Junior tennis: Van’t Hof, Morton win

Steve Virgen

FOUNTAIN VALLEY - Newport Beach’s Kaes Van’t Hof and Corona del Mar

High product Brian Morton attained rhythm, flow and that in-the-zone aura

Sunday at the 99th annual Junior Tennis Sectionals at Los Caballeros

Sports Village.

Van’t Hof’s fluid effort led to the boys 14s singles title as the

seventh-seeded Mater Dei sophomore-to-be scored a 6-2, 6-3 victory over

Glendale’s Samuel Tadevosian, the No. 2 seed.

Morton completed a high-level performance to guide his No. 2-seeded

doubles team, which included Manhattan Beach’s K.C. Corkery, to a 6-2,

6-4 win over Carlsbad’s Ryan Redondo and Fountain Valley’s Travis

Rettenmaier, seeded No. 1 in 18s doubles.

Van’t Hof, grew anxious before taking on Tadevosian. The 14s title

match was scheduled for noon, but didn’t start until 1:20, after the

girls 18s singles final lasted more than two hours.

However, when Van’t Hof and Tadevosian took to the court, Van’t Hof

quickly grabbed control and won in less than 40 minutes. The duration of

the match was not similar to the last time the two met, in the Ojai

Valley Tournament quarterfinals in April. Tadevosian won that meeting in

three sets.

Van’t Hof had defeated Tadevosian at the Long Beach Juniors Tournament

semifinals in March. Van’t Hof then lost in the final to Corona del Mar

High incoming freshman Carsten Ball.

But, in the sectionals, Van’t Hof upset Ball, the top seed, in a

quarterfinal match, 6-1, 6-4, Friday.

Said Van’t Hof: “That (win over Ball) was basically the key because if

you beat the No. 1 seed, it feels like you can beat everyone else.”

Van’t Hof’s displayed confidence from the outset Sunday. He attacked

Tadevosian with fast, pinpoint serving and also defended with powerful

returns to break Tadevosian’s serve three times in the first set.

“I just let my shots flow,” said Van’t Hof, who was ranked No. 12 in

Southern California before the sectionals. “I didn’t give him any

opportunities to come back. I took control. I just came up with every

shot that I wanted to make.”

In the second set, Van’t Hof built a 3-0 lead. But, Tadevosian battled

back and broke Van’t Hof to cut the deficit to 4-3. Van’t Hof broke back

and relied on his serve to end the match. Van’t Hof’s serve gave

Tadevosian fits as Tadevosian compiled errors with six returns into the

net and four others that sailed beyond the baseline.

Van’t Hof posed for pictures with his trophy after winning the match

and said he would e-mail his father, Robert, who is at Wimbledon coaching

Women’s Tennis Association Tour standout Lindsay Davenport.

Meanwhile, Morton, who is bound for UC Irvine, stepped up with key

winners in the title match as his doubles teammate, Corkery, relied on

the CdM product’s solid play.

“Brian is my hero now,” said Corkery, who has teamed with Morton to

win three of the past four sectionals doubles titles.

They won the 18s doubles championship in November and June, 2000. They

also won the 16s doubles title in November, 1999.

“Brian played so well today,” Corkery said. “I just played OK. I was

struggling with my returns. And Brian was keeping us in the match. I felt

like I just had to win a shot here and there, knowing that Brian would

win the game for us.”

Said Morton: “(Corkery) is my favorite doubles partner. We seem to do

very well together.”

Rettenmaier, who will be a junior at UCLA in the fall, won the 18s

singles title, but said he wasn’t satisfied with just one championship.

He wanted his teammate, Redondo, who played at Pepperdine last season, to

gain a title. The top-seeded duo has been playing since they were 9. They

won the Les Petits As in France, which was the World Championships for

the 14s doubles.

“I’ve been looking forward to this match,” said Morton, who celebrated

his 18th birthday Friday. “I knew our teams were going to get this far.

It was a great match and we just outplayed them.”