Piedmont's McDonald stunned in NCAA singles

Third-seeded Mackenzie McDonald, a UCLA sophomore from
Piedmont, lost to Lloyd Glasspool of Texas 6-0, 6-2 in the first
round of the NCAA Singles Championships in Waco, Texas.
2012 photo by Paul Bauman

   Not only was Mackenzie McDonald of Piedmont upset in the first round of the NCAA Singles Championships, it wasn't even close.
   The third-seeded McDonald, a UCLA sophomore and 2014 quarterfinalist, lost to Texas' Lloyd Glasspool, a senior from England, 6-0, 6-2 today in heat and humidity in Waco, Texas.
   The 20-year-old McDonald, only 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters) and 145 pounds (66 kilograms), has had success playing as an amateur on the pro tour.
   He reached the semifinals of the $50,000 Winnetka (Ill.) Challenger as a qualifier last summer, ousting Sam Groth in the first round. Groth is credited with the fastest serve in history, 163.7 mph (263.4 kph) in the 2012 Busan (South Korea) Challenger, and is ranked No. 73 in the world.
   Also, McDonald became the only unranked teenager to qualify for an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament, the highest men's level besides the Grand Slams, at Cincinnati in 2013. In the first round of qualifying, he knocked out then-No. 79 Nicolas Mahut of France.
   In other NCAA first-round matches, the only two men from Northern California schools lost to seeds. Cal's Andre Goransson fell to No. 5 Sebastian Stiefelmeyer of Louisville 6-4, 6-3, and Stanford's Tom Fawcett succumbed to No. 7 Noah Rubin of Wake Forest 7-5, 6-4 in an all-freshman encounter.

Seventh-seeded Noah Rubin of Wake Forest beat
Tom Fawcett of Stanford 7-5, 6-4 in an all-freshman
encounter. Rubin won the Wimbledon junior boys
singles title last summer. 2013 photo by Paul Bauman 

   Rubin, a product of the Manhattan-based John McEnroe Tennis Academy, won the Wimbledon junior boys singles title last summer.
   Top-seeded Axel Alvarez Llamas, physically and emotionally drained after his Oklahoma Sooners lost to Virginia in Tuesday's team final, saved two match points in a 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-1 victory over Nik Scholtz of Mississippi.
   On the women's side, two players from Stanford and two from Cal advanced to the second round.
   Second-seeded Carol Zhao of Stanford routed Paige Hourigan of Georgia Tech 6-1, 6-1, and the Cardinal's Caroline Doyle of San Francisco took out Despoina Vogasari of Houston 6-4, 6-4. Doyle will face top-seeded Robin Anderson of UCLA.
   Fourth-seeded Maegan Manasse of Cal topped Cindy Chala of Virginia Commonwealth 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, and the Bears' Zsofi Susanyi, a semifinalist as a freshman in 2012, outclassed Yuliya Lysa of Arkansas 6-3, 6-2.
   Also advancing were No. 9-16 seed Giuliana Olmos of USC and Fremont, and Sophie Watts of Fresno State. Falling were Stanford's Taylor Davidson and Cal's Klara Fabikova and Denise Starr.
   Davidson lost to No. 9-16 seed and defending champion Danielle Collins of Virginia 6-3, 6-3.   Fabikova dropped a 6-3, 6-4 decision to eighth-seeded Sydney Campbell of Vanderbilt, which won its first NCAA title on Tuesday, and Starr was eliminated by Ronit Yurovsky of Michigan 1-6, 7-5, 6-2.
   UCLA's Jennifer Brady, who won the $25,000 Redding Challenger last summer, upset third-seeded Brooke Austin of Florida 7-6 (3), 6-3. Meanwhile, Sinead Lohan of Miami suprised No. 5 Lauren Herring of Georgia 6-1, 6-4. 
   Doubles play will begin on Thursday.
   Davidson and Zhao are seeded second, and Manasse-Starr and Fabikova-Susanyi are each seeded 5-8. Doyle-Ellen Tsay (Pleasanton) and Olmos-Zoe Scandalis are unseeded.   
   Stanford's John Morrissey and Robert Stineman are seeded 5-8 in men's doubles, and UCLA's McDonald and Martin Redlicki are unseeded.