Sunday, October 13, 2013

Top two seeds ousted in Tiburon semifinals

Third-seeded Matthew Ebden of Aus-
tralia will meet unseeded Peter Polan-
sky of Canada in the final of the Tibur-
on Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman
   The top two seeds played in the semifinals of the $100,000 First Republic Bank Tiburon Challenger.
   Neither reached the final.
   Third-seeded Matthew Ebden of Australia eliminated No. 1 Denis Kudla of Boca Raton, Fla., 7-5, 6-3 on Saturday at the Tiburon Peninsula Club. Unseeded Peter Polansky of Canada took out No. 2 Tim Smyczek of Tampa, Fla., 6-4, 7-6 (4).
   It was the second career meeting between Ebden and Kudla. The first came two weeks ago in the quarterfinals of the Napa Challenger, with Ebden winning by the almost identical score of 6-3, 7-5. He went on to reach the final, losing to Donald Young after leading by a set and a service break.
   Ebden is 1-0 against Polansky, prevailing 0-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the first round at Toronto last year on the ATP World Tour.
   Ebden is ranked No. 116 in the world after climbing to a career-high No. 61 last October. Polansky is No. 222, down from a career-high No. 149 in September 2012. Both players are 25.
   Ebden has played in three Challenger singles finals, winning one. 
   Polansky advanced to his second career Challenger singles final after losing in the second round at Napa and last week in Sacramento. He fell to Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil on clay in Panama City final last year.
   The top seeds in doubles also lost Saturday. Australians Samuel Groth and Chris Guccione fell to third-seeded Austin Krajicek of Tampa, Fla., and Rhyne Williams of Knoxville, Tenn., 6-4, 7-6 (3) in the semifinals.
   Guccione, a 6-foot-7 (2.01-meter) left-hander, won the 2012 Tiburon title with Rik de Voest of South Africa and the 2011 crown with longtime former partner Carsten Ball of Australia.
   Krajicek and Williams will meet second-seeded Bradley Klahn, a former Stanford All-American, and Rajeev Ram in an all-American final. 
   Following are links to the Tiburon singles and doubles draws and today's schedule:
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/singles_draw293.PDF
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/doubles_draw294.PDF
   http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/schedule294.PDF

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