Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Ex-Stanford star Klahn rises to No. 2 in U.S.

Bradley Klahn replaced Sam Querrey as the No. 2 American
behind John Isner. 2012 photo by Paul Bauman
   In both a tribute to Bradley Klahn and sad comment on the state of U.S. men's tennis, the former Stanford star became the second-ranked American man less than two years after turning professional.
   Klahn, a 23-year-old left-hander from Poway in the San Diego area, this week dropped two places from his career high of No. 63 in the world after losing in the first round in Key Biscayne, Fla.
   However, San Francisco native Sam Querrey plunged 12 more spots to No. 74 after falling in the second round at Key Biscayne. Querrey, ranked a career-high No. 17 in January 2011, now ranks fourth among Americans behind No. 9 John Isner, Klahn and No. 71 Donald Young.
   Two more American men are ranked in the top 100: 21-year-old Jack Sock at No. 92 and 24-year-old Steve Johnson at No. 98. Sock turned pro out of high school, but Johnson won two NCAA singles titles (2011-12) and led USC to four team championships (2009-12).
   Klahn won the NCAA singles crown as a sophomore in 2010, underwent surgery for a herniated disk as a junior and graduated in economics in 2012.
   Young, a 24-year-old left-hander from Atlanta, has won four Challenger singles titles in Northern California: Aptos in 2007, Sacramento in 2008 and 2013, and the inaugural Napa tournament last year.
   Once touted as the future of U.S. men's tennis, the undersized Young has never won a title on the ATP World Tour. However, he gained the final at Bangkok in 2011 (losing to Andy Murray) and rose to a career-high No. 38 in early 2012.  
   Meanwhile, Milos Raonic, who won the now-defunct SAP Open in San Jose from 2011 through 2013, cracked the top 10 for the first time. The 23-year-old Canadian rose two notches to No. 10 after reaching the quarterfinals in Key Biscayne.  
   Dmitry Tursunov, a 31-year-old Russian who trains in the Sacramento suburb of Granite Bay, returned to the top100 in doubles for the first time since September 2011. Tursunov, who has been plagued by injuries, improved 12 places to No. 96 after advancing to the second round in Key Biscayne with Oliver Marach of Austria.
   Tursunov reached the doubles semifinals in the 2008 French Open to attain a career-high ranking of No. 36. He is ranked No. 32 in singles, down from his career high of No. 20 in 2006.
PRO RANKINGS
    Following are this week's world rankings of professional players with Northern California ties (change from last week in parentheses):
Men
   Bob Bryan, 35 years old, 1998 NCAA doubles champion from Stanford -- Career-high No. 1 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Mike Bryan, 35 years old, 1998 NCAA doubles champion from Stanford -- Career-high No. 1 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Bradley Klahn, 23 years old, 2010 NCAA singles champion and 2011 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford -- No. 65 in singles (-2), No. 135 in doubles (-2).
   Scott Lipsky, 32 years old, 2002 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford -- No. 39 in doubles (-2), unranked in singles.
   Sam Querrey, 26 years old, San Francisco native, Capitals (2012-13) -- No. 74 in singles (-12), No. 115 in doubles (-1).
   Dmitry Tursunov, 31 years old, trains at Gorin Tennis Academy in Sacramento suburb of Granite Bay -- No. 32 in singles (-2), No. 96 in doubles (+12).
Women
   Mallory Burdette, 23 years old, NCAA singles runner-up in 2012 and NCAA doubles champion in 2011 and 2012 from Stanford -- No. 238 in singles (-19), No. 1,143 in doubles (-6).
   Nicole Gibbs, 21 years old, NCAA singles champion in 2012 and 2013 and NCAA doubles champion in 2012 from Stanford -- No. 182 in singles (+10), No. 405 in doubles (+1).
   Macall Harkins, 28 years old, Redding resident -- No. 368 in doubles (-10), No. 712 in singles (-25).
   Raquel Kops-Jones, 31 years old, 2003 NCAA doubles champion from Cal -- No. 15 in doubles (+3), No. 1,091 in singles (+3).
   Maria Sanchez, 24 years old, born and raised in Modesto -- No. 99 in doubles (+1), No. 244 in singles (+1).

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