Two locals in finals

tennis for mondayNewport Beach’s Matthews and Corona del Mar’s Gaytan-Leach survive semifinal rounds of USTA National Open.NEWPORT BEACH -- Two Newport-Mesa area singles players survived Sunday’s semifinal rounds of the United States Tennis Assn. National Open and will play today for their respective championships at the Newport Beach Tennis Club.

Newport Beach resident Fabian Matthews, the No. 6 seed, defeated top-seeded Bradley Klahn of Poway, 6-5, 6-1, in a boys’ 16s match, while Corona del Mar resident Cierra Gaytan-Leach, the third seed, defeated second-seeded Blair Seideman of Glen Head, N.Y., 6-4, 6-4, in a girls’ 14s match.

Matthews, a sophomore at Corona del Mar High who placed third at the Pacific Coast League singles tournament last spring, will play third-seeded Ryan Thacher of Studio City in the final at 9:30 a.m. today.

Thacher was a 6-1, 6-1 semifinal winner over Daniel Nguyen of Oxnard on Sunday.

Gaytan-Leach, who reached the quarterfinals of the Southern California Tennis Assn. junior sectional championships in June, will play top-seeded Sophie Chang of Cupertino, Calif. in the final at 11 a.m. today.

Chang, a 6-4, 6-1 semifinal winner over fourth-seeded Zoe De Bruycker of Saratoga, has not lost a set in her competition, while Gaytan-Leach has lost one set in four rounds.

In boys’ 18s singles, Wesley Miller, the Pacific Coast League Most Valuable Player for Corona del Mar last spring, lost to unseeded Gregory Hirschman of La Jolla, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, in the semifinals.

In girls’ 14s doubles, the seventh-seeded team of Newport Beach resident Melissa Matsuoka and Laguna Niguel’s Kristina Smith lost to the fourth-seeded duo of Rancho Santa Fe’s Gabrielle DeSimone and Los Angeles’ Sabrina Santamaria, 8-1, in a semifinal match.

-- Chris Yemma