McDonald stays hot, conquers Canadian in Kazakhstan

Mackenzie McDonald practices his serve during the
2017 Fairfield (Calif.) Challenger, which he won.
McDonald grew up in nearby Piedmont. Photo by
Paul Bauman

   Mackenzie McDonald, a 25-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, outlasted Brayden Schnur of Canada 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 today in the first round of the $156,240 Forte 125 Challenger in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.

   McDonald, now based in Orlando, Fla., has 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.

   McDonald, is scheduled to play Tomas Machac, 20, of the Czech Republic for the first time on Thursday. Machac surprised seventh-seeded Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland 7-5, 6-2.

   ATP Tour in Buenos Aires — Andre Goransson (Cal, 2011-14) of Sweden and Thiago Monteiro of Brazil ousted second-seeded Marcelo Demoliner of Brazil and Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico 6-4, 6-3 in the opening round of the Argentina Open.

   ATP Tour in Rotterdam, Netherlands — Third-seeded Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands and Lukasz Kubot of Poland topped Ben McLachlan (University of California, Berkeley, 2011-14) and Kei Nishikori of Japan 7-5, 3-6 [10-6] in the first round of the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament.

   McLachlan, 28, was born and raised in New Zealand, but his mother, Yuriko, is Japanese.

   WTA Tour in Doha, Qatar — Monica Niculescu of Romania and Jelena Osapenko of Latvia ousted third-seeded Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan 6-4, 6-2 in the opening round.

   Aoyama, 33, and Shibahara, a 23-year-old native of Mountain View in the Bay Area, have lost three consecutive matches after starting the year 13-0 with two titles.

   ITF Women's Tour in Newport Beach, Calif. — Fourth-seeded Vania King and Maegan Manasse (Cal, 2014-17), both playing in their first WTA or ITF tournament in one year, edged fellow Americans Hanna Chang and Katerina Stewart 3-6, 6-3, 10-7 in the first round of a $25,000 tournament.

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

   Second-seeded Beatrice Gumulya and Jessy Rompies of Indonesia eliminated wild cards Allura and Maribella Zamarripa, 18-year-old identical twins from St. Helena in the Napa Valley, 6-4, 6-3.