Familiar faces looking to repeat
Early-morning rain delayed the Costa Mesa Summer Junior Classic
Wednesday, but when things finally did get underway, it was the title
hopes of many Newport-Mesa players that were washed out.
With two days remaining in the tournament at Costa Mesa Tennis
Center, just nine players from the Newport-Mesa area are still in
contention for a singles title. Nine others were eliminated
Wednesday.
Among those remaining, there are a few familiar faces for those
that follow junior tennis. After strong showings last week at the War
by the Shore at the Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club, Spencer Reitz,
Vanessa Dunlap, Jillian Braverman and Cierra Gaytan-Leach are all
repeating their success this week.
Reitz, a sophomore-to-be at Corona del Mar High, reached his
second consecutive boys 18s singles title match and will be gunning
for his second championship in a row today. He knocked off top-seeded
Whitney Reed, 6-2, 6-3, Wednesday and will face John Curtius of
Rancho Palos Verdes at 3 p.m. today for the championship.
In seven matches over the last two weeks, Reitz has yet to drop a
set.
Dunlap, who will be a senior at Newport Harbor High in the fall,
reached the championship match of the girls 18s singles last week. On
Wednesday, she advanced to the semifinals of the Costa Mesa
tournament with a three-set victory over Newport Beach’s Diana
Khoury, 7-5, 1-6, 6-4.
Awaiting Dunlap in the semifinals is top-seeded Megan Doheny of
Los Angeles. Doheny also needed three sets to advance Wednesday. The
semifinal match is set for 1 p.m. today.
Braverman, a 13-year-old who won the girls 16s singles last week,
was off Wednesday, but will need two victories today to advance to
Friday’s championship. She faces fourth-seeded Melda Tsong, who has
lost just two games in her first two matches, at Noon today.
Braverman, seeded sixth and set to enter Corona del Mar in the fall,
has lost just three games in her first two matches.
Also still alive in the girls 16s bracket is Newport Beach’s Jill
Damion, the second seed. She will face fifth-seeded Kendra Ivey in
the quarterfinals at Noon today.
Gaytan-Leach, a finalist last week, breezed through the third
round in the girls 12s singles Wednesday. She defeated Nicole Tsui,
6-0, 6-1. Next up for Gaytan-Leach, the fifth seed, is top-seeded
Thien-Trang Nguyen of Long Beach, at 9 a.m. today.
On the other side of the bracket is Newport Beach’s Melissa
Matsuoka. She defeated Hayley Miller, 0-6, 6-2, 6-1, to advance to the quarterfinals, where she will face No. 2 seed Chun Wing Sher at
10 a.m. today.
Other locals still vying for a championship include Corona del
Mar’s Alexandria Walters, Newport Beach’s Fabian Matthews and Corona
del Mar’s Omeed Ghassemi.
Walters defeated Taylor French, 6-1, 6-1, to advance to the
quarterfinals of the girls 14s division. She will play at 11 a.m.
today against No. 2 seed Samantha Smith.
Matthews, a 13-year-old who will enter the eighth grade this fall,
continued his strong run in the boys 16s singles, blanking Sean
Winbauer, 6-0, 6-0. Matthews, the No. 2 seed, will face No. 6 Ronald
Chow at 11:30 a.m. today.
Ghassemi defeated his doubles partner, Chris Damion of Newport
Beach, 6-3, 6-3, to advance to the quarterfinals of the boys 12s
singles. Ghassemi returns to the court at 9 a.m. today to face No. 1
seed Florante Sarmiento. He will then pair up with Damion in a boys
12s doubles semifinal.
All doubles action scheduled for Wednesday was postponed because
of the three-hour morning delay caused by the rain. It is scheduled
to resume today.
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