Bay Area's Volynets loses marathon in $25K Boca Raton

Katie Volynets talks with reporter Tony Acosta during the 2018 Stockton (Calif.)
Challenger. In the background is Volynets' father, Andrey. Photo by Paul Bauman

   The first match between Americans Katie Volynets and Usue (pronounced OO-sway) Maitane Arconada was a doozy.

   The third-seeded Arconada, 22, outlasted Volynets, 19, of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-4 in 3 hours, 26 minutes today in the second round of a $25,000 hardcourt tournament in Boca Raton, Fla.

    The match was not the longest of the tournament, however. Top-seeded Olga Govortsova of Belarus edged qualifier Maria Mateas, a 21-year-old American born in Romania,  4-6, 7-6 (8), 7-6 (3) in 4:07, virtually unheard of for a best-of-three-set match, in the first round. 

   Govortsova, a quarterfinalist at Stanford on the WTA Tour in 2007 and 2013, then lost to Tereza Mrdeza of Croatia 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 in a mere 2:31.

   Arconada captured the doubles title in the 2017 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger with Sofia Kenin. Volynets won the singles crown in the USTA 18 National Championships in August 2019 and turned pro that December.

   ITF Men's Tour — Second-seeded Alejandro Gomez of Colombia and Israel Alexander Ore of the United States beat alternates Strong Kirchheimer of Cary, N.C., and Dennis Novikov, 27, of San Jose, Calif., 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of a $25,000 clay-court tournament in Naples, Fla.