Local trio into semis
Don’t look now, but there is a Saleh performing well at the Costa Mesa Summer Junior Classic tennis tournament.
Dante Saleh, who won boys’ 12s and 14s titles at the tournament in 2007 and 2008, respectively, watched his younger brother Andre build an early lead in his boys’ 16s quarterfinal match on Wednesday at Costa Mesa Tennis Center.
Dante, who will be a junior at Auburn University and plays tennis for the Tigers, is home in Newport Beach for the summer. Andre, 15, is also making himself feel at home at the Costa Mesa tournament.
Andre won twice Wednesday to advance to the semifinals. He outlasted No. 2-seeded Ori Mizrahi of Calabasas, 6-3, 3-6, 11-9 in a 10-point tiebreaker, then he took out No. 6-seeded Naevin Anukornchaikul of Irvine, 6-2, 6-1.
Andre Saleh will play Alonso Magdaleno of Chula Vista in a boys’ 16s semifinal Thursday at 9 a.m. Two other locals also stayed alive in their quests for singles titles at the tournament.
Top-seeded Jasie Dunk, who will be a junior at Corona del Mar High, also won twice Wednesday in the girls’ 16s. She got past Paulina Lopez Ontiveros of Mexico, 6-0, 6-1. Then, she beat No. 8-seeded Emily Valenciano of Yorba Linda, winning the first set 6-1 before Valenciano retired due to sickness.
Dunk will play Sravya Gudipudi of Clovis in a girls’ 16s semifinal Thursday at 8 a.m.
No. 2-seeded Lauren Friedman of Newport Beach also won her girls’ 12 singles quarterfinal match over Jacquelyn Todd of Coto de Caza, 6-2, 6-0. Friedman will play Alyssa Bojenkova of Glendale in the semifinals Thursday at 10 a.m.
All championship matches are scheduled for Friday.
Andre Saleh is feeling good. One difference between he and Dante, who stands 5-foot-10, is that Andre is already taller at near 6-1.
“That would be pretty cool,” Andre said of possibly being the second Saleh to win the Costa Mesa tournament.
For him, it is cool just to be on court after being sidelined last year with a back injury. Surgery wasn’t required, but Andre had to wear a big brace before he resumed playing in tournaments last August.
He had some good rallies against Anukornchaikul, who attends University High and is a three-star recruit according to tennisrecruiting.net. Saleh is a four-star recruit.
But Andre jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first set and had little difficulty closing out the match.
“I thought I played pretty well that match,” said Saleh, who goes to online school through Connections Academy.
Dunk, meanwhile, also thought she played well in her quarterfinal match against Lopez Ontiveros.
“She was good,” said Dunk, who is going for her second straight tournament title after winning the “War by the Shore” last week. “I thought it was going to be a hard match, but I was just attacking the ball. I think I was playing the best I ever played. This [quarterfinal] match, I think I was playing pretty well too, just hitting my shots.”
Other locals will be in doubles action Thursday. Michelle Pokusa of Costa Mesa and Lily Walkow of Newport Beach face Elizabeth Bondy of Laguna Hills and Cami Brown of Irvine in a girls’ 16 doubles semifinal match. Roxanne Mackenzie of Newport Coast and Natasha Hill of Newport Beach play Kayla Meraz of Brea and Milana Molnar of Ladera Ranch in one girls’ 14 doubles semifinal match, while Isabella McKinney and Shaya Northrup of Newport Beach play Ana Martinez and Fredel Sanchez Paszko of Mexico in the other.
All three doubles matches are scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday.
