Mesa’s Radeva on a roll

Bryce Alderton

Maintaining her mental makeup, Costa Mesa’s Nelly Radeva likened her

match Saturday to a marathon.

Along with reinforcing words from Rance Brown, Radeva’s coach of

three years, the top seed in the girls 12s singles division rebounded

from a one-set deficit to claim a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 semifinal victory

over fourth-seeded Pamela Montez in the 101st annual Southern

California Tennis Association junior sectional championships at Los

Caballeros Sports Village.

“I told myself, ‘Just don’t give up and stay tough,’ ” Radeva

said, moments after defeating Montez, whom Radeva also beat in the

semifinals of both the Ojai Valley tennis tournament and a

Quiksilver/Roxy event earlier in the year.

“[At Ojai] I beat [Montez] in three sets and two sets at

[Quiksilver],” Radeva said. “She came to the net a lot more

[Saturday] and she won a lot of points there.”

Radeva broke Montez twice in the second set to tie the set at

three games apiece and again for the clinching game.

Radeva said she expected Montez to come to the net and focused on

maintaining consistency.

“I had a marathon mentality,” she said. “Hit it hard, hit it deep

and don’t miss them.”

As the match wore on, Radeva hit more backhand winners down the

line, taking advantage of the open court when Montez came to the net.

After losing in the semifinals last year, Radeva -- the top seeded

player in girls 12s in Southern California and No. 5 on the United

States Tennis Association’s rankings -- will play second-seeded

Bianca Modoc today at 9 a.m. at Los Cab.

“This year I think I am more confident and can’t wait for the

finals,” she said.

Radeva was the only Newport-Mesa player seeded No. 1 for the

sectionals, but that doesn’t mean she will be the only one competing

for a championship today.

Sixth-seeded Carsten Ball, who just finished his sophomore season

at Corona del Mar High, defeated Mike Gorman, 6-2, 6-4, Saturday and

faces Laguna Niguel’s Shan Sondhu for the boys 16s crown today at

10:30 a.m. at Los Cab.

A bid to make it three area players in the finals came up short

with a valiant effort by Newport Beach’s Jake Fleming in the

semifinals of the boys 14s Saturday.

Facing second-seeded Steven Forman, a player ranked nationally in

the top 10 according to Brown, who also coaches Fleming, the incoming

Newport Harbor High freshman won six of eight games to force a

tiebreaker before bowing out, 3-6, 6-7 (4-7).

Down, 4-0, in the second set, Fleming keyed his comeback with

aggressive forehands and a first serve that began to fall in with

more frequency.

“My return game was on today, but my serve was not working for

me,” he said. “I had too many double faults.”

Fleming held serve to tie Forman, 6-6, forcing a tiebreaker.

Fleming led briefly in the early going before Forman, who usually

competes in the boys 16s, according to Brown, forced Fleming into two

unforced errors en route to the victory.

“[Forman] has a big forehand and is real consistent,” Fleming

said. “He seemed to hit his backhand short and tried to come to the

net. I was able to handle the short ball.”

“He competed and that is all you can ask,” said Brown, who has

coached Fleming since he was 9.

Saturday marked the first time Fleming and Forman had faced each

other since they were 10.

Eighth-seeded Charlie Alvarado lost to Denis Nguyen, 3-6, 1-6, in

the quarterfinals of the boys 12s consolation bracket while Kaes

Van’t Hof won the first set before dropping the final two and a

quarterfinal match in boys 18s, 6-3, 6-7, 4-6.