Korber falls short, but not in doubles

NEWPORT BEACH — After his first three hours of tennis, someone asked Shane Korber what he wanted.

Korber asked for a banana and a protein bar to satisfy his hunger until the next match.

A win in the semifinals of the boys’ 16 singles would’ve taken care of his appetite.

No. 2-seeded Korber battled throughout Thursday’s match before No. 3 Stefan Menichella pulled out a 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 victory to advance to the final at the 19th annual Balboa Bay Club Junior Tournament.

Both players looked spent afterward. Each needed a new T-shirt, even after putting on new ones after the second set.

At least Menichella, a 13-year-old from Irvine, didn’t have to change shirts so fast. He soaked in victory at the Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club.

Korber, who will be a sophomore next year at Corona del Mar High, couldn’t wait to get out of his. He had another match to prepare for in about 20 minutes.

The start of the doubles semifinal match was supposed to start at 3:30 p.m. At that time, Korber was on his way to rallying in the second set against Menichella.

Korber’s future doubles opponents, No. 1 Justin Sampson and Trevor Zaret of Mater Dei, just sat and waited.

They saw Korber put on a show with his big forehand, coming back from a 2-0 deficit to force a third set. Briefly, all the momentum swung Korber’s way.

It didn’t last very long. The 10-minute break in between sets hurt Korber.

Menichella turned it on in the decisive set. Instead of worrying about every shot, Menichella forced Korber to use his backhand more than his strong forehand.

Menichella constantly hit the ball deep in Korber’s end. Korber’s patience of hitting the ball back and forth wore thin, just as it did in the first set.

He strayed away from the grind-it-out strategy that worked in the second set. Even with being three years older, Korber learned he couldn’t blow Menichella away.

All of a sudden, Menichella led, 5-2. The incoming eighth-grader was one game away from facing No. 1 Nathan Lewis in today’s championship at 11 a.m.

Korber was minutes away from grabbing his towel, the one he wiped his face with more than the unforced errors in his game.

“I let my frustration get to me a little bit,” Korber said. “I missed a little bit more than I should have. I tried to turn it on at like about 5-2. It was kind of too late at that point.”

It was just a matter of time before Menichella put Korber away.

Korber can take solace in that he was the first player in the five-day tournament to take Menichella to three sets.

Also, Korber teamed up with Santa Margarita’s Gavin Krogius to win a doubles semifinal, 6-1, 6-1, and advance to today’s final against Manhattan Beach’s Peng Dai and Tyler Mallery at 2 p.m.

Menichella got more out of the victory.

“It was a good chance to move up my 16s rankings,” said Menichella, one of the top 50 13-year-olds in the nation. “I didn’t really have anything to gain [competing in] the 14s.”

Against older players, Menichella has shown he can play with them.

“He’s just got great depth, great endurance, and he can just run every ball down, and he has great defense,” Korber said. “As he gets older, he’ll probably get some more offense, too.

“But right now he’s got that retrieving style down.”

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at david.carrillo@latimes.com.