Damion wins, has chance for two titles

NEWPORT BEACH — “Nice shirt!,” former Corona del Mar High boys’ tennis coach Tim Mang told Chris Damion on Thursday.

Damion, wearing his dark blue CdM shirt, gave Mang the thumbs-up sign during the changeover at the 19th annual Balboa Bay Club Junior Tournament.

But that thumbs-up could just as easily describe Damion’s game right now. The CdM senior-to-be is in the final of the boys’ 18 singles at the tournament also known as the “War by the Shore.”

Damion took out Ashton Kalhorn of Las Vegas, 6-2, 7-5, in the semifinals at the Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club. He’ll face Sanghoon Song of Buena Park in the championship match today at 11:30 a.m.

Damion and partner Ryan Peyton, an incoming junior at CdM, are also in the final of the boys’ 18 doubles after two straight forfeit victories. They’ll face Corona del Mar’s Parker Rhodes and Chad Sigler of Irvine in the championship match today at 2 p.m.

Not bad for Damion, who lost in his first match of the tournament last year as the top-seeded player in boys’ 18s. This year, he’s unseeded, which Damion said is because he hasn’t been playing as many tournaments so he could focus on his schoolwork.

“There’s a lot less pressure, because I have no ranking in the 18s right now,” Damion said. “It makes my life a lot easier. Now, I’m just playing it basically to have fun. I can lose any time and be completely happy with my success.

“I’m happy with the way that I’m playing,” he added. “My backhand and my serve are so much more consistent than they used to be.”

It’s Damion’s forehand, though, that is perhaps his most obvious weapon. He used it consistently in the first set against Kalhorn. In the first set, the players were tied at 2-2, but both thought the score was 3-2 in favor of Damion and they switched sides.

After the confusion was settled, Damion did hold serve to go up, 3-2, then won the next three games as well for the set. The second set was closer, and Damion committed more unforced errors. At times, he told himself, “Rally!”

The players were on-serve as late as 5-5. But, after Damion held serve, he broke Kalhorn, who sent a couple of shots wide to end the match.

“My best shot is my high forehand,” Damion said. “Sometimes I’ll go for it when it’s either a little too high or I’m a little far back. I just need to wait for it to a little bit easier. When I’ve only hit two balls over the net, I need to rally a little bit more.”

Kalhorn said he was feeling sick after the match, which led him and Colton Pate to forfeit the doubles match to the CdM duo. But, he still gave credit to Damion for the singles victory.

“He’s strong,” Kalhorn said. “He’s got a really good forehand, so you’ve got to keep it to his backhand, but he’s pressing a lot. It’s hard to keep the ball in when he’s pressing like that. He’s a pretty strong player.”

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