One step closer to ultimate goal

Rick Devereux

What started out as a simple tennis match turned into a three-hour

epic Tuesday as Newport Beach resident Henri Chomeau outlasted Wesley

Yu, 7-6, 3-6, 7-5, in the boys 16s singles round of 32 at the 16th

annual War by the Shore junior tennis tournament at Balboa Bay Club

Racquet Club.

The match started at around 4:45 p.m. and didn’t conclude until

approximately 7:40.

“I wanted to be aggressive and come to the net,” said Chomeau, who

will be a sophomore at Mater Dei High in the fall. “I didn’t stick to

my strategy.”

Chomeau advances to the round of 16 and faces No. 1 seed Ryan

Mayer today at 8 a.m.

Despite the nearly-three-hour ordeal, Chomeau said he didn’t feel

too tired. Rather, he felt determined.

“[In long matches like that] you’ve got find reasons why you need

to win,” he said. “You’ve got to want to win every point.”

Also advancing to the boys 16s singles round of 16 in Corona del Mar resident Parker Rhodes, who defeated Newport Coast’s Thomas

Dialynas, 6-0, 6-1.

“I wanted to hit my shots a little harder,” said Parker, a

freshman-to-be at Corona del Mar High. “I wanted to work on my

groundstrokes.”

Parker, who is the No. 7 seed in the bracket, will play Chad

Sigler today at 8 a.m.

In an upset in the bracket, Eric Krueger from Huntington Beach

defeated Corona del Mar resident Omeed Ghassemi, 6-0, 6-1.

“He hit the play really hard and overpowered me,” Ghassemi said.

“The pace of the match was fast. I congratulate him on how well he

played.”

Joseph Di Giulio advanced to the boys 14s singles quarterfinals by

defeating Michael Tang, 1-6, 6-3, 6-1. Di Giulio was down, 3-2, in

the second set before he went on to win the next four games to begin

his comeback.

“I wanted to hit to his backhand because I know he has a real

powerful forehand,” said Di Giulio, who is 10 and won the boys 12s

singles last year as a 9 year old. “I tried to keep the ball deep

because he’s so big, I wanted to keep him off the net.”

Di Giulio faces Eugene Kang, who is the No. 3 seed in the bracket,

today at 5 p.m.

Costa Mesa resident Alexandra McIntosh upset No. 6 seeded-Kristin

Eggleston, 7-5, 6-4, in girls 16s singles. The Newport Harbor High

sophomore-to-be plays Dahara Zamudio, who is the No. 1 seed, this

afternoon at 12:30 in a quarterfinal match.

Two locals will square off in a girls 14s singles quarterfinal as

Newport Beach resident and No. 3 seed Melissa Matsuoka and Newport

Coast resident and No. 8 seed Jungyeun Lee do battle today at 2 p.m.

Matsuoka defeated Newport Beach resident Christina Cooley, 6-0,

6-0, in the round of 32 before disposing of Nakieta Hein, 7-6, 7-5,

in the round of 16.

Lee, who will be freshman at CdM in the fall, bested Newport Beach

resident Nicole Wagner, 6-4, 6-2, in the round of 32 and then

dismantled Joanne Esteban, 6-1, 6-4, in the round of 26.

“I played OK [against Esteban] but it took too long,” Lee said “I

like to volley and come to the net, so I needed to keep my ball deep.

That gave me more time to charge the net when I wanted and it forced

her to do more lobs.”

Other winners on Tuesday were Brittany Cluck and Jill Casserly in

girls 18s doubles when they battled back to defeat Mary Castleton and

Kori Kurtz, 0-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Cluck and Casserly, both entering their senior sessions at Newport

Harbor High, said it took awhile for them to get loose.

“We didn’t warm up until the second set,” Casserly said. “[The

biggest difference between the first set and the last set was] I had

so many unforced errors in the first set. Balls were hit right at me

and I would hit it out of bounds for no good reason.”

Cluck said a key to the victory was to keep pressure on their

opponents with serve and volley.

Casserly said it was teamwork and togetherness that helped them

persevere.

“Our support for each other [really helped us],” she said.

Casserly and Cluck face teammates Carly Adams and Brittany

Sturgess today at 6:30 p.m.