Costa Mesa Pro Classic down to 8 singles

COSTA MESA — Three Southern Californians advanced to the quarterfinals of the Costa Mesa Pro Classic Thursday, and none of them had an easy ride.

Poway’s Bradley Klahn, the third seed, won the first set in a tie breaker, 7-6 (2) and the second set, 6-4, dispatching Mitchell Krueger.

Trabuco Canyon’s Nicholas Meister, after winning a tough three-set match on Wednesday, did the same on Thursday, beating India’s top player, Sanam Singh, the seventh seed, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. And Torrance’s Jason Jung needed a tiebreaking win in the second set to defeat Chili’s Juan Carlos Sanez, 6-3, 7-6 (2).

Those three join unseeded Min Hyeok Cho and Ji Sung Nam of Korea, Brazil’s Caio Zampieri, and Americans Dennis Nevolo and Tennys Sandgren, the second seed, in the quarterfinals, which begin Friday at 10 a.m. at the Costa Mesa Center.

The doubles championship will pit Koreans Cho and Nam against Michael McClune of America and Michael Venus of New Zealand. It will begin not before 1 p.m.

The story of the tournament thus far is Cho. This marks only the second time the 26-year-old has played in a professional event in the U.S. Last week in Calabasas, he reached the semifinals, before losing to Klahn.

The strength of that performance earned the unranked Cho a special exemption for the Costa Mesa Pro Classic. He has made good use of it, as he plays in the doubles championship Friday and remains alive in singles.

Semifinals singles action takes place Saturday, and the singles championship will be held Sunday.

Part of the USTA’s Pro Circuit, the $15,000 Costa Mesa Pro Classic features 32 singles players and 16 doubles teams. All players are seeking to boost their world tennis ranking through participating in USTA Pro Circuit events held weekly across the country.

— From staff reports