Ghassemi all business in win

NEWPORT BEACH — Looking at a tennis bracket and trying to predict matchups can be a dangerous thing.

Corona del Mar resident Omeed Ghassemi knows this.

“I’ve done that before,” said Ghassemi, who will be a junior at Mater Dei High. “You think about the finals and then you lose in the first round.”

Ghassemi figured he’d be playing his good friend, fellow CdM resident and No. 1 seed Chris Damion, in a boys’ 18 singles Round of 16 match on Wednesday at the War by the Shore tournament.

But Damion was upset by Capistrano Beach’s Paul Heckler in three sets a day earlier, meaning the No. 10-seeded Ghassemi would play Heckler instead.

Damion showed up to watch Wednesday’s match, and what he saw was a consistent Ghassemi mow down Heckler, 6-3, 6-2, at the Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club.

Ghassemi advances to the quarterfinals, where he will play No. 8-seeded Andrew Frisk of Seal Beach today at 2 p.m. at the same venue.

The match against Heckler was definitely unexpected. Ghassemi and Damion had practiced together on Sunday, the day before the tournament started.

“He beat me in two sets,” said Ghassemi, sharing a laugh with Damion, who was standing nearby. “He was just talking trash that he was going to kill me. I think he forgot that he had to beat somebody before he played me.”

Did Ghassemi watch that Damion loss?

“No, I did not get to watch that embarrassment,” Ghassemi said playfully with a straight face, drawing more laughs from Damion.

Heckler, a tall kid with a big serve, did make Ghassemi battle. Serving at 2-3 in the first set, Ghassemi hung on to win a three-deuce game, staying on serve.

He then broke Heckler’s serve, doing it again to win the first set, 6-3. The players then changed courts so Heckler’s dad, who was in a wheelchair, could see the match.

“I thought you were going to lose it after you switched courts,” Damion told Ghassemi after the match.

“I did, too,” Ghassemi said. “I’ve never won a match after switching courts.”

But he stayed consistent, again breaking Heckler’s serve twice in the second set.

The match ended when Heckler double-faulted, something the big server started doing more often as the match unfolded.

“He was a good player, “ said Ghassemi, who teamed with Mater Dei’s Ryan Agbayani to win the Trinity League doubles championship in the spring. “He had a big serve. But if you kept the ball in for awhile, he would make a mistake. Chris told me that’s what I should do. I think the main thing was that I stayed focused more than he did.

“I have the type of game that I don’t have to go for it. I can just stay out there and rally a lot. I like to do that.”

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or at matthew.szabo@latimes.com.

In other matches Wednesday at the War by the Shore (locals only):

Girls’ 18 singles

Round of 16

Alexandra McIntosh (Costa Mesa) defeated Ariana Mokhtari, 6-2, 6-3.

Girls’ 16 singles

Round of 16

Danielle Kaiden (Newport Beach) lost to Kelsey Costales, 6-2, 6-2.

Neda Ghassemi (Corona del Mar) lost to Megan Lester, 7-6, 6-1.

Girls’ 10 singles

Quarterfinals

Siena Sharf (CdM) lost to Natalie Penner, 6-0, 6-0.

Girls’ 18 doubles

Quarterfinals

Elizabeth Cramer (C.M.) and Emily Gelbaum (N.B.) lost to Alex Tachovsky and Della Taylor, 6-1, 6-0.

Allie Shea (N.B.) and Avalon Sigalos (N.B.) lost to Janay Palicte and Paloma Vazquez, 6-2, 6-2.

Girls’ 16 doubles

Quarterfinal

Elizabeth Murray (CdM) and Melissa Ross lost to Kelsey Costales and Hillary Ramage, 6-1, 6-0.

Girls’ 14 doubles

Quarterfinals

Cynthia Waterman (N.B.) and Rian Billingsley won via default.

Nikki Waniek (N.B.) and Jessica Yi (Newport Coast) lost to Claire Jaeger and Haley Moss, 6-3, 6-4.

Boys’ 18 singles

Round of 16

Parker Rhodes (CdM) defeated Eric Mendonsa, 1-6, 7-6, 6-1.

Bradley Fisher (C.M.) lost to Andrew Frisk, 7-5, 6-3.

Boys’ 16 singles

Round of 16

Pierce Stemler (N.B.) lost to Gavin Krogius, 6-2, 6-2.

David Fink (N.C.) defeated Christopher Anderson, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.

Boys’ 14 singles

Round of 16

Hayden Tremper (CdM) defeated Trevor Russell (N.B.), 6-0, 6-3.

David Vu (N.C.) lost to Parker Glore, 6-0, 6-3.

Alex Carlis (N.B.) lost to Adam Schwartz, 6-1, 6-0.

Alexander Murray (CdM) lost to Gannon Daynes, 6-0, 6-0.

Boys’ 12 singles

Quarterfinals

Dante Saleh (N.B.) defeated Blaine Mengert, 6-2, 6-3.

Andrew Nguyen (N.B.) lost to Kenny Gea, 6-3, 6-0.

Max Pham (N.C.) lost to Tomas Aranguiz, 6-0, 6-0.

Boys’ 10 singles

Quarterfinals

Austin Di Giulio (N.B.) lost to Chase Lipscomb, 1-6, 7-5, 6-1.

Tyler Gaede (CdM) lost to Evan Nguyen, 6-0, 6-1.

Evan Clary (N.B.) lost to Ryan Marker, 6-2, 6-3.

Boys’ 14 doubles

Quarterfinals

Alex Carlis (N.B.) and Caleb Kim (Newport Beach) lost, 6-3, 7-5.