Ex-Cal star continues upset trend in local pro tourney

Ex-Cal star Pedro Zerbini of Brazil upset No. 8 seed
Daniel King-Turner of New Zealand in the second
round at the Park Terrace Swim & Tennis Club.
Photo by Paul Bauman

  Three more seeds lost Thursday in the $15,000 Tennis Town Pro Tennis at Park Terrace tournament in Sacramento, and a former Cal star pulled off one of the upsets.
   Pedro Zerbini, an unseeded Brazilian, outlasted eighth-seeded Daniel King-Turner of New Zealand 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 in 3 hours in the second round at the Park Terrace Swim & Tennis Club.
   Also falling were No. 4 Kento Takeuchi of Japan and No. 5 Fritz Wolmarans of South Africa. Unseeded Nicolas Meister of Trabuco Canyon in the Los Angeles area routed Takeuchi 6-2, 6-0, and wild card Sebastian Fanselow of Germany upended Wolmarans 6-4, 7-6 (5).
   Only two seeds, No. 3 Michael McClune of Irvine and No. 7 Devin Britton of Brandon, Miss., reached Friday's quarterfinals.
   New Zealand's Ben McLachlan, who will be a junior at Cal in the fall, lost to wild card Jeff Dadamo of Tampa, Fla., 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. Dadamo, last year's NCAA doubles champion with fellow Texas A&M senior Austin Krajicek, ousted No. 1 seed Tennys Sandgren in the first round. 
   Zerbini was named to the All-Pacific-10 Conference first team in his last three years at Cal (2009-11). He graduated in December in economic development.
   "I'm very pleased with my choice," said the 23-year-old Zerbini, who attended a tennis academy in Southern California before going to college. "I loved my 4 1/2 years in Berkeley. Cal made me a better person and tennis player."
   Zerbini also was interested in Stanford, Duke and UCLA.
   "I felt Cal was a better fit being so open to international people and food," he said. "I liked the diversity at Cal."

New Zealand's Ben McLachlan, who will be a junior
at Cal in the fall, lost to wild card Jeff Dadamo.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Since debuting at No. 1,218 in the world rankings in April, Zerbini has improved to No. 675. In six previous Futures tournaments this year, he has reached two finals and two quarterfinals and lost in the first round twice. He is coached by former Cal teammate Zachary Gilbert, the son of renowned tennis coach and commentator Brad Gilbert.
   Zerbini will face Meister, a friend and former rival from UCLA, today after the 10 a.m. quarterfinal between Britton and Philip Bester of Canada. As a freshman at Mississippi in 2009, Britton became the youngest man to win the NCAA title at 18 years, 2 months. Bester, seeded first at Park Terrace in 2011, reached the quarterfinals for the second straight year.
   McClune will face Fanselow, a Pepperdine All-American, at 10 a.m., followed by Dadamo against former Michigan standout Jason Jung of Torrance.
   French Open in Paris -- Top-ranked Novak Djokovic and No. 3 Roger Federer will renew their epic rivalry Friday in the French Open semifinals. NBC will televise the match on tape delay at 11 a.m. PDT.
   Federer, 30, leads the series 14-11 (3-2 on clay). But Djokovic, 25, has won five of the last six meetings. Djokovic won their last encounter 6-2, 7-6 (4) in the semifinals of the Italian Open on clay last month. Federer ended Djokovic's season-opening 41-match winning streak in last year's French Open semifinals.
   Second-ranked Rafael Nadal, seeking his record seventh French Open title, will face fellow Spaniard David Ferrer, ranked sixth, in the other semifinal. Tennis Channel will broadcast the match live at 4 a.m.
   Nadal is 15-4 against Ferrer, including 12-1 on clay with a 12-match winning streak.
   Meanwhile, second-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan will play for their Open Era-record 12th Grand Slam men's doubles title Saturday against top seeds and defending champions Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Daniel Nestor of Canada.
   The Bryan twins, former Stanford All-Americans originally from Camarillo in the Los Angeles area, defeated 10th-seeded Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands Antilles 6-3, 7-6 (6). Mirnyi and Nestor dispatched the 14th-seeded Italian team of Daniele Bracciali and Potito Starace 6-3, 6-4.     
   The Bryans won their first Grand Slam men's doubles crown in the 2003 French Open. They have not repeated, losing in the 2005 and 2006 finals to Jonas Bjorkman and Mirnyi.
   Men's Challenger in Nottingham, Great Britain -- Fourth-seeded Dmitry Tursunov, a Moscow native living in the Sacramento suburb of Folsom, overwhelmed qualifier Denis Matsukevitch of Russia 6-2, 6-1 in the first round of the Aegon Trophy.
   But Tursunov and Igor Kunitsyn of Russia lost to John Paul Fruttero, an ex-Cal All-American from San Jose, and Raven Klaasen of South Africa 7-5, 6-4 in the opening round of doubles.
   Second-seeded Scott Lipsky, a former Stanford All-American from Huntington Beach in the Los Angeles area, and Rajeev Ram of Carmel, Ind., edged Josh Goodall and James Ward of Great Britain 3-6, 7-6 (3), 10-8 tiebreak.
   Women's Challenger in El Paso, Texas -- Modesto's Maria Sanchez, seeded fourth, downed Anne-Liz Jeukeng of the United States 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 in the second round of the Hunt USTA Pro Women's Classic.
   Sanchez, coming off the title of the inaugural Gold River Challenger near Sacramento, has won seven consecutive matches and 11 of her last 12. The 22-year-old former USC All-American will face seventh-seeded Valeria Solovieva in Friday's quarterfinals after crushing the 19-year-old Russian 6-0, 6-1 in the Gold River semifinals. 

$15,000 TENNIS TOWN PRO TENNIS AT PARK TERRACE

In Sacramento

At Park Terrace Swim & Tennis Club

Second-round singles

   Jason Jung, United States, def. Keith-Patrick Crowley, Australia, 7-5, 6-3.
   Michael McClune (3), United States, def. Jordan Cox, United States, 6-2, 6-4.
   Devin Britton (7), United States, def. Dennis Lajola, United States, 6-2, 6-2.
   Jeff Dadamo, United States, def. Ben McLachlan, New Zealand, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.
   Nicolas Meister, United States, def. Kento Takeuchi (4), Japan, 6-2, 6-0.
   Philip Bester, Canada, def. Phillip Simmonds, United States, 6-4, 6-2.
   Sebastian Fanselow, Germany, def. Fritz Wolmarans (5), South Africa, 6-4, 7-6 (5).
   Pedro Zerbini (former Cal star), Brazil, def. Daniel King-Turner (8), New Zealand, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

Doubles quarterfinals

   Denny Fafek and Xavier Smith (former Sacramento State star), United States, def. Jeff Dadamo and Gregory Ouellette (3), United States, 5-7, 6-3, 11-9 tiebreak.
   Devin Britton and Jordan Cox (2), United States, def. Dennis Lajola, United States, and Olivier Sajous, Haiti, 3-6, 6-0, 10-7 tiebreak.

Friday's schedule

(Beginning at 10 a.m.)

Court 7

   Michael McClune (3), Irvine, def. Sebastian Fanselow, Germany.
   (Not before 11 a.m.) Jeff Dadamo, United States, vs. Jason Jung, United States.
   (Not before 3 p.m.) Nicolas Meister, United States, and Pedro Zerbini, Brazil, vs. Denny Fafek, United States, and Xavier Smith (former Sacramento State star), United States. 

Court 3

   Devin Britton (7), United States, vs. Philip Bester, Canada.
   (Not before 11 a.m.) Pedro Zerbini (former Cal star), Brazil, vs. Nicolas Meister, United States.
   (Not before 1 p.m.) Vahid Mirzadeh and Phillip Simmonds (4), United States, vs. Devin Britton and Jordan Cox (2), United States.

FRENCH OPEN TV SCHEDULE

(All times PDT)

   Friday -- Men's semifinals, Tennis Channel, 4-8 a.m. (Rafael Nadal vs. David Ferrer, live); NBC, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. (Novak Djokovic vs. Roger Federer, taped), Tennis Channel, 2-9 p.m. (repeat). 

   Saturday -- Women's final, Maria Sharapova vs. Sara Errani, NBC, 6-9 a.m. (live).
   Sunday -- Men's final, NBC, 6-11 a.m. (live); Tennis Channel, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. (repeat), 5-9 p.m. (repeat). Women's final, Tennis Channel, 3-5 p.m. (repeat).

 CALENDAR

   THROUGH SUNDAY -- FRENCH OPEN, www.rolandgarros.com.
   Through Sunday -- $15,000 Tennis Town Pro Tennis at Park Terrace, Park Terrace Swim & Tennis Club, 5500 Parkfield Court, Sacramento, 10 a.m., www.parkterraceprotennis.org.
   Saturday-Sunday, June 16-18 -- NorCal 18 Junior Sectional Championships, Sacramento State, www.norcal.usta.com.
   Saturday-June 17 -- $15,000 Chico Futures, Chico Racquet Club & Resort, 1629 Manzanita Ave., Chico, www.chicoracquetclub.com.
   JUNE 25-JULY 8 -- WIMBLEDON, www.wimbledon.com.
   July 7-15 -- WTA, Bank of the West Classic, Stanford, www.bankofthewestclassic.com.
   July 9 -- World TeamTennis, Sacramento Capitals' season opener at Boston, 4 p.m., www.saccaps.com.

   July 12 -- World TeamTennis, Capitals' home opener (with Mardy Fish) vs. Kansas City, Sunrise Marketplace Stadium, Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, 7:35 p.m., www.saccaps.com.