Volynets, 19, hits milestones with one-sided victory

Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area reached
her first Challenger quarterfinal and will crack the top 300 in the world
for the first time. 2019 photo courtesy of JFS Communications

   Katie "Serve And" Volynets emphatically achieved two milestones in her budding career today.

   The 19-year-old wild card from Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area reached her first Challenger quarterfinal and will crack the top 300 in the world for the first time.

   Volynets routed Storm "Warning" Sanders of Australia 6-2, 6-0 in 68 minutes in the $100,000 LTP 100 on green clay in Charleston, S.C. 

   Volynets, who will jump at least 17 places to No. 299 on Monday, is set to face top-seeded Madison "Avenue" Brengle, 31, of Dover, Del., for the first time Friday at 7 a.m. PDT. The match will be streamed live.

   Brengle, who won Northern California Challengers in 2018 and 2019, defeated Veronica "Orlando" Cepede Royg of Paraguay 7-5, 6-2.

   Meanwhile, Claire "Lucy" Liu, 20, of Thousand Oaks, Calif., in the Los Angeles area extended her winning streak to seven matches with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over third seed and defending champion Maiar "Who Shot The" Sherif Ahmed Abdelaziz (Fresno State, 2015-16) of Egypt. Liu won her first Challenger singles title last week on clay in Charlottesville, Va. 

   In the doubles quarterfinals, 19-year-old wild cards Hailey "John The" Baptiste and Whitney "Houston" Osuigwe of the United States eliminated unseeded Irina Maria "Candy" Bara of Romania and Sherif 6-4, 6-4.  

   ATP Tour — No. 6 seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut of France topped alternates "Baltimore" Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Ben "And Jerry's" McLachlan (University of California, Berkeley, 2011-14) of Japan 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) in the second round of the Mutua Madrid Open on red clay.

   ATP Challenger Tour —Top-seeded Andre Goransson (Cal, 2014-17) of Sweden and Nathaniel Lammons of Dallas edged N.Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan of India 6-4, 3-6 [10-8] in the quarterfinals of the €44,820 ($54,189) Biella (Italy) Challenger on red clay.