Tennis: Damion keeps cruising along

Tony Altobelli

NEWPORT BEACH - With appleheads and licorice in hand, life couldn’t

have been much sweeter, literally, for Jill Damion.

The fourth-seed from Newport Beach, playing in the girls 14 singles

division, used a complete arsenal of shots to defeat Irvine’s Leslie

Bullock, 6-1, 6-1, in the third round of the War by the Shore Junior

Tennis Classic Wednesday at the Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club.

“I guess I just played very well against her,” Damion said in between

bites of candy. “I tried to stay back and force her to make the mistakes.

When she hit the short ball, that’s when I would attack.”

It was a short-lived attack as the entire match lasted less than an

hour.

The lack of energy spent during the day helped Damion advance to

today’s semifinal after defeating fellow local Jamison Steele, 7-5, 6-3,

in the quarterfinals Wednesday night.

In Girls 18 singles, Corona del Mar High standout Brittany Minna gave

fourth-seeded Casey Knutson from Huntington Beach a run for her money,

before finally falling, 6-3, 6-3, in quarterfinal action.

After dropping a tough first set and falling behind, 5-0, to the Mater

Dei standout, Minna refused to quit, breaking Peterson twice to pull back

to within 5-3.

But Knutson, who teamed with Jodie Nygaard to win the Serra League

doubles title last year, broke Minna back to win the match.

A pair of locals will take to the courts in semifinal action. In boys

12 singles, unseeded Parker Rhodes from Corona del Mar, who upset

third-seeded Chris Freeman Tuesday, 7-5, 6-3, will take on second-seeded

Ryan Caughren of Newport Beach today at 11 a.m.

Also advancing to semifinal action is top-seeded Jill Braverman in

Girls 12 singles. She will take on fourth-seeded Roxanne Ellison today at

11 a.m.