Gaytan-Leach getting it done

Two No. 1 seeds from Newport-Mesa advanced in their respective draws

with victories Wednesday in the 12th annual Costa Mesa Summer Junior

Classic.

Corona del Mar’s Cierra Gaytan-Leach defeated Lok Sze Leung, 6-4,

6-2, in the quarterfinals of the girls 12s singles division while

Newport Beach’s Joseph Di Giulio downed Kwun Ho Kong, 6-0, 6-1, in a

boys 12s singles quarterfinal Wednesday. Gaytan-Leach faces Newport

Beach’s Jungyeun Lee in a semifinal at 12:30 p.m. today at the Costa

Mesa Tennis Center while Di Giulio takes on Yorba Linda’s Austin

Hunsaker at 11:30 a.m. at the same site.

Gaytan-Leach, who will enter eighth grade at Corona del Mar Junior

High this fall, took her strong play to the girls 16s doubles draw,

where she and partner Catherine Isip are the top-seeded duo.

Gaytan-Leach and Isip defeated Megan McKay and Brittanny Sturgess,

6-1, 6-1, Wednesday and will face Newport Beach residents Lindsay

Norman and Miranda Young in a semifinal at 3 p.m. today. Norman and

Young defeated Jill Casserly and Melissa Chinn, 6-3, 6-2, Wednesday.

In girls 18s singles, former Newport Harbor High standout Diana

Khoury defeated Irvine’s Rina Nakano, 6-2, 6-1, in the quarterfinals

to set up a semifinal match against top-seeded Olivia Coleman from

Los Angeles at 1 p.m. today at the Costa Mesa Tennis Center.

Second-seeded Vanessa Dunlap, a teammate of Khoury’s at Newport

Harbor last season who will continue her career at Pepperdine

University, lost to Laguna Beach’s Maria Malec, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, in the

quarterfinals.

The three remaining Newport-Mesa players in the girls 16s singles

draw all lost their quarterfinal matches Wednesday.

Top-seeded Sarah Geocaris, part of Sage Hill School’s girls tennis

team that claimed the first Academy League championship for a girls

sport in school history last fall, fell to Ontario’s Britney Sanders,

6-4, 6-3, while Young, the third seed from Corona del Mar High, lost

to San Clemente’s Olivia Muesse, 6-0, 6-1. Sturgess, who will be a

junior at Newport Harbor, lost to second-seeded Pooja Desai from

Rancho Santa Margarita, 7-5, 6-1.

In girls 14s singles, eighth-seeded Geraldine Leong proved too

much for Costa Mesa’s Eleanor Edles, earning a 6-1, 6-1 victory in

the round of 16.

Torrance’s Attila Lassu, the No. 6 seed, beat Costa Mesa resident

Bradley Fisher, 6-1, 6-1, in a boys 14s singles round of 16 match

Wednesday. Fisher defeated Nicholas Galang, 6-4, 7-6, in the round of

32 Tuesday.

Edles and Alexandra McIntosh defeated Irvine’s Ali Jones and

Natalie Loria, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, in the girls 14s doubles quarterfinals

Wednesday and face Brynn Boren and Alex Tachovsky in a 2:30 p.m.

semifinal today.

Corona del Mar resident Parker Rhodes and partner Jason Lin of

Irvine begin in the boys 14s doubles draw with a quarterfinal match

against Brian Hoang and Derek Siddiqui at 4 p.m. today.

Finals in both singles and doubles are scheduled for Friday.

Singles finals in all divisions begin at 9 a.m. while the earliest

doubles final starts at 1 p.m.