Kontaveit handles Halep in final, will make top-10 debut

Anett Kontaveit has won 10 consecutive matches
and 26 of her last 28. 2016 photo by Paul Bauman

   Not even Simona Halep, a two-time Grand Slam singles champion and former world No. 1 playing in her home country, could stop Anett Kontaveit.

   The second-seeded Kontaveit won her second title in two weeks and fourth of the year today, overwhelming the top-seeded Halep 6-2, 6-3 in 70 minutes on an indoor hardcourt in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. 

   Kontaveit, a 25-year-old Estonian, did not drop a set in the tournament. She has won 10 consecutive matches and 26 of her last 28 with four titles under her new coach, Dmitry Tursunov, a 38-year-old Moscow native who trained in Northern California as a junior and professional.

   Kontaveit clinched the last spot in the WTA Finals, Nov. 10-17 in Guadalajara. She will make her top-10 debut on Monday, rising six spots to No. 8. 

   Halep returned to competition in August after missing three months with a calf tear.

   ATP Tour — Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz, 23-year-old Americans who combined to win three singles titles in Northern California Challengers, lost to 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) players in indoor hardcourt finals.

   No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany defeated Tiafoe, a qualifier, 7-5, 6-4 in Vienna for his fifth title of the year. Zverev improved to 25-2 since Wimbledon, including the singles gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics.

   Unseeded Marin Cilic of Croatia outlasted the fifth-seeded Fritz 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-4 in St. Petersburg, becoming the sixth active player to win at least 20 career tour-level titles. Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion, joined Roger Federer (103), Rafael Nadal (88), Novak Djokovic (85), Andy Murray (46) and Juan Martin del Potro (22).

   Cilic played in St. Petersburg for the first time since 2011, when he also captured the title.

   Fritz, who won Sacramento and Fairfield back to back at 17 in 2015, and Tiafoe, who claimed Stockton at 18 the following year, were seeking their second career ATP titles.

    In the second (final) round of qualifying for the Paris Masters, No. 3 seed Jenson Brooksby, 21, of Carmichael, Calif., in the Sacramento area defeated No. 14 seed Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 in 3 hours, 2 minutes.

   Brooksby, who edged Peter Gojowczyk of Germany 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (4) in the first round, is scheduled to play 2016 champion Murray, a 34-year-old wild card with a metal hip, on Monday at 11:30 a.m. PDT (Tennis Channel) in the Masters 1000 tournament, the highest level besides the Grand Slams.
   Brooksby has been compared to Murray, a three-time Grand Slam singles champion, because of their outstanding defense. Murray won the first of his tour-level titles in San Jose at 18 in 2006 and repeated the next year.

   USTA Pro Circuit — No. 1 seed Rinky Hijikata, a University of North Carolina junior from Australia, beat unseeded Tristan Boyer, a Stanford sophomore from Altadena in the Los Angeles area, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 to win the $25,000 USTA Men's Pro Tennis Championship of Calabasas in the L.A. region.

USC assistant Kwinta named Cal men's head coach

   USC associate head coach Kris Kwinta was named the director of men's tennis at the University of California, Berkeley, the school announced Friday.

   Kwinta, 41, replaces Peter Wright, who announced his retirement in August after 29 years as the head coach.

   After earning All-America honors at UCLA, Kwinta served as a Bruins assistant coach for four years before moving across town to archrival USC. 

   A native of Poznan, Poland, Kwinta began playing tennis at the advanced age of 13. He earned a bachelor of science degree in political science from UCLA in 2008.

   WTA Tour — Simona Halep and Anett Kontaveit — seeded first and second, respectively — are set to meet in the Transylvania Open final in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, after 62-minute victories.

   Halep, playing in her home country, demolished sixth-seeded Marta Kostyuk, 19, of Ukraine 6-0, 6-1. Estonia's Kontaveit dispatched unseeded Rebecca Peterson of Sweden 6-3, 6-2.

   "I think I know Rebecca since we're like 8 years old," Kontaveit said in on-court interview. "We grew up playing together, similar tournaments. Her parents are actually Estonian, so I know her family pretty well. We've always been pretty close."

   Kontaveit, 25, has won nine consecutive matches and 25 of her last 27 with three titles under her new coach, Dmitry Tursunov, a 38-year-old Moscow native who trained in Northern California as a junior and professional.

   Halep, formerly ranked No. 1, has lost only three games total in her last two matches. Neither finalist has dropped a set this week.

   A victory in Sunday's final (Tennis Channel), which follows the 5:30 a.m. PDT doubles final, would give Kontaveit the eighth and final spot in the WTA Finals, Nov. 10-17 in Guadalajara, surpassing Ons Jabeur. However, Kontaveit has not won a set in three career matches against Halep. 

   Neither Kontaveit nor Jabeur has qualified for the WTA Finals.

   ATP Tour — Americans Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz, who combined for three singles titles in Northern California Challengers, will seek their second career ATP singles titles on Sunday. Tiafoe, a qualifier, will face No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev in Vienna, and Fritz, seeded fifth, will play unseeded Marin Cilic in St. Petersburg.

   USTA Pro Circuit — No. 4 seed Misaki Doi of Japan beat unseeded Marcela Zacarias of Mexico 7-5, 6-0 in the semifinals of the $80,000 Christus Health Pro Challenge in Tyler, Texas. Zacarias reached the final of the $60,000 Berkeley (Calif.) Challenger early this month.

   In the doubles final, No. 2 seeds Giuliana Olmos, a product of Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area who represents Mexico, and Zacarias nipped No. 1 seeds Doi and Katarzyna Kawa of Poland 7-5, 1-6 [10-5].

   Meanwhile, Elysia Bolton, a UCLA senior from Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., and Maegan Manasse, a Cal assistant coach and former Bears All-American, defeated Americans Rasheeda McAdoo and Chanelle Van Nguyen 6-1, 7-5 to win a $25,000 tournament in Austin, Texas. Both teams were unseeded.

    In the singles semifinals of the $25,000 USTA Men's Pro Tennis Championship of Calabasas in the L.A. region, unseeded Tristan Boyer, a Stanford sophomore from Altadena in the Los Angeles area, outlasted No. 4 seed Govind Nanda of Sacramento, Calif., 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.

   Boyer is set to face No. 1 seed Rinky Hijikata, a University of North Carolina junior from Australia, on Sunday.

Kontaveit stays hot, gains semifinals in Romania

Anett Kontaveit has won eight consecutive matches and
24 of her last 26 under her new coach, Dmitry Tursunov.
2016 photo by Paul Bauman

   No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia dismissed No. 8 seed Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine 6-3, 6-2 in 62 minutes today in the quarterfinals of the Transylvania Open, a WTA 250 tournament on an indoor hardcourt in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

   Kontaveit, ranked a career-high No. 14, has won eight consecutive matches and 24 of her last 26 with three titles under her new coach, Dmitry Tursunov, a 38-year-old Moscow native who trained in Northern California as a junior and professional. Kalinina won the 2015 Sacramento (Calif.) Challenger.

   Kontaveit, 25, is scheduled to play unseeded Rebecca Peterson, 26, of Sweden for the first time in 10 years on Saturday not before 5 a.m. PDT (Tennis Channel). Peterson, ranked No. 99, outlasted qualifier Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

   Kontaveit beat Peterson 6-4, 7-6 (5) in the first round in a $10,000 hardcourt tournament in Stockholm in their only previous meeting.

   In Saturday's other semifinal, No. 1 seed Simona Halep is set to meet No. 6 seed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine not before 7 a.m.

   Kostyuk, 19, routed No. 3 seed and reigning U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu, 18, of Great Britain 6-2, 6-1 in 57 minutes. Halep drubbed fellow Romanian Jaqueline Cristian 6-1, 6-1 in 67 minutes.

   Halep beat Kostyuk 7-6 (2), 6-1 in the second round at Indian Wells this month in their only previous encounter.

   USTA Pro Circuit — Unseeded Marcela Zacarias of Mexico upended No. 1 seed Madison Brengle of Dover, Del., 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the $75,000 Christus Health Pro Challenge in Tyler, Texas.

   Zacarias, the runner-up in the $60,000 Berkeley (Calif.) Challenger five weeks ago, ended Brengle's winning streak at seven matches. Brengle, a former champion in Berkeley (2019) and Stockton, Calif. (2018), won last week's $80,000 tournament in Macon, Ga.

   Zararias also advanced to the doubles final with Giuliana Olmos, a product of Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area who represents Mexico. Seeded second, they outclassed third-seeded Jessy Rompies and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 6-3, 6-3.

   In Austin, Texas, unseeded Elysia Bolton, a UCLA senior from Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., and Maegan Manasse, a University of California, Berkeley assistant coach and former Bears All-American, topped unseeded Kylie Collins of Savannah, Ga., and Lulu Sun of Switzerland 6-1, 5-7 [10-5] in the semifinals of a $25,000 tournament.

   Meanwhile, No. 4 seed Govind Nanda, 20, of Sacramento, Calif., beat No. 7 seed Gage Brymer of Irvine, Calif., 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-0 in a quarterfinal matchup of former UCLA stars in the $25,000 USTA Men's Pro Tennis Championship of Calabasas in the Los Angeles region.

   Nanda is scheduled to play Tristan Boyer, a Stanford sophomore from Altadena in the L.A. area who outlasted 6-foot-9 (2.06-meter) Jaimee Floyd Angele, 21, of France 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in a battle of unseeded players.

   Unseeded Nathan Ponwith of Scottsdale, Ariz., eliminated qualifier Max Basing, a Stanford freshman from Great Britain, 6-4, 6-4.

   In the doubles semifinals, unseeded Johannes Seeman of Estonia and Wally Thayne of Newbury Park in the L.A. area topped No. 2 seeds Arthur Fery, a Stanford sophomore, and Mark Whitehouse of Great Britain 6-4, 5-7 [10-3]. 

Bay Area product to make WTA Finals debut in doubles

Giuliana Olmos, who grew up in Fremont in the
San Francisco Bay Area, practices during the re-
cent BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Photo
by Paul Bauman

   The WTA announced the last three doubles teams in the WTA Finals today.

   Earning berths in the year-end finale, Nov. 10-17 in Guadalajara, are the pairings of Alexa Guarachi and Desirae Krawczyk, Darija Jurak and Andreja Klepac, and Sharon Fichman and Giuliana Olmos. All but Klepac will make their tournament debut. 

   Jurak and Klepac won the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif., in August. Olmos was born in Austria, grew up in Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area and represents Mexico.

   The three teams will join Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara, Hsieh Su-Wei and Elise Mertens, Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Demi Schuurs, and Samantha Stosur and Zhang Shuai.

   Shibahara was born in Mountain View in the Bay Area. Melichar-Martinez won the 2019 San Jose title with Kveta Peschke, then 44. 

   The pairings of Coco Gauff and Caty McNally and Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani also qualified for the WTA Finals but will not compete, according to the WTA, allowing Fichman and Olmos to play. Dabrowski and Stefani reached this year's San Jose final. 

   WTA Tour — No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia defeated Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals of the Transylvania Open, an indoor hardcourt tournament in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

   Kontaveit, ranked a career-high No. 14, has won her last seven matches and 23 of 27 with three titles under her new coach, Dmitry Tursunov, a 38-year-old Moscow native who trained in Northern California as a junior and professional. Van Uytvanck won the 2016 Stockton Challenger. 

   USTA Pro Circuit — No. 2 seed Claire Liu of Thousand Oaks in the Los Angeles region beat Katie Volynets, 19, of Walnut Creek in the Bay Area 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 to advance to the quarterfinals of the $80,000 Christus Health Pro Challenge in Tyler, Texas.

   Both Liu and Volynets qualified for Wimbledon this year. Liu reached the second round of the main draw, while Volynets lost in the first round.

   In the Tyler doubles quarterfinals, No. 2 seeds Olmos and Marcela Zacarias of Mexico topped Amercans Alexa Glatch and Quinn Gleason 2-6, 6-3 [10-6]. Zacarias reached the singles final in the recent $60,000 Berkeley (Calif.) Challenger.

   Meanwhile, No. 4 seed Govind Nanda of Sacramento, Calif., and Stanford teammates Tristan Boyer of Altadena and Max Basing, a qualifier from Great Britain, advanced to the singles quarterfinals of the $25,000 USTA Men's Pro Tennis Championship of Calabasas. Altadena and Calabasas are in the L.A. area.

   Another Stanford player, Arthur Fery, and Mark Whitehouse, both of Great Britain, moved into the Calabasas doubles semifinals as the No. 2 seeds.

   In Austin, Texas, unseeded Americans Elysia Bolton and Maegan Manasse, a University of California, Berkeley assistant coach and former Bears All-American, cruised into the doubles semifinals of a $25,000 tournament.

Kontaveit thriving under new coach Tursunov

Anett Kontaveit has gone 22-4 with three titles
since hiring coach Dmitry Tursunov in August.
2016 photo by Paul Bauman

   Anett Kontaveit has been on a rampage since hiring coach Dmitry Tursunov in August.

   The second-seeded Kontaveit, a 25-year-old Estonian, extended her winning streak to six matches today with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia in the first round of the Transylvania Open, a WTA 250 tournament on an indoor hardcourt in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

   In Kontaveit's first match under Tursunov, a 38-year-old Moscow native who trained in Northern California as a junior and professional, Kontaveit lost in the first round for the fourth consecutive tournament. Since then, Kontaveit has gone 22-3 with three titles.

   "She's a bit more aggressive, and I think that's a kind of built-in trait," Tursunov told tennis.com this month. "I felt she has this internal aggression in her game, suppressed in some way, and that's what I felt she should tap into.

   "So I wanted to bring that aggressive Anett on court more and just work on the things that can give her the confidence to be aggressive. If you try to be aggressive but don't have anything that supports it, you just get erratic and hit balls into the back fence."

   USTA Pro Circuit — Connor Farren, a 27-year-old San Francisco Bay Area product, defeated No. 3 seed and former USC teammate Raymond Sarmiento 7-6 (0), 7-6 (4) in the first round of the USTA Men's Pro Tennis Championship of Calabasas in the Los Angeles region.

   Qualifiers Ethan Quinn, 17, of Fresno, Calif., and Eric Hadigian, 21, of Sacramento, Calif., lost. 

   Advancing to the doubles quarterfinals were unseeded Farren and Adam El Mihdawy of the United States, No. 2 seeds Arthur Fery (Stanford) and Mark Whitehouse of Great Britain, No. 4 seeds Keenan Mayo of Sacramento and Reese Stalder of the U.S., and unseeded Pietro Orlando Fellin of Italy and Hadigian.

Stanford's Ma sweeps ITA Northwest Regional titles

Connie Ma won all seven of her matches in straight sets in the ITA
Northwest Regional Championships at Stanford. 2018 photo
by Paul Bauman  

   In a match between Stanford freshmen, No. 2 seed Connie Ma of Dublin in the San Francisco Bay Area defeated No. 5 seed Alexandra Yepifanova of Lake Worth, Fla., 6-4, 6-1 today to win the ITA Northwest Regional Championships at Stanford.

   Earlier today in the rain-delayed tournament, Ma beat No. 3 seed Mariia Kozyreva of Saint Mary's in the Bay Area 6-4, 6-4, and Yepifanova eliminated No. 4 seed Jessica Alsola of the University of California, Berkeley and Fresno, Calif., 6-2, 7-5.

   Kozyreva, a fifth-year student from Russia, stunned No. 1 seed Zheng Saisai, then ranked No. 75 in the world, in the first round of the $60,000 Berkeley Challenger last month.

   Ma did not lose a set in her seven matches.

   In the all-Stanford doubles final, No. 1 seeds Angelica Blake of Boca Raton, Fla., and Ma topped No. 5-8 seeds Niluka Madurawe of Sunnyvale in the Bay Area and Yepifanova 8-7 [10-1].

   USTA Pro Circuit — Katie Volynets, 19, of Walnut Creek in the Bay Area downed Peangtarn Plupuech of Thailand 6-0, 7-5 in the first round of the $80,000 Christus Health Pro Challenge in Tyler, Texas.

   Volynets is set to face No. 2 seed Claire Liu of Thousand Oaks in the Los Angeles region on Thursday. Liu, 21, downed Francesca Di Lorenzo of Columbus, Ohio, 7-6 (3), 6-1. 

   Both Liu and Volynets qualified for Wimbledon this year. Liu reached the second round of the main draw, while Volynets lost in the first round.

   In the first round of Tyler doubles, No. 2 seeds Giuliana Olmos and Marcela Zacarias of Mexico dominated Americans Ellie Douglas and Elizabeth Mandlik 6-3, 6-0.

   Olmos was born in Austria and grew up in Fremont in the Bay Area. Zacarias reached the Berkeley final last month. Mandlik is the daughter of International Tennis Hall of Famer Hana Mandlikova of the Czech Republic.

   Meanwhile, No. 3 seed Ena Shibahara, a native of Mountain View in the Bay Area who represents Japan, and wild card Maribella Zamarripa of St. Helena in the Napa area qualified for a $25,000 tournament in Austin, Texas, in singles. Shibahara is ranked seventh in the world in doubles.

   In the opening round of doubles, Elysia Bolton, a UCLA senior from Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., and Maegan Manasse, a Cal assistant coach and former Bears All-American, outclassed No. 4 seeds Lu Jia-Jing of China and Moyuka Uchijima of Japan 6-0, 6-3. Lu reached the doubles final in the Berkeley Challenger with Liang En-Shuo of Chinese Taipei.

   In the first round of singles in the $25,000 USTA Men's Pro Tennis Championship of Calabasas in the Los Angeles region, No. 4 seed Govind Nanda dismissed fellow Sacramentan Aidan Mayo, an 18-year-old wild card, 6-2, 6-2. Stanford's Tristan Boyer advanced, but the Cardinal's Arthur Fery lost.

   In the final round of qualifying, No. 11 seed Eric Hadigian of Sacramento and Ethan Quinn of Fresno, Calif., won, but No. 10 seed Keenan Mayo, Aidan's older brother, fell to No. 2 seed Michael Shabaz of the United States 6-4, 3-6 [10-6].

Stanford's Fery sweeps in Northwest Super Regionals

   Stanford's Arthur Fery "Cross the Mersey" swept the singles and doubles titles today in the ITA Northwest Super Regional Championships in Seattle.

   Fery, a sophomore from Great Britain seeded first in singles, beat second-seeded Clement Chidekh of host Washington 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

   Fery and Alexandre Rotsaert, a senior from Boca Raton, Fla., routed Matthew Hollingworth and Sasha Trkulja of Gonzaga 6-2, 6-1. 

   College women — Fifth-seeded Alexandra Yepifanova of host Stanford beat top-seeded Vanessa Wong of Washington 6-4, 7-6 (3) to reach the semifinals of the ITA Northwest Regional Championships. 

   Yepifanova, a freshman from Lake Worth, Fla., is scheduled to play fourth-seeded Jessica Alsola of the University of California, Berkeley on Tuesday at 10 a.m. Alsola, a freshman from Fresno, Calif., topped sixth-seeded Angelica Blake of Stanford 1-6, 6-2, 6-0.

   In the other semifinal, also at 10 a.m., second-seeded Connie Ma of Stanford is set to meet third-seeded Mariia Kozyreva of Saint Mary's in the San Francisco Bay Area. Ma, a freshman from Dublin in the Bay Area, has not lost more than two games in a set in her five matches.

   The final will follow at 1 p.m.

   In the all-Stanford doubles final, No. 1 seeds Blake and Ma are slated to face No. 5-8 seeds Niluka Madurawe and Yepifanova.

   ATP Challenger Tour — No. 2 seed Jenson "The Great" Brooksby, 20, of Carmichael, Calif., in the Sacramento area, withdrew from this week's €66,640 ($77,379) Challenger in Brest, France, because of fatigue.

   Brooksby reached the semifinals of last week's European Open in Antwerp, Belgium, on the ATP Tour as a qualifier to clinch a berth in the Next Gen ATP Finals, featuring the world's top 21-and-under players, Nov. 9-13 in Milan. 

   ATP Tour — In the first round of doubles in the St. Petersburg Open, "Lindsay" Rohan Bopanna, 41, of India and Denis Shapovalov of Canada ousted No. 2 seeds "Baltimore" Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Ben "And Jerry's" McLachlan (Cal, 2011-14) of Japan 7-5, 6-4. Klaasen and McLachlan are winless in their last four tournaments.

   USTA Pro Circuit — No. 13 seed and Bay Area product Giuliana Olmos, Cal's Haley Giavara and Manteca, Calif., product Hind Abdelouahid lost in the first round of qualifying for the $80,000 Christus Health Pro Challenge in Tyler, Texas.

   Meanwhile, No. 3 seed Ena Shibahara, a Bay Area native who represents Japan, and wild card Maribella Zamarripa of St. Helena in the Napa region won in the opening round of qualifying for a $25,000 tournament in Austin, Texas.

   In the world doubles rankings, Shibahara is seventh and Olmos 27th.

Rising star Sinner stops Schwartzman for Antwerp title

Jannik Sinner, shown at Indian Wells this
month, became the youngest player to collect
five tour-level titles since 19-year-old Novak
Djokovic in 2007. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Jannik Sinner looks more and more like a future Grand Slam champion.

   The 20-year-old Italian, seeded first, routed Argentina's Diego Schwartzman, seeded second, 6-2, 6-2 today to win the European Open, an ATP 250 tournament in Antwerp, Belgium.

   Sinner became the youngest player to collect five tour-level titles since 19-year-old Novak Djokovic in 2007. 

   Sinner did not lose a set in the indoor hardcourt tournament, dropping only eight total games in his last two matches. He improved two spots to a career-high No. 11 in the live rankings.

   Schwartzman, only 5-foot-7 (1.70 meters) and 141 pounds (64 kilograms) actually dropped two notches to No. 16.  He eliminated Jenson Brooksby, a 20-year-old qualifier from the Sacramento, Calif., suburb of Carmichael, 6-4, 6-0 in the semifinals. 

   College — No. 1 seed Arthur Fery of Stanford defeated No. 5 seed Yuta Kikuchi of the University of California, Berkeley 7-5, 7-5 in the semifinals of the ITA Northwest Super Regional Championships in Seattle.

   Fery, a sophomore from Great Britain, is scheduled to play No. 2 seed Clement Chidekh of the host University of Washington on Monday.

   Among those advancing to Monday's quarterfinals in the rain-delayed ITA Northwest Regional Championships at Stanford are No. 2 seed Connie Ma, No. 5 seed Alexandra Yepifanova and No. 6 seed Angelica Blake of the Cardinal, No. 3 seed Mariia Kozyreva of Saint Mary's and No. 4 seed Jessica Alsola of Cal. 

Diminutive Diego dominates Brooksby in Antwerp semis

Five-foot-7 (1.70-meter) Diego Schwartzman, right,
shakes hands after beating 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter)
 Maxime Cressy in the second round at Indian Wells
this month. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Diego Schwartzman turned the tables on Jenson Brooksby today.

   Reeling off the last nine games, the second-seeded Schwartzman defeated Jenson Brooksby, a 20-year-old qualifier from the Sacramento, Calif., suburb of Carmichael, 6-4, 6-0 in the semifinals of the European Open, an ATP 250 indoor hardcourt tournament in Antwerp, Belgium.

   Brooksby had won the last eight games in his 7-5, 6-0 victory over unseeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain on Friday.

   Brooksby, who played today with tape on his right (playing) arm and stomach, was trying to beat his third consecutive 2021 Grand Slam quarterfinalist. But the 14th-ranked Schwartzman, lightning fast at 5-foot-7 (1.70 meters) and 141 pounds (64 kilograms), outslugged Brooksby from the baseline, no mean feat.

   Schwartzman, 29, climbed to a career-high No. 8 by reaching the French Open semifinals last October. He has beaten Rafael Nadal on clay, the toughest task in tennis.

   Brooksby, who was ranked No. 307 when he turned pro last December, is projected to rise 11 places to No. 59 on Monday. He will turn 21 the next day. 

   By reaching the semifinals, Brooksby qualified for the Next Gen ATP Finals, featuring the world's top 21-and-under players, Nov. 9-13 in Milan.

   Schwartzman is scheduled to face another 20-year-old, top-seeded Jannik Sinner of Italy, on Sunday at 7:30 a.m. PDT (Tennis Channel). Sinner, ranked No. 13, routed seventh-seeded Lloyd Harris of South Africa 6-2, 6-2.

   Harris won one Northern California Challenger and reached the final of another.

Brooksby beats another major quarterfinalist in Antwerp

Jenson Brooksby serves during practice
at Indian Wells two weeks ago. Photo
by Paul Bauman

    Jenson Brooksby dismantled his second consecutive 2021 Grand Slam quarterfinalist today to reach the semifinals of the European Open, an ATP 250 tournament in Antwerp, Belgium.

    Not only that, he bageled both of them in the second set.

    The 20-year-old qualifier from the Sacramento, Calif., suburb of Carmichael, beat unseeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-5, 6-0 on an indoor hardcourt in their first career meeting.

    Brooksby, playing with tape on his right (playing) arm, frustrated the 22-year-old Spaniard, who reached the last eight in the French Open in June and won the Wimbledon boys singles title in 2017, with his consistency and amazing ability to turn defense into offense.

   Brooksby led 5-2 in the first set, lost the next three games and won the last eight. Davidovich Fokina, ranked No. 44, saved four set points in the first set.

   Tennis Channel commentator Tracy Austin, an International Tennis Hall of Famer, said Brooksby's "mental toughness is incredible. On the big points, he digs in and hits closer to the line. It's really quite impressive."

    Brooksby, 6-foot-4 (1.93 meters), has not lost a set in five matches in Antwerp. He demolished Botic Van De Zandschulp, who last month became the third qualifier to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals, 6-2, 6-0 in the second round.

   Brooksby, who was ranked No. 307 when he turned pro last December, is projected to rise at least 11 places to No. 59. He will try to knock off yet another 2021 major quarterfinalist when he faces second-seeded Diego Schwartzman, who advanced to the last eight at Roland Garros (and semifinals there last fall), for the first time on Saturday not before 8:30 a.m. PDT (Tennis Channel).

   The 5-foot-7 (1.70-meter), 141-pound (64-kilogram) Argentine, ranked No. 14 after climbing to a career-high No. 8 last October, beat qualifier Brandon Nakashima, 20, of San Diego 6-4, 6-2.

   In Saturday's first semifinal, top-seeded Jannik Sinner, also 20, of Italy is set to meet seventh-seeded Lloyd Harris of South Africa at 6 a.m. (Tennis Channel). Harris won one Northern California Challenger and reached the final of another.

Wimbledon boys champ reportedly commits to Stanford

   Wimbledon boys singles champion Samir Banerjee reportedly has verbally committed to Stanford. 

   Banerjee, the third-ranked junior in the world from Basking Ridge, N.J., had planned to attend Columbia in New York. 

   Banerjee defeated Victor Lilov of Raleigh, N.C., 7-5, 6-3 in the Wimbledon final in July. Both players were unseeded.

   Ethan Quinn of Fresno, Calif., has verbally committed to Georgia. He reached the U.S. Open boys doubles semifinals with Nicholas Godsick of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, last month.

   Godsick's parents are Mary Joe Fernandez, a former top-five player in singles and doubles who now works as an ESPN tennis commentator, and Tony Godsick, Roger Federer's agent.

   Signing day is Nov. 10.

Resurgent Simon mauls McDonald in Moscow

Gilles Simon, a former top-10 player, has endured a horrific year.
2016 photo by Paul Bauman

   Gilles Simon finally seems to be regaining his form.

   The 36-year-old Frenchman, a former top-10 player, dismissed Mackenzie McDonald, a 26-year-old San Francisco Bay product, 6-3, 6-2 today in the second round of the VTB Kremlin Cup in Moscow.

   Simon, who has plunged from a career-high No. 6 in 2009 to No. 117, reached his first quarterfinal since Cologne last October.

   Simon came to the Kremlin Cup, an ATP 250 tournament on indoor hardcourts, with four consecutive first-round losses and a 4-21 singles record this year. Simon went 0-11 from April until August.

   WTA Tour — Maria Camila Osorio Serrano, 19, of Colombia defeated Mayar Sherif (Fresno State, 2015-16) of Egypt 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Tenerife (Spain) Ladies Open, a WTA 250 tournament on hardcourts.

    Osorio Serrano, who won her first WTA title in Bogota on clay in April and reached the third round at Wimbledon as a qualifier, ousted Elina Svitolina, seeded first at No. 6 in the world, in the opening round. 

   USTA Pro Circuit — Qualifier Victoria Duval of Bradenton, Fla., beat Katie Volynets, 19, of Walnut Creek in the Bay Area, 7-5, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals of the $80,000 Mercer Tennis Classic on hardcourts in Macon, Ga.  

Brooksby belts Botic to reach Antwerp quarterfinals

Jenson Brooksby smiles at his parents in the stands
after a recent practice in Indian Wells. Photo by
Paul Bauman

   Continuing his stunning rise, Jenson Brooksby demolished a U.S. Open quarterfinalist today.

   The 20-year-old qualifier from the Sacramento, Calif., suburb of Carmichael crushed Botic Van De Zandschulp of the Netherlands 6-2, 6-0 in 63 minutes to reach the quarterfinals of the European Open, an ATP 250 tournament on indoor hardcourts in Antwerp, Belgium.

   Brooksby swatted his usual array of spectacular shots against the 26-year-old Van De Zandschulp, who last month became the third qualifier to advance to the last eight at Flushing Meadows. Early in the match, Brooksby almost went into the stands to retrieve a shot yet won the point. Two games later, he ran down a lunging backhand volley and ripped a sharply angled cross-court passing shot, eliciting applause from Van De Zandschulp.

   Brooksby has lost his serve only once and has not dropped more than four games in a set in his four matches in Antwerp. He has faced only one break point, which he saved today, in his two main-draw matches.

   Ranked No. 307 when he turned pro last December, Brooksby will improve at least seven spots to a career-high No. 63 on Monday.

   Brooksby is set to meet another 2021 Grand Slam quarterfinalist, unseeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain, for the first time on Friday.

   The 22-year-old Davidovich Fokina, who reached the last eight in the French Open in June and won the Wimbledon boys singles title in 2017, ousted third-seeded Cristian Garin of Chile 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. 

   In the first round of doubles, Oliver Marach, 41, and Philipp Oswald, 6-foot-7 (2.01 meters), of Austria topped Jonathan Erlich, 44, of Israel and Andre Goransson (University of California, Berkeley, 2014-17) of Sweden 4-6, 6-4 [10-6].

   ATP Tour in Moscow — Yoshihito Nishioka makes Mackenzie McDonald look gigantic.

   The 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter), 160-pound (73-kilogram) McDonald, a San Francisco Bay Area product, beat 5-foot-7 (1.70-meter), 141-pound (64-kilogram) Nishioka, a Japanese left-hander, 6-3, 6-4 in a first-round matchup of 26-year-olds in the VTB Kremlin Cup. 

   Meanwhile, Rohan Bopanna, 41, of India and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan ousted top-seeded Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Ben McLachlan (Cal, 2011-14) of Japan 6-2, 6-4 in the opening round.

   USTA Pro Circuit — Katie Volynets, 19, of Walnut Creek in the Bay Area surprised eighth-seeded Rebecca Marino, a former top-40 player from Canada, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 in the first round of the $80,000 Mercer Tennis Classic on hardcourts in Macon, Ga. 

Opelka during Antwerp loss: 'Brooksby best I've played'

Jenson Brooksby, 20, of Carmichael, Calif., in the Sacramento area
 practices during the recent BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   During the second set today, Reilly Opelka declared that ultra-consistent Jenson Brooksby is "the best player I've played in my whole life."

   That's saying something considering Opelka, a 24-year-old American, is 0-1 against Rafael Nadal and 1-4 against reigning U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev. Opelka has never faced Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer or Andy Murray.

   Brooksby, a 20-year-old qualifier from Carmichael, Calif., in the Sacramento area, beat the fifth-seeded Opelka, ranked No. 25 in the world and No. 1 in the United States, 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the European Open, an ATP 250 tournament in Antwerp, Belgium.

   Although the 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) Opelka pounded 12 aces to the 6-foot-4 (1.93-meter) Brooksby's three on an indoor hardcourt in their first career meeting, Brooksby won 85 percent of the points on his first serve to Opelka's 73 percent and did not face a break point.

   Brooksby, who's projected to rise at least six more spots to a career-high No. 64, recorded his third top-25 win. He beat No. 15 Felix Auger-Aliassime in the third round in Washington, D.C., in August and No. 25 Aslan Karatsev in the third round of the U.S. Open in September. Both Auger-Aliassime and Karatsev reached Grand Slam semifinals this year.

   Brooksby is scheduled to play Botic Van De Zandschulp, a 26-year-old Dutchman ranked No. 62,  for the first time on Wednesday at about 8 a.m. PDT (Tennis Channel) for a quarterfinal berth.

   Van De Zandschulp, who last month became the third qualifier to advance to the U.S. Open quarterfinals, defeated Alexei Popyrin of Australia 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 on Monday.

   Andy Murray, a 34-year-old wild card with a metal hip, saved two match points in a 7-6 (2), 6-7 (7), 7-6 (8) victory over Frances Tiafoe of Boynton Beach, Fla. At 3 hours, 45 minutes, it was the longest best-of-three-set match on the ATP Tour this year.

   Murray won the first of his 46 tour-level singles titles, including three Grand Slams, in San Jose at 18 in 2006 and repeated the following year. Tiafoe won the 2016 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger.

   Next for Murray is No. 2 seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina. The 5-foot-7 (1.70-meter), 141-pound (64-kilogram) veteran received a first-round bye.

   WTA Tour — Mayar Sherif (Fresno State, 2015-16) of Egypt drubbed wild card Lucrezia Stefanini of Italy 6-2, 6-0 in 74 minutes in the opening round of the Tenerife (Spain) Ladies Open, a WTA 250 tournament on clay. 

   Sherif, ranked No. 64, awaits the winner of the suspended match between top-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine and Maria Camila Osorio Serrano of Colombia. Svitolina leads 7-5.

Brooksby qualifies for Antwerp, draws fifth seed Opelka

   Top-seeded Jenson Brooksby, a 20-year-old rising star from Carmichael, Calif., in the Sacramento area, beat eighth-seeded Norbert Gombos, 31, of Slovakia 6-4, 6-2 today to qualify for the European Open, an ATP 250 tournament in Antwerp, Belgium.

   Brooksby, ranked No. 70 (ninth in the United States), is scheduled to play 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) Reilly Opelka, ranked No. 25 (first in the U.S.) and seeded fifth, for the first time on Tuesday in the opening round of the indoor hardcourt tournament.

   Both Brooksby and Opelka, 24, reached the round of 16 in the U.S. Open last month.

Ex-NorCal star Norrie, Badosa earn unlikely titles in BNP

 No. 21 seed Cameron Norrie beat No. 29 seed Nikoloz
Basilashvili in three sets to win the BNP Paribas Open
in Indian Wells. 2016 photo by Paul Bauman 

   Even without many of the world's top players in the tournament, few, if any, observers could have foreseen Cameron Norrie and Paula Badosa winning the BNP Paribas Open.

   Both Norrie, a 26-year-old British left-hander, and Badosa, a 23-year-old Spaniard, were seeded No. 21. Neither had won a match in Indian Wells before this year. Badosa, in fact, played in the main draw for the first time.

   But Norrie defeated No. 29 seed Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 today after Badosa edged No. 27 seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 7-6 (5), 2-6, 7-6 (2) in 3 hours, 4 minutes.

   All except Azarenka, a two-time Grand Slam singles champion, were playing in the biggest match of their lives. Azarenka was bidding to become the first woman to win the tournament three times. 

   Absent from the BNP Paribas Open, normally held in March, were Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem — who had combined to win 14 of the previous 16 titles — the top two-ranked women (Ashleigh Barty and Aryna Sabalenka) and 2018 champion Naomi Osaka.

   Badosa, a quarterfinalist in this year's French Open and Tokyo Olympics, was two points from losing with Azarenka serving at 5-4, 30-0 in the third set. Azarenka then committed four consecutive errors, leveling the set at 5-5. After both players held serve, Badosa bolted to leads of 3-0 and 5-1 in the tiebreaker and held on from there.

   Badosa, a New York native, defeated four top-20 players in a row to reach the final.

   "The first thing that I've learned this week is that nothing is impossible," Badosa, who has spoken openly about experiencing depression. "If you fight, if you work, after all these years, you can achieve anything. ... 

   "I have been through tough moments. I never stopped dreaming. That's what kept me working hard and believing until the last moment."

   Norrie was born in South Africa, grew up in New Zealand, starred at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, and lives in London. He defeated one top-20 player, No. 15 Diego Schwartzman of Argentina, en route to the title.

   "If you'd have told me I'd have won before the tournament, I wouldn't have believed you, so it's amazing," Norrie, who won back-to-back Northern California Challengers in Tiburon and Stockton in 2017, said in an on-court interview.

  Badosa and Norrie will rise to career highs of No. 11 and No. 16 (No. 1 in Great Britain), respectively, on Monday. They pocketed $1,209,730 each.

   ATP Tour — No. 1 seed Jenson Brooksby, 20, of Carmichael, Calif., in the Sacramento area beat wild card Michael Geerts of Belgium 6-4, 6-2 in the first round of qualifying for the European Open, an ATP 250 tournament in Antwerp, Belgium.

   Brooksby, ranked a career-high No. 70, is scheduled to play Slovakia's Norbert Gombos, ranked No. 115 and seeded No. 8, on Monday for a main-draw berth. Gombos, 31, dispatched Bernabe Zapata Miralles of Spain 6-3, 6-2.

Ex-NorCal star Norrie advances to BNP final; Fritz falls

No. 21 seed Cameron Norrie is scheduled to meet No. 29 seed
Nikoloz Basilashvili in the final of the BNP Paribas Open in
Indian Wells on Sunday. 2016 photo by Paul Bauman

   Cameron Norrie and Taylor Fritz, each of whom won back-to-back Northern California Challengers early in their professional careers, played today in the semifinals of the prestigious BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

   The 21st-seeded Norrie, a 26-year-old left-hander from Great Britain, dispatched 23rd-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-2, 6-4. Then 29th-seeded Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia beat the 31st-seeded Fritz, a 23-year-old resident of Rancho Palos Verdes in the Los Angeles area, 7-6 (5), 6-3. Basilashvili saved three set points in the first set and all seven break points he faced, including two in the final game.

   It's the first time all semifinalists in an ATP Masters 1000 tournament, the highest level besides the Grand Slams, have been ranked outside the top 25. Of course, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem — who have combined to win 14 of the last 16 Indian Wells singles titles — did not play.

   Dimitrov, ranked 28th after reaching a career-high No. 3 in 2017, was coming off three-set victories over top-seeded Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday and eighth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz on Thursday. Norrie, meanwhile, breezed past 11th-seeded Diego Schwartzman 6-0, 6-2 in 73 minutes in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

   Norrie — who was born in South Africa, grew up in New Zealand, starred at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, and lives in London — called the Dimitrov clash "the biggest match of my career, following on from (Thursday), which was the biggest match. There was even more pressure today. I came out and played really physical. Grigor was maybe a little tired from the other matches, but he fought hard and made it physical at the start of the second set, which wasn't easy."

   Norrie won the Tiburon and Stockton Challengers in 2017. Fritz took the Sacramento and Fairfield crowns at 17 in 2015.

   Norrie and Basilashvili, 29, are scheduled to meet Sunday after the 1 p.m. women's final between No. 21 seed Paula Badosa of Spain and No. 27 seed Victoria Azarenka, the 2012 and 2016 champion. Tennis Channel will televise both matches.

   As a qualifier in Rotterdam in March, Norrie routed Basilashvili 6-0, 6-3 on an indoor hardcourt in the first round in their only previous encounter. Azarenka, a 32-year-old mother, and Badosa, a 23-year-old New York native, are set to meet for the first time.    

Fritz saves two match points, upsets Zverev in BNP

Taylor Fritz, shown in his second-round victory
over Brandon Nakashima, reached his first ATP
Masters 1000 semifinal. Photo by Paul Bauman

   No. 31 seed Taylor Fritz, playing in his native Southern California, survived two match points and stunned No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3) today in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

   Fritz, who won the Sacramento and Fairfield Challengers in Northern California back-to-back at 17 in 2015, overcame a 2-5 deficit in the third set to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 semifinal. 

   "I was really down and out, but I found a way to put myself into it," Fritz, who was born in Rancho Santa Fe in the San Diego area and lives in Rancho Palos Verdes in the Los Angeles region, said in an on-court interview. "I really wanted to make him have to close me out, and I was able to get back into the match. Normally, you would be so nervous in those situations and in the third-set tiebreak, but I felt so confident being aggressive, going after my game. It feels really great to play well with the pressure on."

   Fritz is scheduled to face No. 29 seed Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia on Saturday after the 1:30 p.m. semifinal between No. 21 seed Cameron Norrie of Great Britain and No. 23 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria (Tennis Channel). Basilashvili surprised No. 2 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 to reach his first Masters 1000 semifinal.

   Norrie won the Tiburon and Stockton Challengers in NorCal back-to-back in 2017.

   In Sunday's women's final, No. 27 seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus is set to meet No. 21 seed Paula Badosa of Spain. 

   Azarenka, who won Indian Wells in 2012 and 2016 and the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in 2010, outlasted No. 24 seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 in a matchup of Grand Slam champions.

   Badosa, a quarterfinalist in this year's French Open and Tokyo Olympics, outclassed No. 12 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia 6-3, 6-3 to gain the biggest final of her career.

   USTA Pro Circuit — Unseeded Maria Mateas of Chapel Hill, N.C., beat No. 3 seed Katie Volynets, 19, of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area 6-2, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the $25,000 Florence (S.C.) Open on hardcourts. 

Ex-NorCal star cruises into first Masters 1000 semifinal

Cameron Norrie was 0-2 in the main draw in Indian Wells
before this year. 2016 photo by Paul Bauman

   No. 21 seed Cameron Norrie reached his first ATP Masters 1000 semifinal today, routing No. 11 seed Diego Schwartzman 6-0, 6-2 in 73 minutes in the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif.

   Masters 1000 tournaments are the highest level besides the Grand Slams.

   All three of Norrie's previous matches against Schwartzman had gone the distance, including a first-round victory in last year's U.S. Open.

   Norrie, a 26-year-old left-hander, was born in South Africa, grew up in New Zealand, starred at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, and represents Great Britain. He improved to 3-1 against the 5-foot-7 (1.70-meter), 141-pound (64-kilogram)  Schwartzman, 29, of Argentina.

   "Everything went my way today," Norrie, who won back-to-back Northern California Challengers in Tiburon and Stockton in 2017, said in an on-court interview. "Right from the beginning, I was timing the ball well. I thought I was in for a long match because the previous times we have played have been so long and so physical, so I was ready for that. I hit a lot of lines in the first set and stayed tough in the second and served well when I needed to. I am so happy to be through; it is such a big win for me."

   Norrie, who was 0-2 in the main draw in Indian Wells before this year, is scheduled to face No. 23 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria on Saturday. Dimitrov, who ousted top-seeded Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday, edged No. 8 seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2).

   Norrie is projected to improve at least six notches to a career-high No. 20 on Monday. He will pocket a minimum of $335,000 (plus $8,435 as a first-round loser in doubles).

   On the women's side, No. 12 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia defeated No. 18 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia 7-5, 6-3 to reach her first WTA 1000 semifinal. 

   Jabeur, who will become the first Arab (male or female) to crack the top 10 on Monday, is slated to meet No. 21 seed Paula Badosa of Spain after Friday's 6 p.m. semifinal between No. 24 seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and No. 27 seed and two-time Indian Wells champion Victoria Azarenka (Tennis Channel).

   Badosa, a quarterfinalist in this year's French Open and Tokyo Olympics, eliminated No. 10 seed Angelique Kerber, the 2019 BNP runner-up to Bianca Andreescu, 6-4, 7-5. Badosa beat another Grand Slam champion, No. 3 seed Barbora Krejcikova, in the round of 16.

   In the women's doubles semifinals, No. 2 seeds Hsieh Su-Wei of Chinese Taipei and Elise Mertens of Belgium overwhelmed No. 3 seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan 6-2, 6-0 in 54 minutes.

   Hsieh won the Indian Wells doubles title in 2014 with Peng Shuai of China and in 2018 with Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic. Mertens took the last (2019) crown with Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka, who missed this year's tournament because of COVID. 

   Hsieh and Mertens are set to meet unseeded Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elena Rybakina, a Moscow native who plays for Kazakhstan, on Saturday.

   USTA Pro Circuit — No. 3 seed Katie Volynets, 19, of Walnut Creek, Calif., routed Fernanda Contreras Gomez of Mexico 6-3, 6-0 to reach the quarterfinals of the $25,000 Florence (S.C.) Open on hardcourts.

Dimitrov makes big comeback, shocks Medvedev in BNP

Grigor Dimitrov leaves the court after practicing with Alexander
Zverev last week in Indian Wells, Calif. Photo by Paul Bauman

   No. 23 seed Grigor Dimitrov rallied from a set and two breaks down to stun Daniil Medvedev, seeded first and ranked second, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 today in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open.

   Dimitrov, a 30-year-old Bulgarian, overcame a 1-4 deficit in the second set and reached the quarterfinals in Indian Wells for the first time.

   "He is such a tough player and competitor," Dimitrov said in an on-court interview after improving to 2-3 against Medvedev, who won his first Grand Slam title in the U.S. Open last month. "Over the past year, I have played him a few times and haven't been able to find a way. But today, I just felt something at 1-4, and I calmed myself down and started to take better decisions and started to control the pace of the game, which I really believe helped me. In the end, it was just very solid and smart play."

   Dimitrov, ranked No. 28 after climbing as high as No. 3 in 2017, next will face Poland's Hubert Hurkacz, seeded eighth and ranked 12th. Hurkacz, who advanced to his first major semifinal at Wimbledon in July and won his third ATP title of the year in Metz, France, last month, dismissed No. 19 seed Aslan Karatsev of Russia 6-1, 6-3 in 63 minutes.

   Also reaching the quarterfinals were No. 21 seed Cameron Norrie of Great Britain and No. 31 seed Taylor Fritz of Rancho Palos Verdes in the Los Angeles area. Both won back-to-back Northern California Challengers, Norrie in Tiburon and Stockton in 2017 and Fritz in Sacramento and Fairfield at 17 in 2015.

   In the BNP women's quarterfinals, No. 27 seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus defeated No. 19 seed Jessica Pegula of Boca Raton, Fla., 6-4, 6-2.

   Azarenka, a 32-year-old mother and former world No. 1, won Indian Wells in 2012 and 2016 and the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in 2010. Pegula reached a NorCal Challenger final in 2012 at 18 and semifinal in 2018. 

   Azarenka is scheduled to meet Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko, the No. 24 seed who eliminated unseeded Shelby Rogers of Charleston, S.C., 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Rogers played on her 29th birthday.

   Ostapenko ousted No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland on Tuesday in a matchup of former French Open champions. Rogers reached the round of 16 in the recent U.S. Open, knocking off top-ranked Ashleigh Barty before losing to eventual champion Emma Raducanu.

   The other two women's quarterfinals are set for Thursday.

Three more high women's seeds lose in Indian Wells

No. 24 seed Jelena Ostapenko ousted No. 2 seed Iga
Swiatek 6-4, 6-3 in the round of 16 in Indian Wells.
2016 photo by Paul Bauman

   One day after No. 1 seed Karolina Pliskova lost to lucky loser Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil in the BNP Paribas Open, the second, third and fourth women's seeds also fell in straight sets.

   In a matchup of former French Open champions, No. 24 seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia surprised No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland 6-4, 6-3 today in the round of 16 in Indian Wells.

   No. 21 seed Paula Badosa, a quarterfinalist in this year's French Open and Tokyo Olympics, beat No. 3 seed Barbora Krejcikova, the reigning French Open champion, 6-1, 7-5.

   And No. 19 seed Jessica Pegula of Boca Raton, Fla., routed No. 4 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-1, 6-1 in 68 minutes. Pegula reached the Sacramento final in 2012 at 18 and Stockton semifinals in 2018 in Northern California Challengers.

   No. 10 Angelique Kerber is the highest remaining women's seed. The three-time Grand Slam singles champion reached the final of the last (2019) BNP Paribas Open, losing to 19-year-old Bianca Andreescu, and won the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.

   Pegula is the highest seed left in the bottom half of the women's draw.

   In yet another women's upset, unseeded Shelby Rogers of Charleston, S.C.,  edged No. 23 seed Leylah Fernandez, the U.S. Open runner-up last month, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4).

   No. 18 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia dismissed Haddad Maia 6-0, 6-2 in 65 minutes.

   On the men's side, No. 31 seed Taylor Fritz of Rancho Palos Verdes in the Los Angeles area dispatched No. 5 seed Matteo Berrettini, the Wimbledon runner-up in July, 6-4, 6-3. Fritz won the Sacramento and Fairfield (Calif.) Challengers in consecutive weeks at 17 in 2015.

   In the BNP women's doubles quarterfinals, No. 3 seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan beat unseeded Makoto Ninomiya of Japan and Sabrina Santamaria of Los Angeles 6-1, 7-6 (2).

   Shibahara, 23, was born in Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area and starred at UCLA.

Lucky loser stuns top seed Pliskova in BNP

t

Beatriz Haddad Maia, shown in the final round of qualifying last week, reached
the round of 16 in a WTA 1000 tournament for the first time. Photo by Paul Bauman

    Lucky loser Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil shocked Karolina Pliskova, seeded first and ranked third, 6-3, 7-5 in the wind today in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

   Haddad Maia had lost to Usue Arconada, coming off the title in the $60,000 Berkeley (Calif.) Challenger, in the final round of qualifying. But the 6-foot (1.85-meter) left-hander advanced to the main draw when No. 29 seed Nadia Podoroska of Argentina withdrew because of a thigh injury.

   Haddad Maia, ranked No. 115, reached the round of 16 in a WTA 1000 tournament for the first time and recorded her second win over a top-10 player. She surprised then-No. 4 Sloane Stephens in the second round in Acapulco in 2019 as a qualifier.

   Haddad Maia is scheduled to play No. 18 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia on Tuesday. Kontaveit, who won two WTA titles in her previous four tournaments, eliminated No. 16 seed Bianca Andreescu, the BNP and U.S. Open champion in 2019, 7-6 (5), 6-3.

   In the second round of men's doubles, Tim Puetz of Germany and Michael Venus of New Zealand defeated No. 2 seeds and reigning U.S. Open champions Rajeev Ram, a volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley from Carmel, Ind., and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain 4-6, 6-4 [10-6]. 

   Ram won the 2017 BNP doubles title with Raven Klaasen of South Africa.

   Also today, No. 5 seeds Kevin Krawietz of Germany and Horia Tecau of Romania beat Los Angeles-area residents Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey, a 34-year-old San Francisco native, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (4). 

Zverev overpowers Brooksby, 20, in third set in BNP

Alexander Zverev ended today's match with 142- and 143-mph aces,
his fastest ones of the afternoon. 2016 photo by Paul Bauman 

   INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — The longer the match went, the harder Alexander Zverev pummeled his serve and groundstrokes.

   That was bad news for Jenson Brooksby.

   The third-seeded Zverev, a 24-year-old German, overpowered Brooksby, a 20-year-old wild card from Carmichael, Calif., in the Sacramento area, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 today in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open.

   Zverev, 6-foot-6 (1.98 meters), won three of his four service games in the third set at love in 16,100-seat Stadium 1, the second-largest tennis facility in the world behind 23,771-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

   Ten of Zverev's 12 aces came in the final set, including missiles of 142 mph (229 kph) and 143 mph (230 kph), his two fastest of the afternoon, on the last two points. Overall, he won 73 percent of the points on his first serve (35 of 48) and 58 percent (14 of 24) on his second delivery.

   "I actually thought I didn't serve well today, so I thought, OK, I'll let it all out on the last two serves," Zverev, the singles gold medalist in the Tokyo Olympics last month, said in an on-court interview. "He's a tricky opponent. ... You're going to see a lot more of him in the future."

    Brooksby, who lost to Novak Djokovic in four sets in the round of 16 in the U.S. Open last month, is projected to improve nine more spots to a career-high No. 70. He was No. 307 when he turned pro last December.

   The ATP recently announced that it is investigating Zverev after a former girlfriend accused him of domestic abuse. Zverev has strongly denied the accusations.

   In the first round of men's doubles, top-seeded Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic of Croatia routed Mackenzie McDonald, a product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Brandon Nakashima of San Diego 6-2, 6-2 in 37 minutes.

   Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Matwe Middelkoop of the Netherlands edged Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Ben McLachlan (University of California, Berkeley, 2011-14) of Japan 6-2, 0-6 [11-9]. Klaasen won the 2017 title with Rajeev Ram.

   In the second round of women's doubles, Makoto Ninomiya of Japan and Sabrina Santamaria of Los Angeles eliminated eighth-seeded Sharon Fichman of Canada and Giuliana Olmos, an Austria native who grew up in Fremont in the Bay Area and represents Mexico, 6-4, 6-2.

   USTA Pro Circuit — Unseeded Catherine Harrison, a former UCLA All-American from Germantown, Tenn., in the Memphis region, routed No. 6 seed Dalila Jakupovic of Slovenia 6-1, 6-1 to win the $25,000 Team Ascension Women's Pro Open in Redding, Calif.

Medvedev masters McDonald again in Indian Wells

No. 1 seed Daniil Medvedev, foreground, serves to Mackenzie
McDonald under the lights in 16,100-seat Stadium 1 in Indian
Wells on Saturday night. Photo by Paul Bauman

   INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Daniil Medvedev, seeded first and ranked second, continued his mastery of Mackenzie McDonald on Saturday night with a 6-4, 6-2 victory in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open.

   The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Medvedev, who won his first Grand Slam title in the U.S. Open last month, has won all 13 sets in six career matches against the 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) McDonald, ranked No. 57. They met for the third time this year and the second time in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open.

   McDonald, 26, was born in Berkeley, Calif., grew up in neighboring Piedmont and starred at UCLA, a two-hour drive west of Indian Wells. 

   In the first featured match of the night in 16,100-seat Stadium 1, Medvedev won 82 percent of the points on his first serve (23 of 28) and 74 percent on his second delivery (14 of 19) and did not face a break point.

   Medvedev, 25, has never advanced past the third round of the BNP Paribas Open.

   "I'm actually really pleased, because usually I haven't played well in Indian Wells, and I haven't been playing that well in practices before (the tournament)," Medvedev, who has won 17 of his last 18 matches, said in an on-court interview. "(I'm) really happy with my performance. That's the most important (thing), no matter how I played before the tournament."

   On the women's side, Mayar Sherif (Fresno State, 2015-16) of Egypt made repeated errors in a 6-3, 6-0 loss to lucky loser Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil in the second round.

   Since losing in the first round of the Tokyo Olympics in July, Sherif became the first Egyptian to reach a WTA final (losing to Andrea Petkovic of Germany on clay in Cluj-Napoca, Romania), reached the final of a $60,000 clay-court tournament in Gran Canaria, Spain, qualified for the U.S. Open (falling in the first round to Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine) and won a $115,000 clay-court tourney in Karlsruhe, Germany.

   Also today, No. 3 seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan reached the doubles quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Americans Asia Muhammad and Jessica Pegula. Shibahara, 23, was born in Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area and also starred at UCLA.

   USTA Pro Circuit — Unseeded Catherine Harrison, a former UCLA All-American from Germantown, Tenn., in the Memphis area, outlasted No. 3 seed Katie Swan of Great Britain 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the semifinals of the $25,000 Team Ascension Women's Pro Open in Redding, Calif.

   Harrison is set to meet No. 6 seed Dalila Jakupovic of Slovenia on Sunday at 1 p.m. Jakupovic topped No. 4 seed Lu Jia-Jing of China 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

   In the doubles final, No. 4 seeds Mirjam Bjorklund of Sweden and Swan beat No. 3 seeds Jakupovic and Lu 6-3, 1-6 [10-3]. Lu also lost in the doubles final of last week's $60,000 Berkeley (Calif.) Challenger with Liang En-Shuo of Chinese Taipei.

Brooksby beats qualifier in BNP debut, will face Zverev

Jenson Brooksby, a 20-year-old wild card from Carmichael, Calif., in the Sacramento
area, celebrates his first-round victory in Indian Wells on the giant screen outside
 Stadium 1. Photo by Paul Bauman

   INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Jenson Brooksby often attended the BNP Paribas Open as a young junior. Now he's playing in it.

   Making his BNP debut, the 20-year-old wild card from Carmichael, Calif., in the Sacramento area defeated qualifier Cem Ilkel of Turkey 7-6 (5), 6-4 today in front of a sparse crowd in 16,100-seat Stadium 1, the second-largest tennis facility in the world behind 23,771-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

   "When he was younger — 10 or 11 — he was over there (on the walkway next to the field) trying to get autographs all the time," Brooksby's father, Glen, said at a tree-shaded picnic table in a small park on the grounds. "It was really cute. He'd be out there with a million other kids trying to get autographs. He'd come back with his big ball and show us who he had.

   "(Ernests) Gulbis was one of his favorite players at that time, and he got a photo with him that he still has, and he got a photo I think with (Vasek) Pospisil. He really was excited about seeing all these top players here and getting autographs. Probably his favorite player all along has been (Rafael) Nadal just because of his energy and never-give-up attitude."

   Yes, Jenson also secured Nadal's autograph and still has the big ball, Glen noted.

   "(Jenson) had goals when he came down to get the top three or four (players) and then maybe get whoever else he could," said Glen, a Sacramento anesthesiologist. "He got Nadal's one year. I think he got (Roger) Federer's. I'm not sure he ever got (Novak) Djokovic's, though."

   Jenson took a set off Djokovic in the fourth round of the U.S. Open last month. Ranked No. 307 when he turned pro in late December, Brooksby has skyrocketed to No. 79.

   Brooksby's serve supposedly is the weakest part of his game, but it didn't seem that way against the 26-year-old Ilkel, ranked No. 179. The 6-foot-4 (1.93-meter) Brooksby won 90 percent of the points on his first serve (36 of 40) and 68 percent on his second delivery (13 of 19). He did not face a break point.

   The tiebreaker was vintage Brooksby. He rallied from 0-3 to 4-4 and won three of the last four points on two passing shots that caught the outside of the sideline sandwiched around a net-cord winner. After Brooksby's set-winning shot, Ilkel put his hands on his hips in disbelief as he watched the replay. 

   Brooksby earned the only service break of the second set with a backhand passing shot down the line to lead 3-2. 

   Now comes the hard part. Brooksby is scheduled to face 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) German Alexander Zverev, ranked fourth and seeded third, for the first time on Sunday. All seeds receive first-round byes.

   Zverev, who's under investigation for domestic abuse, reached the U.S. Open final last year, losing to Dominic Thiem 7-6 in the fifth set after leading two sets to none, and won the singles gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics in August.

   Did Glen Brooksby ever think his only child would play in the BNP Paribas Open one day?

   "It's a good question," he said. "You always hope that your kid succeeds in what they want to do, but you just always feel like there's so much competition. In every age group, he was in the top 10 in the U.S., but we always played him up a lot, so it seemed like he was losing a lot of matches and winning a lot of matches. You always have this sense that maybe someone else is going to beat him out, someone else is better. You feel like the odds are against you. ... We hoped."

   In a late second-round women's match, No. 19 seed Jessica Pegula of Boca Raton, Fla., dispatched Sloane Stephens, a Fresno, Calif., product now based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 6-2, 6-3.

   Pegula, whose parents own the Buffalo Bills and Sabres, reached a Northern California final at 18 in 2012 and semifinal in 2018. Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion, has plunged from a career-high No. 3 in 2018 to No. 73. 

   In the first round of men's doubles, No. 2 seeds and reigning U.S. Open champions Rajeev Ram, a volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley from Carmel, Ind., and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain edged Cameron Norrie of Great Britain and Luke Saville of Great Britain 4-6, 6-3 [10-8]. Ram won the BNP doubles title in 2017 with Raven Klaasen of South Africa.

   Steve Johnson of Redondo Beach, Calif., and Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native now living in Agoura Hills in the Los Angeles region, edged Lloyd Harris and Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 6-3, 6-7 (2) [10-7]. 

   USTA Pro Circuit — No. 6 seed Dalila Jakupovic of Slovenia outclassed No. 2 seed Mirjam Bjorklund of Sweden 6-1, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the $25,000 Team Ascension Women's Pro Open in Redding, Calif.

   Jakupovic is set to play No. 4 seed Lu Jia-Jing of China on Saturday. Lu reached the doubles final of last week's $60,000 Berkeley (Calif.) Challenger with Liang En-Shuo of Chinese Taipei.

   In the other semifinal, No. 3 seed Katie Swan of Great Britain will meet unseeded Catherine Harrison of Germantown, Tenn. Swan won a $25,000 tournament in Orlando, Fla., in February and qualified for Wimbledon before losing to No. 23 seed Madison Keys in the first round.

   College — Eryn Cayetano of USC bested Carolyn Campana (Hillsborough in the San Francisco Bay Area) of Wake Forest 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the ITA Women's All-American Championships in Mt. Pleasant, S.C.