Former Cal star loses in Kazakhstan doubles quarters

Andre Goransson, above, and Andrea Vavassori lost a match tiebreaker
today in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. 2015 photo by Paul Bauman

   Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania and Artem Sitak, a Russia native who represents New Zealand, topped No. 4 seeds Andre Goransson (University of California, Berkeley, 2014-17) of Sweden and Andrea Vavassori of Italy 7-5, 3-6 [10-7] today in the quarterfinals of the Astana Open in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, on the ATP Tour.

   Berankis reached the singles quarterfinals of the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose, Calif., in 2010 and 2011. Sitak won the doubles title in the 2015 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger with since-retired Chris Guccione of Australia.

   In Metz, France, on the ATP Tour, No. 2 seeds Tomislav Brkic of Bosnia & Herzegovina and Nikola Cacic of Serbia dismissed alternates Hunter Reese of Knoxville, Tenn., and Sem Verbeek (University of the Pacific, 2013-16) of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the Moselle Open. 

   No. 1 seeds Henri Kontinen of Finland and Ben McLachlan (Cal, 2011-14), a New Zealand product who plays for his mother's native Japan, are scheduled to play French wild cards Gregoire Barrere and Lucas Pouille on Friday in the quarterfinals.

   In 2017, Kontinen became the first Finnish player to be ranked No. 1 in doubles. He is now No. 46.