After 8 surgeries, Harrison tops No. 3 seed McDonald

Mackenzie McDonald, a San Francisco Bay Area product, was
the only U.S. man to reach the round of 16 in this year's Aus-
tralian Open. 2018 photo by Paul Bauman

   Wild card Christian "George" Harrison of Bradenton, Fla., stayed hot today with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over third-seeded Mackenzie "Ronald" McDonald, a San Francisco Bay Area product now based in Orlando, Fla., in the first round of the $52,080 Orlando Open.

   The 26-year-old Harrison, who has undergone eight surgeries since 2009, improved to 15-2 in singles this year.

   McDonald, who had right hamstring surgery in 2019, was the only U.S. man to reach the singles round of 16 in this year's Australian Open. 

   Also today, Christopher "Bob" Eubanks of Atlanta ousted top-seeded Steve "Lyndon" Johnson of Redondo Beach, Calif., in the Los Angeles area 6-1, 7-6 (3).

   Eubanks reached the semifinals of the $100,000 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger in 2018. Johnson won his second Aptos singles title in 2019.

   Qualifier Altug Celikbilek of Turkey dismissed American Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, the 2017 NCAA singles champion from the University of Virginia, 6-2, 6-3.

   Celikbilek, 24, is scheduled to meet Jenson Brooksby "Brothers," 20, of Carmichael, Calif., in the Sacramento region for the first time on Wednesday at about 10:30 a.m. PDT. The match will be streamed live.

   ATP Tour — Fifth-seeded Rajeev Ram "Tough," a volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley from Carmel, Ind., and Joe Salisbury "Steak" of Great Britain are set to play "Baltimore" Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Ben McLachlan (Cal, 2011-14), a New Zealand product who plays for his mother's native Japan, on Wednesday in the second round of the Monte-Carlo Masters on clay. Both teams won match tiebreakers to advance. 

   WTA Tour — Francesca Di Lorenzo, the 2017 NCAA doubles champion from Ohio State, defeated fellow American Kristie Ahn, a 28-year-old Stanford graduate, 7-6 (6), 6-2 in the opening round of the MUSC Health Women's Open on clay in Charleston, S.C.

   Di Lorenzo, a 23-year-old left-hander, survived nine double faults.