Hibi continues underdog run at Oracle Challenger Series in Newport Beach

Mayo Hibi lives in Irvine, so having a professional tennis tournament in nearby Newport Beach seemed like a dream.

The Japanese player wasn’t sure if it would become more than that. When she first entered the inaugural Oracle Challenger Series Women’s Tennis Assn. $125,000 event, she said she wasn’t even in the qualifying draw.

“Even if I wasn’t in when the tournament started, I was going to be here to be an on-site alternate anyway,” Hibi said. “It’s just so close to home.”

Hibi, 21, ended up making the women’s singles qualifying draw and winning twice there to advance to the main draw. Now she’s all the way in the semifinals of the event at Newport Beach Tennis Club. She advanced after upsetting No. 6-seeded Sachia Vickery of Florida 6-4, 6-2 on Friday afternoon.

Hibi will play another qualifier, Sofya Zhuk of Russia, in the women’s singles semifinals Saturday. Another Southern California resident will compete in the men’s singles semifinals of the Assn. of Tennis Professionals Challenger Tour event. No. 3-seeded Taylor Fritz of Palos Verdes defeated Noah Rubin of New York 6-3, 6-2 in a quarterfinal match and will play wild-card entry Reilly Opelka of Florida in a semifinal Saturday.

Irvine resident and former Orange County Breakers player Scott Lipsky and partner David Marrero of Spain lost in the men’s doubles semifinals to Treat Huey and Denis Kudla. Huey is another former Breaker.

Hibi, who played at Woodbridge High for one season as a freshman in 2010 and turned professional three years later, is happy with her progress. It’s been a family affair for her. She said her younger brother Leo, a senior at Woodbridge who plays on the boys’ tennis team at the school, has been coaching her this week as her regular coach is out of town.

“It’s so nice being able to sleep in your own bed every night,” said Hibi, ranked No. 232 in the world. “My mom [Meg] cooks for me every night, every morning. It doesn’t really feel like I’m playing in a tournament. It’s almost like I’m just here for a good practice session.

“They just need to move the U.S. Open here now,” she added with a laugh.

Fritz also was pleased after defeating Rubin, who had won when they played in the New Caledonia tournament title match earlier this month. Fritz, the only seeded player to advance to the quarterfinals in men’s singles, won the first set before breaking Rubin’s serve in the first game of the second set. He ended up running away with the match.

“More than anything, this was definitely a revenge match,” said Fritz, 20, who is ranked No. 91 in the world. “I was really excited for it. Even if he wasn’t the easiest draw to have in the quarters, I wanted it, because I really wanted to play him and I really wanted to redeem myself.”

Former Stanford standout Bradley Klahn will play Christian Garin of Chile in the other men’s singles semifinal at 10 a.m. On the women’s side, No. 7-seeded Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia matches up against wild-card entry Danielle Collins, a two-time NCAA singles champion at the University of Virginia.

Tomljanovic edged Nicole Gibbs, a Santa Monica resident who has played World Team Tennis for the Breakers the last two years, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 in a quarterfinal match Friday.

Gibbs was making a return to the Newport Beach Tennis Club this week, after earning 2016 WTT Female MVP honors for the Breakers at the same venue. She couldn’t hold a 6-4, 5-2 lead, but she said she enjoyed returning to Newport Beach.

“There’s such an appetite for tennis here, which is really exciting,” Gibbs said. “I thought the crowd was really positive and got behind the U.S. players really well.”

Saturday’s men’s doubles final features Huey and Kudla against Leander Paes and James Cerretani, while Jamie Loeb and Rebecca Peterson face Misaki Doi and Jil Teichmann in the women’s doubles final.

Admission is free at the Newport Beach Tennis Club for the Oracle Challenger Series through the weekend. The action starts at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

matthew.szabo@latimes.com

Twitter: @mjszabo