Di Giulio rallies for title

FOUNTAIN VALLEY — Joseph Di Giulio’s confidence seemed to disappear, as the momentum bounced to the other side of the net.

The Newport Beach resident failed to capitalize on two match points and watched as Drew Dawson grabbed control of the boys’ 14 title match of the Southern California Junior Sectional Championships.

Tied five-all in the third set, Di Giulio fell behind, 15-40, and as Di Giulio put it, “I thought I was cooked.”

But something happened that went beyond backhands or volleys at the net. Di Giulio just decided to fight. He wouldn’t give up.

In the end, Di Giulio, the No. 2 seed, won his third Southern California junior sectional title with a 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 dramatic victory over the Irvine resident, seeded No. 3, Monday at the Los Caballeros Racquet & Sports Club.

“I thought I was done,” said Di Giulio, who rallied with pinpoint ground strokes and opportune shots when he approached the net. “But then I just kept fighting and I pulled back in it somehow.

“It feels really good to win this one. It’s always good to win it like this and pull it off for the title.”

Di Giulio’s late rally wasn’t his only comeback in the match. He trailed, 4-2, in the third set. But he won three straight games to go up, 5-4, and appeared on his way to the win with a 40-15 lead. But Di Giulio missed his chance to break Dawson’s serve. Even after missing on that opportunity, Di Giulio somehow found a way to respond when trailing in the next game.

He won the game after a second deuce and allowed just one winner for Dawson in the next game to close it out.

“There were times where I thought I was out of it, like when he was up, 4-2, in the third set,” Di Giulio said. “I thought it was going to be real tough to come back. But I just kept on fighting.”

Mahmoud Karim, Di Giulio’s coach, acknowledged the champion’s fighting spirit, yet hinted that it made up for what wasn’t his best performance.

“It wasn’t like he had a totally bad day,” Karim said of Di Giulio. “He had an OK day and he managed to win.”

Early on, Di Giulio, ranked No. 5 in the nation in the boys’ 14 singles division by the United States Tennis Assn., appeared to be at his best, building a 3-1 lead. But Dawson, ranked No. 9 in the nation in the boys’ 14 division, won five straight games and showed that he was plenty capable of winning the championship.

Di Giulio responded in the second set, taking a 3-0 lead, then later, a 4-1 advantage. But Dawson would not stay down. He caught Di Giulio at 4-4, only to watch him win the last two games.

Still, Dawson said he had confidence and it grew after fighting off the two match points late in the third set.

“I was thinking I was going to win after that,” Dawson said. “I had three game points during the game at five-all. I was so pumped. I usually don’t get that pumped, but I was very pumped.

“He’s such a tough competitor and a great player.”

Di Giulio showed that toughness earlier in his childhood, when he was 9. That’s when he won the boys’ 10 title at the Southern California Junior Sectional Championships. In that match, he was down, 5-3, after losing the first set, 4-6.

At that point, his mother, April, was already making plans for where to eat dinner, and his dad, Paul, was talking about throwing away the video camera recording of the match.

But Di Giulio won, 4-6, 7-6 (0), 6-1.

Five years later, Di Giulio showed the same type of mettle and it was definitely enough for another championship.