NorCal Tennis Czar

Elina Svitolina, shown en route to the semifinals in the 2015 Bank of the
West Classic at Stanford, has reached four Grand Slam quarterfinals,
including the past two Australian Opens. Photo by Mal Taam

The field for the second Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose features two top-10 players, two former world No. 1s, three Grand Slam singles champions and both of last year's finalists.
No. 7 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine and No. 10 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus top the acceptance list, announced Wednesday, for the July 29-Aug. 4 tournament at San Jose State.
Svitolina has reached four Grand Slam quarterfinals, including the past two Australian Opens. Sabalenka, coached by former longtime Northern California resident Dmitry Tursunov, advanced to the fourth round of last year's U.S. Open.
Also entered in San Jose are former world No. 1s and two-time Grand Slam singles champions Garbine Muguruza and Victoria Azarenka. Both won titles in the Bank of the West Classic, which ended a 21-year run at Stanford in 2017. Muguruza took the doubles crown with fellow Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro in 2014, and Azarenka captured the singles title in 2010.
In addition, Jelena Ostapenko plans to play in San Jose. The Latvian won the 2017 French Open two days after turning 20.
In the final of last year's Silicon Valley Classic, depleted by injuries and upsets, Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania crushed Maria Sakkari of Greece 6-1, 6-0.
Amanda Anisimova, a 17-year-old sensation, heads the U.S. contingent in San Jose. Anisimova, who won her first professional title at 15 in the 2017 Sacramento Challenger, toppled defending champion Simona Halep two weeks ago to become the youngest American in the French Open semifinals since 14-year-old Jennifer Capriati in 1990.
Neither Serena nor Venus Williams, who combined to win five Bank of the West singles titles, is entered in San Jose, but four wild cards will be announced in the next few weeks. The four players who emerge from the July 27-28 qualifying event will round out the 28-player singles draw.
International Tennis Hall of Famers Andy Roddick and Michael Chang and former top-10 players James Blake and Mark Philippoussis will play a one-night tournament as part of the Invesco Series on Saturday night, Aug. 3.

Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic Acceptance List

(With world ranking)

Elina Svitolina, Ukraine, 7
Aryna Sabalenka, Belarus, 10
Qiang Wang, China, 15
Elise Mertens, Belgium, 21
Donna Vekic, Croatia, 22
Petra Martic, Croatia, 25
Garbine Muguruza, Spain, 26
Amanda Anisimova, United States, 27
Carla Suarez Navarro, Spain, 31,
Maria Sakkari, Greece, 33
Danielle Collins, United States, 34
Jelena Ostapenko, Latvia, 37
Victoria Azarenka, Belarus, 41
Mihaela Buzarnescu, Romania, 42
Saisai Zheng, China, 44
Ajla Tomljanovic, Australia, 47
Ekaterina Alexandrova, Russia, 50
Shuai Zhang, China, 52
Andrea Petkovic, Germany, 71
Magda Linette, Poland, 75

Unseeded Sam Riffice, a 20-year-old Sacramento native, beat wild card Ezekiel Clark 6-3, 6-3 today to reach the final of the $25,000 Tulsa (Okla.) Pro Championships for the second consecutive year.
The 5-foot-6 (1.70-meter) Clark, who will be a senior at Illinois, was playing in his hometown.
Riffice, the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year at Florida and a quarterfinalist in last month's NCAA Championships, has not lost more than four games in a set in his four matches this week.
Riffice eliminated eighth-seeded Alexander Ritschard, a 25-year-old Swiss native who plays for the United States, 6-2, 6-3 in the second round and third-seeded Alexander Sarkissian, the 2014 NCAA singles runner-up from Pepperdine, 6-2, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.
Riffice, a 6-foot-2 (1.88-meter) Orlando, Fla., resident, is scheduled to play top-seeded Maxime Cressy, a 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Paris native who plays for the United States, on Sunday at 10 a.m. PDT. Cressy beat former UCLA teammate Martin Redlicki, the fourth seed and last year's NCAA doubles champion with Evan Zhu, 7-5, 6-3.
In their only previous meeting, Riffice defeated Cressy 5-2, retired in the first round in Tulsa last year.
Riffice is 0-3 in singles finals in professional tournaments. He lost to Marc-Andrea Huesler, a 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) left-hander from Switzerland, 6-4, 6-2 last year in Tulsa.
Cressy won the $81,240 Cleveland Challenger in February as a qualifier and the NCAA doubles title with the Bruins' Keegan Smith last month in Orlando.

On paper, today's final in the $25,000 Tulsa (Okla.) Pro Championships was a mismatch.
That's pretty much the way it worked out.
Top-seeded Maxime Cressy, a 22-year-old Paris native who plays for the United States, dominated unseeded Sam Riffice, a 20-year-old Sacramento native, 6-3, 6-1 in 63 minutes.
Riffice, the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year at Florida and a quarterfinalist in last month's NCAA Singles Championships, fell to 0-4 in singles finals of professional tournaments.
Cressy won his third singles title in pro tourneys. He completed his eligibility at UCLA last month after capturing the NCAA doubles title with Keegan Smith.
In today's final, the 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Cressy won 54 percent of the points on his second serve (7 of 13) to the 6-foot-2 (1.88-meter) Riffice's 28 percent (7 of 25).
Cressy held all eight of his service games, hammering 10 aces and committed three double faults. Riffice, who lives in Orlando, Fla., was broken four of eight times. He had one ace and five double faults.
Zamarripa twins win another title– Allura Zamarripa and Maribella Zamarripa, 16-year-old twins from Saint Helena in the Napa area, won their second doubles title in two weeks and third overall in pro tournaments.
Seeded second, they beat unseeded Kimmi Hance of Torrance in the Los Angeles area and Ashlyn Krueger of Flower Mound, Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth region 6-3, 6-1 in the final of a $15,000 tourney in Orlando.

Jelena Ostapenko, shown in 2016, topped Sloane Stephens
1-6, 6-0, 6-3 today in the second round in Eastbourne. Both
are Grand Slam champions. Photo by Paul Bauman

In a matchup of Grand Slam champions, unseeded Jelena Ostapenko ousted seventh-seeded Sloane Stephens 1-6, 6-0, 6-3 today in the second round of the Nature Valley International in Eastbourne, England.
Stephens, a 26-year-old Fresno product, was playing her first match of the grass-court season after reaching the French Open quarterfinals. The 2017 U.S. Open champion and 2018 French Open runner-up received a first-round bye in Eastbourne.
Stephens reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2013 but has not advanced past the third round in six other appearances there. She has lost in the first round in each of the past two years at the All England Club. This year's tournament begins Monday.
Ostapenko, 22, advanced to the quarterfinals of last week's Nature Valley Classic in Birmingham, England, upending French Open semifinalist Johanna Konta of Great Britain in the second round.
Ostapenko won the 2017 French Open two days after turning 20 and last year became the first Latvian woman to reach the Wimbledon semifinals. She is entered in the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic, July 29-Aug. 4 at San Jose State.
Wimbledon qualifying -- Kristie Ahn, a 27-year-old Stanford graduate, defeated British wild card Naomi Broady 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4) in the first round of Wimbledon qualifying at Roehampton in London.
At 5-foot-5 (1.68 meters), Ahn is nine inches (22.9 centimeters) shorter than the 6-foot-2 (1.88-meter) Broady.
Ahn is scheduled to play 32nd-seeded Tamara Korpatsch of Germany for the first time on Wednesday. Korpatsch, 24, outlasted Robin Anderson, like Ahn a diminutive New Jersey native, 6-3, 6-7 (0), 6-4.
Both Korpatsch and Ahn -- ranked No. 145 and No. 191, respectively -- seek their first berth in the main draw at Wimbledon.

Seven-time champion Serena Williams today was seeded 11th for Wimbledon, which begins Monday.
The 37-year-old Williams, a part-time resident of Silicon Valley, has not played since losing to Sofia Kenin in the third round of the French Open. It was Williams' earliest loss at a Grand Slam tournament in five years.
Williams seeks her first major singles title since the 2017 Australian Open and 24th of her career, which would tie Margaret Court's record.
Sloane Stephens, meanwhile, was seeded ninth at Wimbledon. The 26-year-old Fresno product reached the quarterfinals there in 2013 but has lost in the first round in each of the past two years.
Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan were seeded seventh in men's doubles. The 41-year-old twins and former Stanford stars will try to win their fourth Wimbledon title together. Mike Bryan also won last year's title with Jack Sock while Bob Bryan was out with a hip injury that required surgery.
Raquel Atawo, a 36-year-old Fresno native and ex-Cal standout, was seeded 16th in women's doubles with Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine.
Atawo (formerly Kops-Jones) reached the Wimbledon doubles semifinals with Abigail Spears in 2015 and 2016. Kichenok advanced to the final of last year's inaugural Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic at San Jose State with her twin sister, Nadiia. They lost to Latisha Chan and 43-year-old Kveta Peschke.
Wimbledon qualifying -- Unseeded Kristie Ahn, a 27-year-old Stanford graduate, is set to play third-seeded Lauren Davis on Thursday for a berth in the Wimbledon main draw.
Ahn, 5-foot-5 (1.65 meters), dismissed 32nd-seeded Tamara Korpatsch of Germany 6-2, 6-0 in 68 minutes. Davis, 5-foot-2 (1.57 meters), beat fellow Ohio product Francesca Di Lorenzo 6-4, 7-5.
Davis, ranked No. 96 after reaching a career-high No. 26 in May 2017, and Ahn, ranked No. 191, will meet for the first time. Davis, 25, eyes her fifth spot in the Wimbledon main draw, having advanced to the third round in 2014, and Ahn her first.

WIMBLEDON SEEDS

Men's singles

1. Novak Djokovic
2. Roger Federer
3. Rafael Nadal
4. Kevin Anderson
5. Dominic Thiem
6. Alexander Zverev
7. Stefanos Tsitsipas
8. Kei Nishikori
9. John Isner
10. Karen Khachanov
11. Daniil Medvedev
12. Fabio Fognini
13. Marin Cilic
14. Borna Coric
15. Milos Raonic
16. Gael Monfils
17. Matteo Berrettini
18. Nikoloz Basilashvili
19. Felix Auger-Aliassime
20. Gilles Simon
21. David Goffin
22. Stan Wawrinka
23. Roberto Bautista-Agut
24. Diego Schwartzman
25. Alex De Minaur
26. Guido Pella
27. Lucas Pouille
28. Benoit Paire
29. Denis Shapovalov
30. Kyle Edmund
31. Laslo Djere
32. Dusan Lajovic

Women's singles

1. Ashleigh Barty
2. Naomi Osaka
3. Karolina Pliskova
4. Kiki Bertens
5. Angelique Kerber
6. Petra Kvitova
7. Simona Halep
8. Elina Svitolina
9. Sloane Stephens
10. Aryna Sabalenka
11. Serena Williams
12. Anastasija Sevastova
13. Belinda Bencic
14. Caroline Wozniacki
15. Qiang Wang
16. Marketa Vondrousova
17. Madison Keys
18. Julia Goerges
19. Johanna Konta
20. Anett Kontaveit
21. Elise Mertens
22. Donna Vekic
23. Caroline Garcia
24. Petra Martic
25. Amanda Anisimova
26. Garbine Muguruza
27. Sofia Kenin
28. Su-Wei Hsieh
29. Daria Kasatkina
30. Carla Suarez Navarro
31. Maria Sakkari
32. Lesia Tsurenko

Men's doubles

1. Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo
2. Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah
3. Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus
4. Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares
5. Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau
6. Nikola Mektic and Franko Skugor
7. Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan
8. Henri Kontinen and John Peers
9. Maximo Gonzalez and Horacio Zeballos
10. Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski
11. Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin
12. Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury
13. Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies
14. Oliver Marach and Jurgen Melzer
15. Dominic Inglot and Austin Krajicek
16. Robin Haase and Frederik Nielsen

Women's doubles

1. Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic
2. Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova
3. Su-Wei Hsieh and Barbora Strycova
4. Gabriela Dabrowski and Yifan Xu
5. Samantha Stosur and Shuai Zhang
6. Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka
7. Nicole Melichar and Kveta Peschke
8. Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Demi Schuurs
9. Hao-Ching Chan and Latisha Chan
10. Victoria Azarenka and Ashleigh Barty
11. Lucie Hradecka and Andreja Klepac
12. Kirsten Flipkens and Johanna Larson
13. Yingying Duan and Saisai Zheng
14. Veronika Kudermetova and Jelena Ostapenko
15. Irina-Camelia Begu and Monica Niculescu
16. Raquel Atawo and Lyudmyla Kichenok

Kristie Ahn, a 27-year-old Stanford graduate, upset third-seeded
Lauren Davis 6-4, 7-5 today in the final round of Wimbledon
qualifying. 2018 photo by Paul Bauman

Kristie Ahn will make her Wimbledon main-draw debut next week.
The unseeded Ahn, a 27-year-old Stanford graduate, surprised third-seeded Lauren Davis 6-4, 7-5 today in the final round of qualifying at Roehampton in London.
Davis, 5-foot-2 (1.57 meters), had one ace and 10 double faults in an all-American encounter. It was her first career meeting with Ahn, 5-foot-5 (1.65 meters).
Ahn, ranked No. 191 after reaching a career-high No. 105 in January 2018, will learn her first-round opponent when the draw is held Friday.
Ahn will make her third appearance in the singles main draw of a Grand Slam tournament. She still seeks her first victory in a major.
At 16, Ahn qualified for the 2008 U.S. Open before losing to Dinara Safina in the first round. Safina was ranked seventh at the time and reached No. 1 the following year. Ahn also fell in the first round of last year's Australian Open to 20th-seeded Barbora Strycova.

Ten of the 32 women's singles seeds at Wimbledon are entered in the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic, July 29-Aug. 4 at San Jose State.

Elina Svitolina of Ukraine tops the list at No. 8, followed by No. 10 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus and No. 15 Qiang Wang of China.

Also seeded at Wimbledon, which begins Monday, are No. 21 Elise Mertens of Belgium, No. 22 Donna Vekic of Croatia, No. 24 Petra Martic of Croatia, No. 26 Amanda Anisimova of Aventura, Fla., No. 27 Garbine Muguruza of Spain, No. 31 Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain and No. 32 Maria Sakkari of Greece.
Anisimova, 17, stunned defending champion Simona Halep three weeks ago to become the youngest American in the French Open semifinals since 14-year-old Jennifer Capriati in 1990.
Muguruza won the French Open in 2016 and Wimbledon in 2017 and climbed to No. 1 in September 2017.

Sakkari reached the final of last year's inaugural Silicon Valley Classic, losing to Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania.
Neither Serena Williams, 37, nor Venus Williams, 39, is entered in San Jose, but one or both could be among four wild cards who will be announced soon.

All five players with Northern California connections received difficult draws for Wimbledon today.
Especially Serena Williams, a part-time Silicon Valley resident.
The tournament begins innocuously enough for the 11th seed and seven-time Wimbledon champion. Williams, 37, will open against Italy's Giulia Gatto-Monticone, a qualifier ranked No. 162, on Monday or Tuesday.
Assuming Williams wins, she could face fifth-seeded Angelique Kerber in the fourth round in a rematch of last year's Wimbledon final.
Williams also could meet top-ranked Ashleigh Barty in the quarterfnals, sixth-seed and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in the semifinals and second-seeded Naomi Osaka, who stunned Williams in last year's tumultuous U.S. Open final, in the title match.
Williams hopes to tie Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles.
Ninth-seeded Sloane Stephens, a 26-year-old Fresno product, will play Timea Bacsinszky, 30, of Switzerland in a rematch of former Wimbledon quarterfinalists. Looming are 19th seed and British favorite Johanna Konta in the third round and Kvitova or 25th seed Amanda Anisimova of Aventura, Fla., in the fourth round.
Anisimova, 17, stunned defending champion Simona Halep three weeks ago to become the youngest American in the French Open semifinals since 14-year-old Jennifer Capriati in 1990.
The other three players with NorCal ties drew seeds in the first round. However, grass is the seeds' weakest surface.
Qualifier Kristie Ahn, a 27-year-old Stanford graduate, will make her Wimbledon main-draw debut against 12th-seeded Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia. Sevastova is 1-6 at the All England Club.
On the men's side, Sam Querrey, a 31-year-old San Francisco native, will take on fifth-seeded Dominic Thiem, who has reached the last two French Open finals but never has advanced to the quarterfinals in five Wimbledon appearances.
Querrey reached the Wimbledon quarters in 2016 and semis in 2017, ousting the defending champion each time. He will meet countryman Taylor Fritz in Saturday's Nature Valley International final in Eastbourne.
Stanford grad Bradley Klahn will play 21st-seeded David Goffin of Belgium in a clash of 28-year-olds. Goffin advanced to the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2015 and 2016, his best results in six appearances there.
Mayo transfers -- Keenan Mayo, who grew up in the Sacramento suburb of Roseville and trains at the USTA Training Center – West in Carson, will transfer from Illinois to Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles. He will be eligible for the 2019-20 season, according to LMU's website.
Mayo went 9-11 in singles, primarily at No. 4 and No. 5, and 8-10 in doubles, mainly at No. 2, as an Illini freshman last season.

Taylor Fritz and Sam Querrey were unbeatable in Northern California Challengers.
Fritz won the Sacramento and Fairfield titles in consecutive weeks at 17 in 2015 after skipping the Tiburon tournament. Querrey swept the three-week swing through Napa, Sacramento and Tiburon in 2014.
On Saturday, Fritz dominated Querrey 6-3, 6-4 on grass in Eastbourne, England, for his first ATP title.
"It's so amazing," Fritz, a 21-year-old Southern Californian, gushed on atptour.com. "I almost can't believe it. I'm still trying to take it in. I've wanted to win a tour title ever since I made the final (in Memphis) when I was 18. It feels like I've just been waiting so long. I'm so happy."
The matchup of unseeded California natives lasted only 61 minutes. Fritz won 31 of 35 points (89 percent) on his first serve and saved the only break point against him.
The 31-year-old Querrey, who was born in San Francisco and grew up in Thousand Oaks in the Los Angeles area, had nine aces and no double faults. He was playing in his first tournament since Houston in April because of an abdominal injury.
Fritz will rise from No. 42 to a career high of No. 28 on Monday. His mother (Kathy May), father (Guy Fritz) and uncle (Harry Fritz) all played professionally. May climbed to No. 10 in the world and played in three Grand Slam quarterfinals.
Fritz and Querrey are scheduled to play their first-round Wimbledon matches on Tuesday. Fritz will face 2010 runner-up Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, and Querrey will take on fifth-seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria.
Querrey reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 2017 and quarterfinals in 2016, ousting the defending champion -- Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, respectively -- each time. Fritz reached the second round last year for his best result in three Wimbledon appearances.

Thomas Fabbiano, a semifinalist in the Aptos (Calif.)
Challenger last August, shocked seventh-seeded Stefanos
Tsitsipas in five sets in the first round at Wimbledon today.
Photo by Paul Bauman

Ahn and Klahn are gone.

The Stanford graduates lost to seeds today in the first round at Wimbledon.

Kristie Ahn, making her Wimbledon main-draw debut at 27, fell to 12th-seeded Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 6-3, 6-4. Sevastova, a U.S. Open semifinalist last year, had been 1-6 at Wimbledon.

Bradley Klahn, a 28-year-old left-hander, succumbed to 21st-seeded David Goffin of Belgium 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

Neither Ahn nor Klahn is entered in doubles or mixed doubles at Wimbledon.

On an upset-filled day, 15-year-old qualifier Cori "Coco" Gauff ousted fellow American Venus Williams, a 39-year-old five-time Wimbledon champion, 6-4, 6-4.

"On the court, I was not thinking about Venus," Gauff told reporters. "I was just playing my game. No matter who I play against, I want to win."
Gauff, who idolizes Venus and Serena Williams, became the youngest player to win a main-draw match at Wimbledon since Jennifer Capriati in 1991.
Venus Williams made her professional debut in Oakland at 14 in 1994 and reached the final of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford eight times, winning in 2000 and 2002.

Two women's and two men's top-10 seeds also lost today.

Yulia Putintseva, a 24-year-old Moscow native who plays for Kazakhstan, ousted second-seeded Naomi Osaka of Japan 7-6 (4), 6-2. Putintseva also upset Osaka in the second round in Birmingham two weeks ago.

Osaka, 21, has failed to reach the second week of her last two Grand Slam tournaments after winning two consecutive majors.

Magdalena Rybarikova, a 2017 Wimbledon semifinalist from Slovakia, knocked out 10th-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 6-2, 6-4. Sabalenka, 21, is coached by Dmitry Tursunov, a former longtime Northern California resident from Moscow.
On the men's side, Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic surprised sixth-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 in a matchup of 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) players.
Thomas Fabbiano, a 5-foot-8 (1.73-meter) Italian who reached the semifinals of the $100,000 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger last August, shocked seventh-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 (8), 6-3.
Five other women's and men's seeds fell.
American Madison Brengle, who won the $60,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger last October, stunned 16th-seeded Marketa Vondrousova, the recent French Open runner-up who turned 20 on Friday, 6-4, 6-4.
Shuai Zhang of China eliminated 23rd-seeded Caroline Garcia of France 6-4, 6-0. Also, Ajla Tomljanovic, the runner-up in the $60,000 Sacramento Challenger in 2017, dismissed 29th-seeded Daria Kasatkina of Russia 6-3, 6-1.
Ugo Humbert, a left-hander who turned 21 on Wednesday, subdued fellow Frenchman Gael Monfils, seeded 16th, 6-7 (6), 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, 3-0, retired.
Hubert Hurkacz, a 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) Pole, beat 32nd-seeded Dusan Lajovic of Serbia 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Lajovic's countryman, top seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic, outplayed Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 in a clash of 30-something veterans.

Sam Querrey, serving in 2014, recorded his third victory
over a top-five player at Wimbledon. Photo by Paul Bauman

On paper, it was a big upset.
In reality, not so much.
Sam Querrey, a 31-year-old San Francisco native, topped fifth-seeded Dominic Thiem 6-7 (6), 7-6 (1), 6-3, 6-0 on Tuesday in the first round at Wimbledon.
Querrey, ranked No. 65 after reaching a career-high No. 11 in February 2018, saved two set points in the second set against Thiem, who has lost to Rafael Nadal in the final of the last two French Opens.
Overall, Querrey won 62 of 69 points (90 percent) on his first serve, blasted 22 aces and committed four double faults. Thiem, ranked fourth, won 51 of 68 points (75 percent) on his first serve, slugged 15 aces and had three double faults.
Querrey, who advanced to Saturday's Eastbourne final after missing 10 weeks with an abdominal injury, recorded his third victory over a top-five player at Wimbledon. He beat top-ranked Novak Djokovic en route to the 2016 quarterfinals and No. 1 Andy Murray to reach the 2017 semifinals. Djokovic and Murray were defending their titles.
Thiem, meanwhile, lost in the first round at Wimbledon for the second consecutive year. He has never advanced past the fourth round at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in six attempts.
Querrey, now based in Las Vegas, is scheduled to play Andrey Rublev, a 21-year-old Russian, for the first time on Thursday. Rublev, ranked No. 79, defeated Christian Garin, a 23-year-old Chilean, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-4.
Rublev reached the quarterfinals of the 2017 U.S. Open at 19 but missed three months last year, including the French Open and Wimbledon, with a stress fracture in his lower back.
The only other men's seed to lose on Tuesday was No. 29 Denis Shapovalov. The 20-year-old Canadian fell to Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania 7-6 (0), 6-4, 6-3.
Taylor Fritz, a Southern Californian who beat Querrey in Eastbourne for his first ATP title, dispatched Tomas Berdych, the 2010 Wimbledon runner-up, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.
Second-seeded Roger Federer, seeking his ninth Wimbledon title, eliminated Lloyd Harris of South Africa 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. Nadal, the third seed and Wimbledon champion in 2008 and 2010, dismissed Yuichi Sugita of Japan 6-3, 6-1, 6-3.
In the opening round of women's singles, two former Wimbledon champions lost. No. 26 seed Garbine Muguruza (2017) fell to Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil 6-4, 6-4, and injury-plagued Maria Sharapova (2004) bowed out to Pauline Parmentier of France 4-6, 7-6 (4), 5-0, retired (left forearm tendon). Sharapova, a 32-year-old right-hander, was two points from victory.
The only other women's seeds to lose were No. 22 Donna Vekic of Croatia and No. 32 Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine. Alison Riske, who won her second WTA title last month in s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, on grass, downed Vekic 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. Barbora Strycova, a 33-year-old Czech, took out Tsurenko 6-3, 6-2.
Winning in straight sets were top-ranked Ashleigh Barty, fifth seed and defending champion Angelique Kerber, sixth seed and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, 11th seed and seven-time champ Serena Williams, and ninth-seeded Sloane Stephens.
Williams has a residence in Silicon Valley, and Stephens grew up in Fresno.

After defeating Venus Williams on Monday to become the youngest player to win a main-draw match at Wimbledon since Jennifer Capriati in 1991, Cori "Coco" Gauff easily could have suffered a letdown.
Instead, the 15-year-old qualifier dismissed 30-year-old Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova, a Wimbledon semifinalist in 2017, 6-3, 6-3 in 69 minutes on Wednesday.
"The last three days have definitely just kind of been surprising," Gauff, an Atlanta native now based in Delray Beach, Fla., told reporters. "It just shows if you really work hard, you can get where you want to go. Last week around this time, I didn't know I was coming here. It just shows you have to be ready for everything.
"I believe everything happens for a reason. People were telling me to keep working hard and your time will come."
Gauff next will take on unseeded Polona Hercog, a 28-year-old Slovenian who upset 17th-seeded Madison Keys of Boca Raton, Fla., 6-2, 6-4.

Danielle Collins, a semifinalist in last year's inaugural Mubadala Silicon Valley
Classic in San Jose, eliminated 12th-seeded Anastasija Sevastova on Wednes-
day in the second round at Wimbledon. Photo courtesy of JFS Communications

Two other women's seeds lost. American Danielle Collins, a semifinalist in last year's inaugural Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, eliminated 12th-seeded Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Sevastova, a semifinalist in last year's U.S. Open, has never reached the third round in seven Wimbledon appearances.
Dayana Yastremska, a 19-year-old Ukrainian, topped 27th-seeded Sofia Kenin, a 20-year-old Moscow-born American, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. Kenin won Northern California Challengers in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Unlike Gauff, Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan and Madison Brengle of Dover, Del., couldn't back up big wins.
Putintseva, who ousted second-seeded Naomi Osaka in the first round, fell to Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland 6-4, 7-6 (3).
Brengle, who surprised French Open runner-up Marketa Vondrousova in the opening round and won the $60,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger last October, succumbed to Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4.
In an all-Romanian encounter, seventh-seeded Simona Halep beat Mihaela Buzarnescu, the reigning San Jose champion, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
In the second round of men's singles, 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) Reilly Opelka, a 21-year-old American, outlasted 22nd-seeded Stan Wawrinka 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 8-6 in 3 hours, 13 minutes.
Opelka, the 2015 Wimbledon boys singles champion, blasted 23 aces and committed just two double faults. He will face 15th-seeded Milos Raonic, the 2016 Wimbledon runner-up to Andy Murray.
Fernando Verdasco, a 35-year-old Spanish left-hander, took out 30th-seeded Kyle Edmund of Great Britain 4-6, 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-4 in 3 hours, 43 minutes.
Verdasco, who won the 2010 SAP Open in San Jose and reached the final there in 2011, trailed 0-3 in the third set against Edmund, a semifinalist in the $100,000 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger in 2015.
Top seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic dispatched American Denis Kudla 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in 1 hour, 33 minutes. Kudla reached the fourth round at Wimbledon and the final of the $100,000 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger in 2015.
Thomas Fabbiano, a 5-foot-8 (1.73-meter) Italian who advanced to the Aptos semifinals last August, held off 40-year-old Ivo Karlovic, a 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) Croat, 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-4 in 3 hours, 7 minutes. Karlovic, who reached the San Jose final in 2007 and won the Sacramento and Tiburon Challengers in 2011, had 38 aces and eight double faults.
In the first round of doubles:
--Top seeds and 2017 Wimbledon champions Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Marcelo Melo of Brazil defeated Ben McLachlan (Cal, 2011-14) of Japan and Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 7-5.
--Marcelo Demoliner of Brazil and Divij Sharan of India beat 13th seeds and reigning French Open champions Kevin Kraweitz and Andreas Mies of Germany 7-5, 4-6, 7-5.
--Desirae Krawczyk from Palm Desert, Calif., and Giuliana Olmos, a product of Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area who plays for Mexico, topped Alexa Guarachi of Chile and Sabrina Santamaria of Los Angeles 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. Olmos and Santamaria were teammates at USC.
--Top-seeded Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic of France eliminated Americans Jessica Pegula and Maria Sanchez, a Modesto product, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. Babos and Mladenovic seek their second consecutive Grand Slam title. Sanchez defeated Pegula in the final of the 2012 Sacramento Challenger.

Lauren Davis, playing in Stockton (Calif.)
last October, ousted fifth seed and defend-
ing champion Angelique Kerber 2-6, 6-2,
6-1 today in the second round at Wimble-
don. Photo by Paul Bauman

Lauren Davis is making the most of her second chance.
Kristie Ahn, a Stanford graduate, upset fellow American Davis in the final round of Wimbledon qualifying last Thursday, but Davis also advanced to the main draw when some of the wild cards weren't used.
Davis, one of the smallest players in professional tennis at 5-foot-2 (1.57 meters), shocked fifth seed and defending champion Angelique Kerber 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 today to reach the third round at Wimbledon, matching Davis' best result there.
"(It's) definitely been incredible," Davis, 25, told reporters. "I was super disappointed having lost last round of qualies. I found out less than two hours later that I got into main. I was ecstatic about that. It's honestly a dream being here. I played qualies (at Roehampton) last year, so I wasn't able to come here. But, yeah, it feels amazing."
Kerber, the champion of the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, had 13 winners and 31 unforced errors.
Davis, ranked No. 96 after reaching a career-high No. 26 in May 2017, is scheduled to play 30th seed and former top-10 player Carla Suarez Navarro, a 5-foot-4 (1.62-meter) Spaniard, on Saturday.
Suarez Navarro, who won the Stanford doubles title in 2014 with compatriot Garbine Muguruza, defeated France's Pauline Parmentier 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4). Parmentier eliminated Maria Sharapova, who won her first Grand Slam title at 17 at Wimbledon in 2014.
The only other women's seed to lose today was No. 25 Amanda Anisimova. The 17-year-old American, who won her first pro title in the 2017 Sacramento Challenger, fell to Magda Linette of Poland 6-4, 7-5.
Eleventh-seeded Serena Williams, a part-time Silicon Valley resident seeking her eighth Wimbledon and record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles crown, outlasted Kaja Juvan, an 18-year-old Slovenian, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.
Advancing in straight sets were top-ranked Ashleigh Barty, two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and ninth-seeded Sloane Stephens. Barty and Stephens, a 26-year-old Fresno product, needed less than an hour each.
Meanwhile, six men's seeds lost.
Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin, the runner-up to Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in the 2014 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger, toppled ninth-seeded John Isner, who reached the Wimbledon semifinals last year for his best Grand Slam result to date, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in 3 hours, 6 minutes.
Isner, 6-foot-10 (2.08 meters), made his pro debut in a $15,000 Futures tournament in the Sacramento suburb of Shingle Springs in 2007 and won the title.
Baghdatis, the runner-up to Roger Federer in the 2006 Australian Open who reached a career-high No. 8 later that year, retired from pro tennis at 34 after losing to Matteo Berrettini of Italy 6-1, 7-6 (4), 6-3.
Joao Sousa of Portugal eliminated 13th-seeded Marin Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion and 2017 Wimbledon runner-up, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
Great Britain's Daniel Evans, the Aptos champion in 2016 and runner-up in 2013, beat 18th-seeded Nicoloz Basilashvili of Georgia 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (2).
American Tennys Sandgren outlasted 20th-seeded Gilles Simon of France 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 8-6 in 3 hours, 48 minutes. Sandgren reached the singles final in the 2017 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger, losing to Cameron Norrie of Great Britain, and won the doubles title in the 2012 Sacramento Challenger with former University of Tennessee teammate Rhyne Williams.
Two other former Aptos champions upset seeds. Steve Johnson (2012) of Redondo Beach in the Los Angeles area knocked off 25th-seeded Alex De Minaur of Australia 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in 3 hours, 21 minutes. Also, John Millman (2015) of Australia dismissed 31st-seeded Laslo Djere of Serbia 6-3, 6-2, 6-1.
Sam Querrey, a 31-year-old San Francisco native, routed Andrey Rublev, a 21-year-old Russian, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 in 1 hour, 36 minutes.
Third-seeded Rafael Nadal, the Wimbledon champion in 2008 and 2010, subdued Nick Kyrgios 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) in 3 hours, 4 minutes to avenge losses to the mercurial Australian in the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2014, their first meeting, and second round at Acapulco in March, their last encounter. Nadal, 33, improved to 4-3 overall against Kyrgios, 24.
Federer, the second seed and an eight-time Wimbledon champion, beat Jay Clarke, a 20-year-old British wild card, 6-1, 7-6 (3), 6-2.
In the first round of doubles, seventh-seeded Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan topped Denys Molchanov of Ukraine and Igor Zelenay of Slovakia 7-6 (3), 6-4, 6-4. The 41-year-old Bryan twins (Stanford, 1997-98) seek their fourth Wimbledon title together and first since 2013. Mike Bryan also won last year's crown with Jack Sock while Bob Bryan was sidelined with a hip injury that required replacement surgery.
Sixteenth-seeded Raquel Atawo, a Fresno native and former Cal star, and Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine held off Mandy Minella of Luxembourg and Heather Watson of Great Britain 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.

The tennis world is going cuckoo for Coco.

Cori "Coco" Gauff's dream run at Wimbledon continued today as the 15-year-old American qualifier saved two match points in a nerve-wracking 3-6, 7-6 (7), 7-5 triumph over Polona Hercog of Slovenia.

Gauff, an Atlanta native now based in Delray Beach, Fla., became the youngest player to reach the round of 16 at Wimbledon since Jennifer Capriati in 1991.

Hercog, 28, led 5-2 (one service break) in the second set of the 2-hour, 47-minute battle. Gauff, playing on Centre Court for the first time, saved the first match point against her with a backhand slice down the line that almost was wide, and she held serve for 3-5. The 6-foot (1.83-meter) Hercog, ranked No. 60, double-faulted on her second match point for 4-5.

Gauff bolted to a 4-1 lead in the third set, but Hercog rallied for 4-4. Hercog had a game point while serving at 5-6 but made two consecutive forehand errors to hand Gauff her first match point. A rally ended with Hercog hitting a lob long.
"When I was walking on the court, I kind of wasn't nervous, but I was just like, 'Wow, I'm really on Centre Court, one of the most sacred courts in the world,'" Gauff told reporters. "When I was down 5-2, I was just like, 'I can fight back. Just need to hold serve, break, then we'll see what happens from there.'"

Former world No. 1 Simona Halep is scheduled to face
15-year-old sensation Cori "Coco" Gauff on Monday in
the round of 16 at Wimbledon. Photo by Paul Bauman

Gauff, ranked No. 313, can crack the top 100 with a victory over seventh-seeded Simona Halep, on Monday. Halep, who won last year's French Open for her first and only Grand Slam title, whipped Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 6-1 in 66 minutes in a matchup of former world No. 1s.

Gauff wasn't the only teenager to reach the round of 16. Dayana Yastremska, a 19-year-old Ukrainian, defeated Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland 7-5, 6-3.

Two women's seeds lost to unseeded players. Zhang Shuai eliminated 14th-seeded Caroline Wozniacki 7-5, 6-3, and Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic beat 20th-seeded Anett Kontaveit of Estonia 7-6 (7), 6-3.

Third-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic and eighth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine advanced in three sets. In 2015, Pliskova reached the final of the Bank of the West Classic, which ended a 21-year run at Stanford in 2017, and Svitolina advanced to the semifinals in her only San Francisco Bay Area appearance.

Meanwhile, three of the top 11 men's seeds lost to low seeds.

No. 26 seed Guido Pella, a 6-foot (1.83-meter) left-hander from Argentina, ousted a towering Wimbledon runner-up for the second consecutive year. He beat fourth-seeded Kevin Anderson, a 6-foot-8 (2.03-meter) South African who lost to Novak Djokovic in last year's final, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (4).

Pella last year rallied from two sets down to knock out 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Marin Cilic, the 2017 runner-up to Roger Federer, in the second round before falling to Mackenzie McDonald, who grew up in Piedmont in the Bay Area. McDonald has been out with an injury since losing in the first round of the French Open in late May.

Anderson was playing in only his second tournament since the Australian Open in January because of a right elbow injury.

No. 23 seed Roberto Bautista Agut, a Spaniard who missed Wimbledon last year with groin and abdomen injuries, beat 10th seeded Karen Khachanov, a 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Russian, 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-1.

Also, 21st-seeded David Goffin of Belgium subdued 11th-seeded Daniil Medvedev of Russia 4-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 in 3 hours, 31 minutes.

Ugo Humbert, a 21-year-old French left-hander, surprised 19th-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime, an 18-year-old rising star from Canada, 6-4, 7-5, 6-3.

The top-seeded Djokovic needed three hours to defeat Hubert Hurkacz, a 22-year-old Pole who stands 6-foot-5 (1.96 meters), 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-4.

Milos Raonic and Fernando Verdasco, who combined to win four singles titles in the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose, advanced in straight sets.

Raonic, the 15th seed and 2016 Wimbledon runner-up to Andy Murray, eliminated 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) Reilly Opelka, who won the boys singles title at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in 2015, 7-6 (1), 6-2, 6-1.

The unseeded Verdasco, a 35-year-old Spanish left-hander, beat 5-foot-8 (1.73-meter) Italian Thomas Fabbiano, a semifinalist in the $100,000 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger last August, 6-4, 7-6 (1), 6-4.
Raonic never lost a set in three appearances in the SAP Open in San Jose, winning the last three titles before the tournament moved to Rio de Janeiro in 2014 after 125 years in Northern California.
Verdasco won the 2010 SAP Open and reached the 2011 final, losing to Raonic.

Serena Williams, playing at Indian Wells in March, beat Julia Goerges of Germany
6-3, 6-4 today to reach the round of 16 at Wimbledon. Photo by Harjanto Sumali

Form held for Serena Williams and Sloane Stephens today at Wimbledon.
That was good news for Williams and bad news for Stephens.
The 11th-seeded Williams, a 37-year-old part-time resident of Silicon Valley, dispatched 18th-seeded Julia Goerges of Germany 6-3, 6-4 to reach Monday's round of 16.
Williams, a seven-timeWimbledon singles champion, has never dropped a set against Goerges, who lost to Williams in last year's semifinals at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in five career matches.
The ninth-seeded Stephens, a 26-year-old Fresno product, fell to British favorite Johanna Konta, seeded 19th, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion and 2018 French Open runner-up, is 0-4 against Konta, who won the 2016 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford but has never reached a major final.
In the men's draw, Sam Querrey, a 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) San Francisco native, pounded 27 aces in a 7-6 (3), 7-6 (8), 6-3 victory over John Millman of Australia.
Querrey reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 2017 and quarterfinals in 2016, ousting defending champions Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, respectively.
Millman in 2015 became the first No. 1 seed in the history of the Aptos (Calif.) Challenger, which was 28 years old at the time, to win the title.
Williams will face 30th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro, a 30-year-old Spaniard who eliminated American lucky loser Lauren Davis 6-3, 6-3.
Davis, one of the smallest players in professional tennis at 5-foot-2 (1.57 meters), was coming off a victory over fifth seed and defending champion Angelique Kerber.
Williams – the Bank of the West Classic champion in 2011, 2012 and 2014– has never lost more than three games in a set in six career matches against the 5-foot-4 (1.62-meter) Suarez Navarro, who won the Stanford doubles title in 2014 with countrywoman Garbine Muguruza. In fact, Williams demolished Suarez Navarro 6-0, 6-0 in the quarterfinals of the 2013 U.S. Open.
Konta, 28, will play sixth-seeded Petra Kvitova, the Wimbledon champion in 2011 and 2014. Kvitova, who suffered a career-threatening hand injury in a 2016 knife attack, leads the head-to-head series 3-1.
Also today, Barbora Strycova, a 33-year-old Czech, bounced fourth-seeded Kiki Bertens, a Wimbledon quarterfinalist last year, 7-5, 6-1.
Strycova, a member of six Fed Cup championship teams, advanced to the Wimbledon quarters in 2014 for her best Grand Slam singles result.
Top-ranked Ashleigh Barty, seeking her second consecutive major title, dismissed Harriet Dart, a 22-year-old British wild card, 6-1, 6-1 in 53 minutes.
Barty, who has not surrendered more than four games in a set in three matches this week, will meet unseeded American Alison Riske, who surprised 13th-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Riske, 29, won a Wimbledon tuneup tournament in s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, last month for her second career WTA title.
Querrey, ranked No. 65 after climbing to a career-high No. 11 in February 2018, will meet countryman Tennys Sandgren, ranked No. 94, for the first time.
Sandgren, a quarterfinalist in the 2018 Australian Open and the runner-up in the 2017 Tiburon (Calif.) Challenger, eliminated 12th-seeded Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-3, 7-6 (12), 6-3.
Fognini, who shocked Rafael Nadal en route to his first Masters 1000 title in Monte Carlo title on clay in April, has never reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in 11 appearances.
Second-seeded Roger Federer and the third-seeded Nadal – who have won eight and two Wimbledon singles titles, respectively – advanced in straight sets.
Unseeded Mikhail Kukushkin, the Aptos runner-up in 2014 coming off a win over ninth-seeded John Isner, beat 33rd-seeded Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany 6-3, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-5 to reach the fourth round of a major for the second time and first since 2012.
Unseeded Joao Sousa of Portugal outlasted 5-foot-9 (1.75-meter) Daniel Evans of Great Britain 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 in 3 hours, 56 minutes.
Sousa, 30, ousted 13th-seeded Marin Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion and 2017 Wimbledon runner-up, in the second round. Evans won Aptos in 2016 and reached the final there in 2013.
Seventeenth-seeded Matteo Berrettini, a 23-year-old Italian who won a Wimbledon tuneup tournament in Stuttgart last month without dropping a set, topped 24th-seeded Diego Schwartzman, a 5-foot-7 (1.70-meter) Argentine, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (2), 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in 4 hours, 19 minutes.
Bob Bryan and Murray, both rebounding from hip replacement surgery, won in men's doubles and mixed doubles, respectively.
Seventh-seeded Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan beat Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela of Mexico 6-7 (13), 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 in the second round.
The 41-year-old Bryan twins (Stanford, 1997-98) have won three Wimbledon titles together, most recently in 2013. Mike Bryan also won last year's crown with Jack Sock while Bob Bryan was sidelined with a hip injury that required replacement surgery.
Murray, 32, and Williams defeated Andreas Mies of Germany and Alexa Guarachi of Chile 6-4, 6-1 in the first round.
In the second round of women's doubles, Anna-Lena Friedsam and Laura Siegemund of Germany eliminated 16th-seeded Raquel Atawo (Cal, 2001-04) of San Jose and Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine 2-6, 6-4, 6-0.

CiCi Bellis climbed to a career-high No. 35 two weeks after reaching the semi-
finals of the 2017 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, a five-minute drive from
her hometown of Atherton. 2017 photo by Mal Taam

After four operations on her right wrist/forearm, CiCi Bellis said on a recent tennis.com podcast that she hopes to play in the U.S. Open in late August.
The petite 5-foot-7 (1.68-meter) right-hander has been sidelined since losing 6-3, 6-0 to 6-foot (1.83-meter) Victoria Azarenka, formerly ranked No. 1, in the first round at Miami in March 2018.
The first surgery was to repair three tears in Bellis' wrist, the second to shave a bone in her elbow, the third to shorten a bone in her wrist and insert a plate, and the fourth to remove the plate.
Bellis, a 20-year-old San Francisco Bay Area product, admitted that she contemplated retirement "multiple times" during her layoff.
"After each surgery, I said to my family and friends, 'I can't believe I got through that,'" said Bellis, an Orlando, Fla., resident whose boyfriend is Sam Riffice, a University of Florida star from the Sacramento suburb of Roseville. "Each one, I was like, 'Oh, no, I'm not doing that. I'm done with tennis. I can't do this anymore. I'm not going to put my body through it.' Even before the first one, I was like, 'I'm not going to do it. It's not worth it.'
"Especially before the third one, what I had to get done seemed so barbaric to me that I was like, 'This just can't be real.' But my gut told me to do it and try to come back."
Bellis elaborated on the third operation.
"They had had to break the bone in my forearm," she said. "They couldn't even shorten it from the top. They literally went in the middle, broke it, shortened it and reconnected it with a plate."
Bellis first made headlines at 15 by stunning 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova in the first round of the 2014 U.S. Open. Cibulkova had reached the final of the Australian Open that year, losing to since-retired Li Na.
Bellis turned pro after reaching the third round of the 2016 U.S. Open as a qualifier after verbally committing to Stanford, a five-minute drive from her hometown of Atherton. She reached a career-high No. 35 in August 2017 and was named the WTA Newcomer of the Year.
Bellis' ordeal has given her second thoughts about rejecting a scholarship to Stanford.
"There definitely have been times this year where I was like, 'Wow, this may not have happened if I (had gone) to college,' she said. "I could have happened when I was playing juniors or at any point in my career, but honestly, just with the level I was playing at and the pace I was receiving each match, the hard hitting, my wrist finally just kind of snapped.
"If I (had gone) to college, it wouldn't have been as much stress on my wrist. Obviously, I would have been practicing and training less. It definitely would have been a different path. Yeah, I've definitely thought about that a lot in the last year, but I've stuck to this choice, and I'm going to ride with it."

Alison Riske, playing in the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at
Stanford, shocked top-ranked Ashleigh Barty 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to-
day at Wimbledon to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
Photo by Mal Taam

Two of the top three women's seeds lost today at Wimbledon.
That leaves No. 7 Simona Halep, who ended 15-year-old Coco Gauff's impressive run, as the highest seed in the quarterfinals. No. 11, however, is seven-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams.
Unseeded American Alison Riske shocked top-ranked Ashleigh Barty 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
Also, unseeded Karolina Muchova, making her Wimbledon main-draw debut this year at 22, outlasted third seed and fellow Czech Karolina Pliskova, the runner-up at the U.S. Open in 2016 and and the 2015 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, 4-6, 7-5, 13-11 in 3 hours, 17 minutes. And Halep dispatched Gauff 6-3, 6-3.
Riske, who won a Wimbledon tuneup tournament last month in s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, for her second WTA singles title, has needed three sets to prevail in all four of her matches at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. She also has eliminated 13th-seeded Belinda Bencic and 22nd-seeded Donna Vekic.
"I'm so thrilled," the 55th-ranked Riske, who reached the Stanford semifinals in 2016 and quarterfinals in 2015, told reporters. "I think honestly the biggest key for me has just been to battle from start to finish of every match that I've been part of. Judging by the scoreline, they haven't all gone perfect.
"I feel like I've been there in every moment, looking to impose myself. I'm really most proud about that. I think just being tough has been the key."
Riske snapped Barty's winning streak at 15 matches, including titles in the French Open and on grass in Birmingham, England.
"I think I started well," Barty said. "I was sticking to how I wanted to play. Then in the second set, I think my serve let me down. I let Alison get back into the match too many times, having looks at second serves.
"Overall, I didn't play a poor match. When I needed to, when the big moments were there, Alison played better today. Tough one to swallow, but I lost to a better player."
Riske, 29, is scheduled to play Williams, 37, for the first time on Tuesday at 5 a.m. PDT (ESPN). Williams routed 30th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 6-2 in 64 minutes.
Williams – the Stanford champion in 2011, 2012 and 2014– has never lost more than three games in a set in seven career matches against the 5-foot-4 (1.62-meter) Suarez Navarro, who won the Stanford doubles title in 2014 with fellow Spaniard Garbine Muguruza. In fact, Williams demolished Suarez Navarro 6-0, 6-0 in the quarterfinals of the 2013 U.S. Open.
In the other Wimbledon women's quarterfinals, Halep will face unseeded Zhang Shuai, eighth-seeded Elina Svitolina will meet Muchova, and 19th-seeded Johanna Konta will face unseeded Barbora Strycova, a 33-year-old Czech.
Konta, who reached the Wimbledon semifinals and won the Stanford title in 2017, outlasted No. 6 seed Petra Kvitova, the champion in 2011 and 2014 at the All England Club, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
Whereas four unseeded women advanced to the quarterfinals, only one unseeded man did. Sam Querrey, a 31-year-old San Francisco native, topped Tennys Sandgren 6-4, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) to reach the quarters or better at Wimbledon for the third time in four years.
The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Querrey, now based in Las Vegas, pounded 25 aces in the first match between U.S. men in the second week of a Grand Slam tournament since 2007 and the first at Wimbledon since 2000.
No. 26 seed Guido Pella, a 29-year-old left-hander from Argentina, subdued No. 15 seed Milos Raonic, the Wimbledon runner-up to Andy Murray in 2016, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3), 8-6 in 3 hours, 42 minutes. The 6-foot-5 (1.96 meters) Raonic fired 33 aces.
Raonic never lost a set in three appearances in the SAP Open in San Jose, winning the title in 2011, 2012 and 2013 before the tournament moved to Rio de Janeiro.
The top three Wimbledon men's seeds – No. 1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic, No. 2 Roger Federer and No. 3 Rafael Nadal – coasted in straight sets.
The matchups in Wednesday's men's quarterfinals are Djokovic against 21st-seeded David Goffin, Pella vs. 23rd-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut, Nadal against Querrey, and Federer vs. eighth-seeded Kei Nishikori.
Nadal is 4-1 against Querrey. They will meet on grass for the first time.
In the third round of men's doubles, 11th-seeded Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France beat seventh-seeded Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan 7-6 (3), 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (5).
The 41-year-old Bryan twins (Stanford, 1997-98) were seeking their fourth Wimbledon title and first major crown together since the 2014 U.S. Open.
Mike Bryan won last year's Wimbledon title with Jack Sock while Bob Bryan was sidelined with a hip injury that required replacement surgery.

Serena Williams, playing in Indian Wells in March, appears headed for a record-
tying 24th Grand Slam singles title. Photo by Harjanto Sumali

It will take a big upset to prevent Serena Williams from winning a milestone Grand Slam title.
Of course, it has happened before.
The 11th-seeded Williams, a part-time Silicon Valley resident, outplayed unseeded Alison Riske of Nashville, Tenn., 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 today in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
Williams, who's trying to tie Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam singles title, is 16-2 combined against the other semifinalists. She has never lost a set in three career matches (all in majors) against her next opponent, Barbora Strycova, is 9-1 against Simona Halep and is 4-1 against Elina Svitolina.
The unseeded Strycova beat 19th-seeded Johanna Konta 7-6 (5), 6-1, and the seventh-seeded Halep downed unseeded Zhang Shuai 7-6 (4), 6-1. Svitolina, seeded eighth, stopped unseeded Karolina Muchova 7-5, 6-4.
Strycova, a 33-year-old Czech, and Svitolina, a 24-year-old Ukrainian, reached their first Grand Slam semifinals.
Svitolina is 4-3 against Halep, 27. They have never met on grass.
Williams won three singles titles (2011, 2012 and 2014) and Konta one (2016) in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
Svitolina, a semifinalist in her only Bank of the West appearance in 2015, is scheduled to play in the second annual Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic, July 29-Aug. 4 at San Jose State.
Williams was two victories from pulling off the first calendar-year Grand Slam since Steffi Graf's in 1988 when she lost to unseeded Roberta Vinci in the 2015 U.S. Open semifinals.
In today's match, Williams had 19 aces and two double faults to Riske's one and six, respectively.
With Riske serving at 3-4, 30-30 in the third set, she played two terrible points in a row. Riske hit down the line instead of into the open court, allowing Williams to put away a forehand volley, and double-faulted. Williams closed out the match with -- what else? -- an ace down the middle.
In the men's doubles quarterfinals, 11th-seeded Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France ousted top seeds and 2017 champions Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Marcelo Melo of Brazil 7-6 (3), 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3.
Mahut and Roger-Vasselin were coming off a four-set victory over seventh seeds and three-time champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, 41-year-old ex-Stanford stars.
In the second round of mixed doubles, Andy Murray and Williams beat 14th-seeded Fabrice Martin of France and Raquel Atawo (Cal, 2001-04) of San Jose 7-5, 6-3.
Murray won the first of his 45 tour-level singles titles at 18 in the 2006 SAP Open in San Jose and repreated the following year.

Roger Federer, left, and Rafael Nadal shake hands after Federer's 6-2, 6-3
victory in the fourth round of the 2017 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
Photo by Mal Taam

Some consider it the greatest tennis match ever.
In the 2008 Wimbledon final, Rafael Nadal subdued Roger Federer 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (8), 9-7 in 4 hours, 48 minutes. The epic was immortalized in the 2018 documentary "Strokes of Genius."
Federer and Nadal – who rank first and second with 20 and 18 Grand Slam singles titles, respectively – will meet on grass for the first time since then in Friday's second Wimbledon semifinal. That will follow the 5 a.m. PDT matchup between Novak Djokovic, who ranks third with 15 major singles crowns, and Roberto Bautista Agut. ESPN will televise both matches live.
Nadal, 33, is 24-15 against Federer, 37. The Swiss maestro has a 2-1 edge on grass, having beaten Spanish star in the 2006 and 2007 Wimbledon finals.
Federer, who made his Northern California debut in a San Jose exhibition last year, has won a record eight singles titles at the All England Lawn Tennis Club and Nadal two.
"He has improved so much over the years on this surface," the second-seeded Federer, who topped eighth-seeded Kei Nishikori 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4, told reporters. "He's playing also very different than he used to. Haven't played each other in a long, long time on this surface. He's serving way different. I remember back in the day how he used to serve, and now how much bigger he's serving, how much faster he finishes points.
"A lot of (people were) saying, 'Oh, it's the end,' by 2008. Similar to me in '09. We're still here, so it's nice to play each other again."
Nadal, seeded third, beat unseeded Sam Querrey, a 31-year-old San Francisco native, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 to reach the semifinals for the second consecutive year. Querrey, 6-foot-6 (1.98 meters), had 22 aces and only three double faults.
"It's a great feeling to be back in the semifinals, be able to play at this level," Nadal said. " ... (I'm) very happy the way that we managed to be in that round. Now to play against Roger always is a unique situation. Excited to be back on this court against him after 11 years. Means a lot for me and probably for him, too."
Djokovic, the top seed and defending champion, needed only 1 hour, 57 minutes to dispatch 21st-seeded David Goffin of Belgium 6-2 6-0, 6-2.
Bautista Agut, a Spanish veteran seeded 23rd, eliminated 26th-seeded Guido Pella, a left-hander from Argentina, 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to reach his first Grand Slam semifinal. Bautista Agut missed Wimbledon last year with groin and abdomen injuries.
Djokovic is 7-3 against Bautista Agut, who has won the last two encounters, both this year on hard courts. They have never met on grass.
In the third round of mixed doubles, top-seeded Bruno Soares of Brazil and Nicole Melichar of Stuart, Fla., beat unseeded Andy Murray and Serena Williams, a part-time Silicon Valley resident, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
Murray was playing in his third tournament, all in doubles, since undergoing hip surgery in January. He won the first of his 45 tour-level singles titles – 14th in the Open Era and fourth among active players behind Federer, Nadal and Djokovic – at 18 in the 2006 SAP Open in San Jose and repeated the following year.

Nicole Gibbs, playing in the $60,000 Berkeley Tennis Club Challenge
last July, beat qualifier Sophia Whittle today in the first round of the
$60,000 Tennis Championships of Honolulu. Photo by Paul Bauman

In her first match since undergoing cancer surgery, second-seeded Nicole Gibbs (Stanford, 2011-13) beat qualifier Sophia Whittle 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3 today in the first round of the $60,000 Tennis Championships of Honolulu.
The match lasted 2 hours, 15 minutes in 80-degree (26.7 Celsius) heat and 67 percent humidity.
Gibbs, 26, played for the first time since losing in the first round of a $100,000 clay-court tournament in Bonita Springs, Fla., in early May. She had surgery for a rare cancer in the roof of her mouth on May 17 in Los Angeles.
Whittle, from Nipomo, Calif., (near San Luis Obispo), ended her Gonzaga career in May ranked ninth nationally in singles. She received a wild card into qualifying and edged fourth-seeded Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area 5-7, 6-1 [10-7] on Tuesday to advance to the main draw.
Gibbs, who won three NCAA titles (two in singles and one in doubles) in her three years at Stanford, is scheduled to play another qualifier, Alycia Parks of Port St. Lucie, Fla., on Thursday. Parks, an 18-year-old professional, defeated yet another qualifier, former Oklahoma State star Vladica Babic of Montenegro, 6-3, 6-4.
Babic and Sofia Blanco of Argentina reached the NCAA doubles final in 2018, losing to Jessica Golovin and Eden Richardson of LSU in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Gibbs advanced to the final of last year's $60,000 Berkeley Tennis Club Challenge, falling to Sofia Kenin, now ranked 28th in the world. The main draw of this year's Berkeley tournament is set to begin Tuesday.
Altamirano scores upset – Collin Altamirano, a 23-year-old Sacramentan, routed former University of Virginia teammate Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, the 2017 NCAA singles champion, 6-3, 6-0 in the second round of the $54,160 Nielsen Pro Tennis Championship in Winnetka, Ill.
Altamirano, who broke through to reach his first Challenger semifinal last year in Winnetka as a qualifier, is scheduled play fourth-seeded Denis Istomin, 32, of Uzbekistan on Thursday.
Istomin advanced to the fourth round of the 2017 Australian Open, stunning six-time champion Novak Djokovic in the second round. Istomin also reached the final of the 2012 SAP Open in San Jose, falling to Milos Raonic, and climbed to a career-high No. 33 later that year.

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