Cal's Griffith stuns No. 8 seed in NCAA singles

   Billy Griffith, a Cal senior from Fresno, ousted No. 8 seed Ryotaro Matsumura of Kentucky 6-4, 6-3 today in the first round of the NCAA Men's Singles Championships in Winston-Salem, N.C.
   Griffith, ranked No. 54, is scheduled to play No. 18 Jose Salazar of Arkansas on Thursday at 6 a.m. PDT. All matches are being streamed live.
   Cameron Klinger, a Vanderbilt junior from San Jose, knocked off No. 9-16 seed Alex Knight of Michigan 6-4, 6-0. Klinger, ranked No. 26, will take on No. 29 Mitch Harper of Virginia Tech at 5 a.m.
  Victor Pham of Columbia and Saratoga in the San Francisco Bay Area topped Jordi Arconada of Texas A&M 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-3. Pham, a junior, will meet 9-16 seed Alfredo Perez of Florida at 8:30 a.m.
   No. 9-16 seed Tom Fawcett, a Stanford senior and 2017 semifinalist, lost to Giovanni Oradini of Mississippi State 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
   Top-seeded Martin Redlicki of UCLA beat Tim Sandkaulen of Mississippi 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.
   On the women's side, Stanford's Michaela Gordon and Emily Arbuthnott advanced one day after the Cardinal won its second NCAA crown in three years.
   Gordon, a freshman from Saratoga seeded 9-16, dismissed Fatima Bizhukova of Wichita State 6-2, 6-3. Arbuthnott beat Ingrid Gamarra Martins of South Carolina 6-3, 7-5. Gamarra Martins replaced fourth-seeded Samantha Harris of Duke after Harris withdrew.
   Gordon, ranked 15th, is scheduled to face No. 21 Gabriela Talaba of Texas Tech on Thursday. The 43rd-ranked Arbuthnott will play No. 52 Josie Kuhlman of Florida. Both matches are scheduled for 8 a.m.
   Melissa Lord, who won the deciding match in Stanford's 4-3 victory over Vanderbilt in the NCAA final, lost to No. 9-16 seed Andrea Lazaro of Florida International 6-4, 6-1.
   Alternate Felicity Maltby of Texas Tech and Sunnyvale in the Bay Area routed Maria Kononova of North Texas 6-1, 6-1. Maltby, a junior ranked No. 58, will face Vanderbilt's Fernanda Contreras, ranked and seeded 10th, at 7:30 a.m.
   Top-seeded Bianca Turati of Texas fell to Pepperdine's Luisa Stefani, a semifinalist two years ago as a freshman, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-3.
   All three Cal women in NCAA singles -- junior Olivia Hauger and freshmen Anna Bright and Julia Rosenqvist -- lost in the opening round.
   In the first round of doubles on Thursday:
   --Griffith and J.T. Nishimura, a senior from San Jose, will take on second-seeded William Blumberg and Robert Kelly of North Carolina at 11:30 a.m.
   --Klinger and Billy Rowe will face Austin Rapp and Keegan Smith of UCLA at 12:30 p.m.
   --Arbuthnott and Gordon will meet Chandler Carter and Emma Davis of host Wake Forest at 1:30 p.m.
   --And Fawcett and Axel Geller will play fourth-seeded Johannes Ingildsen and Perez at 2 p.m.