Fatigued Van’t Hof gets upset

Rick Devereux

Sometimes, being the top seed in a tennis tournament doesn’t mean you

have the easiest draw, but, rather, everyone wants to bump you off.

The latter was the case Thursday at the 102nd Southern California

Tennis Association junior sectional championships at the Los

Caballeros Racquet and Sports Club in Fountain Valley.

Kaes Van’t Hof, the No. 1 seed in the boys 18s singles, was upset

in the quarterfinals by Sam Querrey, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

“I’ve played him a couple times in the past and won most of them,”

Van’t Hof said. “He used to be ranked really high, like No. 1 or No.

2 in Southern California, but now he’s No. 10.”

Van’t Hof, a resident of Newport Beach, beat Jared Druker of

Northridge, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, in the round of 16 earlier Thursday. The

USC-bound Van’t Hof, coming off a CIF Southern Section singles title,

said the Druker match was the main reason for falling to Querrey.

“I played a long match earlier and I was real tired,” Van’t Hof

said. “When I lost my serve in the third set, that’s when I lost all

hope [of beating Querrey]. That’s when my legs cramped.”

Van’t Hof plays Lee Singer today at noon in a consolation match.

Cierra Gayton-Leach, who will be an eighth-grader at Corona del

Mar in the fall, defeated Kaitlyn Christian, 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (7-5),

7-6 (7-5), in the girls 12s singles semifinals.

“I felt I played real well today,” Gayton-Leach said. “I came in

and went for a lot of balls.”

She said she plans to use that aggressive strategy today in the 9

a.m. final against Jordaan Sanford, the No. 1 seed from Rancho

Cucamonga. The match is at Los Caballeros.

“I’ve beaten her before,” Gayton-Leach said. “I think I can beat

her if I play gutsy.”

Newport Coast resident Joseph Di Giulio advanced to the boys 10s

singles final by beating Roger Hernandez, 6-4, 6-0. Di Giulio will

play Alexios Halebian, who beat top-seeded Jonathan Huang, 2-6, 6-4,

6-4.

The final match is scheduled for 3 p.m., also at Los Caballeros.

Oscar Matthews from Newport Beach defeated Ryan Mayer, 6-0, 6-0,

in the boys 14s singles round of 16. Matthews, the No. 4 seed,

defeated Jenson Turner in the quarterfinals, 6-1, 6-2, and will play

Andre Dome in the semifinals today at 2:30.

In an all-Newport Beach resident quarterfinal matchup in the girls

12s, Melissa Matsuoka beat Hailey Hogan, 6-4, 6-4. Matsuoka lost her

semifinal match to Nikki Sandero, 7-6, 7-6.

The boys 18s singles draw also included Wesley Burrows from Costa

Mesa. Burrows was eliminated by Sam Tadevosian, 6-3, 6-4, in the

round of 16 Thursday. Tadevosian then beat Singer, the No. 8 seed,

2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Also playing Thursday at Los Caballeros was Jake Fleming, who will

be a sophomore at Newport Harbor High next fall. Fleming lost to No.

1-seeded Mike Gurman, 6-3, 6-4, in the boys 16s singles round of 16.

“It was a tough match,” Fleming, 15, said. “It came down to a

crucial couple of points.”

Fleming rebounded to defeat Taylor Chavez-Goggin, 6-2, 6-2, in the

consolation round. Fleming said he felt confident in his chances of

advancing to the consolation finals on Saturday.

“I feel like if I can stay aggressive and hit my forehand, I’ll be

OK,” he said. “I want to be loose out there and just play my game.”