Ghassemi gets better of Damion

COSTA MESA ? Omeed Ghassemi and Chris Damion are quite friendly off the court.

On the court, the matches between the two Corona del Mar residents are usually intense and quite close.

Both were true on Thursday during Ghassemi’s 6-4, 6-4 win in the boys’ 16 singles semifinals of the 14th annual Costa Mesa Summer Junior Classic

No. 1-seeded Ghassemi, who will be a sophomore at Mater Dei High in the fall, will meet No. 2-seeded Freddy Quintos of Murrieta in the final today at 9 a.m. at the Costa Mesa Tennis Center.

To get there, Ghassemi had to come back from a 3-0 first-set deficit and a 2-0 second-set deficit against Damion, who will be a sophomore at Corona del Mar High.

Despite the closeness of the match, there were no stare-downs or argued calls. Instead, Ghassemi preferred to say “Nice shot, Chris” when Damion hit a blistering forehand winner or “Sorry, Chris” when a net-cord fell on Damion’s side of the net.

“It’s fun playing friends, but it’s also very stressful,” Ghassemi said. “You want to pump yourself up, but you also want to keep your friendship after the match.”

After Damion went up, 3-0, Ghassemi won five games in a row, helped out by Damion’s unforced errors and double faults.

Ghassemi played a more conservative match, getting shots back and rarely making a mistake.

“When I was down, 3-0, in the first set, I decided to stay focused,” Ghassemi said. “Whenever Chris goes up, he kind of gets relaxed, so I just wanted to play my game.”

With Ghassemi serving for the set at 5-4, he held off Damion in a marathon game that went to six deuces.

Damion again went up in the second set, but Ghassemi won two consecutive games to level the set. It was then on serve until Damion double-faulted twice and was broken at 4-4, giving Ghassemi a chance to serve for the match.

On the first point, both players hit several drop shots and came to the net for volleys, with Damion winning the point by flicking a forehand winner down the line.

“It was a crazy point, and he hit a really nice shot,” Ghassemi said. “I was like, ‘If he’s going to play every point of this game like that, then I’m in trouble.’ ”

But Ghassemi immediately rebounded with a service ace, going on to win the game and the match. It was a bit of friendly payback for Ghassemi, who lost to Damion and teammate Parker Rhodes of Corona del Mar in the boys’ 16 doubles final at last week’s War by the Shore at the Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club.

“It was more of a social match, which is more fun,” Damion said. “Every time we play it’s close. I won the last time and he won the time before that, so next time I think I’ll win.”