Girls tennis in spotlight

Rick Devereux

The Williams sisters of 2000 would beat John McEnroe of 1980, that is

how far the progress of women’s tennis has come, says Bob Ogle, the

tournament director at the 15th annual Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club

junior tennis tournament.

“The level of play is just so phenomenal,” Ogle said. “It’s coming

all the way from the young girls. Their level of play is pretty

impressive.”

As tournament director for the War by the Shore tournament for

eight years, Ogle has seen the increase in ability and changes in

style of play, especially in girls.

“Everybody raises the bar,” Ogle said. “Martina Navratilova in her

day raised the bar. Everybody was playing catch-up to Martina. And

then [Steffi] Graf came along. Graf raised the bar. And now of course

the Williams sisters have raised the bar. But look at this crop of

Russians that are out there that are just bringing it to everyone

right now. A Russian [Anastasia Myskina] won the French Open. A

Russian [Maria Sharapova] won Wimbledon.”

The high level of play in the Women’s Tennis Association has

trickled down to the junior ranks, as many local girls excelled

during Wednesday’s action.

Corona del Mar High sophomore-to-be Jillian Braverman defeated her

former Sea Kings teammate Jackie Manning, 6-1, 6-1, in the girls 18s

singles quarterfinal round. Braverman will take on recent Newport

Harbor graduate Diana Khoury, who defeated Bianca Aboubakare of

Orange, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. The Khoury-Braverman semifinal match will take

place today at 11 a.m.

Braverman and Manning also locked horns in the girls 18 doubles.

Braverman, paired with Corona del Mar’s Cierra Gaytan-Leach, defeated

Manning and Corona del Mar sophomore-to-be Miranda Young, 6-4, 6-2.

Young also advanced to the quarterfinals of the 18s singles before

being eliminated by Kristy Fournell from Palos Verdes Estates, 6-3,

6-0.

“I knew going in to today’s matches that it was going to be fun to

play against Jill,” Manning said. “I wanted to get to the point in

the tournament where I would play her. I did, so I’m happy. I didn’t

want to hold anything back in singles. And, my partner and I played

supremely well in doubles. A lot of people thought that we would just

get swept, but we were there for every point.”

Gaytan-Leach reached the semifinals of the girls 14s singles by

beating Wing Ki Hui, 6-4, 1-6, 5-1, and then Kristine Smith, 6-3, 6-7

(4), 6-4. Her opponent for today’s 9 a.m. match will be No. 2 seed

Chun Wing Sher.

Hailey Hogan from Newport Beach advanced to the quarterfinals of

the girls 12s singles by beating Fullerton’s Allison Radde, 6-0, 6-2.

Fellow Newport Beach resident Melissa Matsuoka is also in the girls

12s singles quarterfinals following her 6-0, 6-1 victory over

Kristine Kouyoumjian from Torrance.

Hogan will face top-seeded Lok Sue Leung today at 11 a.m. and

Matsuoka will play Alex Tachovsky, also at 11. The semifinals will be

played at 5 p.m. with the finals scheduled for Friday at 9:30 a.m.

Hogan will also play in the girls 12s doubles semifinals with

teammate Natasha Boulad from Laguna Beach. Matsuoka and her teammate

Hayley Miller from Laguna Beach also advanced to the girls 12s

doubles semifinals at 5 p.m. today.

The Costa Mesa tandem of Eleanor Edles and Alexandra McIntosh are

in the girls 14s doubles semifinals after besting Corona del Mar’s

Anne Russell and Newport Beach’s Whitney Griffith, 6-2, 6-1, in

Wednesday’s quarterfinals.

On the boys side, Charlie Corum from Costa Mesa advanced to

today’s 12:30 p.m. boys 12s singles semifinals against No. 1 seed

Kwun Ho Kong. Corum beat David Blakeley from Irvine, 6-3, 6-0.

Joseph Di Giulio and Connor Curry, both from Newport Beach, will

play each other in the boys 12s semifinals after victories in the

quarters. Di Giulio defeated Nicolas Cummins from Rancho Mirage, 6-1,

6-1. Curry beat Chak Ting Justin To, 6-4, 6-3. The Di Giulio-Curry

semifinal also starts at 12:30. The final will be at 2 p.m. Friday.

Corum and Curry paired up in boys 12s doubles and advanced to the

semifinals by beating Kong and To, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Corum-Curry will

play tonight at 5 against Chun Hun Kevin Wong and Long Fung Vincent

Yau.

Newport Beach resident Parker Rhodes advanced to the quarterfinals

of the boys 14s singles, but lost to the No. 2 seed, Ka Chun Ko, 6-0,

6-2. Also making it to the quarterfinals, but in boys 10s singles,

was Newport Beach’s Troy Arnold. Arnold lost to the top seed, Miles

Seemann from Solvang, 6-1, 6-0.