Youth Tennis: Games begins climb
After turning 13 in April, Leyden Games knows she has a challenging task ahead of her.
Games, who had worked her way to a national No. 12 ranking in the girls’ 12s, now has a new mountain to climb in the girls’ 14s rankings.
That’s fine with Games (pronounced “GAH-mez”). She’s used to starting over. Last summer, she moved with her parents and two younger sisters from Boulder, Colo. to Newport Beach.
“Back in Colorado, I would only play a couple of hours a day,” Games said. “It was a lot easier then. And I also did competitive skiing.”
Not as much snow in Newport Beach, but better tennis. Leyden now trains at Advantage Tennis Academy in Irvine. Her father Adrian, who was tennis director at Meadows Tennis Club in Boulder, also works in the same position at Advantage.
Adrian believes big things are ahead for his oldest daughter. It just didn’t go Leyden’s way on Friday at the 114th annual Southern California Junior Sectional Tennis Championships. Games, the No. 9 seed in the girls’ 14s, lost to No. 5-seeded Jenna DeFalco of Tustin, 6-3, 6-1, in the round of 16 at Costa Mesa Tennis Center.
The first set was close, but DeFalco broke Games’ serve at 3-4, then saved two break points herself to capture the set. Adrian counted Leyden’s missed opportunities aloud, as she had seven different break point chances in the set but couldn’t convert any of them.
DeFalco then raced out to a 4-0 lead in the second set before Games could get on the scoreboard.
“I had a lot of chances in the first set, and then in the second set I was just not consistent,” said Leyden Games, who will be an eighth grader in the fall and is in Advantage’s Learning Academy program. “She crushes the ball. She’s really, really aggressive. I just kept on hitting short, giving her advantages.”
Games said it was similar to the last time she played DeFalco, when she lost, 7-6, 6-1, in the quarterfinals of the Anaheim Tennis Center Spring Junior Open in April. In that match, Games said she had set points in the first set but was closed out rather quickly after that.
This time, DeFalco finished it off in the second set again by the same score.
“She won’t go away,” Adrian Games said of DeFalco, who will play top-seeded Amanda Chan of Pasadena in the girls’ 14s semifinals on Saturday morning at The Tennis Club Newport Beach. “She gets tougher, it seems like, while Leyden’s level dropped off a little.”
On Friday, Leyden Games came back to Costa Mesa Tennis Center in the afternoon for a Junior Sectionals consolation match, in which she beat Sasha Tolstoff of Lake Elsinore, 6-1, 6-2. Games will play Cami Brown of Irvine in a consolation quarterfinal qualifier Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at The Tennis Club Newport Beach.
Games hopes to keep advancing in the back draw of Junior Sectionals. She also looks forward to a busy summer of tennis, including going back to Colorado for the United States Tennis Assn. Zone Team Championships. That tournament begins July 2 in Colorado Springs.
“She’s primed for a breakthrough shortly I think,” Adrian Games said of Leyden, who earned a prestigious silver ball last winter after advancing to the semifinals of the USTA winter nationals in Alabama. “She’s the young gun out there. Some of these older girls are really tough, but she’s doing great.”
In other action involving local players: Newport Beach’s Austin Di Giulio was the only local who remained alive in the Junior Sectionals main draw on Friday. Di Giulio, the No. 5 seed in the boys’ 16s, got past No. 9-seeded Naevin Anukornchaikul of Irvine, 6-2, 6-1, in the round of 16.
Di Giulio will play No. 3-seeded Jacob Bullard of Calabasas in the boys’ 16s quarterfinals on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at The Tennis Club Newport Beach.
Other locals lost in the main draw round of 16. Newport Beach resident Andre Saleh, the No. 9 seed in the boys’ 16s, lost to top-seeded Brandon Nakashima of San Diego, 6-1, 6-4, in the round of 16.
Newport Beach resident Parris Todd, the No. 9 seed in girls’ 18 singles, lost to No. 4-seeded Sydney Van Alphen of Laguna Beach, 6-3, 6-0.
Costa Mesa resident Maxi Duncan, another No. 5 seed in the girls’ 14s in the block-seeding format, fell to No. 9 Ashley Kua of Valencia, 6-3, 6-1.
