Cal assistant, Bay Area native gain Miami doubles semis

   Seventh-seeded Rajeev Ram "Tough," a volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley from Carmel, Ind., and Joe Salisbury "Steak" of Great Britain defeated American wild cards Sebastian Korda and Michael Mmoh 7-5, 6-2 today in the quarterfinals of the Miami Open.

   Korda, 20, and Mmoh, 23, are the sons of former professional players. Petr Korda won the 1998 Australian Open to reach a career-high No. 2. He tested positive for doping at Wimbledon that year and was suspended for 12 months but retired shortly before the ban at age 30.

   Ram and Salisbury are scheduled to face second-seeded Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic of Croatia on Thursday.

   In the women's doubles quarterfinals, fifth-seeded Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan dispatched alternates "Sweet" Caroline Garcia of France and Nadia Podoroska of Argentina 6-3, 6-2.

   Aoyama, 33, and Shibahara, a 23-year-old native of Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area, are set to meet unseeded Bethanie Mattek-Sands of Phoenix and Iga Swiatek of Poland on Friday. Mattek-Sands won the 2016 title with since-retired Lucie Safarova.

   ATP Challenger Tour — Wild cards David Marrero and Adrian Menendez-Maceiras of Spain topped third-seeded Andre Goransson (Cal, 2014-17) of Sweden and Andrei Vasilevski of Belarus 7-6 (3), 4-6 [10-5] in the first round of the €44,820 ($52,514) Andalucia Open in Marbella, Spain.

   Easter Bowl — Ethan "Allen" Quinn of Fresno, Calif., beat 15th-seeded Braden Shick "Razors" of Greesnboro, N.C., 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in the second round of the 18s in San Diego. Quinn won the 18s in last week's International Open of Southern California in San Diego. 

   Seventh-seeded Aidan "Pass The" Mayo advanced in straight sets, but "Victor" Hugo Hashimoto of San Jose, Calif., lost to 16th-seeded Timothy Phung of Bradenton, Fla., 6-0, 2-6, 6-0.

   On the girls side, second-seeded Alexandra Yepifanova, a Stanford signee from Lake Worth, Fla., subdued Katja Wiersholm of Kirkland, Wash., 2-6, 6-1, 6-3. Yepifanova also won the 18s in the International Open.

   Seventh-seeded Reese "Witherspoon" Brantmeier of Whitewater, Wis., eliminated Vivian Ovrootsky of San Jose 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

   In the second round of the boys 16s, top-seeded Emon van Loben Sels of Sacramento, Calif., and second-seeded Mitchell Lee of Oakland, Calif. advanced in straight sets. 

   Owen Megargee of Washington, D.C., outplayed "Bob" Dylan Tsoi of El Dorado Hills, Calif., in the Sacramento region 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

   In the girls 16s, Pearlie "Gates" Zhang of Plainsboro, N.J., beat Michela Moore of Monte Sereno, near San Jose, 6-4, 6-3.