No. 1 seed ousted in Sacramento pro thriller

Wild card Jeff Dadamo stunned top-seeded
Tennys Sandgren on Tuesday in the first round
of the $15,000 Futures tournament in Sacramento.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   The ball was headed out in the third-set tiebreaker, and top-seeded Tennys Sandgren was headed to the second round.
   Or so it seemed.
   On Sandgren's second match point Tuesday in the $15,000 Tennis Town Pro Tennis at Park Terrace tournament in Sacramento, left-hander Jeff Dadamo sprinted to his right to chase down a ball in the corner. Barely reaching it with his one-handed backhand, he sliced a cross-court shot that hit the tape and plopped over the net for a winner to even the tiebreaker at 6-6.
   "I thought (the match) was over," conceded Dadamo (pronounced Duh-DAH-mo), a wild card. "I thought the ball would have gone wide if it hadn't hit the tape."
   Dadamo won the next two points to pull out a 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (6) victory in the 2-hour, 49-minute battle between two young Americans. It was the first match of the week on the stadium court, getting the tournament off to a thrilling start at the Park Terrace Swim & Tennis Club. 
   Sandgren -- who has Swedish heritage and is named after his grandfather, not after tennis -- also thought he had won the match.
   "When I saw the slice, I definitely thought it was going wide," he said. "The tape stopped it. I shrugged it off and was ready to go. The next two points just didn't happen."

Sandgren literally came within an inch of advancing
to the second round. Photo by Paul Bauman

   In another upset, Jason Jung of Torrance routed No. 6 seed and 2011 semifinalist Antoine Benneteau of France 6-2, 6-1. Benneteau, the younger brother of 32nd-ranked Julien Benneteau, played with tendinitis in his left knee but said he probably would have lost anyway. He was scheduled to play doubles with Jung, but they withdrew.
   Jung, 22, graduated from Michigan in political science last year and worked for an oil company in Torrance for one month before being laid off. He planned to go to law school but didn't do as well on the admission test as he had hoped, so he launched his professional tennis career in January. Ranked No. 1,079 with two quarterfinal appearances on the Futures circuit, he's giving himself one year to crack the top 500.
   Meanwhile, former Cal No. 1 Pedro Zerbini continued his impressive rookie year with a 6-4, 6-1 triumph over Bjorn Fratangelo, 18, of Pittsburgh.
   Zerbini, a 23-year-old Brazilian, graduated from Cal in December in economic development. Since his pro debut in February, he has reached two Futures finals and two quarterfinals to rise from No. 1,218 to No. 675. Fratangelo last year became the first American since John McEnroe in 1977 to win the French Open boys singles title.
   Both Dadamo, 22, of Tampa, Fla., and Sandgren, a 20-year-old resident of Gallatin, Tenn., turned pro after last year's NCAA Championships at Stanford. Dadamo won the doubles title with fellow Texas A&M senior Austin Krajicek, and Sandgren reached the singles semifinals as a sophomore.
   In their two previous meetings, both on the Futures circuit, Sandgren won 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3 last summer on a hardcourt similar to Park Terrace's and 6-4, 6-3 five weeks ago on clay.
   Comparing Tuesday's match to the last one, the 289th-ranked Sandgren said: "He played a lot cleaner match. He has a big game and served really well. He didn't give me much of anything. If he decides he wants to play and do well, it's going to be a battle. That's what he did today.
   "If he's not playing well on that day, sometimes he gets frustrated. But he was on it today from the get-go and mentally strong."
   The match featured seemingly interminable baseline rallies. Fortunately for the players, the weather was unseasonably cool with a high of 70 degrees.
   "The first point of the match was like a 25-ball rally," said Dadamo, ranked No. 641. "I knew we were going to be into it for a while."
   Dadamo estimated a later rally in the first set at 30 balls.
   "We were both clawing and digging to to get ahead," he said. "They were definitely the longest points I've ever played in a match."
   It was hardly surprising, then, that the match came down to a third-set tiebreaker. Sandgren led 6-4 but lost the last four points. On his first match point, he hit a routine forehand wide.
   "I definitely got away with one there," Dadamo said. "He played pretty clean tennis throughout the match. I don't think he had missed one of those all match. He might have gotten a little tight."
   After Dadamo's net-cord winner, he blasted a service winner to lead 7-6. Sandgren then sprayed a backhand to end it.
   "We both got lucky in the match," Dadamo said. "Maybe the second match point was the most unlucky he got. It happens."          
   See below for Tuesday's singles and doubles results and today's schedule.
   French Open in Paris -- Second-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan of Wesley Chapel, Fla., outlasted Oliver Marach of Austria and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in the French Open quarterfinals.
   The 34-year-old Bryan twins, who won the 1998 NCAA title as Stanford sophomores, seek their second French Open men's doubles title and an Open Era-record 12th in Grand Slam tournaments. They won their first in the 2003 French Open, beating Paul Haarhuis of the Netherlands and Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, and reached the final in 2005 and 2006, losing to Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi both times.
   The Bryans will face No. 10 seeds Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands Antilles in the semifinals. The teams have met twice on European clay this spring. Qureshi and Rojer triumphed in an 18-16 match tiebreaker in the second round at Madrid, and the Bryans won in straight sets in the Nice semifinals.
   Capitals -- The Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis named Jayna Osborne to replace Matt McEvoy as their general manager.
   The 28-year-old McEvoy recently left after two seasons with the team to run the Frys.com Open, a PGA Tour event in Silicon Valley. 
   Osborne also served as the Capitals' GM from 1993 to 1998 as a co-owner with her husband, Ramey Osborne, now the team's managing general partner. Jayna helped Sacramento win three of its record six WTT titles.
   The Capitals begin their 27th season on July 9 at Boston. They open at home July 12 with Mardy Fish, the top-ranked American man at No. 10, against Kansas City. Wayne Bryan, Bob and Mike's father, will return for his 11th season as Sacramento's coach.
   For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.saccaps.com or call (916) 859-0058.

$15,000 TENNIS TOWN PRO TENNIS AT PARK TERRACE

In Sacramento

At Park Terrace Swim & Tennis Club

First-round singles

   Jeff Dadamo, United States, def. Tennys Sandgren (1), United States, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (6). 

   Devin Britton (7), United States, def. Eric James Johnson, United States, 6-4, 7-6 (8). 

   Daniel King-Turner (8), New Zealand, def. Olivier Sajous, Haiti, 6-3, 6-7 (8), 7-5. 

   Jason Jung, United States, def. Antoine Benneteau (6), France, 6-2, 6-1. 

   Dennis Lajola, United States, def. Arthur Karagezian, United States, 6-4, 0-6, 6-3. 

   Pedro Zerbini (former Cal star), Brazil, def. Bjorn Fratangelo, United States, 6-4, 6-1. 

First-round doubles

   Jeff Dadamo and Gregory Ouellette (3), United States, def. Keith-Patrick Crowley, South Africa, and Nathan Willis, Australia, 6-2, 6-3.
   Devin Britton and Jordan Cox (2), United States, def. Nathaniel Gorham and Thomas Shubert, United States, 3-6, 6-2, 10-3 tiebreak.
   Daniel King-Turner, New Zealand, and Kento Takeuchi (1), Japan, def. Kiryl Harbatsiuk and Anton Stryhas, Sacramento, 6-4, 7-6 (1).
   Philip Bester and Kamil Pajkowski, Canada, def. Bjorn Fratangelo and Tennys Sandgren, United States, 6-7 (4), 7-5, 10-7 tiebreak.
   Vahid Mirzadeh and Phillip Simmonds (4), United States, def. Eric Roberson and Matt Seeberger, Sacramento, 6-3, 6-4.
   Nicolas Meister, United States, and Pedro Zerbini (former Cal star), Brazil, def. Dante Saleh and Chris Wettengel, United States, 7-6 (4), 6-3.

Today's schedule

 (Beginning at 10 a.m.)

Court 7

   Keith-Patrick Crowley, South Africa, vs. Roman Kislyanskiy, Russia.
   (Not before 11 a.m.) Ben McLachlan (Cal), New Zealand, vs. Vahe Assadourian, Granite Bay.
   (Not before 1 p.m.) Chris Wettengel, United States, vs. Phillip Simmonds, United States.
   (Not before 3 p.m.) Riki McLachlan, New Zealand, vs. Sebastian Fanselow, Germany.

   (Not before 5 p.m., court TBA) Denny Fafek and Xavier Smith, United States, vs. Antoine Benneteau, France, and Jason Jung, United States. 

Court 4

   Jordan Cox, United States, vs. Derek Siddiqui, United States.
   (Not before 11 a.m.) Philip Bester, Canada, vs. Gregory Ouellette (2), United States.
   (Not before 1 p.m.) Thomas Shubert, United States, vs. Kento Takeuchi (4), Japan.

   (Not before 5 p.m., court TBA) Philip Bester and Kamil Pajkowski, Canada, vs. Vahid Mirzadeh and Phillip Simmonds (4), United States. 

Court 3

   Michael McClune (3), United States, vs. Nathaniel Gorham, United States.
   (Not before 11 a.m.) Nicolas Meister, United States, vs. Mico Santiago, United States.
   (Not before 1 p.m.) Vahid Mirzadeh, United States, vs. Fritz Wolmarans (5), South Africa.
   (Not before 3 p.m.) Vahe Assadourian, Granite Bay, and Roman Kislyanskiy, Russia, vs. Dennis Lajola, United States, and Olivier Sajous, Haiti.
   (Not before 5 p.m.) Daniel King-Turner, New Zealand, and Kento Takeuchi (1), Japan, vs. Nicolas Meister, United States, and Pedro Zerbini (former Cal star), Brazil.

FRENCH OPEN TV SCHEDULE
(All times PDT)

   Today -- Quarterfinals, ESPN2, 5-10 a.m. (live); Tennis Channel, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. (taped). French Open Tonight (daily wrapup), Tennis Channel, 4-7 p.m. (premiere), 7-10 p.m. (repeat). 
   Thursday --Women's semifinals, ESPN2, 5-10 a.m. (live); Tennis Channel, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. (repeat). French Open Tonight (daily wrapup), Tennis Channel, 4-7 p.m. (premiere), 7-10 p.m. (repeat). 
   Friday -- Men's semifinals, Tennis Channel, 4-8 a.m. (live); NBC, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. (taped), Tennis Channel, 2-9 p.m. (repeat). 
   Saturday -- Women's final, 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.