Tursunov, seeded 30th, upset in Australian Open

Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan upset Dmitry
Tursunov in the second round of the Aus-
tralian Open. File photo by Paul Bauman

   Dmitry Tursunov's chances looked good entering his match against Denis Istomin in the second round of the Australian Open.
   Only last week, Tursunov had defeated Istomin in straight sets in the quarterfinals of the Sydney International to improve to 3-0 in their head-to-head series.
   And the 30th-seeded Tursunov, who trains in the Sacramento suburb of Granite Bay, had cruised past 35-year-old bulldog Michael Russell 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 in the first round in Melbourne.
   Istomin, however, upset Tursunov 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 today to set up a meeting with second seed and three-time defending champion Novak Djokovic.
   Istomin, the runner-up in the 2012 SAP Open in San Jose, had beaten Marcos Baghdatis, who reached the Australian Open final in 2006, in the first round.
   Both Istomin, 27, and Tursunov, 31, were born in Moscow. Tursunov represents Russia, but Istomin plays for Uzbekistan.  
   Meanwhile, Sam Querrey leads No. 23 Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-2, 6-3, 4-3 in the second round.
   The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Querrey, a San Francisco native and Sacramento Capitals veteran in World TeamTennis, is trying to rebound from a year in which he dropped from No. 22 to No. 46 in the world rankings. He is now No. 51 after reaching a career-high No. 17 in January 2011.
   Meanwhile, one doubles seed who starred at a San Francisco Bay Area university won in the first round, but another lost.
   Eighth-seeded Raquel Kops-Jones, a former NCAA doubles champion from Fresno and Cal, and Abigail Spears of San Diego trounced Chia-Jung Chuang of Taiwan and Liga Dekmeijere of Latvia 6-1, 6-1.
   Sixteenth-seeded Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and Scott Lipsky, a former All-American at Stanford, fell to Oliver Marach of Austria and Florin Mergea of Romania 6-3, 7-6 (6).