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].