Djokovic, Bryans save match points in victories

   One reason Novak Djokovic and the Bryan twins are ranked No. 1 in the world in singles and doubles, respectively, is their ability to handle pressure.
   The Serbian star and the doubles team from Stanford and the Los Angeles area both saved a match point in their opening round-robin matches Monday in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London.   
   Djokovic edged seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3), and the Bryans nipped seventh-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria and Philipp Petzschner of Germany 6-7 (4), 7-5, 10-7 tiebreak.
   The singles and doubles matches featured the winners of three of the four Grand Slam tournaments this year. Djokovic captured the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. The Bryans triumphed in the Australian Open and Wimbledon, and Melzer and Petzschner took the U.S. Open crown.
   Rafael Nadal won his sixth French Open singles title, and Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor prevailed in doubles at Roland Garros.
   Nadal and Roger Federer will renew their rivalry following today's 10:15 a.m. PST doubles match between third-seeded Mirnyi and Nestor and eighth-seeded Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski. Tennis Channel will televise both matches live.
   Federer, the defending champion, seeks his record sixth title in the ATP World Tour Finals and Nadal his first. But Nadal leads the head-to-head series 17-8, including 3-0 this year.  

   On Wednesday, the Bryans will meet sixth-seeded Robert Lindstedt of Sweden and Horia Tecau of Romania at 10:15 a.m., followed by Djokovic against fifth-seeded David Ferrer of Spain. 

   The Bryans are trying to win the ATP World Tour Finals for the fourth time. They triumphed in 2003, 2004 and 2009.

   Through Friday, Tennis Channel is providing daily live coverage of the day session beginning at 4 a.m. and the night session starting at 10 a.m.. The network will televise Saturday's doubles semifinals live at the same times and the singles semis on tape at 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. 

   Sunday's doubles and singles finals will be shown live at 7:30 a.m. (Tennis Channel) and 9:30 a.m. (ESPN2), respectively.

   Raonic honored -- Milos Raonic, who won the SAP Open in San Jose in February for his first career ATP World Tour title, was named the Newcomer of the Year.
   The 6-foot-5 Canadian, 20, has improved his world ranking from No. 156 at the beginning of 2011 to No. 31.
   New rankings -- Following are this week's world rankings of professional players with Northern California ties (change from last week in parentheses):

Men

   Bob Bryan, 1998 NCAA doubles champion from Stanford -- No. 1 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Mike Bryan, 1998 NCAA doubles champion from Stanford -- No. 1 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
  John Paul Fruttero, Cal All-American in 2001 and 2002 -- Career-high No. 118 in doubles (+4), unranked in singles.
  Kiryl Harbatsiuk, three-time Big Sky Conference MVP (2009-11) at Sacramento State -- No. 760 in singles (-5), No. 1,246 in doubles (no change).
   Mark Knowles, Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis (2001-07, 2009-11) -- No. 58 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Scott Lipsky, 2002 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford -- No. 29 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   David Martin, 2002 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford -- No. 104 in doubles (-2), No. 752 in singles (-3).
    Conor Niland, 2006 Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Year and two-time All-American at Cal -- No. 283 in singles (-74), unranked in doubles.
   Sam Querrey, San Francisco native -- No. 93 in singles (no change), No. 38 in doubles (no change).
   Dmitry Tursunov, Folsom resident -- No. 40 in singles (no change), No. 236 in doubles
(+4).
   Dusan Vemic, Capitals (2010-11) -- No. 498 in doubles (no change), No. 1,511 in singles (no change).
   Jimmy Wang, Folsom resident -- No. 273 in singles (+14), No. 522 in doubles (-5).

Women

   Vania King, Capitals (2010-11) -- No. 6 in doubles (no change), No. 76 in singles (no change).
   Raquel Kops-Jones, 2003 NCAA doubles champion from Cal -- No. 37 in doubles (no change), No. 717 in singles (-3).
   Maria Sanchez, Modesto resident -- No. 266 in doubles (-2), No. 693 in singles (-5).

   Yasmin Schnack, Elk Grove resident, Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis (2011) -- Career-high No. 179 in doubles (no change), No. 407 in singles (-14).