Czech Machac snaps McDonald's win streak at six

Mackenzie McDonald had won nine of his last 10 matches
before today's loss in Kakakhstan. 2018 photo by Paul Bauman

   Tomas Machac, a 20-year-old Czech, beat Mackenzie McDonald, a 25-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, 6-4, 6-1 today in a second-round matchup of unseeded players in the $156,240 Forte 125 Challenger in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. 

   McDonald, now based in Orlando, Fla., had won six consecutive matches and nine of his last 10. He reached the fourth round of the recent Australian Open, losing to eventual runner-up Daniil Medvedev in straight sets, and won last week's $104,160 Forte 100 Challenger in Nur-Sultan.

   ATP Challenger Tour in St. Petersburg, Russia — Top-seeded Jesper De Jong and Sem Verbeek (University of the Pacific, 2013-16) of the Netherlands dominated Pavel Kotov and Roman Safiullin of Russia 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the $36,680 Grand Palace Championship.

   De Jong, 20, and Verbeek, a 25-year-old left-hander, are scheduled to meet unseeded Alessandro Bega of Italy and Skander Mansouri of Tunisia on Friday. Bega and Mansouri eliminated third-seeded Teymuraz Gabashvili and Kontstantin Kravchuk of Russia 6-3, 3-6 [10-6].

   ATP Tour in Buenos Aires —Tomislav Brkic of Bosnia & Herzegovina and Nikola Cacic of Serbia defeated Andre Goransson (University of California, Berkeley, 2011-14) of Sweden and Thiago Monteiro of Brazil by walkover in the quarterfinals of the Argentina Open.

   ITF Women's Tour in Newport Beach, Calif. — Jovana Jovic (formerly Jaksic), a 27-year-old Serb living in Sacramento, Calif., outlasted wild card Kayla Day, a 21-year-old left-hander born in Santa Barbara, Calif., 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in the completion of a suspended first-round match in a $25,000 tournament. The match, which resumed after the first set, lasted 3 hours, 4 minutes.

   Jovic, ranked No. 250, is slated to meet second-seeded Mariam Bolkvadze, 23, of Georgia on Friday. Bolkvadze, ranked No. 191, beat qualifier Emina Bektas of the United States 6-4, 7-5.

   In the opening round of doubles later today, Jovic and Conny Perrin of Switzerland lost to Bektas and Tara Moore of Great Britain 7-6 (5), 6-4.

   Fourth-seeded Vania King and fellow Southern Californian Maegan Manasse (Cal, 2014-17) beat Naiktha Bains of Great Britain and Quinn Gleason of the U.S. 6-3, 7-6 (5) in the quarterfinals. 

  King, a former Sacramento Capital in World TeamTennis, won Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2010 with Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan.