Brooksby wins USTA boys 18s for U.S. Open wild card

Jenson Brooksby practices at the Arden Hills Athletic and
Social Club in Sacramento in May. Photo by Paul Bauman

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   Five years ago, Collin Altamirano and Jenson Brooksby from the JMG Tennis Academy in Sacramento won USTA Boys National titles in the 18s and 12s, respectively.
   Today, Brooksby repeated Altamirano's feat to earn a wild card into the U.S. Open main draw later this month.
   The fourth-seeded Brooksby, 17, dominated third-seeded Brandon Nakashima of San Diego 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 in Kalamazoo, Mich. Brooksby, who's headed to Texas Christian in the fall of 2019 or in January 2020, did not lose a set in the tournament.
   The U.S. Open is scheduled for Aug. 27 to Sept. 9 in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   Altamirano lost to No. 22 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 in the first round of the 2013 U.S. Open. He turned pro in June 2017 after his junior year at Virginia, which won the NCAA title in all three of his years there.
   Now 22, Altamirano has soared from No. 761 at the beginning of the year to a career-high No. 347.
   WTA tour -- In a rematch of the French Open final, top-ranked Simona Halep outlasted third-seeded Sloane Stephens 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-4 in 2 hours, 41 minutes to win the Rogers Cup in Montreal.
   Stephens, a 25-year-old Fresno product, led 4-0 in the tiebreaker and had four set points in the first set.
   Halep defeated Stephens 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 at Roland Garros for her first Grand Slam title after going 0-3 in major finals. Stephens won her only Grand Slam title in last year's U.S. Open, beating countrywoman and close friend Madison Keys.
   ITF Pro Circuit -- No. 3 seed Madison Brengle defeated unseeded fellow American Kristie Ahn 6-4, 1-0, retired in the final of the Koser Jewelers $60,000 Tennis Challenge in Landisville, Pa.
   Ahn, a 26-year-old Stanford graduate, suffered a heat-related illness.
   USTA NorCal -- No. 1 seeds Karue Sell of Los Angeles and Chanel Simmonds of South Africa defeated the No. 2 seeds to win the men's and women's singles titles, respectively, in the $25,000 Heritage Bank of Commerce Open Tennis Championships at the Moraga Country Club in the San Francisco Bay Area suburb of Moraga.
   Sell, a former UCLA standout from Brazil, routed Jianhui Li of West Harrison, N.Y., 6-1, 6-1 to repeat as the champion. Simmonds beat Jacqueline Cako of Brier, Wash., 6-0, 6-4.
   The top seeds also won the titles in men's doubles (Austin Rapp and Sell), women's doubles (Cako and Simmonds) and mixed doubles (Cako and Joel Kielbowicz of Scottsdale, Ariz.).