The pressure is on Mardy Fish.
If the 30-year-old veteran fails to reach the semifinals of the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Fla., matching his result last year, he probably will drop out of the top 10 and be replaced by John Isner as the top American.
Fish, who's scheduled to play home matches for the Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis on July 12 and 13, is ranked eighth and the Isner 10th. Isner, who's listed at 6-foot-9 but actually is 6-10, is the tallest top-10 player ever.
Fish, who beat qualifier Frank Dancevic of Canada 6-3, 7-6 (1) Saturday in the second round at Key Biscayne, faces a stiff test Monday against 28th-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa. The 6-8 Anderson advanced with a 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3 victory over Sam Querrey, a 6-6 native of San Francisco.
Fish is 1-0 against Anderson, winning 6-4, 7-6(4), 7-6(3) in the third round of last year's U.S. Open. But Anderson has improved from 34th in the world to 28th since then, winning his second career title three weeks ago in Delray Beach.
If Fish survives that match, he'll face one of two tough Spaniards, No. 12 seed Nicolas Almagro or No. 20 Fernando Verdasco, in the fourth round.
Folsom resident Dmitry Tursunov, still plagued by a strained tendon in his left wrist, withdrew from Key Biscayne last week. A right-hander with a two-handed backhand, Tursunov hasn't played since losing in the first round of singles and doubles at the Australian Open two months ago.
Three former Stanford All-Americans reached the second round of doubles in the Sony Ericsson Open. Top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan, the 2007 and 2008 champions, dismissed Australians Paul Hanley and Bernard Tomic 6-3, 6-2 in 45 minutes. Also, ex-Cardinal standout Scott Lipsky teamed with Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico to beat Czechs Tomas Berdych and Lukas Dlouhy 7-5, 6-1.
Colleges -- The host Sacramento State women snapped a three-match losing streak with a 7-0 victory indoors over Eastern Washington. The Hornets (10-9, 4-0) extended their Big Sky Conference winning streak to 87 matches. The Eagles fell to 3-10 and 1-2. ...
Rain postponed the match between the No. 10 Cal women (12-4, 4-0 Pacific-12 Conference) and No. 38 Washington State (12-4, 2-2) in Berkeley until today.
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