Querrey, Smyczek to face upstarts in Napa semis

Second-seeded Tim Smyczek, shown Wednesday, will meet 17-year-
old Jared Donaldson for the first time today. Photo by Paul Bauman

   It will be two American veterans against two upstarts in the semifinals of the $50,000 Napa Valley Challenger.
   Top-seeded Sam Querrey, a native of nearby San Francisco living in Las Vegas, will face unseeded Alex Bolt of Australia at noon at the Napa Valley Country Club.
   Then second-seeded Tim Smyczek of Tampa, Fla., will play unseeded Jared Donaldson, 17, of Chepachet, R.I., and Irvine.
   Querrey and Smyczek (pronounced SMEE-check), both 26, will meet their opponents for the first time.
   The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Querrey led 3-0 when sixth-seeded Michael Russell, 36, of Houston retired with a back injury. Querrey improved to 8-0 against the 5-foot-8 (1.73-meter) Russell.
   Bolt, 21, defeated countryman John Millman 6-3, 7-6 (3). Bolt reached the doubles quarterfinals of the Australian Open with Aussie Andrew Whittington in January and won the singles title of a Challenger on clay in An-Ning, China, in May.
   Smyczek, only 5-foot-9 (1.75 meters) and 160 pounds (73 kilograms), demolished Liam Broady of Great Britain 6-1, 6-1 in 59 minutes to reach the Napa semifinals for the second straight year.

   Donaldson, perhaps the United States' top male prospect, eliminated qualifier Julian Lenz of Germany 7-6 (4), 6-3. 

$50,000 NAPA VALLEY CHALLENGER

At Napa Valley Country Club in Napa, Calif.

Singles quarterfinals

   Jared Donaldson, United States, def. Julian Lenz, Germany, 7-6 (4), 6-3.
   Tim Smyczek (2), United States, def. Liam Broady, Great Britain, 6-1, 6-1.
   Alex Bolt, Australia, def. John Millman, Australia, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
   Sam Querrey (1), United States, def. Michael Russell (6), United States, 3-0, retired.

Doubles semifinals

   Peter Polansky and Adil Shamasdin (1), Canada, def. Alex Kuznetsov, United States, and Nils Langer, Germany, 3-6, 6-3 [10-5].

Today's schedule

(Starting at noon)

   Sam Querrey (1), United States, vs. Alex Bolt, Australia.
   Jared Donaldson, United States, vs. Tim Smyczek (2), United States.
   Alex Bolt, Australia, and Frank Dancevic, Canada, vs. Bradley Klahn and Tim Smyczek (2), United States.