Two of the brightest prospects in men's professional tennis, they have skyrocketed about 200 places each in the world rankings this year. On Thursday, they reached the quarterfinals of the $100,000 First Republic Bank Tiburon Challenger at the Tiburon Peninsula Club.
Pospisil, a 21-year-old Canadian, routed Roman Borvanov of Moldova 6-3, 6-0. The 6-foot-4 Pospisil, who beat 22nd-ranked Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina in the first round at Montreal in August before losing to Roger Federer 7-5, 6-3, has soared from No. 339 at the beginning of the year to No. 135.
Grigelis, a 20-year-old Lithuanian, outlasted fourth-seeded Bobby Reynolds, a 29-year-old American who reached a career-high No. 63 two years ago, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4. Grigelis lacks Pospisil's size but has a tremendous two-handed backhand. He won the Aptos Challenger at 19 in July and has jumped from No. 404 at the beginning of the year to No. 212.
In today's quarterfinals, Pospisil will meet top-seeded Ryan Sweeting of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Grigelis will face eighth-seeded Bjorn Phau of Germany, second-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia will take on Martin Fischer of Austria, and third-seeded Sam Querrey will play fellow American Alex Kuznetsov.
Querrey, 6-6, was born across the bay in San Francisco and lived in Santa Rosa until moving to Las Vegas at 8 and Thousand Oaks at 11. Phau, 5-9, is one of the fastest players in tennis.
Karlovic, 6-10, saved two match points against Fischer in the first round of the Sacramento Challenger last week and went on to win the title.
WTA tour in Osaka, Japan -- Vania King of the Sacramento Capitals lost to second-seeded Marion Bartoli of France 6-1, 6-2 in the second round of the $220,000 HP Japan Women's Open Tennis. Bartoli avenged a loss to King three weeks ago in the second round at Seoul, South Korea. It was King's first singles victory over a top-10 player.
Top-seeded King and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan overwhelmed Eleni Daniilidou of Greece and Mandy Minella of Luxembourg 6-2, 6-1 to reach the doubles semifinals. King and Shvedova will face third-seeded Raquel Kops-Jones, a former Cal All-American from Fresno, and Abigail Spears of San Diego.
ATP World Tour in Shanghai -- Top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan, former Stanford All-Americans, lost to sixth-seeded Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski of Poland 3-6, 6-4, 12-10 tiebreak in the doubles quarterfinals of the $3.24 million Shanghai Rolex Masters.
Fystenberg and Matkowski, the U.S. Open runners-up last month, had dismissed Tommy Robredo of Spain and Dmitry Tursunov of Folsom 6-1, 6-2 in the second round.
$100,000 FIRST REPUBLIC BANK TIBURON CHALLENGER
At Tiburon Peninsula Club
Second-round singles
Ryan Sweeting (1), Fort Lauderdale, Fla., def. Alex Bogdanovic, Great Britain, 6-2, 6-1. Alex Kuznetsov, Tampa, Fla., def. Uladzimir Ignatik, Belarus, 7-6 (8), 7-5. Sam Querrey (3), Las Vegas, def. Amer Delic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 6-4, 6-2. Laurynas Grigelis, Lithuania, def. Bobby Reynolds (4), Acworth, Ga., 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4. Vasek Pospisil (5), Canada, def. Roman Borvanov, Moldova, 6-3, 6-0. Bjorn Phau (8), Germany, def. Alejandro Gonzalez, Colombia, 6-2, 6-2.Doubles quarterfinals
Alex Kuznetsov, Tampa, Fla., and Ryan Sweeting, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., def. Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah (1), Colombia, 4-6, 6-2, 11-9 tiebreak. Steve Johnson, Orange, and Sam Querrey, Las Vegas, def. Brian Battistone and Chris Wettengel, Las Vegas, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4). Vasek Pospisil, Canada, and Bobby Reynolds, Acworth, Ga., def. Treat Conrad Huey, Philippines, and Izak Van der Merwe (2), South Africa, 4-6, 6-3, 10-7 tiebreak. Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione, Australia, def. Laurynas Grigelis, Lithuania, and Uladzimir Ignatik, Belarus, 6-1, 6-2.Friday's schedule
Stadium Court
(Beginning at 11 a.m.)
Sweeting (1) vs. Pospisil (5), Fischer vs. Karlovic (2), Ball and Guccione vs. Pospisil and Reynolds, Querrey (3) vs. Kuznetsov.Court 1
(Beginning at noon)
Phau (8) vs. Grigelis.
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