American Brengle suffers agonizing loss

Madison Brengle, 23, has tried to qualify for the
U.S. Open for nine straight years and come up
short each time. She's getting closer, though.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Even though Madison Brengle is only 23, she has tried and failed to qualify for the U.S. Open eight times.
   The only exception was 2007, when she received a wild card in the main draw and lost in the first round.
   Brengle, the runner-up in last month's $50,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger in the Sacramento area, came within one set of qualifying Friday before losing to 25th-seeded Ying-Ying Duan of China 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-2 at Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   It was the first time the 5-foot-4 (1.63) Brengle, ranked No. 185 in the world, has reached the third round of qualifying for the U.S. Open. The Dover, Del., native had lost in the first round for four consecutive years.
   Taylor Townsend of the Sacramento Capitals in World TeamTennis also lost Friday in the final round of qualifying for the U.S. Open. The 17-year-old Chicago native, who trains in Boca Raton, Fla., fell to Chanel Simmonds of South Africa 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.
   The 5-foot-3 (1.6-meter) Simmonds, a 21-year-old left-hander, was seeded second in the Gold River Challenger but lost to 32-year-old Alexandra Stevenson 6-2, 6-0 in the first round. Stevenson, the daughter of basketball legend Julius Erving, in 1999 became the first female qualifier to reach the Wimbledon semifinals.
   U.S. Open National Playoffs -- Eric Roberson of Sacramento and Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove in the Sacramento area will play today for a berth in the mixed doubles main draw at the U.S. Open.
   Roberson, who played at Boise State, and Schnack, who helped UCLA win the 2008 NCAA title, handled Kaitlyn Christian of Orange and Dante Cipulli of Murietta 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals at New Haven, Conn.
   Christian won the NCAA women's doubles title with USC teammate Sabrina Santamaria in May.
   Roberson and Schnack will play Matthew Brooklyn and Stephanie Wetmore, both of Washington, D.C., in today's final.
   Brooklyn and Wetmore edged Matija Pecotic of Malta and Lindsay Graff of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 6-4, 6-7 (5), 11-9 in the semifinals. Malta is a small nation south of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea. 
    Roberson and Schnack reached the final of the inaugural mixed doubles national playoffs in 2011, falling in a super tiebreaker to Christina Fusano and David Martin. Fusano, a Sacramento native, starred at Cal and Martin at Stanford.