Van’t Hof reaches doubles championship

Newport Beach’s Kaes Van’t Hof, who will be a senior at Mater Dei

High in September, reached the doubles final of the 18s Super

National Clay Courts in Louisville, Ky., with partner Chong Wong of

Houston, last week.

The duo, seeded ninth, upset three teams, including the

second-seeded tandem in three sets in the semifinals. Van’t Hof and

Wong lost to Christian Hand of Placentia and Ashwat Sarohia of

Altadena, 2-6, 3-6, in the final.

Van’t Hof was unseeded heading into the 256-player singles draw,

but advanced to the quarterfinals, where he lost to Ned Samuelson --

the No. 9 seed -- of Belmont, Mass., 5-7, 2-6.

He came back after losing the first set to defeat two seeded

players: Sarohia (No. 8), 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, in the third round and

17th-seeded Alexander Clayton of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., 4-6, 6-4, 7-6

(5), in the round of 16.

Van’t Hof’s father, Robert, was an All-American at USC and Lindsay

Davenport’s former coach.