Sanchez, 7 other U.S. women win in Wimbledon qualies

Maria Sanchez, right, and Zoe Scandalis pose with their doubles
runner-up trophies in last year's Sacramento Challenger. Sanchez
was born and raised in nearby Modesto.

   American women are faring much better than their male counterparts on the grass in Wimbledon qualifying.
   Eight women, including Modesto product Maria Sanchez, but only one man from the United States remain after the first round. 
   Sanchez, a 25-year-old USC graduate, defeated wild card Lucy Brown of Great Britain 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 today at Roehampton.
   Sanchez, seeking her first berth in Wimbledon's main draw, is scheduled to face No. 8 seed Ying-Ying Duan of China on Wednesday. Duan dismissed Patricia Mayr-Achleitner of Austria 6-4, 6-3.  
  Other American women advancing to the second round were No. 3 Louisa Chirico, No. 4 Sachia Vickery, No. 18 Anna Tatishvili, No. 24 Grace Min, Melanie Oudin, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jessica Pegula.
   Chirico, 19, and Vickery, 20, reached the quarterfinals of the $50,000 Sacramento Challenger last July.
   Oudin, a U.S. Open quarterfinalist at 17 in 2009, underwent heart and eye procedures during the offseason. Also, a muscle condition sidelined her in 2013.
   Mattek-Sands, who had hip surgery last year and missed six months, has plunged from a career-high No. 30 in singles in 2011 to No. 157. She's a career-high No. 6 in doubles after winning this year's Australian Open and French Open with Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.
   Mattek-Sands also won this year's French Open mixed doubles title with fellow American Mike Bryan.
   Pegula's billionaire father, Terry, owns the NFL's Buffalo Bills and the NHL's Buffalo Sabres.
   Losing in the first round of Wimbledon qualifying were Americans Allie Kiick, 17-year-old Katerina Stewart and Alexa Glatch (to Tatishvili).
   Kiick's father, Jim, starred at running back on the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only undefeated team in NFL history.
   U.S. men, meanwhile, went 0-4 on Monday and 1-3 today at Wimbledon. The only survivor was No. 18 Bjorn Fratangelo, who played his first match on grass and beat Amir Weintraub of Israel 6-4, 7-5.
   The 21-year-old Fratangelo, who was named after Bjorn Borg, reached the quarterfinals of the Sacramento and Tiburon Challengers last October.
   Fratangelo is one of three Americans in the Open era (since 1968) to win the French Open junior boys singles title. The others are John McEnroe (1977) and Tommy Paul (2015).
   Americans Austin Krajicek, seeded 13th, and Ryan Harrison, seeded 24th, lost tough three-set matches.