Joelsons seek ninth straight father-son title

   Roger Federer hasn't done it. Rafael Nadal has a shot.
   Some of the greatest teams in sports history -- Casey's Stengel's New York Yankees, Chuck Noll's Pittsburgh Steelers, Red Auerbach's Boston Celtics, Toe Blake's Montreal Canadiens and John Wooden's UCLA Bruins -- couldn't pull it off, either.
   Winning nine consecutive titles in anything -- Parcheesi, Tiddlywinks, rock/paper/scissors -- is virtually impossible. Something is bound to go wrong in the interim. Skill declines. Interest wanes. Competitors get hurt. Rosters change. Luck runs out. Or, if you're an NFL player, you get busted.
   Brian and Brett Joelson, however, are on track for their ninth straight crown in father-son doubles at the USTA National Hard Court Championships in La Jolla.
   The top seeds coasted in two matches Friday to reach the round of 16. Brian, a 50-year-old stockbroker from Beaverton, Ore., and Brett, a 26-year-old assistant coach at Davidson College in North Carolina who played for the Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis last year, defeated James and Billy Rowe of Coronado 6-2, 6-1 and Scott and Jake Douglas of Rolling Hills by the same score.
   "I’ve got a good son," Brian said in a news release. "One thing about doubles: Always make sure you’ve got a good partner. We’ve played a lot together. Our games really mesh together well. We get a little lucky here and there. Brett is one of the best doubles players in the tournament. I just kind of hold my own.”
   Nadal, who can clinch Spain's third Davis Cup title in four years Sunday against visiting Argentina (live at 4 a.m. PST on Tennis Channel), has won the Monte Carlo Masters on clay for the past seven years.
   Joining the Joelsons in the round of 16 were ninth-seeded Douglas and Andrew Carlisle of Portola Valley and unseeded Michael Fischer and Michael Fischer Jr. of Fairfield.
   In today's women's 40 singles final, second-seeded Jennifer Dawson of Carlsbad will play unseeded Dina McBride of Woodland Hills. McBride knocked off top seed, defending champion and five-time winner Gretchen Magers of San Diego in the semifinals.
   In the men's 40 singles semifinals, top seed and defending champion Jeff Tarango of Manhattan Beach will face fourth-seeded Peter Smith of Los Alamitos, and second-seeded Oren Motevassel of Sunnyvale will meet third-seeded Jeff Greenwald of Corte Madera.
   Smith is the head coach of the USC men, and Tarango is an assistant coach for the Trojans and a former Stanford All-American.
   USC is on a streak of its own with three consecutive NCAA team championships. The Trojans still have a long way to go to catch the Joelsons, though.