More players confined to hotels; Cal commit falls in final

   The number of players confined to their Melbourne hotel rooms has increased from 47 to 72, The Associated Press reported today.

   The players may not leave their rooms, even to practice, for 14 days. The Australian Open remains scheduled for Feb. 8-21.

   A COVID-19 case was reported from a third flight, which had carried 58 passengers from Doha, Qatar, where Australian Open men's qualifying was held. Twenty-five players were on board, but the passenger, who tested negative before the flight, is not a player, according to the AP. 

   Other than the 72 players, competitors must quarantine for 14 days but may leave their hotels for five hours a day to train. Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said Tennis Australia might alter the lead-up tournaments to help players unable to train. 

   UTR Pro Tennis Series — Second-seeded Hanna Chang, a 22-year-old professional from Fontana in the Los Angeles region, outlasted Jessica Luisa Alsola, a high school senior from Fresno, Calif., 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 in the final of the first-place playoff in Newport Beach, Calif.

   Alsola, a University of California, Berkeley signee, led 3-0 in the third set in the $25,000 singles-only tournament. She defeated top-seeded Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area in the semifinals.

   Chang collected $4,000.

   In other finals:

   —Second-seeded Kimberly Hance, a high school senior, beat Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer, a high school junior, 7-6 (tiebreaker score not available), 2-6, 6-3 in a matchup of Southern Californians in the second-place playoff. Hance has verbally committed to UCLA; Lutkemeyer is uncommitted.

   —Jwany Sherif of Huntington Beach in the L.A. region defeated Tomi Main, a high school junior from Seaside, Calif., in the Monterey area, 6-3, 6-4 in the third-place playoff. Main has verbally committed to Texas Tech for 2022.

   Another $25,000 tournament in Newport Beach will begin Monday. Entries include Cal All-American Haley Giavara, a sophomore from San Diego, and Madison Weekley, a high school junior from Alamo in the Bay Area. Weekley has verbally committed to Saint Mary's in the Bay Area. 

   Weekley is scheduled to face Lutkemeyer in a round-robin match on Monday, followed by Giavara against Skyler Grishuk of Newport Beach.