Brooksby, 18, shocks 10th-seeded Polmans in Challenger

Jenson Brooksby, practicing in Sacramento last May, beat
Marc Polmans, the runner-up in the $100,000 Stockton
(Calif.) Challenger last October, today in the second round
of the $108,320 Sarasota (Fla.) Open. Photo by Paul Bauman 

   Jenson Brooksby earned the biggest victory of his promising career on Wednesday.
   And it wasn't close.
   The 18-year-old wild card, from Carmichael in the Sacramento area, stunned 10th-seeded Marc Polmans 6-3, 6-0 on Har-Tru in the second round of the $108,320 Sarasota (Fla.) Open.
   Polmans, instantly recognizable by his legionnaire's cap, reached the final of the $100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger last October. At No. 163, the 21-year-old Australian is by far the highest-ranked player Brooksby has beaten. Brooksby routed top-seeded Dmitry Popko, then ranked No. 351, in the quarterfinals of a $25,000 tournament in Los Angeles in January for his best previous win.
   Brooksby, ranked No. 636, also surrendered only three games in his first-round victory over American Jared Hiltzik, a 24-year-old wild card and NCAA singles quarterfinalist in 2015 from the University of Illinois.
  Brooksby, who had been 0-2 in Challenger main draws before this week, is scheduled to play eighth-seeded Peter Polansky, a 30-year-old Canadian ranked No. 128, today for a quarterfinal berth.
   Polansky, who won the $100,000 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger in 2013, defeated Brooksby's comrade from the JMG Tennis Academy in Sacramento, Collin Altamirano, 6-1, 6-4 on Tuesday in the second round.
   Both Brooksby (2018) and Altamirano (2013) won the USTA Boys 18 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich., to earn an automatic wild card in the main draw of the U.S. Open.
   Brooksby lost to Australian veteran John Millman 6-4, 6-2, 6-0 in oppressive humidity in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., in the opening round. Millman went on to stun Roger Federer in the fourth round before losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals.
   Brooksby plans to enroll at Baylor in Waco, Texas, in the fall or January 2020.