Hladek, Matthews cruise into semis

OJAI — Corona del Mar High’s Dustin Hladek and Fabian Matthews know that the Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament is prestigious.

But they haven’t had many problems with the competition so far.

Hladek and Matthews topped Evan Hashimoto and Ali Makmalchi of Santa Margarita, 6-0, 6-1, in the CIF division doubles quarterfinals on Friday, moving to today’s semifinal against Trent Brown and D.J. Jaehnig of Rancho Bernardo.

Hladek and Matthews also beat Nick Chang and Albert Chu of San Marino, 6-2, 6-0, in the Round of 16.

In their first four rounds, the No. 1 seeded team won its matches by a combined score of 40 games to eight. If the duo beat Brown-Jaehnig in the semis, they’ll play either Billy Grokenberger and Chris Ho of Santa Barbara, or Charlie Alvarado and Chris Freeman of Mater Dei, in the finals today at 2 p.m. at Libbey Park in Ojai.

Alvarado is a Costa Mesa resident. No. 2-seeded Ho and Grokenberger are the defending tournament champions, but Hladek and Matthews beat them in a close three-set match at the CIF Individual Championships last May.

“We started out a little slow in this tournament, but we’re just playing really well,” Matthews said. “We were kind of surprised we got the No. 1 seed, since they’re the defending champions.”

Hladek agreed.

“That was a very pleasant surprise,” he said.

In the girls’ 18 doubles draw, Corona del Mar High seniors Hayley and Miranda Young, the No. 1 seed, are playing in the championship today at 2 p.m. at Libbey Park. They beat Caroline Bandy and Blair Johnson of Ojai in the first round of the four-team draw Friday, 6-2, 6-2.

Several Orange Coast College players are also still alive in the men’s and women’s community college draw. In men’s doubles, the team of Pat Lam and Charlie Nguyen topped Dan Nguyen-Huu of and Vladimir Zabadayev of Mt. San Jacinto, 6-2, 6-4, to advance to today’s quarterfinal against No. 11-seeded Matt Greer and Marc Johns of Bakersfield.

The Pirates’ Andy Ong and Giovanni Villicana fell in the Round of 32 to Nicolas Gru and Rafael Lisboa of Ventura, 6-3, 6-2.

In singles, OCC’s Jon Kroopf was eliminated in the Round of 32 by No. 16 seed Jonathan Sappaiboon on Friday, 3-6, 7-6, 6-3. Villicana fell to No. 7 seed Kyle Erickson, 6-4, 6-4.

On the women’s side, OCC’s Jaleh Mazaheri and Heather Morton advanced to today’s quarterfinals by posting a 6-3, 7-6 victory against Krystal Garcia and Jeanna Steele of Rio Hondo. Mazaheri and Morton came back in their earlier match Friday for a 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 win over Natali Cespedes and Maya Morris of Irvine Valley.

The Pirates’ Mahtab Davatolhagh and Evelyn Wallace lost in the Round of 16 to Melanie Dutra and Mara Nissinoff of Palomar, 6-2, 7-5.

In the singles draw, Mazaheri advanced to today’s quarterfinals with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Kathy Dennis of Saddleback in the Round of 16. Wallace was eliminated in the Round of 16 by Ally Limon of Ventura, 6-4, 6-2.