McDonald wins Seoul Challenger, nears top 100

Mackenzie McDonald improved to No. 114
in the world by winning the $100,000 Seoul
Challenger. 2016 photo by Paul Bauman

   Less than two years after turning pro, diminutive Mackenzie McDonald is on the verge of cracking the top 100 in the world.
   The fifth-seeded McDonald, a 23-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, topped third-seeded Jordan Thompson of Australia 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 today to win the $100,000 Seoul Challenger.
   McDonald, only 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters) and 160 pounds (73 kilograms), jumped 32 places in the rankings to No. 114.
   He almost lost to 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) Lloyd Harris, a 21-year-old South African, in the Seoul quarterfinals, surviving 6-7 (4), 7-6 (8), 6-3.
   McDonald, now based in Miami, earned his second career Challenger singles title. He defeated former Stanford star Bradley Klahn to win the $100,000 Northbay Healthcare Men's Pro Championships in Fairfield, 38 miles (61 kilometers) north of Piedmont, last October.
   McDonald turned pro in June 2016 after sweeping the NCAA singles and doubles titles as a UCLA junior. He became the first man to accomplish the feat since Matias Boeker of Georgia in 2001.
   ATP Tour -- Unseeded Dominic Inglot of Great Britain and Robert Lindstedt of Sweden edged top-seeded Ben McLachlan of Japan and Nicholas Monroe of Austin, Texas, 3-6, 6-3 [10-8] to win the Istanbul Open on clay.
   Lindstedt, 41, played at Fresno State before transferring to Pepperdine and reaching the 1998 NCAA doubles final with Kelly Gullett. They lost to Bob and Mike Bryan of Stanford.
   McLachlan, a 25-year-old former Cal All-American, was born and raised in New Zealand but plays for his mother's native country. He and Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany advanced to the semifinals of the Australian Open in January in their first tournament together.
   In the Istanbul singles final, 25-year-old Taro Daniel of Japan beat Malek Jaziri of Tunisia 7-6 (4), 6-4 for his first career ATP title. Both players were unseeded.
   Daniel was born in New York to an American father, Paul, and Japanese mother, Yasue. The family moved from New York to Japan when Taro was an infant and to Spain when he was 14.
   Paul Daniel grew up in Santa Cruz, 73 miles (117.5 kilometers) south of San Francisco on the Pacific Ocean.