosakowski, who won last year's $15,000 Sacramento Futures, today for a berth in the main draw.
   In its 25th year, the Comerica Bank Challenger is the second-longest-running men's tournament on the USTA Pro Circuit. It trails Little Rock, Ark., which has been held for 32 years.

CALENDAR

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Bryan twins earn Olympic gold medal

   Eleven Grand Slam men's doubles titles, including all four majors.
   A Davis Cup championship.
   And now, an Olympic gold medal.
   Top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan of the United States added more hardware to their trophy case Saturday, defeating second-seeded Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 6-4, 7-6 (2) at Wimbledon. Afterward, Mike Bryan jumped into his identical twin's arms.
   "That's the longest we've hugged," Bob Bryan told reporters. "We've spent 50,000 hours together, and probably 30,000 on the court, working our butts off to get here. That hug right there was the culmination of it all."
   The 34-year-old former Stanford All-Americans competed in their third Olympics. They lost in the quarterfinals at Athens in 2004 and won the bronze medal at Beijing in 2008. After Saturday's match, Bob Bryan said he and his brother will retire after the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
   In the mixed doubles semifinals, top-seeded Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi of Belarus edged third-seeded Lisa Raymond and Mike Bryan 3-6, 6-4, 10-7 tiebreak. Azarenka and Mirnyi will play Andy Murray and Laura Robson of Great Britain for the gold medal.
   ATP World Tour in Washington, D.C. -- Mardy Fish and Sam Querrey of the Sacramento Capitals in World TeamTennis lost in the semifinals of the Citi Open.
   Fish, seeded first, fell to fourth-seeded Tommy Haas of Germany 6-3, 7-5 in a matchup of 30-something players. Haas is 34 and Fish 30.
   Second-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine ended the eighth-seeded Querrey's winning streak at seven matches with a 6-4, 6-4 victory. Querrey won the Farmers Classic in Los Angeles, the area where he grew up, for the third time in four years last Sunday. He missed last year's tournament because of elbow surgery.
   Women's/men's Challenger in Vancouver, British Columbia -- Mallory Burdette, a wild card from Stanford, beat fellow American Chi Chi Scholl 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals of the $100,000 Odlum Brown Vanopen.
   Burdette will face unseeded Jessica Pegula of Boca Raton, Fla., for the title. Pegula, 18, reached the final of the Gold River Women's Challenger in the Sacramento area in June.
   Chinese Taipei's Jimmy Wang, who trains in the Sacramento suburb of Granite Bay, lost in the semifinals of men's doubles.
   Men's Challenger in Aptos -- Three top-100 players are entered in the $100,000 Comerica Bank Challenger starting Monday at the Seascape Sports Club, 80 miles south of San Francisco.
   Heading the field are No. 78 Brian Baker of Nashville, Tenn., No. 92 Igor Andreev of Russia and No. 93 Rajeev Ram of Carmel, Ind. Baker, 27, has shot up the rankings after missing six years because of multiple surgeries. He returned to action last year.
   Folsom resident Dmitry Tursunov, seeded first in qualifying, topped Devin Britton of Brandon, Miss., 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the first round. Britton, the 2009 NCAA champion as a freshman at Mississippi, won the $15,000 Sacramento Futures in June.
   Both Andreev and Tursunov, a Moscow native, have reached the top 20 in the world.

TV SCHEDULE

(All times PDT)

Sunday -- Olympics, mixed doubles final, NBCSN, 4-5:30 a.m. (live); men's singles bronze-medal match, MSNBC, 4-6 a.m. (live); men's singles final, NBC, 6-8:30 a.m. (live); women's doubles final, NBCSN, 9:15-11 a.m. (live).

PRO RANKINGS

Following are this week's world rankings of professional players with Northern California ties (change from last week in parentheses):

Men

   Kevin Anderson, Sacramento Capitals (2012) of World TeamTennis -- No. 34 in singles (-1), No. 144 in doubles (-1).
   Bob Bryan, 1998 NCAA doubles champion from Stanford -- No. 3 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Mike Bryan, 1998 NCAA doubles champion from Stanford -- No. 3 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Mardy Fish, Capitals (2012) -- No. 15 in singles (-2), No. 732 in doubles (+1).
   John Paul Fruttero, Cal All-American in 2001 and 2002 -- No. 94 in doubles (+4), unranked in singles.
   Artem Ilyushin, Granite Bay resident -- No. 912 in singles (-10), No. 1,560 in doubles (-4).
   Bradley Klahn, 2010 NCAA singles champion and 2011 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford -- No. 559 in singles (+54), No. 864 in doubles (-2).
   Mark Knowles, Capitals (2001-07, 2009-12), three-time World TeamTennis Male MVP (2001, 2005 and 2007) -- No. 91 in doubles (-20), unranked in singles.
   Scott Lipsky, 2002 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford -- No. 34 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Sam Querrey, San Francisco native, Capitals (2012) -- No. 38 in singles (+19), No. 58 in doubles (+5).
   Ryan Sweeting, Capitals (2012) -- No. 124 in singles (-6), No. 850 in doubles (-1).
   Dmitry Tursunov, Folsom resident -- No. 141 in singles (-3), No. 183 in doubles (+3).
   Jimmy Wang, Folsom resident -- No. 211 in singles (+5), No. 394 in doubles (-4).
   Pedro Zerbini, All-Pacific-10 Conference first team at Cal (2009-11) -- No. 628 in singles (-5), No. 733 in doubles (+1).

Women

   Jana Juricova, NCAA singles (2011) and doubles (2009) champion from Cal -- No. 940 in singles (-2), unranked in doubles.
   Vania King, Capitals (2010-12) -- No. 5 in doubles (no change), No. 55 in singles (+1).
   Raquel Kops-Jones, 2003 NCAA doubles champion from Cal -- Career-high No. 19 in doubles (no change), No. 701 in singles (+2).
   Asia Muhammad, Capitals (2012) -- No. 183 in doubles (no change), No. 529 in singles (-49).
   Maria Sanchez, Modesto resident -- No. 143 in doubles (-4), No. 222 in singles (-5).

Yasmin Schnack, Elk Grove resident, Capitals (2011-12) -- No. 155 in doubles (-9), No. 450 in singles (+2).
Romana Tedjakusuma, Tracy resident -- No. 453 in singles (+37), No. 1,147 in doubles (-6).

CoCo Vandeweghe, Capitals (2009, 2012) -- No. 73 in singles (-3), No. 499 in doubles (-1).

CALENDAR

   Through Sunday -- OLYMPIC TENNIS TOURNAMENT, Wimbledon, www.london2012.com.
   Through Aug. 12 -- USTA National Championships, boys 18s and 16s, Kalamazoo, Mich.
   Through Aug. 12 -- USTA National Championships, girls 18s and 16s, San Diego.
   Through Thursday -- USTA National Championships, girls 14s, Peachtree City, Ga.
   Through Aug. 12 -- $100,000 Comerica Bank Challenger, Seascape Sports Club, 1505 Seascape Blvd., Aptos, Calif., 95003, www.seascapesportsclub.com/challenger, (831) 688-1993.
   Sunday-Aug. 10 -- USTA National Championships, boys 14s, San Antonio.
   Sunday-Aug. 10 -- USTA National Championships, boys 12s, North Little Rock, Ark.
   Sunday-Aug. 10 -- USTA National Championships, girls 12s, Alpharetta, Ga.
   Aug. 27-Sept. 9 -- U.S. OPEN, Flushing Meadows, N.Y., www.usopen.org.
   Sept. 9-16 -- $25,000 USTA Oak River Rehab Challenger, Sun Oaks Tennis & Fitness, 3452 Argyle Road, Redding, Calif., 96002, www.sunoakschallenger.com, (530) 227-3498.
   Sept. 14 -- World TeamTennis, Western Conference finals, Sacramento Capitals vs. Orange County Breakers, 3:30 p.m. PDT, Charleston, S.C.
   Sept. 15 -- WTT, Eastern Conference finals, Washington Kastles vs. New York Sportimes, 3:30 p.m. PDT, Charleston, S.C.
   Sept. 16 -- WTT Finals, Western Conference champion vs. Eastern Conference champion, 12:30 p.m. PDT, Charleston, S.C.
   Sept. 29-Oct. 7 -- Natomas Men's $100,000 Challenger, Natomas Racquet Club, 2450 Natomas Park Drive, Sacramento, Calif., 95833, www.natomaschallenger.com, (916) 649-0909.
   Oct. 6-14 -- First Republic Bank Men's $100,000 Challenger, Tiburon Peninsula Club, 1600 Mar West St., Tiburon, Calif., 94920, www.tiburon challenger.com, (415) 789-7900.

Friday, August 3, 2012

Bryans seek their first Olympic gold medal

   For the first time in their illustrious careers, Bob and Mike Bryan will play for an Olympic gold medal.
   The No. 1 seeds and former NCAA doubles champions from Stanford defeated Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet of France 6-4, 6-4 Friday in the semifinals at Wimbledon. The 34-year-old Bryan twins had eliminated Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram of Israel 7-6 (4), 7-6 (10) Thursday.
   The Bryans have won 11 Grand Slam men's doubles titles to tie the Open Era record. They will face another French team, second-seeded Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, on Saturday (8:30-11 a.m. PDT, NBCSN) for the gold. Llodra and Tsonga outlasted Spaniards David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 4-6, 18-16 in 3 hours and 29 minutes.
   "This will top off everything we have ever done if we win gold," Mike Bryan said on atpworldtour.com. "But it will be a very difficult match. Tomorrow, we will begin to focus and prepare for the match. But we’re definitely in for a sleepless night."
   The American pair won the bronze medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics four years ago, defeating Arnaud Clement and Llodra.
   In mixed doubles at the London Olympics, third-seeded Lisa Raymond and Mike Bryan have reached the semifinals, but second-seeded Liezel Huber and Bob Bryan lost in the first round to Sabine Lisicki and Christopher Kas of Germany. Mixed doubles returned to the Olympics for the first time since 1924.
   ATP World Tour/WTA tour in Washington, D.C. -- Eighth-seeded Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native, extended his winning streak to seven matches with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over third seed and doubles partner Kevin Anderson of South Africa in the quarterfinals of the Citi Open.
   Querrey played six matches for the Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis in July. While Querrey was winning the Farmers Classic in Los Angeles last week, Anderson played the last four matches of the regular season for Sacramento.
   Top-seeded Mardy Fish, who played two matches for the Capitals early in the three-week season, joined Querrey in the semifinals of the Citi Open with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Xavier Malisse of Belgium.
   Fish, 30, will meet fourth-seeded Tommy Haas, a 34-year-old German, and Querrey will play fourth-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine.
   Anderson and Querrey reached the doubles final with a 6-3, 6-4 triumph over Frenchmen Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
   In the women's singles semifinals, top-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia held off fourth-seeded Vania King 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in a battle of former and current Capitals, respectively. King had beaten seventh seed and Sacramento teammate CoCo Vandeweghe 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 Thursday.
Women's/men's Challenger in Vancouver, British Columbia -- Mallory Burdette, a wild card from Stanford, knocked off second-seeded Olivia Rogowska of Australia 7-5, 6-4 to reach the semifinals of the Odlum Brown Vanopen. Qualifiers Nicole Gibbs and Krista Hardebeck of Stanford lost in the second round earlier in the week.
   On the men's side, Chinese Taipei's Jimmy Wang, who trains in the Sacramento suburb of Granite Bay, lost to sixth-seeded Sergei Bubka of Ukraine in the singles quarterfinals but reached the doubles semifinals with Danai Udomchoke of Thailand.
   Men's Futures in Decatur, Ill. -- Artem Ilyushin, a Russian living in Granite Bay, lost in the singles and doubles quarterfinals of the $10,000 Ursula Beck Pro Tennis Classic.

TV SCHEDULE

(All times PDT)

Saturday -- Olympics, women's singles final, NBC, 6-8 a.m. (live); men's doubles final, NBCSN, 8:30-11 a.m. (live).
Sunday -- Olympics, mixed doubles final, NBCSN, 4-5:30 a.m. (live); men's singles bronze-medal match, MSNBC, 4-6 a.m. (live); men's singles final, NBC, 6-8:30 a.m. (live); women's doubles final, NBCSN, 9:15-11 a.m. (live).

CALENDAR

   Through Sunday -- OLYMPIC TENNIS TOURNAMENT, Wimbledon, www.london2012.com.
   Through Aug. 12 -- USTA National Championships, boys 18s and 16s, Kalamazoo, Mich.
   Saturday-Aug. 12 -- USTA National Championships, girls 18s and 16s, San Diego.
   Saturday-Aug. 9 -- USTA National Championships, girls 14s, Peachtree City, Ga.
   Saturday-Aug. 12 -- $100,000 Comerica Bank Challenger, Seascape Sports Club, 1505 Seascape Blvd., Aptos, Calif., 95003, www.seascapesportsclub.com/challenger, (831) 688-1993.
   Sunday-Aug. 10 -- USTA National Championships, boys 14s, San Antonio.
   Sunday-Aug. 10 -- USTA National Championships, boys 12s, North Little Rock, Ark.
   Sunday-Aug. 10 -- USTA National Championships, girls 12s, Alpharetta, Ga.
   Aug. 27-Sept. 9 -- U.S. OPEN, Flushing Meadows, N.Y., www.usopen.org.
   Sept. 9-16 -- $25,000 USTA Oak River Rehab Challenger, Sun Oaks Tennis & Fitness, 3452 Argyle Road, Redding, Calif., 96002, www.sunoakschallenger.com, (530) 227-3498.
   Sept. 14 -- World TeamTennis, Western Conference finals, Sacramento Capitals vs. Orange County Breakers, 3:30 p.m. PDT, Charleston, S.C.
   Sept. 15 -- WTT, Eastern Conference finals, Washington Kastles vs. New York Sportimes, 3:30 p.m. PDT, Charleston, S.C.
   Sept. 16 -- WTT Finals, Western Conference champion vs. Eastern Conference champion, 12:30 p.m. PDT, Charleston, S.C.
   Sept. 29-Oct. 7 -- Natomas Men's $100,000 Challenger, Natomas Racquet Club, 2450 Natomas Park Drive, Sacramento, Calif., 95833, www.natomaschallenger.com, (916) 649-0909.
   Oct. 6-14 -- First Republic Bank Men's $100,000 Challenger, Tiburon Peninsula Club, 1600 Mar West St., Tiburon, Calif., 94920, www.tiburon challenger.com, (415) 789-7900.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Olympic dream rematch thwarted

   There will be no dream doubles rematch in the Olympics, but Bob and Mike Bryan probably aren't complaining.
   Israelis Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram upset sixth seeds and defending gold medalists Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 1-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 Wednesday in the second round at Wimbledon.
   “We’re very pleased; it’s not every day that you beat the No. 1 in the world, the best player in the history of tennis,” Ram said on atpworldtour.com. “It’s great fun. I’m very excited about this. It’s not a normal win, but still we have a long way for our goal. We came here to go all the way, not just to beat Federer, which is very exciting.”
   Said Federer, who earlier reached the singles quarterfinals: “Overall, I think we played a good tournament. It just wasn’t meant to be today.”
   Erlich and Ram, the 2008 Australian Open champions, will face the top-seeded Bryan brothers, former NCAA doubles champions from Stanford, in the quarterfinals. The Americans lost to Federer and Wawrinka in the semifinals of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and settled for the bronze medal.
   The Bryans, arguably the greatest men's doubles team ever, seek their first Olympic gold medal.
   WTA tour/ATP World Tour in Washington, D.C. -- Fourth-seeded Vania King, 23, will meet seventh-seeded CoCo Vandeweghe, 20, for the first time in the quarterfinals of the Citi Open. Both played part-time for the Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis last month.
   The 6-foot-1 Vandeweghe, from Rancho Santa Fe in the San Diego area, cruised past qualifier Arevane Rezai of France 6-2, 6-2 in the second round. The 5-foot-5 King, who grew up in Long Beach, topped Irina Falconi of Atlanta 6-2, 7-6 (5).
   In men's doubles, Kevin Anderson of South Africa and Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native living in Dallas, defeated Pablo Andujar of Spain and Michael Kohlmann of Germany 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4) in the first round. Anderson and Querrey each played part-time for the Capitals.
   Mark Knowles, a full-time Capital from the Bahamas, and Tommy Haas of Germany lost to third-seeded Eric Butorac, a former Capital from Rochester, Minn., and Paul Hanley of Australia 6-3, 5-7, 13-11 tiebreak. Knowles won the 2010 crown with American Mardy Fish.
   Women's/men's Challengers in Vancouver, British Columbia -- Stanford's Nicole Gibbs, Mallory Burdette and Krista Hardebeck and Modesto's Maria Sanchez won in the first round of singles at the Odlum Brown VanOpen.
   Gibbs, a qualifier who won this year's NCAA singles and doubles titles, upset fifth-seeded Madison Brengle 6-4, 2-6, 6-2. Hardebeck, an incoming freshman, outlasted fellow qualifier Ashley Weinhold 3-6, 6-2, 7-5. Burdette, a wild card who lost to Gibbs in the NCAA singles final and won the doubles crown with Gibbs, routed lucky loser Sherazad Benamar of France 6-1, 6-2. Sanchez, a former USC All-American, dominated Heidi El Tabakh of Canada 6-2, 6-1.
   In the opening round of doubles, second-seeded Alexa Glatch and Sanchez lost by walkover, and Burdette and Gibbs fell to third-seeded Americans Jessica Pegula and Taylor Townsend 6-4, 6-3.
   In men's doubles, top-seeded John Paul Fruttero, a former Cal star from San Jose, and Rajeev Ram of Carmel, Ind., beat Rik de Voest of South Africa and Adil Shamasdin of Canada 7-6 (7), 6-3 in the first round.
   Also advancing to the doubles quarterfinals was the team of Danai Udomchoke of Thailand and Jimmy Wang, a veteran from Chinese Taipei who trains in the Sacramento area.
   Wild cards Devin Britton and Austin Krajicek dispatched qualifiers Chase Buchanan and Bradley Klahn, a former Stanford star, 6-2, 6-2. Britton won the $15,000 Sacramento Futures in June.
   Men's Futures in Decatur, Ill. -- Artem Ilyushin, a Russian living in Granite Bay, downed fifth-seeded Ji Sung Nam of South Korea 6-1, 6-4 in the opening round of the USTA/Ursula Beck Tennis Classic. Ilyushin also reached the doubles semifinals with David Sofaer of Australia.
   World TeamTennis playoffs -- The Capitals will have Querrey, Mark Knowles, CoCo Vandeweghe and either Asia Muhammad or Yasmin Schnack for the World TeamTennis playoffs, coach Wayne Bryan wrote in an e-mail.
   The postseason is scheduled for Sept. 14-16 in Charleston, S.C. Sacramento (7-7) will face the Orange County Breakers (8-6) in the Western Conference finals on Sept. 14, and the Washington Kastles (14-0) will play the New York Sportimes (9-5) in the Eastern Conference finals the following day. The winners will meet Sept. 16 for the title.
   The Capitals lost three of four matches to Orange County during the regular season, which ended Saturday. The postseason will be played in September because of the Olympics.
The 6-foot-6 Querrey played six matches for Sacramento, finishing second in men's singles with a .580 winning percentage and fifth (among 16 players) in men's doubles at .531.
Vandeweghe, in four matches for the Capitals, did not play enough games to be ranked among WTT players. She went 12-8 (.600) in women's singles, 9-15 (.375) in women's doubles and 9-9 in mixed doubles.
   Overall in the eight-team league, Sacramento ranked third in men's singles (.522), fifth in women's singles (.485), fourth in men's doubles (.518), seventh in women's doubles (.429) and fourth in mixed doubles (.532).
   WTT awards -- Bobby Reynolds of Washington and former world No. 1 Martina Hingis of New York were named the Male and Female MVPs, respectively, of World TeamTennis.
   John-Patrick Smith of Orange County and Kristyna Pliskova of the Philadelphia Freedoms were selected as the WTT Rookies of the Year, and Murphy Jensen of Washington was tabbed as the WTT Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season.   Hingis, 35, led the league in women's singles this season with a .593 winning percentage and teamed with Ashley Harkleroad to finish first in women's doubles at .571.
   Reynolds, the 2010 Rookie of the Year at 28 years old, topped WTT in men's singles with a .610 winning percentage and paired with 2009 and 2011 Male MVP Leander Paes to head the league with a .620 mark.
   Smith, a 23-year-old Australian, finished third in men's singles at .568 and in men's doubles, with Travis Parrott, at .537.
   Pliskova, 20, of the Czech Republic, finished third in women's doubles with her identical twin sister, Karolina, and fourth in mixed doubles with Jordan Kerr.
   Jensen led Washington to its second consecutive undefeated regular season. The Kastles have won 30 matches in a row, the second-longest winning streak in professional sports history behind the Los Angeles Lakers' 33 straight in 1971-72.

TV SCHEDULE

(All times PDT)

Thursday -- Olympics, singles and mixed doubles quarterfinals and doubles semifinals, Bravo, 4 a.m.-noon (live).

   Friday -- Olympics, singles and mixed doubles semifinals, Bravo, 4 a.m.-noon (live).
   Saturday -- Olympics, women's singles final, NBC, 6-8 a.m. (live); men's doubles final, NBCSN, 8:30-11 a.m. (live).
   Sunday -- Olympics, mixed doubles final, NBCSN, 4-5:30 a.m. (live); men's singles bronze-medal match, MSNBC, 4-6 a.m. (live); men's singles final, NBC, 6-8:30 a.m. (live); women's doubles final, NBCSN, 9:15-11 a.m. (live).

CALENDAR

   Through Sunday -- OLYMPIC TENNIS TOURNAMENT, Wimbledon, www.london2012.com.
   Friday-Aug. 12 -- USTA National Championships, boys 18s and 16s, Kalamazoo, Mich.
   Saturday-Aug. 12 -- USTA National Championships, girls 18s and 16s, San Diego.
   Saturday-Aug. 9 -- USTA National Championships, girls 14s, Peachtree City, Ga.
   Saturday-Aug. 12 -- $100,000 Comerica Bank Challenger, Seascape Sports Club, 1505 Seascape Blvd., Aptos, Calif., 95003, www.seascapesportsclub.com/challenger, (831) 688-1993.
   Sunday-Aug. 10 -- USTA National Championships, boys 14s, San Antonio.
   Sunday-Aug. 10 -- USTA National Championships, boys 12s, North Little Rock, Ark.
   Sunday-Aug. 10 -- USTA National Championships, girls 12s, Alpharetta, Ga.
   Aug. 27-Sept. 9 -- U.S. OPEN, Flushing Meadows, N.Y., www.usopen.org.
   Sept. 9-16 -- $25,000 USTA Oak River Rehab Challenger, Sun Oaks Tennis & Fitness, 3452 Argyle Road, Redding, Calif., 96002, www.sunoakschallenger.com, (530) 227-3498.
   Sept. 14 -- World TeamTennis, Western Conference finals, Sacramento Capitals vs. Orange County Breakers, 3:30 p.m. PDT, Charleston, S.C.
   Sept. 15 -- WTT, Eastern Conference finals, Washington Kastles vs. New York Sportimes, 3:30 p.m. PDT, Charleston, S.C.
   Sept. 16 -- WTT Finals, Western Conference champion vs. Eastern Conference champion, 12:30 p.m. PDT, Charleston, S.C.
   Sept. 29-Oct. 7 -- Natomas Men's $100,000 Challenger, Natomas Racquet Club, 2450 Natomas Park Drive, Sacramento, Calif., 95833, www.natomaschallenger.com, (916) 649-0909.
   Oct. 6-14 -- First Republic Bank Men's $100,000 Challenger, Tiburon Peninsula Club, 1600 Mar West St., Tiburon, Calif., 94920, www.tiburon challenger.com, (415) 789-7900.