Sunday, September 22, 2013

Aptos finalists to meet in first round at Napa

Bradley Klahn, far right, beat Daniel Evans, far left, in the final of the $100,000
  Comerica Bank Challenger in Aptos, Calif., last month.
    Last month, Bradley Klahn saved a championship point and defeated Daniel Evans in Aptos, Calif., for his first Challenger title.
   Early next week, they will meet in the first round of the $50,000 Napa Valley Challenger at the Napa Valley Country Club.
   The draw for the inaugural tournament was held Saturday. Monday's schedule will be released today.
   Klahn, a 2012 Stanford graduate from the San Diego suburb of Poway, is seeded fifth with a world ranking of No. 133. Evans, from Great Britain, is unseeded at No. 152. Both players are 23 years old.
   Evans reached the third round of the recent U.S. Open, stunning 11th-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan and 2011 Wimbledon quarterfinalist Bernard Tomic, to earn $93,000. Klahn advanced to the second round at Flushing Meadows for the second consecutive year, pocketing $53,000.
   Americans Denis Kudla and Tim Smyczek are seeded first and second, repectively, in Napa. Kudla, ranked 95th, will face No. 345 Edward Corrie of Great Britain. Smyczek, ranked 104th, will meet No. 446 Vijayant Malik of India.
   Two wild cards with Northern California ties will play seeds from the United States in the first round. Collin Altamirano, 17, of Elk Grove in the Sacramento area will take on third-seeded Rhyne Williams. Ben McLachlan, a senior at Cal from New Zealand, will go against fourth-seeded Alex Kuznetsov.
   In an intriguing first-round qualifying match on Saturday, Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia subdued Mitchell Frank of Annandale, Va., 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
    Kokkinakis, 17, reached the boys singles final at this year's U.S. Open and Australian Open and won the boys doubles title at Wimbledon with countryman Nick Kyrgios in July.
   Frank returned to the University of Virginia for his junior year after giving the Cavaliers  4-3 victory over UCLA in May for their first NCAA team title in tennis. Frank overcame a championship point to win the decisive match at No. 3 singles.
   In a matchup of wild cards from Stanford, sophomore Anthony Tsodikov of San Francisco dismissed senior Jamin Ball of Palo Alto 6-3, 6-2.
   Matt Seeberger, a former UC Santa Cruz star, coasted past fellow wild card Robert Stineman, a Stanford junior from Winnetka, Ill., 6-1, 6-2.
   Here are links to the main draw, qualifying draw and Sunday's schedule:
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/singles_draw287.PDF
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/qualifying_draw285.PDF
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/schedule288.PDF  

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