Costa Mesa junior tournament to unfold

Corona del Mar resident Omeed Ghassemi is the only local player to earn a No. 1 singles seed in the 14th annual Costa Mesa Summer Junior Classic tennis tournament that opens today at the Costa Mesa Tennis Center and Costa Mesa High.

Ghassemi, who attends Mater Dei High, is the top seed in the boys’ 16 singles draw, in which locals Chris Damion, Parker Rhodes and Henri Chomeau are also seeded.

Damion, who plays for Corona del Mar High, is the No. 3 seed. He lost in the 16 singles semifinals of last week’s War by the Shore at the Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club to eventual champion Warren Hardie of Laguna Niguel.

Damion won the boys’ 14 singles crown last year at the Costa Mesa event.

Rhodes, who along with Damion will be sophomores at CdM next fall, is the No. 7 seed. Rhodes was the No. 15 seed in the War by the Shore, but advanced to the final, before falling to Hardie.

Chomeau, a Corona del Mar resident, is the No. 8 seed. He lost in the round of 64 at the War by the Shore.

Newport Beach resident Christian Ball is the No. 4 seed in boys’ 12 singles.

Singles finals in all divisions except one will be held Friday. The boys’ 14 singles final is set for Thursday.

Doubles draws have yet to be announced in the Costa Mesa tournament, where Damion and Rhodes were runners-up in the boys’ 16 doubles last year.

Damion and Rhodes combined to win the War by the Shore 16 doubles title last week. They likely will be the No. 1 seed in this year’s 16 doubles draw.

Doubles registration will continue until 5 p.m. today.

There are no locals seeded in the girls singles draws, though Newport Beach resident Danielle Kaiden, competing in girls’ 16 singles, reached the finals of the girls’ 14 doubles last season at the Costa Mesa Summer Junior Classic.

Kaiden, then paired with Newport Beach’s Lindsay Zotovich as the No. 2-seeded duo, lost in the final to top-seeded Melissa Matsuoka, a Newport Beach resident, and partner Hayley Miller.

Kaiden and Zotovich were freshmen doubles teammates at Corona del Mar High last fall.

Newport Beach resident Michelle Atkins and Corona del Mar resident Kelly McKitterick, both unseeded in the girls’ 18 singles draw, combined to win the girls’ 16 doubles title at last year’s Costa Mesa Summer Junior Classic.

McKitterick and Atkins will be seniors at CdM High this fall.

The girls’ 18 singles field includes soon-to-be CdM High senior Hayley Young, who along with her twin sister Miranda earned Newport-Mesa Co-Player of the Year honors after going 56-3 in doubles for the Sea Kings last fall.

Also in the girls’ 18 singles field is Chrissy Schwartz, who will be a senior at Newport Harbor High. Schwartz was an All-Newport-Mesa performer last season, when she and Sasha Dunlap formed a productive doubles team for the Sailors.

At least 18 boys’ singles matches involving 20 local players are on tap today at both sites.

In boys’ 16 singles, Alireza Nazemi of Newport Beach will meet Newport Coast resident Erik Mutzke in a 1:30 p.m. contest in the round of 64 at the Costa Mesa Tennis Center.

Another local pairing pits Ball against CdM resident Alexander Murray in the boys’ 12 round of 32 at 1 p.m. at Costa Mesa High.

Only 11 local girls’ players will compete today and none will face each other.