Ball advances to semifinals

Newport Beach’s Cameron Ball, a June graduate of Corona del Mar

High, advanced to the semifinals of a qualifier Saturday for the

Costa Mesa Pro Classic with a 7-5, 6-3 quarterfinal win over Luke

Shields of Palm Desert at the Costa Mesa Tennis Center.

Ball is seeded sixth and the only local tennis player remaining in

the Costa Mesa Pro Classic Wild Card, in which the winner receives an

automatic berth into the main draw of the Costa Mesa Pro Classic next

month at Costa Mesa.

Ball will face second-seeded Dylan Kim of Glendale in a semifinal

match today at 9 a.m., while top-seeded Jamil Al-Agba of Camarillo

will square off against fifth-seeded Brandon Fallon of San Clemente,

also at 9 a.m. The final is slated for noon today. The public is

invited to attend. There is no charge.

Ball, Newport Beach’s Zoran Korac and Costa Mesa’s Joakim

Ulfuebrand were the only area players to reach the Round of 16, with

Ball the only one to survive the cut. All three players, including

Corona del Mar High sophomore Carsten Ball, won opening-round

matches, while Costa Mesa’s John Nanosky and Chris Taylor, Newport

Beach’s Kaes Van’t Hof and Corona del Mar’s Hunter Jack dropped

first-round matches at Costa Mesa.

Ulfuebrand, Korac and Cameron Ball won in the Round of 32, while

eighth-seeded Jack Li of Brea defeated Carsten Ball, 7-5, 6-2.

In the Round of 16, seventh-seeded Golan Sassoon of Encino knocked

off Ulfuebrand, 6-3, 6-0, and Cameron Ball beat Korac, 6-0, 7-6.

The Costa Mesa Pro Classic, which starts Nov. 11, is operated by

the United States Tennis Association and is a $15,000 stop on the

men’s USTA Futures circuit. It is the second Futures event Costa Mesa

Tennis Center has hosted this season, following the $10,000 Diadora

Pro Championships in September -- the only pro tennis events in the

Newport-Mesa community.

The USTA Futures Tour, which features some of the world’s best

players not ranked in the top 150, is considered the minor leagues of

pro tennis, with players hopeful of advancing to the USTA Challenger

circuit, then to the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour.

The Futures Tour has a full range of players, from the teenager to

the veteran trying to earn enough points to get back on the ATP Tour.

While about 350 Futures events are played worldwide throughout the

year, only 33 this year will be played in the U.S., where the game of

tennis skyrocketed in the 1970s but has yet to experience another

popularity boom.

The defending champion of the Costa Mesa Pro Classic is Chad

Carlson, who defeated Daniel Willman last year.

The event will award the winner eligibility into the USTA

Challenger circuit, the next level up with $50,000 purses and one

step down from the ATP Tour. Details: (714) 557-0211.