Girls tennis: Yelsey seeking revenge

Steve Virgen

FOUNTAIN VALLEY - Anne Yelsey is on the verge of claiming revenge

today in the 99th annual Southern California Junior Tennis Sectionals at

Los Caballeros Sports Village.

Her victory Thursday in the girls 18s, propelled her into today’s

quarterfinals against Orange’s Kim-Anh Nguyen, who defeated Yelsey in the

Ojai Valley Tournament championship match in April. Nguyen also defeated

Yelsey in a tournament in December.

“Those were good experiences for me because I learned a lot about my

game,” said Yelsey, who will be a junior at Corona del Mar High in the

fall. “If I play my game and stick to it, then I will be fine.”

In the Round of 16, both Yelsey, the No. 7 seed and Nguyen, the No. 2

seed, controlled their respective opponents.

Yelsey scored a 6-1, 6-3 victory over San Diego’s Lauren Perl as

Yelsey upped her intensity from Wednesday, CdM girls tennis coach Andy

Stewart said.

“She came in a little bit more focused,” Stewart said of Yelsey. “What

I was really happy to see was that after she won the first set, she lost

her serve in the second set, but then she won five games in a row. She

looks like she’s really focused and that’s so good to see.”

Yelsey controlled the match from the outset as she built a 4-0 lead.

“I played a little better than (Wednesday),” Yelsey said. “But, I

still think I could have played better. My opponent was tougher so that

upped my game.”

Meanwhile, Nguyen defeated Fullerton’s Joanna Kao, 6-0, 6-2. Nguyen

smiled when she found out she would face Yelsey today.

“I’ve built up confidence because I have beaten her twice,” said

Nguyen, who since graduating from Saddleback High earlier this month, has

increased her training regimen which includes Taekwondo. “I’ve been

training full time. I hit the ball over 1,000 times a day and with each

hit, I build more confidence. My goal is to win this tournament.”

Yelsey’s CdM teammate, Brittany Reitz, as well as Newport Harbor’s

Natalie Braverman, did not fare as well in the Round of 16. Reitz

suffered a 6-2, 6-3 loss to Brooke Borisoff of Agoura Hills, while

Braverman lost, 6-1, 6-1, to No. 1-seeded Iris Ichim of Beverly Hills.

Reitz, the CIF Southern Section singles champion last fall, will play

in the second round of the consolation bracket today at 1:30 p.m. at Los Caballeros. Braverman will do the same.

In girls 16s action, CdM’s Brittany Holland answered Wednesday’s

first-round defeat with a 6-0, 6-3 consolation-bracket victory over San

Diego’s Patricia Ruman.

Holland will play at noon today at Los Caballeros in a second-round

consolation match.

“I just came out firing,” Holland said of her victory. “All my shots

were on and I was really happy with how I played in the whole match. I

actually lost the first game in the second set, because of a loss of

focus. But, I regained focus and that helped me to win in the second

set.”