Gabriele Faces Tough Test, Remains Unbeaten

STUDIO CITY —  Birmingham High tennis player Anthony Gabriele extended his unbeaten streak and advanced to the semifinals of the City Section singles championships on Thursday at the Studio City Racquet Centre.

But for 2 hours 40 minutes, Gabriele, a senior who is 26-0, was facing the prospect of ending his high-school career with a loss.

That’s how long it took him to defeat Sergey Kordonskey of Palisades, 7-6 (7-3), 2-6, 6-4.

“I never thought I was going to lose,” said Gabriele, who credited Kordonskey for providing his toughest match of the season. “He had a lot of fight, but I knew he would break down.”

But it looked like the second-seeded Gabriele was breaking down in the third set.

Leading, 4-0, in the third set, he let Kordonskey back in the match with a flurry of unforced errors. By the end of the ninth game, Gabriele finished a marathon point by pushing a forehand long to allow Kordonskey to break serve again.

Gabriele collapsed on the baseline in frustration. Suddenly, his lead was 5-4.

“It was such a crucial point, we were both too scared to take the initiative,” Gabriele said. “After that I told myself, ‘Just get it in.’ ”

Gabriele finally closed it out by hitting a pair of winners against Kordonskey’s serve while Kordonskey muffed three shots, including a backhand that went wide on match point.

Gabriele will face Artin Tafazoli of Palisades in Wednesday’s semifinals.

Kennedy’s Sonny Warda and Birmingham’s Reza Alizadeh weren’t as fortunate in Thursday’s quarterfinals. Warda fell to top-seeded Danny Westerman of Palisades, 6-1, 6-2. Alizadeh, a senior who plays No. 2 singles behind Gabriele, lost to Andy Roland of Hollywood, 6-3, 6-1.

Warda, a junior, took a 26-3 record into his match, but he ran into a hot player in Westerman.

“The games were close; every other game went to deuce,” Warda said. “But he just took control of every point. He jumped on everything.”

Alizadeh (21-4) served strong, stayed aggressive and made some big shots. But he ran into a better player in Roland.

Two Granada Hills teams advanced in doubles. Second-seeded Deepu Murthy and Steve Ishoo beat Hoa Diep and John Saldua of Eagle Rock, 6-1, 1-6, 6-1, while Evan Press and Matt Weiss eliminated Eddie Kim and Mikhail Agatelov of Fairfax, 6-1, 6-2.

Both teams will seek some measure of revenge in next week’s semifinals when they face opponents from Palisades. The Dolphins beat the Highlanders, 21 1/2-8, two weeks ago for the 4-A Division team championship.

Could there be an all-Granada Hills doubles final?

“We’re more worried about Pali first,” Weiss said. “We need to show that we can beat them.”