COSTA MESA SUMMER JUNIOR CLASSIC:McIntosh wins it all

COSTA MESA — Alex McIntosh was so excited.

The senior-to-be at Newport Harbor High had just held her serve, a key hold late in the first set of Friday’s girls’ 18 singles championship match of the Costa Mesa Summer Junior Classic.

After the changeover, her opponent, Tiffany Baerwaldt, went to go retrieve a tennis ball in the corner.

“That’s OK, I’ve got two!” McIntosh said.

“Isn’t it my serve?” Baerwaldt correctly responded.

The crowd watching laughed, but then McIntosh got back to business.

She beat Baerwaldt, 7-5, 6-4, to win the title at the Costa Mesa Tennis Center.

McIntosh, a Costa Mesa resident, won what could be called her home tournament in front of a large group of supporters that included several teammates, the Sailors’ new coach Kristen Case and Estancia High’s Ellie Edles.

“There was like four groups of people, so that was cool,” McIntosh said. “And I live in Costa Mesa, so that was cool, too.”

Cool was the way McIntosh kept herself throughout the tournament, even after she barely made it past the first round, winning 6-4 in the third set.

She also won 6-4 in the third set in her second-round match.

“Those girls in the beginning, they were a different kind of player,” McIntosh said. “They were really consistent, and I don’t do well against that. I like it more fast-paced.”

But McIntosh also gave a lot of credit to Case.

The 2000 Newport Harbor graduate who went on to play at Cal, Case watched all of McIntosh’s matches during the tournament.

In the championship match, she saw McIntosh come back from a 4-2 deficit in the first set and a 3-1 deficit in the second set.

“I have to say that Kristen has helped me a lot with that, staying positive,” McIntosh said. “I used to get down and then I’d miss everything and keep missing. But she tells me to go back to basics, and that helps.”

Case said she was proud of the play of McIntosh, who made it to the finals of the Sunset League individuals tournament last year and will be a team leader this season for the Tars.

“I think she’s displayed a lot of physical and mental toughness,” Case said. “I was really impressed. I think her focus was to try to play as aggressive as possible, and she played the game today as she planned it.”

From down 3-1 in the second set, McIntosh won four straight games to take a 5-3 lead. Her serve was then broken, but she broke Baerwaldt’s serve back to take the match.

McIntosh was clearly the aggressor and the more talkative of the players.

Baerwaldt, from Bradenton, Fla., preferred to take her time after points, wiping herself off with a towel.

“That’s good for her, that probably helped her,” McIntosh said. “I got some momentum going and she broke it when she would take her time.”

Not enough to deny McIntosh the match, however. Even when she was down, she was definitely not out.

And she continued her strong summer, one that has seen her reach the girls’ 18 quarterfinals at both the War by the Shore and the Chapman University junior tournament.

Both times, she lost to the eventual champion.

On Friday, McIntosh took the time after winning her match to watch her cousin, Morgan McIntosh of Rancho Mirage, win the girls’ 16 singles title match at the tournament.

“I’ve been down a lot this tournament,” Alex McIntosh said after defeating Baerwaldt to win her first Costa Mesa Junior Tennis Classic title. “But I came back.”

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