Bay Area native helps oust top seeds in Abu Dhabi

   Fifth-seeded Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan ousted top-seeded Hsieh Su-Wei of Chinese Taipei and Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-1 today in the quarterfinals of the Abu Dhabi WTA Women's Tennis Open in the United Arab Emirates.

   Hsieh and Krejcikova are ranked No. 1 and No. 7, respectively, in women's doubles.

   The 5-foot-1 (1.54-meter) Aoyama, 33, and Shibahara, a 22-year-old native of Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area, are scheduled to play unseeded Sofia Kenin of Pembroke Pines, Fla., and Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia on Tuesday. 

   Kenin and Tomljanovic — who were born in Russia and Croatia, respectively — beat unseeded Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands and Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia 6-4, 6-4.

   In singles, ninth-seeded Maria Sakkari of Greece knocked out the top-seeded Kenin 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 in the quarterfinals. Sakkari is slated to face fourth-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus. In the other semifinal, 18-year-old Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine is set to play Veronika Kudermetova of Russia in a clash of unseeded players.  

   Australian Open qualifying — No. 16 seed Mayar Sherif (Fresno State, 2015-16) of Egypt overwhelmed Akiko Omae of Japan 6-0, 6-1 in 50 minutes in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

   Sherif is scheduled to play Grace Min of Lake Nona, Fla., on Tuesday. Min topped Harriet Dart of Great Britain 7-5, 6-2.

   The Australian Open is scheduled for Feb. 8-21, three weeks later than usual, at its traditional home in Melbourne. 

   UTR Pro Tennis Series — Katie Volynets, a 19-year-old pro from Walnut Creek in the Bay Area, defeated Brandy Walker of Brea, Calif., in the Los Angeles area 6-0, 7-5 to improve to 2-0 in Group A in a $25,000 tournament in Newport Beach, Calif. 

   Volynets is slated to meet Tomi Main, a high school junior from Seaside, Calif., headed to Texas Tech in 2022, on Tuesday. Main lost to Leyden Games, a USC signee for the fall from Irvine, Calif., 6-4, 6-3 to fall to 1-1.

   In round-robin openers:

   —Vivian Ovrootsky, a high school junior from San Jose, Calif., headed to the University of Texas in 2022, dominated Katie Codd, a high school junior from Carlsbad, Calif., in the San Diego region, 6-3, 6-1 in Group E.

   —Skyler Grishuk, 18, of Newport Beach outlasted Priya Nelson, 15, of Sacramento 7-6 (6), 0-6, 7-5 in Group F.

   —Filippa Bruu-Syversen, a UC Santa Barbara commit for the fall from Chatham, N.J., routed Madison Weekley, a Saint Mary's commit for 2022 from Alamo in the Bay Area, 6-1, 6-1 in Group H.