Brooksby pulls out of Paris Masters with injury

Jenson Brooksby practices during last month's BNP Paribas
Open in Indian Wells. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Rising star Jenson Brooksby, a 21-year-old qualifier from the Sacramento, Calif., suburb of Carmichael, withdrew from the Paris Masters today because of an abdominal injury.

   Brooksby, who has skyrocketed from No. 307 to No. 56 in his first year as a professional, won his qualifying matches in 2 hours, 33 minutes on Saturday and 3:02 on Sunday. He is scheduled to play in the Next Gen ATP Finals, featuring the top eight 21-and-under players this year, Nov. 9-13 in Milan.

   Replacing Brooksby in Paris was Dominik Koepfer, a 27-year-old German left-hander who saved seven match points in a 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (9) victory over 34-year-old wild card Andy Murray, the 2016 champion. The first-round match lasted 3:01.
   Koepfer, a former All-American at Tulane University in New Orleans, reached the Aptos (Calif.) Challenger final and U.S. Open round of 16 in 2019.

   Also in Paris, Dusan Lajovic of Serbia eliminated Mackenzie McDonald, a 26-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, 6-3, 6-4.

   In the opening round of doubles, Ariel Behar of Uruguay and Gonzalo Escobar of Ecuador topped Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Ben McLachlan (University of California, Berkeley, 2011-14) of Japan 6-7 (1), 7-6 (3) [10-6]. 

   Klaasen, 39, and McLachlan, 29, are winless in their last five tournaments. They advanced to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympics and won the Washington title in the summer.

   USTA Pro Circuit — No. 7 seed Maegan Manasse, a Cal assistant coach and former Bears All-American, advanced to the second (final) round of qualifying in a $25,000 tournament in Orlando, Fla., with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over McKenna Schaefbauer, a University of South Carolina commit from Normal Ill.

   But Maribella Zamarripa, a University of Texas freshman from St. Helena in the Napa region, lost to No. 16 seed Adriana Reami, a former North Carolina State star from Miami, by the same score.

   In Fayetteville, Ark., No. 10 seed Keenan Mayo, 6-foot-6 (1.98 meters), of Sacramento beat wild card Jake Sweeney, a University of Arkansas freshman from Hilton Head Island, S.C., 7-6 (4), 6-4 to reach the second (last) round of qualifying in a $15,000 tournament.

   College — Eleven days after Wimbledon boys singles champion Samir Banerjee verbally committed to Stanford, blue-chip recruit Nishesh Basavareddy of Carmel, Ind., did the same.

   Basavareddy is ranked No. 17 in the Class of 2022 by tennisrecruiting.net. He won the 14s in the Orange Bowl and USTA National Clay Court Championships.

   Signing day is Nov. 10.