S.F. native Querrey to face Djokovic at Wimbledon

Sam Querrey, shown in 2014, completed a rain-suspended victory over
Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil in the second round at Wimbledon. Photo by
Paul Bauman

   Sam Querrey now faces the ultimate challenge.
   After completing a rain-suspended 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil on Thursday, the 28th-seeded Querrey is scheduled to face top-seeded Novak Djokovic today in the third round at Wimbledon.
   The match, on No. 1 Court, will be televised on ESPN at about 7 a.m. PDT.
   Djokovic, the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four Grand Slam singles titles at the same time, is 8-1 against Querrey, a 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) native of San Francisco living in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Monica.
   This will be their first meeting on grass and first anywhere since Djokovic won 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in the third round of the 2014 U.S. Open.
   Meanwhile, qualifier Dennis Novikov of Milpitas in the San Francisco Bay Area lost to 31st-seeded Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the second round.
   "Not the result I wanted today but plenty to be happy about and keep building on. Thanks Wimbledon for a wonderful event. Time to fly home!" Novikov tweeted.
   Novikov, a 22-year-old former UCLA star, reached the second round at Wimbledon for the first time and the second time in a Grand Slam tournament.
   Second-seeded Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan began their quest for a fourth Wimbledon men's doubles title with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Inigo Cervantes Huegun of Spain and Paolo Lorenzi of Italy.
   The 38-year-old Bryan twins, originally from Camarillo in the Los Angeles area, have won a record 16 Grand Slam men's doubles titles but none since the 2014 U.S. Open.
   The Bryans played at Stanford in 1997 and 1998, leading the Cardinal to the NCAA title both years. They won the doubles title in 1998.
   Another former Stanford All-American, 34-year-old Scott Lipsky, teamed with Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico to defeat Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania and Denis Kudla of Arlington, Va., and Tampa, Fla., 6-3, 6-2.
   In women's doubles, 10th-seeded Raquel Atawo (formerly Kops-Jones) of San Jose and Abigail Spears of Colorado Springs, Colo., beat Chin-Wei Chan of Taiwan and Xinyun Han of China 6-1, 6-4 in the first round.
   Irina Falconi of West Palm Beach, Fla., and Nicole Gibbs, a former Stanford star from Marina del Rey in the Los Angeles region, fell to Elise Mertens and An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium 7-6 (3), 6-1.