NorCal Tennis Czar

Florida's Sam Riffice, who grew up in the Sacramento suburb of Sacramento, and Texas Tech's Felicity Maltby, from Sunnyvale in the San Francisco Bay Area, lost three-set matches today in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Singles Championships in Orlando, Fla.
Seventh-seeded Alexsandar Kovacevic of Illinois defeated the unseeded Riffice, the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year who now lives in Orlando, 6-7, 7-6, 6-3. The tiebreaker scores were not immediately available.
Kovacevic, a junior from New York, was much fresher than Riffice in the third set. Kovacevic received a walkover in the round of 16, whereas Riffice toppled second-seeded JJ Wolf of Ohio State 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
North Carolina's Cameron Morra, a freshman from Rockville, Md., beat Maltby, a senior, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in a clash of unseeded players. Three of Morra's four matches in the tournament have gone to three sets.
French Open draws -- No. 10 seed Serena Williams, a part-time Silicon Valley resident, is scheduled to play Vitalia Diatchenko of Russia in the first round of the French Open and could face top-ranked Naomi Osaka in a quarterfinal rematch of their turbulent U.S. Open final last September.
The draw for Roland Garros, Sunday through June 9, was held today in Paris.
Williams, a three-time French Open champion (2002, 2013 and 2015), has played only one match since March because of a knee injury.
Seventh-seeded Sloane Stephens, a Fresno product and last year's runner-up to Simona Halep at Roland Garros, will play Misaki Doi of Japan in the first round and could meet fourth-seeded Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands in the quarterfinals.
On the men's side, San Francisco native Sam Querrey will play a qualifier to be determined. The winner will take on either top-seeded Novak Djokovic, the 2016 champion, or Hubert Hurkacz of Poland.
Mackenzie McDonald, a 24-year-old product of Piedmont in the Bay Area, will make his French Open main-draw debut against Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan in a matchup of diminutive players. The winner likely will meet eighth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro, a two-time French Open semifinalist.
Bradley Klahn, a 28-year-old Stanford graduate, will face 21st-seeded Alex de Minaur of Australia.

Angelique Kerber, playing at Stanford in 2015, lost in the first round
of the French Open for the third time in four years. Photo by Mal Taam

Angelique Kerber and Venus Williams, who combined for three titles and seven runner-up finishes in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, lost on the first day of the French Open.
Kerber, seeded fifth, fell to 18-year-old Russian Anastasia Potapova, the 2016 Wimbledon girls singles champion making her French Open women's debut, 6-4, 6-2 today in the first match of the tournament on Court Philippe Chatrier.
"My phone is exploding now," Potapova, ranked 81st, told reporters. "I really appreciate it. It's nice to hear congratulations from great people.
"I was trying to keep some focus on me, on how I'm playing, how I'm running. I wasn't trying to think a lot about the court, about the first round, about Kerber, because of course she's a great player. But, you know, I'm here to play my best. That's what I did.
"I was really looking forward for this match because I like Kerber's game a lot. She's actually one of my idols, and when I was young looked at her game and how she was playing. When you step on the court and play your idol, you're just got to show your best."
Kerber, the Bank of the West champion in 2015 and runner-up in 2014, lost in the first round of the French Open for the third time in four years. The 31-year-old left-hander has won each of the other Grand Slam tournaments once each but never advanced past the quarterfinals at Roland Garros.
Williams, the 2002 French Open runner-up who will turn 39 on June 17, exited in the first round at Roland Garros for the second consecutive year. This time, Williams fell to ninth-seeded Elina Svitolina, a two-time French Open quarterfinalist from Ukraine, 6-3, 6-3.
Williams won the Bank of the West Classic in 2000 and 2002 and reached the final in 1998, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2009 and 2016. The tournament was replaced by the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose beginning last year.
Seventh-seeded Sloane Stephens, last year's French Open runner-up to Simona Halep, beat Misaki Doi of Japan 6-3, 7-6 (4). Stephens, a 26-year-old Fresno product and the 2017 U.S. Open champion, will play 75th-ranked Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain.
Sorribes Tormo, 22, defeated Alison Van Uytvanck, a French Open quarterfinalist in 2015 who won the $50,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger in 2016, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2.
Third-seeded Roger Federer, the 2009 French Open champion, dismissed Lorenzo Sonego, a 24-year-old Italian, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4. It was Federer's first match at Roland Garros since 2015 and Sonego's main-draw debut there.
Federer made his Northern California debut in March 2018 in San Jose.
NCAA Championships -- Saturday's men's and women's singles finals in the NCAA Championships in Orlando, Fla., featured international players.
Fourth-seeded Paul Jubb, a South Carolina junior from England, beat top-seeded Nuno Borges, a Mississippi State senior from Portugal, 6-3, 7-6 (2). Also, top-seeded Estela Perez-Somarriba, a junior from Spain, outplayed second-seeded Katarina Jokic, a Georgia sophomore from Bosnia, 6-7 (1), 6-2, 6-3.
UCLA swept the men's and women's doubles titles. Second-seeded Maxime Cressy and Keegan Smith beat unseeded Patrick Kaukovalta and Mazen Osama of Alabama 6-3, 6-4 for the men's crown. Third-seeded Gabby Andrews and Ayan Broomfield edged unseeded Kate Fahey and Brienne Minor of Michigan 5-7, 7-6 (6) [11-9]. Minor won the NCAA singles title in 2017.

No. 10 seed Serena Williams, a part-time Silicon Valley resident, defeated Vitalia Diatchenko of Russia 2-6, 6-1, 6-0 today in the first round of the French Open in Paris.
Diatchenko ousted 2004 Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova in the first round at the All England Club last year.
Williams played only her second match since March after struggling with a knee injury. The three-time French Open champion (2002, 2013 and 2015) will play the winner of Tuesday's match between Dalila Jakupovic of Slovenia and qualifier Kurumi Nara of Japan.
In the men's draw, No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic and No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal won in straight sets. Djokovic -- the champion in 2016 and runner-up in 2012, 2014 and 2015 -- is scheduled to play lucky loser Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland on Wednesday.
Laaksonen, the doubles runner-up in the $100,000 Fairfield (Calif.) Challenger with Harri Heliovaara of Finland last October, replaced Sam Querrey, a 31-year-old San Francisco native who withdrew with an abdominal injury.
Querrey has not played since reaching the semifinals of the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship in Houston in early April.
No. 21 seed Alex de Minaur of Australia beat Bradley Klahn, a 28-year-old Stanford graduate, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.
Mackenzie McDonald, a 24-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, is scheduled to make his French Open main-draw debut against Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan on Tuesday at 2 a.m. PDT. The winner likely will meet eighth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro, a two-time French Open semifinalist.

San Francisco Bay Area product Mackenzie McDonald,
shown in February 2018, fell in his French Open main-draw
debut today. Photo by Paul Bauman

Mackenzie McDonald faced someone even smaller than himself today in the first round of the French Open.
McDonald, a 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter), 160-pound (73-kilogram) product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, lost to Yoshihito Nishioka, a 5-foot-7 (1.70-meter), 141-pound (64-kilogram) left-hander from Japan, 6-7 (7), 6-0, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in Paris.
McDonald, 24, made his French Open main-draw debut, and Nishioka, 23, recorded his first Roland Garros main-draw victory.
McDonald, now based in Orlando, Fla., slugged 17 aces to Nishioka's one but committed 70 unforced errors to his opponent's 31.
In the opening round of men's doubles, seventh-seeded Bob Bryan of Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., and Mike Bryan of Wesley Chapel, Fla., beat Pablo Carreno Busta and Gerald Granollers of Spain 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.
The 41-year-old Bryan twins (Stanford, 1997-98) won the French Open in 2003 and 2013.
Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin of France eliminated 15th-seeded Ben McLachlan (Cal, 2011-14) of Japan and Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany 6-3, 6-3.

Seventh-seeded Sloane Stephens, who grew up in Fresno, beat Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain 6-1, 7-6 (3) today in the second round of the French Open in Paris.
Stephens, last year's runner-up to Simona Halep, is scheduled to meet Polona Hercog of Slovenia on Friday. Hercog, who won her third career singles title in Lugano in April, outlasted Jennifer Brady of Boca Raton, Fla., 6-3, 6-7 (8), 6-4. Brady swept the singles and doubles titles in the $25,000 Redding (Calif.) Challenger in 2014.
Hercog, ranked 71st, has never won a set against Stephens, ranked seventh, in three career matches. Stephens won their first meeting 6-1, 6-3 in the second round of the 2014 French Open and their last encounter 6-2, 7-6 (4) three weeks ago in the first round on clay in Madrid.
Fourth-seeded Kiki Bertens, the Madrid champion, retired with a gastrointestinal illness while trailing Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia 1-3.
In the first round of women's doubles, Raquel Atawo (Cal, 2001-04) of Sacramento and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia defeated Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland and Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic 7-6 (8), 7-5.
Amanda Anisimova of Aventura, Fla., and Xenia Knoll of Switzerland beat Kaitlyn Christian from Orange in Southern California and Giuliana Olmos, a product of Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area who plays for Mexico, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.
Third-seeded Hsieh Su-Wei of Chinese Taipei and Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic demolished Asia Muhammad of Las Vegas and Maria Sanchez, who was born and raised in Modesto, 6-0, 6-1 in 48 minutes.
Also, Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania and Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan defeated Mackenzie McDonald, a product of Piedmont in the Bay Area, and Reilly Opelka of West Palm Beach, Fla., 3-0, retired in the opening round of men's doubles.
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain and Neal Skupski of Great Britain edged Eri Hozumi and Ben McLachlan (Cal, 2011-14) of Japan 6-1, 3-6 [10-6] in the first round of mixed doubles.

Amanda Anisimova, who won her first professional title at 15 in Sacramento,
beat 11th-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 6-4, 6-2 today in the second round
of the French Open. 2018 photo courtesy of JFS Communications

Amanda Anisimova today became the youngest American woman to reach the third round of the French Open since Serena Williams in 1998.
And Anisimova has a good chance to gain her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
The 17-year-old from Aventura, Fla., who won her first professional title in the 2017 Sacramento Challenger, ousted 11th-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 6-4, 6-2 in Paris.
Anisimova, who will turn 18 on Aug. 31, also beat Sabalenka 6-3, 6-2 to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open in January.
Sabalenka is coached by Russian Dmitry Tursunov, who trained in Northern California as a junior and professional.
Anisimova, at No. 51, is the highest-ranked player remaining in her eighth of the draw. She will play No. 116 Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania on Saturday. It will be their first meeting.
The winner of that match will meet No. 58 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia or No. 137 Aliona Bolsova of Spain. Looming in the quarterfinals is third seed and defending champion Simona Halep.
Williams, a three-time French Open champion (2002, 2013 and 2015) and part-time Silicon Valley resident, dismissed qualifier Kurumi Nara of Japan 6-3, 6-2.
Williams will play 20-year-old American Sofia Kenin for the first time. Kenin -- who won Northern California Challenger singles titles in 2016, 2017 and 2018 -- advanced when 22nd-seeded Bianca Andreescu of Canada withdrew because of a shoulder injury.
In an all-brothers doubles match, seventh-seeded Bob Bryan of Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., and Mike Bryan of Wesley Chapel, Fla., topped Ken Skupski and Neal Skupski of Great Britain 7-5, 7-6 (6) in the second round.
The 41-year-old Bryan twins (Stanford, 1997-98) won the French Open in 2003 and 2013.

After winning the Italian Open two weeks ago, Karolina Pliskova looked like a strong contender for the French Open title.
It didn't work out that way.
No. 31 seed Petra Martic of Croatia shocked No. 2 seed Pliskova, the runner-up in the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, 6-3, 6-3 today in the third round in Paris.
"The key was to focus on my game and try to dictate instead of letting her dictate, which is her biggest strength," Martic, who won Istanbul on clay last month, told reporters. "I had to kind of try to take it way from her, and at times it was difficult, especially when she broke me and when she got a few winners, which she's known for. I'm just happy that I managed in the end to hold my nerves and finish it off."
Martic, 28, will try to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal when she faces unseeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia on Sunday. Kanepi, a two-time French Open quarterfinalist, beat unseeded Veronika Kudermetova of Russia 4-6, 6-3, 6-0. Kudermetova ousted No. 13 seed Caroline Wozniacki, formerly ranked No. 1, in the opening round.
No. 7 seed Sloane Stephens, a Fresno product who reached last year's French Open final, held off Polona Hercog of Slovenia 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 to set up a showdown against No. 19 seed Garbine Muguruza, the 2016 French Open champion.
Muguruza, who also won the doubles title in the 2014 Bank of the West Classic with fellow Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro, dismissed No. 9 seed Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-3.
The winner of the Stephens-Muguruza match will be strongly favored to reach the final in the bottom half of the draw, which lost No. 4 seed Kiki Bertens to a gastrointestinal illness in the second round and No. 5 seed Angelique Kerber to an upset in the first round.
Stephens, 26, and Muguruza, 25, have split two career matches, both on hard courts. In their last meeting, Stephens won 6-3, 6-4 in the fourth round at Miami last year.
In the second round of women's doubles today, Americans Desirae Krawczyk and Jessica Pegula defeated Raquel Atawo (Cal, 2001-04) of Sacramento and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia 7-5, 6-3.
Krawczyk won the doubles title in the 2017 Sacramento Challenger with Giuliana Olmos from Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Pegula reached the singles final of the 2012 Sacramento Challenger, losing to Modesto product Maria Sanchez, and advanced to the semifinals of the $60,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger last October.
Pegula's parents, Terrence and Kim Pegula, own the NFL's Buffalo Bills and NHL's Buffalo Sabres.

Complications from Nicole Gibbs' recent cancer surgery have delayed her return to competition.
Gibbs underwent surgery for sclerosing microcystic adenocarcinoma in the roof of her mouth on May 17 in Los Angeles. The 26-year-old former Stanford star had hoped to return for Wimbledon qualifying (June 25-27).
"I've had some humbling moments in the past couple weeks that have made me realize the futility of a 'plan' when it comes to a recovery like this," Gibbs tweeted Thursday. "I've felt at times like I've wanted to crawl into a hole and hide. But, in those moments, I still see and feel your support and appreciate it greatly."
According to Gibbs, the cancer is unlikely to return but if it does probably would not spread.
"There are only a handful of known cases of this cancer, and I'm the first documented case to occur in the roof of the mouth!" Gibbs wrote.
She ended her tweet with "Back as soon as I can be."
Gibbs has battled depression since high school but said last July in Berkeley, where she reached the final, that she was "doing awesome."

Sofia Kenin, shown en route to the title in the Berkeley Challenger
last July, shocked Serena Williams 6-2, 7-5 today in the third round
of the French Open. Photo by Paul Bauman

Sofia Kenin and Amanda Anisimova combined to win four Challenger singles titles in Northern California in three years.
Both young Americans today reached the fourth round of the French Open, but top-ranked Naomi Osaka's Grand Slam title streak ended at two.
The unseeded Kenin, 20, beat a rusty Serena Williams, seeded 10th, 6-2, 7-5 in Paris to reach the fourth round of a major for the first time. Kenin sobbed afterward.
"I think this is such a great win for me," said Kenin, who won NorCal Challenger singles titles in 2016, 2017 and 2018. "I don't normally cry after a match. I had so many emotions playing on Chatrier. I have always imagined playing there and winning a match. I went there today with the mentality to go and win."
Williams, who had played only one match since March because of a knee injury entering the French Open, pounded 10 aces to none for Kenin but committed 34 unforced errors to Kenin's 17.
"I'm just pretty far away (from optimal conditioning)," Williams said, "but the optimistic part is I haven't been able to be on the court as much as I would have. That's OK. At least I can start trying to put the time in now."
Williams, 37, has not won a tournament since giving birth to her first child on Sept. 1, 2017. The three-time French Open champion (2002, 2013 and 2015) needs one more Grand Slam singles crown to tie Margaret Court's record of 24.

Amanda Anisimova, winning her first professional title in
the 2017 Sacramento Challenger, overcame a viral illness
to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for
the second consecutive time. Photo by Rob Vomund

The unseeded Anisimova, 17, topped Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania 7-6 (6), 6-4 to gain the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the second consecutive time. Before this year, she had not won a main-draw match in a major.
Anisimova withdrew from her doubles match on Friday because of a viral illness.
"Today, I didn't feel well at all," admitted Anisimova, who won her first professional title in the 2017 Sacramento Challenger. "It was just super tough the whole match, and even my warmup. It was just a really big struggle getting through the match today, and I'm just really proud I could take this win today."
Osaka lost to unseeded Czech Katerina Siniakova, the top-ranked doubles player in the world, 6-4, 6-2. Barbora Krejcikova and Siniakova, the defending doubles champions, fell in the first round to Nadiia Kichenok of Ukraine and Abigail Spears of Colorado Springs, Colo.
Siniakova and Paula Kania of Poland advanced to the doubles final in the 2014 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
Osaka has failed to reach the fourth round of the French Open in four career attempts.
Anisimova, if healthy, has a much better chance of reaching her first Grand Slam singles quarterfinal than Kenin or Siniakova. Anisimova, ranked No. 51, is scheduled to play qualifier Aliona Bolsova, a Moldova native who plays for Spain and is ranked No. 137, on Monday.
Kenin will take on eighth-seeded Ashleigh Barty, who reached her first major quarterfinal in the Australian Open in her home country in January and won the biggest title of her career in the Miami Open in March. Barty is 2-0 against Kenin, including a 6-3, 6-2 victory in the first round at Charleston on clay last year.
Siniakova will face 14th-seeded Madison Keys, who won the final edition of the Bank of the West Classic in 2017.
In the third round of men's doubles, 10th-seeded Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands and Horia Tecau of Romania beat seventh-seeded Bob Bryan of Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., and Mike Bryan of Wesley Chapel, Fla., 6-3, 7-6 (7).
The 41-year-old Bryan twins (Stanford, 1997-98) were seeking their third French Open title. Bob Bryan underwent hip replacement surgery last Aug. 2 and returned to competition in January.

Sloane Stephens took a big step today toward her second consecutive French Open final.
In a matchup of former Grand Slam champions, the seventh-seeded Stephens beat 19th-seeded Garbine Muguruza 6-4, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals in Paris.
Stephens, a 26-year-old Fresno product and the 2017 U.S. Open champion, improved to 2-1 against Muguruza, who won the French Open in 2016 and Wimbledon in 2017.
Muguruza also captured the doubles title in the 2014 Bank of the West Classic with fellow Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro.
Stephens, who lost to Simona Halep in last year's French Open final after leading by a set and early service break, is scheduled to face 26th-seeded Johanna Konta of Great Britain on Tuesday.
Konta, the runner-up in two clay-court tournaments this spring (Rome and Rabat), eliminated 23rd-seeded Donna Vekic of Croatia 6-2, 6-4.
Konta, who won the 2016 Bank of the West Classic, is 2-0 against Stephens. Both matches occurred this year, with Konta triumphing 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-1 in the second round in Rome 2 1/2 weeks ago and 6-4, 6-3 in Brisbane in January in the first match of the year for both players.
In the other quarterfinal in the bottom half of the French Open women's draw, 31st-seeded Petra Martic of Croatia will play unseeded Marketa Vondrousova, a Czech left-hander who will turn 20 on June 28.
Of the top five seeds, only No. 3 Halep remains on the women's side but all are still alive on the men's side.
The men's quarterfinals will feature a matchup of Swiss former French Open champions, third-seeded Roger Federer and 24th-seeded Stan Wawrinka.
Federer, who won Roland Garros 10 years ago, dismissed unseeded Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 6-2, 6-3, 6-3. Federer, 37, has not lost a set in four matches in this year's tournament.
Wawrinka, the 2015 French Open champion, outlasted sixth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas, a 20-year-old Greek, 7-6 (6), 5-7, 6-4, 3-6, 8-6 in 5 hours, 5 minutes.
Second-seeded Rafael Nadal, seeking his 12th French Open singles title, will meet either seventh-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan or unseeded Benoit Paire of France. Nishikori, a two-time French Open quarterfinalist, leads 6-2, 6-7 (8), 6-2 in a match suspended by darkness.

Amanda Anisimova slugs a forehand en route to her first
professional title at 15 in the 2017 Sacramento Challenger.
Photo by Rob Vomund

Amanda Anisimova today became the youngest player to reach the French Open quarterfinals since Nicole Vaidisova 13 years ago.
Both players have a Sacramento connection.
Anisimova, 17, of Aventura, Fla., dispatched 21-year-old qualifier Aliona Bolsova, a Spanish citizen from Moldova, 6-3, 6-0 in 69 minutes in Paris to set up a first-time meeting with Simona Halep.
Halep, the third seed and defending champion, crushed 18-year-old Iga Swiatek, last year's Wimbledon girls singles titlist from Poland, 6-1, 6-0 in 45 minutes.
Anisimova, who was born to Russian parents in Freehold, N.J., won her first professional title at 15 in the 2017 Sacramento Challenger. She has not lost a set en route to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
Anisimova also became the youngest American to reach the last eight at Roland Garros since Jennifer Capriati in 1993.
Vaidisova, a Czech, played for the now-defunct Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis from age 15 to 17 (2004-06). She climbed to a career-high No. 7 in 2007 but retired at 20 in 2010 because of burnout. Vaidisova returned in 2014 but retired again at 27 in 2016 because of injuries.
Also in the top half of the French Open draw today, two women coming off big upsets lost.
Sofia Kenin, a 20-year-old American who ousted 10th seed and three-time French Open champion Serena Williams, fell to eighth-seeded Ashleigh Barty of Australia 6-3, 3-6, 6-0. Kenin won Northern California Challenger singles titles in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Katerina Siniakova, who knocked out top-ranked Naomi Osaka, succumbed to 14th-seeded Madison Keys, the champion in the final edition of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in 2017, 6-2, 6-4.
In the quarterfinals in the top half of the French Open men's draw, top-seeded Novak Djokovic will face fifth-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany, and fourth-seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria will meet 10th-seeded Karen Khachanov of Russia.
Djokovic, who won the 2016 French Open title to complete a career Grand Slam, has not lost more than four games in a set in this year's tournament. Thiem reached last year's final, losing to Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.

Johanna Konta, who won the 2016 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, beat
Fresno product Sloane Stephens 6-1, 6-4 today in the French Open quarterfinals.
Konta improved to 3-0 against Stephens, with all matches occurring this year.
2018 photo by Mal Taam

There will be no rematch of last year's French Open women's final.
This year, at least.
Simona Halep has a good chance to retain her title, but Sloane Stephens lost to a nemesis today.
No. 26 seed Johanna Konta, who won the 2016 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, beat No. 7 seed Stephens, a 26-year-old Fresno product, 6-1, 6-4 in the quarterfinals in Paris.
Konta, 28, improved to 3-0 in the head-to-head series. Each match has occurred this year.
"It's definitely one of my best performances," Konta, the first British woman to reach the French Open semifinals since Jo Durie 36 years ago, crowed to reporters. "I feel really pleased with how I dealt with the conditions out there ... "
Konta was 0-4 in the French Open entering this year but reached the final of clay-court tournaments in Rabat (Morocco) early last month and Rome three weeks ago.
Wind blew clay dust off the surface in today's first match on Court Philippe Chatrier. That made Stephens' job more difficult against the more powerful Konta, who won 86 percent of the points (33 of 38) on her first serve to her opponent's 67 percent (24 of 36).
"Clay is a neutralizer, but there wasn't very much clay on the court today," complained Stephens, who at 5-foot-7 (1.70 meters) is four inches (10.2 centimeters) shorter than Konta. "So that was a little bit tough. She likes to play on hard court and grass, and the court was very fast today, and I think that kind of worked in her favor, obviously. Her serving on a court that was playing a lot different than we had been playing on, that was a little bit tricky."
A first-time Grand Slam finalist is guaranteed as Konta is scheduled to face unseeded Marketa Vondrousova, a Czech left-hander who will turn 20 on June 28, on Thursday.
Vondrousova, ranked No. 38, topped 31st-seeded Petra Martic of Croatia 7-6 (1), 7-5. Martic ousted second-seeded Karolina Pliskova, the runner-up in the 2015 Bank of the West Classic, in the third round.
In the men's semifinals, second-seeded Rafael Nadal will renew his rivalry with third-seeded Roger Federer.
Nadal, seeking his12th French Open crown, dismissed seventh-seeded Kei Nishikori 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 in 1 hour, 51 minutes.
Federer, who claimed his only French Open title 10 years ago, subdued friend and countryman Stan Wawrinka, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in 3 hours, 35 minutes.
Federer made his Northern California debut last year in a San Jose exhibition. Wawrinka, the 2015 champion at Roland Garros, is rebounding from two knee operations.
Federer, 37, has won a record 20 Grand Slam men's singles titles, and Nadal, 32, ranks second with 17.
Nadal leads Federer 23-15 overall and 13-2 on clay. They will meet on clay for the first time since Nadal's 6-1, 6-3 victory in the 2013 Italian Open.

The French Open suffered its first rainout in three years today, potentially helping Rafael Nadal and Johanna Konta and possibly hurting Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep.
The quarterfinals in the top half of the men's and women's singles draws were rescheduled for Thursday, when partly cloudy weather is forecast.
At 3 a.m. (Tennis Channel), third seed and defending champion Halep will face unseeded Amanda Anisimova, 17, and eighth-seeded Ashleigh Barty will play 14th-seeded Madison Keys.
Not before 5:30 a.m. PDT (Tennis Channel), the top-seeded Djokovic, seeking his fourth consecutive Grand Slam title, will play fifth-seeded Alexander Zverev, and fourth seed and 2018 runner-up Dominic Thiem will meet 10th-seeded Karen Khachanov.
The women's semifinals, originally scheduled for Thursday, will be played Friday with the men's semis, although more rain is forecast then.
The second-seeded Nadal, seeking his 12th French Open singles crown, and third-seeded Roger Federer, who won his only Roland Garros title 10 years ago, have at least two days to rest between their quarterfinal victories on Tuesday and the resumption of their rivalry on Friday.
But whoever wins Thursday's men's quarterfinals must play another best-of-five-set match on Friday, weather permitting.
Whoever reaches the women's final in the top half of the draw will have played on three consecutive days, if the weather allows. In the bottom half, the 26th-seeded Konta and unseeded Marketa Vondrousova, a Czech left-hander who will turn 20 on June 28, advanced to the semifinals on Tuesday.
As The New York Times reported today, this likely will be one of the last complete rainouts in Grand Slam history. A retractable roof over Court Philippe Chatrier is scheduled to be finished in time for next year's French Open, and all other major tournaments have at least one stadium with that feature.

Amanda Anisimova, shown en route to the title in the $60,000 Sacramento
Challenger at 15 in 2017, shocked defending champion Simona Halep 6-2,
6-4 today to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal. Photo by Rob Vomund

It might be Saturday, later this year or beyond.
But Amanda Anisimova appears destined to win a Grand Slam singles title, probably sooner rather than later.
Only 17, the unseeded Anisimova toppled third seed and defending champion Simona Halep 6-2, 6-4 today in the French Open in Paris to reach her first major semifinal.
Anisimova, who hasn't lost a set in the tournament, became the youngest French Open semifinalist since 17-year-old Nicole Vaidisova in 2006 and the youngest American in the semis at Roland Garros since 14-year-old Jennifer Capriati in 1990.
"I just played the best tennis of my life," Anisimova, who was born in New Jersey to Russian parents and moved to Florida when she was 3, said after facing Halep for the first time. "I don't know how; it just happened."
The 5-foot-11 (1.80-meter) Anisimova, with nothing to lose, was more relaxed than Halep.
"She was pretty calm," said Halep, who admitted she felt pressure defending her title. "She showed that she's able to do good things and big things."
Anisimova won her first professional title at 15 in the 2017 Sacramento Challenger and her maiden WTA crown on clay in Bogota in April. She plans to play in the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic, July 29-Aug. 4 at San Jose State, for the second consecutive year.
Anisimova qualified for last year's inaugural Silicon Valley Classic and extended eventual champion Mihaela Buzarnescu, a Romanian like Halep, to three sets in the second round before falling.
Anisimova or Marketa Vondrousova, a Czech left-hander who will turn 20 on June 28, could become the first teenager to win the French Open since Iva Majoli of Croatia in 1997.
None of the four women's semifinalists have reached a Grand Slam singles final, although Ashleigh Barty of Australia won last year's U.S. Open doubles title with CoCo Vandeweghe after losing in the doubles final once in all four majors.
Both Vaidisova (2004-06) and Vandeweghe (2009, 2012) played for the now-defunct Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis.
On Friday at 2 a.m. PDT (Tennis Channel), Anisimova is scheduled to face the eighth-seeded Barty for the first time, and 26th-seeded Johanna Konta of Great Britain will meet Vondrousova. However, the Paris weather forecast calls for rain in the morning and perhaps afternoon, then wind.
Barty, only 5-foot-5 (1.66 meters), eliminated 14th-seeded Madison Keys 6-3, 7-5.
Konta won the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford in 2016, and Keys won the final edition of the tournament in 2017.
Konta is 1-1 against Vondrousova. Their last meeting occurred only three weeks ago, with Konta winning 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in the Italian Open quarterfinals.
The men's semifinals are scheduled to begin Friday at 3:50 a.m. (Tennis Channel). Second-seeded Rafael Nadal and third-seeded Roger Federer will renew their storied rivalry, followed by top-seeded Novak Djokovic against fourth-seeded Dominic Thiem.
Nadal leads Federer 23-15 overall and 13-2 on clay. Djokovic is 6-2 (3-2 on clay) against Thiem. However, Thiem won 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-0 in the French Open quarterfinals during Djokovic's 2017 slump.

Amanda Anisimov, who won her first professional title at 15 in the 2017 Sacra-
mento Challenger, lost to Ashleigh Barty 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-3 today in the French
Open semifinals. 2018 photo courtesy of JFS Communications

Amanda Anisimova led Ashleigh Barty by a set and 3-0 today in the French Open semifinals.
But Anisimova's first Grand Slam final must wait.
Barty, an Australian seeded eighth, rallied in the second and third sets to defeat the unseeded Anisimova, a 17-year-old American who ousted third seed and defending champion Simona Halep in the quarterfinals, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-3 on a windy, rainy day in Paris.
"She just outplayed me, basically," Anisimova, who won her first professional title at 15 in the 2017 Sacramento Challenger, told reporters.
In a matchup of first-time Grand Slam singles finalists, the 23-year-old Barty is scheduled to play unseeded Marketa Vondrousova, a Czech left-hander who will turn 20 on June 28, on Saturday at 6 a.m. PDT (NBC).
Vondrousova, has not lost a set in the tournament, beat 26th-seeded Johanna Konta, the champion of the 2016 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, 7-5, 7-6 (2). Vondrousova can become the first teenager to win the French Open since Iva Majoli of Croatia in 1997.
Vondrousova reached the girls doubles final in the 2014 French Open with CiCi Bellis, who grew up in Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area. Bellis, the WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2017, is hitting after undergoing four operations on her right wrist, arm and elbow in the past year.
Barty, ranked eighth, has not dropped a set in two career matches against Vondrousova, ranked 38th. This will be their first meeting of the year and first on clay.
Second-seeded Rafael Nadal will play either top-seeded Novak Djokovic or fourth-seeded Dominic Thiem for the men's title on Sunday at 6 a.m. (NBC).
Nadal, seeking his 12th French Open singles crown, dispatched third-seeded Roger Federer 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to improve to 24-15 overall and 6-0 in the French Open in their storied rivalry.
Federer, 37, has won a record 20 Grand Slam men's singles titles, and Nadal, 32, ranks second with 17.
Thiem leads Djokovic 6-2, 3-6, 3-1 in a match suspended by rain. Play will resume on Saturday at 3 a.m. PDT (Tennis Channel). The forecast calls for partly cloudy weather on Saturday and rain on Sunday.
Barty won the Wimbledon girls singles title at 15 in 2011 and reached three Grand Slam women's doubles finals in 2013. But it was too much success too soon, and Barty left tennis in 2014 for nearly two years to play professional cricket.
Barty won 17 of the first 18 points against the 51st-ranked Anisimova, who was born in New Jersey to Russian parents and moved to Florida at 3, to lead 5-0. After losing the set, Barty dropped the first 12 points of the second set to trail 3-0 but managed to pull it out. She then overcame an early break in the third set and converted her sixth match point.
"I played some really good tennis. I played some pretty awful tennis," Barty said. "I'm just proud of myself for the way I was able to fight ands scrap and hang in there and find a way when I kind of threw away that first set."

Ashleigh Barty, playing at Indian Wells in March, became the first Australian
to win the French Open since Margaret Court in 1973. Photo by Harjanto Sumali

Greatness has long been predicted for Ashleigh Barty.
And that was the problem.
Unable to cope with the pressure of expectations after winning the Wimbledon girls singles title at 15 in 2011, Barty walked away from tennis in 2014 for almost two years to play professional cricket.
Barty capped her comeback today with her first Grand Slam singles title. Seeded eighth, the 23-year-old Australian dominated unseeded Marketa Vondrousova, a Czech left-hander who will turn 20 in 20 days, 6-1, 6-3 in 70 minutes in the French Open in Paris.
"It's unbelievable," Barty, who will rise to a career-high No. 2 on Monday, said in an on-court interview. "I'm a little bit speechless. It's incredible. I played the perfect match today. I'm so proud of myself and my team. It's just been a crazy two weeks."
Barty became the first Australian to win the French Open since Margaret Court in 1973 and the first Aussie to capture a Grand Slam singles title since Samantha Stosur in the 2011 U.S. Open.
Both Barty and Vondrousova were playing in their first major singles final. However, Barty has reached the doubles final in all four majors, winning last year's U.S. Open with CoCo Vandeweghe.
Neither Barty nor Vondrousova has played in a WTA tournament in Northern California. Vondrousova, though, does have a NorCal connection. She advanced to the girls doubles final in the 2014 French Open with CiCi Bellis, who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area suburb of Atherton.
Bellis, the WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2017, is hitting after undergoing four operations on her right wrist, arm and elbow in the past year.
Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal is heavily favored to win his 12th French Open singles crown. Seeded second, the 33-year-old Spaniard will face fourth-seeded Dominic Thiem in the final for the second consecutive year on Sunday at 6 a.m. PDT (NBC).
Thiem, a 25-year-old Austrian, outlasted top-seeded Novak Djokovic 6-2, 3-6, 7-5, 5-7, 7-5 in a match that had been suspended in the third set by rain Friday. Djokovic's Grand Slam title streak ended at three.
Nadal, who had today off, leads the head-to-head series against Thiem 8-4 overall and 7-4 on clay. Nadal won 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 in last year's French Open final, but Thiem won their latest meeting 6-4, 6-4 in the Barcelona semifinals on clay en route to the title in April.

Rafael Nadal practices at Indian Wells in March. Photo by Harjanto Sumali

At least Dominic Thiem won a set.
That in itself is an accomplishment against the King of Clay.
Unfortunately for Thiem, he had almost nothing left after tying today's French Open final at one set apiece.
In a rematch of last year's title match at Roland Garros, Rafael Nadal defeated Thiem 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 in Paris for his 12th French Open singles crown.
"It's truly incredible," Nadal, who dominated Dominic 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 in last year's French Open final, said of his success at Roland Garros in an on-court interview. "I cannot explain it."
Thiem, seeded fourth, was playing for the fourth consecutive day because of rain that shuffled the schedule. Meanwhile, the second-seeded Nadal had played only once in the previous four days.
"He stepped on me," said Thiem, a 25-year-old Austrian who was seeking his first major title. "The numbers are crazy. He's won it 12 times."
Nadal broke Margaret Court's record of 11 Australian Open singles titles, seven of which came when only amateurs were allowed to play, and pulled within two of Roger Federer's mark of 20 Grand Slam men's singles titles.
Nadal, who turned 33 on Monday, also became the third-oldest French Open champion after 34-year-old Andres Gimeno (1972) and 33-year-old Ken Rosewall (1968).
Against Thiem, Nadal improved to 9-4 overall, 8-4 on clay and 4-0 in the French Open.

Results of all French Open finals:
Men's singles -- Rafael Nadal (2), Spain, def. Dominic Thiem (4), Austria, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.
Women's singles -- Ashleigh Barty (8), Australia, def. Marketa Vondrousova, Czech Republic, 6-1, 6-3.
Men's doubles -- Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies, Germany, def. Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin, France, 6-2, 7-6 (3).
Women's doubles -- Timea Babos, Hungary, and Kristina Mladenovic (2), France, def. Duan Yingying and Zheng Saisai, China, 6-2, 6-3.
Mixed doubles -- Latisha Chan, Chinese Taipei, and Ivan Dodig, Croatia, def. Gabriela Dabrowski, Canada, and Mate Pavic (2), Croatia, 6-1, 7-6 (5).
Boys singles -- Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune (7), Denmark, def. Toby Kodat, Bradenton, Fla., 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-0.
Girls singles -- Leylah Annie Fernandez (1), Canada, def. Emma Navarro (8), Charleston, S.C., 6-3, 6-2.
Boys doubles -- Matheus Pucinelli De Almeida, Brazil, and Thiago Augustin Tirante (5), Argentina, def. Flavio Cobilli, Italy, and Dominic Stephan Stricker, Switzerland, 7-6 (3), 6-4.
Girls doubles -- Chloe Beck, Watkinsville, Ga., and Emma Navarro, Charleston, S.C., def. Alina Charaeva and Anastasia Tikhonova (4), Russia, 6-1, 6-2.

Giuliana Olmos, left, and Desirae Krawczyk pose after winning the doubles title
in the 2017 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger in the Sacramento area. Photo
by Rob Vomund

Giuliana Olmos, from Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area, won her first WTA doubles title on Sunday.
In a battle of unseeded teams, Olmos and Desirae Krawczyk from Palm Desert, Calif., beat Ellen Perez and Arina Rodionova of Australia 7-6 (5), 7-5 in the final of the Nature Valley Open in Nottingham, England.
Krawczyk and Olmos -- former Pacific-12 Conference rivals at Arizona State and USC, respectively -- did not lose a set in their four matches in the grass-court tournament.
Olmos, a 26-year-old Austria native who plays for Mexico, rose eight spots to a career-high No. 67 in doubles.

Luke Casper, shown last November, defeated Phillip Martin
4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in Sacramento to win the boys 18 singles title
in the NorCal Junior Sectional Championships. Photo by
Paul Bauman

Luke Casper, a 16-year-old Santa Cruz resident, defeated Theodore Dean of Livermore twice Sunday to sweep the boys 18 singles and doubles titles in the NorCal Junior Sectional Championships.
Casper, seeded fourth in singles, beat the fifth-seeded Dean 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 and teamed with Phillip Martin of Los Altos as the fourth seeds to outclass second-seeded Karl Collins of Richmond and Dean 6-2, 6-3 at the Natomas Sports Club in Sacramento.
Casper is the fourth of seven children. The oldest, Caroline, reached the NCAA Division III semifinals as a sophomore at Pomona-Pitzer in 2017 and the NCAA quarterfinals in each of her other three years. The Caspers' father, Mark, played tennis at Santa Clara.
In the girls 18 singles final at the Fremont Tennis Center, top-seeded Katherine Duong of Cupertino topped second-seeded Amber Marie Lee of Orinda 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Lee gained revenge by defeating Duong in the doubles final. Second-seeded Lee and Sofia Zaprianov of Concord beat top-seeded Duong and Nora Lee of Oakland 6-4, 6-1.
Following are results of the other NorCal Junior Sectional finals:

Boys 16

At Natomas Sports Club in Sacramento

Singles

Ryan Torres (1), San Ramon, def. Dylan Tsoi (4), El Dorado Hills, 6-2, 6-2.

Doubles

Nicholas Chen, Oakland, and Ryan Torres (1), San Ramon, def. Aardash Tripathi, Pleasanton, and Emon van Loben Sels (2), Sacramento, 6-2, 6-2.

Girls 16

At Fremont Tennis Center

Singles

Makenna Thiel (4), Piedmont, def. Alisha Chulani (9), Los Altos, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

Doubles

Maryia Hrynashka, Rancho Cordova, and Tomi Main (4), Seaside, def. Makenna Thiel, Seaside, and Madison Weekley (3), Alamo, 6-2, 6-3.

Boys 14

At Arden Hills Athletic & Social Club in Sacramento

Singles

Cyrus Ahmad (2), Fremont, def. Mitchell Lee (1), Oakland, 6-1, 6-1.

Doubles

Alex Fuchs, Los Altos, and Lleyton Okada-Alonzo (2), Marina, def. Krish Arora, San Jose, and Rithvik Katpelly (3), Fremont, 6-3, 3-6 [10-8].

Girls 14

At Arden Hills Athletic & Social Club in Sacramento

Singles

Anya Murthy (2), Fremont, def. Ava Martin (5), Menlo Park, 6-4, 6-4.

Doubles

Ava Martin, Menlo Park, and Natasha Rajaram (1), Cupertino, def. Caroline Beard, Santa Rosa, and Privanka Shanker (3), Napa, 6-1, 7-6 (2).

Boys 12

At University of the Pacific in Stockton

Singles

Jack Satterfield (1), Lafayette, def. Arnav Bhandari (2), San Ramon, 6-2, 6-2.

Doubles

Arnav Bhandari, San Ramon, and Jack Satterfield (1), Lafayette, def. Julian Morris, Alameda, and Leo Terman (4), Palo Alto, 8-4.

Girls 12

At University of the Pacific in Stockton

Singles

Bianca Brown (5), Folsom, def. Georgia McDougall (1), Redwood City, 6-3, 6-3.

Doubles

Bianca Brown, Folsom, and Georgia McDougall (2), Redwood City, def. Annika Penikova and Kristina Penickova (4), Campbell, 8-3.

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