King, Shvedova take Cincinnati doubles title

   Vania King of the Sacramento Capitals and Yaroslava Shvedova picked a good time to win their first women's doubles title of the year.
   In their last tournament before defending their U.S. Open crown, the third seeds edged unseeded Natalie Grandin and Vladimira Uhlirova 6-4, 3-6, 11-9 tiebreak Sunday in the $2.05 million Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.
   Grandin, a South African who played as an early-season substitute for the Capitals in their World TeamTennis championship season of 2007, and Uhlirova, a Czech, came within two points of winning while leading 8-7 in the match tiebreaker. 
   King, a Long Beach product living in Boynton Beach, Fla., won her 13th WTA doubles title and Kazakhstan's Shvedova her fifth. They captured their third career title together, but first outside of a Grand Slam, since pairing up in June 2010. King and Shvedova took the Wimbledon crown last year in their third tournament together.
   Grandin and Uhlirova fell to 0-5 in WTA doubles finals. Still, they knocked off top-seeded Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik, fourth-seeded Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova and seventh-seeded Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka en route to the final.
   Peschke and Srebotnik are the reigning Wimbledon champions and world No. 1s, and Hlavackova Hradecka are the current French Open champs.
   The U.S. Open is scheduled for Aug. 29 through Sept. 11.
   Schnack falls short -- Second-seeded Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove lost to unseeded Robin Anderson of Matawan, N.J., 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 in the final of the U.S. Open National Playoffs in New Haven, Conn.
   Anderson, an incoming UCLA freshman, advanced to the U.S. Open qualifying tournament, Tuesday through Friday in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   Schnack, who graduated from UCLA last year, will turn her attention to mixed doubles with Sacramento's Eric Roberson in the U.S. Open National Playoffs beginning Wednesday in New Haven. Also entered are the team of Christina Fusano, a Sacramento native and ex-Cal star living in nearby Plymouth, and  David Martin, a former Stanford All-American. The winners of the 16-team event earn a berth in the main draw of mixed doubles at the U.S. Open.
   Stryhas, Meliuk earn titles -- In an all-Rio del Oro Racquet Club final, top-seeded Anton Stryhas routed second-seeded Aliaksandr Malko 6-2, 6-1 to win the men's open singles title in the Spare Time Adult Tennis Championships at the Gold River Racquet Club.
   Maryia Meliuk emerged from round-robin play to win the women's open singles crown.
   Second-seeded Jordan Boyls and Kevin Vieria and top-seeded Gergana Avramova-Hunt and Joyce Martinez won the men's and women's open doubles titles, respectively.