Familiar faces looking to repeat

Early-morning rain delayed the Costa Mesa Summer Junior Classic

Wednesday, but when things finally did get underway, it was the title

hopes of many Newport-Mesa players that were washed out.

With two days remaining in the tournament at Costa Mesa Tennis

Center, just nine players from the Newport-Mesa area are still in

contention for a singles title. Nine others were eliminated

Wednesday.

Among those remaining, there are a few familiar faces for those

that follow junior tennis. After strong showings last week at the War

by the Shore at the Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club, Spencer Reitz,

Vanessa Dunlap, Jillian Braverman and Cierra Gaytan-Leach are all

repeating their success this week.

Reitz, a sophomore-to-be at Corona del Mar High, reached his

second consecutive boys 18s singles title match and will be gunning

for his second championship in a row today. He knocked off top-seeded

Whitney Reed, 6-2, 6-3, Wednesday and will face John Curtius of

Rancho Palos Verdes at 3 p.m. today for the championship.

In seven matches over the last two weeks, Reitz has yet to drop a

set.

Dunlap, who will be a senior at Newport Harbor High in the fall,

reached the championship match of the girls 18s singles last week. On

Wednesday, she advanced to the semifinals of the Costa Mesa

tournament with a three-set victory over Newport Beach’s Diana

Khoury, 7-5, 1-6, 6-4.

Awaiting Dunlap in the semifinals is top-seeded Megan Doheny of

Los Angeles. Doheny also needed three sets to advance Wednesday. The

semifinal match is set for 1 p.m. today.

Braverman, a 13-year-old who won the girls 16s singles last week,

was off Wednesday, but will need two victories today to advance to

Friday’s championship. She faces fourth-seeded Melda Tsong, who has

lost just two games in her first two matches, at Noon today.

Braverman, seeded sixth and set to enter Corona del Mar in the fall,

has lost just three games in her first two matches.

Also still alive in the girls 16s bracket is Newport Beach’s Jill

Damion, the second seed. She will face fifth-seeded Kendra Ivey in

the quarterfinals at Noon today.

Gaytan-Leach, a finalist last week, breezed through the third

round in the girls 12s singles Wednesday. She defeated Nicole Tsui,

6-0, 6-1. Next up for Gaytan-Leach, the fifth seed, is top-seeded

Thien-Trang Nguyen of Long Beach, at 9 a.m. today.

On the other side of the bracket is Newport Beach’s Melissa

Matsuoka. She defeated Hayley Miller, 0-6, 6-2, 6-1, to advance to the quarterfinals, where she will face No. 2 seed Chun Wing Sher at

10 a.m. today.

Other locals still vying for a championship include Corona del

Mar’s Alexandria Walters, Newport Beach’s Fabian Matthews and Corona

del Mar’s Omeed Ghassemi.

Walters defeated Taylor French, 6-1, 6-1, to advance to the

quarterfinals of the girls 14s division. She will play at 11 a.m.

today against No. 2 seed Samantha Smith.

Matthews, a 13-year-old who will enter the eighth grade this fall,

continued his strong run in the boys 16s singles, blanking Sean

Winbauer, 6-0, 6-0. Matthews, the No. 2 seed, will face No. 6 Ronald

Chow at 11:30 a.m. today.

Ghassemi defeated his doubles partner, Chris Damion of Newport

Beach, 6-3, 6-3, to advance to the quarterfinals of the boys 12s

singles. Ghassemi returns to the court at 9 a.m. today to face No. 1

seed Florante Sarmiento. He will then pair up with Damion in a boys

12s doubles semifinal.

All doubles action scheduled for Wednesday was postponed because

of the three-hour morning delay caused by the rain. It is scheduled

to resume today.