Tursunov to play -- who else? -- Istomin at Wimbledon

Dmitry Tursunov, practicing in
Indian Wells in March, will meet
Denis Istomin for the fifth time
this year. Photo by Paul Bauman

Denis Istomin, playing in San
Jose in 2013, has beaten Dmitry
Tursunov three straight times.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Dmitry Tursunov and Denis Istomin are getting to know each other better than Simon and Garfunkel.
   Tursunov, seeded 32nd, is scheduled to play Istomin for the fifth time this year in the first round at Wimbledon.
   The winner could meet fifth-seeded Stan Warwinka of Switzerland in the third round. Wawrinka won his first Grand Slam title in the Australian Open in January but lost in the opening round of the French Open last month.
   The Wimbledon draw was conducted on Friday, and play is scheduled for Monday through July 6.
   Istomin, 27, of Uzbekistan has won his last three meetings with Tursunov, a 31-year-old Russian based in the Sacramento suburb of Granite Bay, to even the career head-to-head series at 3-3.
   But Tursunov is ranked 32nd in the world and Istomin 49th.
   Both players' best results at Wimbledon are fourth-round appearances, Istomin in 2012 and Tursunov in 2005 and 2006, and both have residences in Moscow.
   Tursunov defaulted his second-round match in Hertogenbosch, where he won the 2011 title, on Wednesday with a left foot injury. He has a long history of physical problems but might have been cautious this time to ensure he'll be ready for Wimbledon.
   In another first-round match at Wimbledon, San Francisco native Sam Querrey will face ex-Stanford star Bradley Klahn. The survivor probably will face 14th-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a two-time Wimbledon semifinalist from France, in the second round.
   Querrey is 1-0 against Klahn, winning in four sets in the opening round of the 2010 U.S. Open. Klahn had received a wild card for winning the NCAA singles title as a sophomore.

   Klahn and Querrey are ranked fourth and sixth, respectively, in the United States. Klahn, a 23-year-old left-hander, is No. 73. Querrey, 26, is No. 77 after climbing to a career-high No. 17 in 2011.
   Querrey is 34-22 lifetime on grass, including a semifinal showing at Eastbourne this week, while Klahn in 0-2 after losing to Tursunov on Monday in the first round at Hertogenbosch. Querrey will be making his seventh main-draw appearance at Wimbledon, having reached the fourth round in 2010, and Klahn his first.   
   Querrey, 6-foot-6 (1.98 meters), turned pro out of high school in 2006. Klahn, 6 feet (1.83 meters), joined the pro ranks in 2012 after graduating from Stanford in economics.
   Futures circuit -- Mackenzie McDonald of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area upset second-seeded Dimitar Kutrovsky of Bulgaria 7-5, 6-4 to reach the semifinals of the $15,000 Tulsa (Okla.) Pro Championships.
   McDonald, who earned All-America honors two weeks ago as a UCLA freshman, will meet seventh-seeded Jared Donaldson of Cumberland, R.I.
   Donaldson was the runner-up to Sacramento-based Collin Altamirano in the USTA Boys 18 National Championships last summer in Kalamazoo, Mich.
   Altamirano lost in the second round in Tulsa to fifth-seeded Dennis Nevolo, a former Illinois All-American from Gurnee, Ill.