Roundup: Fed Cup, $80K Las Vegas, ITA Fall Nationals

Petra Kvitova will miss the opening day of the
Fed Cup with a fever. File photo by Paul Bauman

   The Czech Republic, which already had lost No. 8 Karolina Pliskova, also will be without No. 7 Petra Kvitova on Saturday in the Fed Cup final against the defending champion United States in Prague.
   Two days after Pliskova withdrew with calf and wrist injuries, the Czechs announced that Kvitova will miss at least the first day with a fever.
   Kvitova, 28, hopes to play in Sunday's reverse singles. The left-hander won Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014 before suffering severe injuries to her left hand in a December 2016 knife attack and undergoing surgery.
   The Czechs remain heavy favorites against the United States, which is missing four of its top five singles players. Absent are No. 6 Sloane Stephens, No. 16 Serena Williams, No. 17 Madison Keys and No. 40 Venus Williams.
   No. 33 Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic will face No. 52 Sofia Kenin in the opening rubber, followed by No. 31 Katerina Siniakova against No. 63 Alison Riske, a member of last year's team that beat host Belarus in the Fed Cup final.
   The top-ranked player on the U.S. team, No. 36 Danielle Collins, apparently will sit out Saturday. Three of the United States' four players -- Kenin, Collins and doubles No. 15 Nicole Melichar, a Czech native -- have never competed in the Fed Cup.
   Pliskova reached the final of the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, losing to Angelique Kerber, and Siniakova was the doubles runner-up at Stanford in 2014 at age 18 with Paula Kania of Poland. The tournament moved to San Jose under a new sponsor this year.
   Collins advanced to the semifinals of the inaugural Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose in August.
   Kenin, who will turn 20 on Wednesday, has won a Northern California Challenger in each of the past three years, including the $60,000 Berkeley Tennis Club Challenge in July.
   Riske reached the 2016 semifinals and 2015 quarterfinals at Stanford.
   The United States leads all nations with 18 Fed Cup titles. The Czech Republic is next with 10, including five in the last seven years.
   Tennis Channel will televise the best-of-five-match series on an indoor hardcourt beginning at 5 a.m. PST on Saturday.
   USTA Pro Circuit -- Nicole Gibbs and Giuliana Olmos, 25-year-old former Pacific-12 Conference stars with strong Northern California ties, are scheduled to meet for the first time in the semifinals of the $80,000 Red Rock Pro Open in Las Vegas.
   The eighth-seeded Gibbs, who won three NCAA titles (two in singles and one in doubles) at Stanford, beat fellow Los Angeles-area resident Danielle Lao 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-3.
   Olmos, a qualifier and former USC All-American, was born in Austria, grew up in Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area and plays for Mexico. She eliminated third-seeded Fanni Stollar of Hungary 6-4, 6-2 to reach her first semifinal in a tournament larger than $15,000.
   In the other semifinal, top seed and former world No. 7 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland will meet sixth-seeded Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic.
   Second-seeded Asia Muhammad of Las Vegas and Maria Sanchez, a Modesto product, will play unseeded Americans Sophie Chang and Alexandra Mueller in Sunday's doubles final.
   College -- Jacob Brumm and Yuta Kikuchi of Cal defeated Brian Berdusco and Johannes Ingildsen of Florida 7-5, 6-4 in a matchup of unseeded teams in the quarterfinals of the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships in Surprise, Ariz.
   In the women's doubles quarterfinals, second-seeded Makenna Jones and Cameron Morra of North Carolina beat Cal's Anna Bright and Jasie Dunk 6-1, 6-4.