Van’t Hof surprises top seed

Steve Virgen

FOUNTAIN VALLEY - A roller coaster of emotions and momentum came

into full effect Friday at the 99th annual Southern California Junior

Tennis Sectionals at Los Caballeros Sports Village, where many facets of

the game were displayed.

In a boys 14s quarterfinal, Newport Beach’s Kaes Van’t Hof upset No. 1

seed Carsten Ball, 6-1, 6-4.

And more dramatics came from a girls 18s quarterfinal, where CdM’s

Anne Yelsey and Kim-Anh Nguyen of Orange provided an eventful first set.

Nguyen managed to drive past Yelsey with a 6-4, 6-2 victory.

But, the talk of the day was Van’t Hof’s upset of Ball. Hitting

powerfully and moving opportunistically to the net, Van’t Hof, seeded

seventh, provoked frustration from Ball.

“When I went up, 4-1 (in the first set),” Van’t Hof said. “ I broke

him for a 5-1 lead and I felt (Ball) got angry and lost his temper.

That’s when I couldn’t let up. I tried to overpower him because if I just

hit with him, then I would be in trouble.”

While Van’t Hof took control in the first set, Ball, an incoming

freshman at Corona del Mar High, was able to bounce back in the second

and pulled even, 3-3. But Van’t Hof, who plays for Mater Dei High, broke

Ball’s serve for a 4-3 lead and regained the rhythm he possessed in the

first set.

“This is an upset,” said Van’t Hof, whose father, Robert, coaches

current Women’s Tennis Association Tour standout Lindsay Davenport. “This

gives me a lot of confidence, that’s for sure. (Ball’s) the No. 1 seed,

so I’m feeling really good about this tournament.”

Ball defeated Van’t Hof in April and ached with regret after Friday’s

loss. After Van’t Hof grabbed match point, Ball slammed his racket into

the ground and yelled with anger.

“... I’m mentally weak,” Ball later said. “This (loss) will affect my

ranking. I just missed a lot of my balls.”

Ball also said his attitude made the difference in the match. He said

he had a lack of concentration.

Van’t Hof will play in today’s semifinals. He will face Shan Sondhu of

Laguna Niguel at 2 p.m. at Los Caballeros. Sondhu defeated San Diego’s

Eric Rubens, 6-4, 6-4, to advance.

Also in a semifinal today, CdM’s Brian Morton, who is teamed with K.C.

Corkery of Manhattan Beach, will take on Patrick Buchanan and Sergi Modoc

in the boys 18s doubles at 4 p.m. also at Los Caballeros.

Ball will play in consolation competition today at 9 a.m.

Yelsey also moves to the consolation bracket in the girls 18s and

meets a familiar opponent in Sea King teammate Brittany Reitz, the

reigning CIF Southern Section singles champion.

The Yelsey-Reitz meeting, a rematch of the 2000 Pacific Coast League

title match won by Yelsey, is set for 11 a.m. today at Los Caballeros.

Yelsey said she gained confidence, despite losing to Nguyen.

The first two games lasted 30 minutes as both games reached deuce.

Nguyen held serve and won the first marathon game and in the second

game, Yelsey outlasted Nguyen, killing a lob shot for the game-winner

after a 10th deuce.

“That was just great tennis,” CdM girls tennis coach Andy Stewart

said. “I’d rather watch these girls live than watch anything on TV. It

was impressive.”

After Nguyen held serve again for a 5-4 lead, she broke Yelsey’s serve

to win the set as Yelsey struggled with errors.

Nguyen went on to a 4-0 lead in the second set to grab control of the

match.

“Unfortunately, in the second set I was making a few more errors,”

Yelsey said. “I was happy with the way I played, but not happy with the

result. I got down by too much and it’s hard to come back.”

Yelsey broke Nguyen’s serve to close the deficit to 4-1, but Nguyen

broke back. Yelsey then broke Nguyen’s serve again, but Nguyen’s lead

seemed to be too much.

“(Yelsey) played me more aggressively than before,” Nguyen said. “She

came to the net more. My intensity level came up and, in the second set,

I was attacking more. The momentum just came over to me.”

In a boys 12s quarterfinal, Newport Beach’s Jake Fleming lost to No.

2-seeded Jason Jung of Torrance, 6-1, 6-4.

In girls 18s consolation action, Reitz defeated Jayme Hu of Torrance,

7-5, 6-0, and defeated Westlake Villa’s Nina Yatfali, 6-3, 2-0 (retired),

to qualify for the consolation quarterfinals. Natalie Braverman, of

Newport Harbor High, defeated Casey Cross of Palm Desert, 6-4, 6-4, but

lost to Anaheim’s Tracy Lin.

In the girls 16s consolation bracket, Brittany Holland lost to

Temecula’s Nazlie Ghazal, 6-1, 7-6.

In boys 18s consolation competition, Morton chose to default his match

to Jeffrey Melnick of Los Angeles. Morton defaulted to prepare for

today’s 18s doubles semifinal and because Friday was his birthday.

CdM’s Garrett Snyder lost to Carlsbad’s Ryan Redondo, 3-6, 6-1, 7-6

(4). CdM’s Cameron Ball lost to Whittier’s Chris Surapol, 6-3, 6-4.