CdM’s Damion upset by Heckler

NEWPORT BEACH — Perhaps a strong indication that a win just wasn’t meant for Chris Damion Tuesday came in the second set of his match against Paul Heckler.

Down, 5-0, Damion, who will be a junior at Corona del Mar High, slammed his racquet to the ground at the Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club. He cracked his racquet in disgust, anger and frustration.

“It was an easy point and I missed it,” Damion said in a phone interview. “It sucked.”

Damion couldn’t find momentum or his groove, suffering in a funk, as the top seed lost to Heckler, 2-6, 6-0, 6-2 in a Round of 32 match of the boys’ 18 singles division of the 18th annual War by the Shore tournament.

“It was getting hard to hold my serve,” Damion said. “He started to get balls on the court and I started to get frustrated. Once I couldn’t get my serve going, I lost it.

“He picked up his game and mine went down.”

Heckler of Capistrano Beach moves on to play against the No. 10 seed, Omeed Ghassemi, who attends Mater Dei and is from Corona del Mar. They will play today at 5 p.m. in a Round of 16 match at the Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club.

Heckler used accuracy and occasionally a strong backhand to gain control of the match, Damion said.

“I underestimated my opponent,” Damion said. “I was thinking too much about my seeding. I was thinking more about my other matches and how I would do in the semis. It made me think that I should focus more on each match. I hit the ball too hard. I played really dumb and I just got really mad.”

Damion said he was a bit surprised to gain the top seed in the War by the Shore, which is also referred to as the Balboa Bay Club junior tournament.

“When I played [in the Ojai Valley tennis tournament] for CdM, I beat a kid who was in the top 20,” Damion said. “So because I beat Steven Henderson, I was ranked high. But I think it’s going to go down now.”

— Steve Virgen

In other matches at the War by the Shore:

Girls’ 18 singles: Petra Padalikova defeated Allie Shea of Newport Beach 6-0, 6-0. Alex McIntosh of Costa Mesa advanced. Paloma Vazquez defeated Karen Ishii of Newport Beach 5-7, 7-6, 6-2. Auriel O’Neill of Newport Beach defeated Alex Tachovsky 7-5, 0-6, 6-1.

Girls’ 16 singles: Katina Zampas defeated Elizabeth Cramer of Costa Mesa 6-3, 6-2. Danielle Kaiden of Newport Beach defeated Elizabeth Murray of CdM 6-0, 6-1. Jamie Raney defeated Kelsey Davis of CdM 6-0, 6-0. Megan Lester defeated Lexy Longman of Newport Beach 6-0, 6-1. Neda Ghassemi of CdM defeated Jeanne Frei of Newport Beach 6-0, 6-0.

Girls’ 14 singles: Elle Taylor defeated Mazy Watrous of Newport Beach 6-2, 6-2. Morgan Day defeated Megan Rucker of Newport Beach 7-5, 7-5. Brittany Pham defeated Jessica Yi of Newport Coast 6-0, 6-0. Haley Moss defeated Rebecca Arnold of Newport Beach 6-0, 6-1. Gabriela Vazquez defeated Abigail Wesley of CdM 6-1, 6-0. Kaiulani Boyer defeated Elizabeth Nguyen of Newport Beach 6-2, 6-0.

Girls’ 12 singles: Jessica Wilcox defeated Natalie Cernius of Newport Beach 6-0, 6-3.

Girls’ 10 singles: Siena Sharf of CdM defeated Melanie Eraso 6-3, 6-2. Reona Shinkai defeated Kinley Ohland of Costa Mesa 6-0, 6-0.

Girls’ 18 doubles: Karen Ishii and Melissa Matsuoka of Newport Beach defeated Brittnie Furuvald and Emily Ignas 6-2, 6-1.

Girls’ 16 doubles: Elizabeth Murray of CdM and Melissa Ross of Irvine defeated Sophie Merl and Jamie Schulman 6-2, 6-3.

For boys’ results go to tennisinformation.com.