Kenin upsets No. 1 Barty; Ahn earns U.S. Open berth

Sofia Kenin, shown en route to the Berkeley title last
year, earned her first victory over a top-five player.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Sofia Kenin continued her meteoric rise today.
   The 20-year-old American, who won Northern California Challengers in three consecutive years, ousted top-ranked Ashleigh Barty of Australia 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of the Rogers Cup in Toronto.
   Kenin, ranked 29th, had been 0-3 against top-five players and 0-3 against Barty, who was playing in her first tournament since reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon. She won the French Open in June for her first Grand Slam singles title.
   Kenin captured the title in Sacramento in 2016, Stockton in 2017 and Berkeley in 2018. She will play the winner of Wednesday's match between former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka and 19-year-old rising star Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine on Thursday.
  Marie Bouzkova, a 21-year-old Czech qualifier, stunned seventh-seeded Sloane Stephens, a 26-year-old Fresno product, 6-2, 7-5. Stephens is ranked eighth and Bouzkova 91st.
   Tatjana Maria, a 32-year-old qualifier and mother from Germany, eliminated China's Zheng Saisai, who won last week's Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, in the first round.
   Ahn in U.S. Open – Kristie Ahn, a 27-year-old Stanford graduate from Englewood Cliffs, N.J., earned a wild card in the U.S. Open by reaching the quarterfinals of last week's Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose as a qualifier.
   Ahn, ranked No. 138, will make her second appearance in the main draw of the U.S. Open. She qualified at age 16 in 2008 and lost in the first round to Dinara Safina of Russia in the first round. Safina was ranked seventh at the time and reached No. 1 the following year.
   USTA Pro Circuit – Here are the updated singles and doubles draws and Wednesday's schedule in the Nordic Naturals Challenger at the Seascape Sports Club in Aptos, Calif. Live streaming is available.