Burdette ousts top-30 player at Indian Wells

Qualifier Mallory Burdette, shown in her first-round match against
wild card Jill Craybas at Indian Wells, upset No. 23 seed Tamira
Paszek in the second round. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Mallory Burdette continued her meteoric rise with the biggest win of her brief professional career on Friday.
   The 22-year-old qualifier from Jackson, Ga., eliminated 23rd-seeded Tamira Paszek of Austria 7-6 (0), 6-1 in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
   At No. 27 in the world, Paszek is the highest-ranked player Burdette has beaten since she turned pro six months ago after her junior season at Stanford. Paszek, a Wimbledon quarterfinalist the past two years, fell to 1-6 this year.
   Burdette has beaten seven top-100 players, including three at Indian Wells, in the past six months. In her two qualifying matches at Indian Wells, she dismissed No. 89 Jana Cepelova of Slovakia and No. 97 Melinda Czink of Hungary without losing more than three games in a set.
   Ranked No. 125, Burdette will approach or crack the top 100 herself regardless of how she fares against Russia's Maria Kirilenko, seeded 13th and ranked 15th, in the third round.
   Kirilenko, a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon and Indian Wells last year, defeated Christina McHale of Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the second round.
   Burdette, 5-foot-10 (1.77 meters), lost to teammate Nicole Gibbs in last year's NCAA singles final and teamed with Gibbs for a second straight NCAA doubles crown (winning previously with Hilary Barte). After capturing $10,000 and $100,000 tournament titles, Burdette reached the third round of the U.S. Open as a wild card before losing to third seed and 2006 champion Maria Sharapova. Burdette then turned pro.
   Another rising young American, 23-year-old wild card Maria Sanchez of Modesto in Northern California, fell to third seed and 2012 Wimbledon runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-2, 6-1 in the second round at Indian Wells.
   On the men's side, Dmitry Tursunov of Folsom in the Sacramento area lost to fellow qualifier Philipp Petzschner of Germany 6-4, 6-4 in the first round. Petzschner won the 2010 Wimbledon men's doubles title with Jurgen Melzer of Austria.
   Colleges -- Sacramento State's Marek Marksoo and Aliaksandr Malko upset ranked players, but the Hornets men lost to No. 24 Cal 5-2 on Thursday in Sacramento.
   Marksoo, a sophomore from Estonia, upended No. 56 Ben McLachlan 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (12-10) at No. 1 singles. Malko, a senior from Belarus, toppled No. 34 Christoffer Konigsfeldt 6-2, 6-4 at No. 2 singles.
   Malko and Marksoo also knocked off No. 18 Campbell Johnson and Konigsfeldt 8-6 at No. 1 doubles.
   Sac State hosted Cal for the first time since joining Division I in 1992.
   In February, Marksoo became the first player in school history to play in the Davis Cup when Estonia lost to host Ireland 3-2 in the first round of the Europe-Africa zone. Marksoo, 19, lost to Sam Barry 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 in singles and paired with Vladimir Ivanov in a 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 3-6, 9-7 loss to Barry and James McGee.

FRIDAY'S COLLEGE SCORES

Men

   Pacific def. Northern Arizona 6-1 in Stockton. No. 1 singles: Sem Verbeek (P) def. Shaun Waters 6-1, 6-3. Records: Pacific 7-4, Northern Arizona 2-10. 

Women

   No. 18 Cal def. No. 73 Washington State 6-1 in Berkeley. No. 1 singles: No. 8 Anett Schutting (C) def. Liudmila Vasilieva 6-0, 6-2. Records: Cal 6-4, Washington State 10-3.
   No. 20 Stanford def. No. 31 Washington 7-0 at Stanford. No. 1 singles: No. 87 Nicole Gibbs (S) def. No. 124 Andjela Nemcevic 6-4, 6-0. Records: Stanford 6-2, Washington 8-4.
   No. 49 Saint Mary's def. Sacramento State 7-0. No. singles: No. 18 Jenny Jullien (SM) def. Rebeca Delgado 7-5, 6-2. Records: Saint Mary's 6-6, Sac State 1-7.