Di Giulio falls in boys’ 12s quarters at Junior Sectionals

The last player from Newport Beach to win a title at the Southern California Junior Sectionals tennis tournament sat there Saturday afternoon at Court No. 9 at Los Caballeros Sports & Racquet Club.

Joseph Di Giulio watched his youngest brother try to take another step in accomplishing that task. It’s been a while since Joseph, who recently finished up his senior season at UCLA, won the boys’ 14s title in 2009, the last of his three Junior Sectional crowns.

The middle Di Giulio brother, Austin, will be a senior in high school this year and played in the 18s this week. On Saturday, it was the youngest, 11-year-old Perry, who was in the boys’ 12s quarterfinals.

Perry didn’t play his best, and the No. 5 seeded suffered a 6-1, 6-3 loss to No. 4-seeded Dominique Rolland of West Hills to end his tournament.

The energy didn’t appear to be there for Perry, who has been sick for much of the week. Earlier in the week, his dad, Paul, had to take him to urgent care with a 103-degree fever. Perry Di Giulio also had a long three-set win in the round of 16 on Friday.

To his credit, however, he didn’t use any of these factors as an excuse.

“It didn’t really affect me too much,” said Perry Di Giulio, who turns 12 next week. “I felt fine. There was nothing wrong. I was just coughing; I didn’t have a fever or anything.”

Still, Di Giulio, who graduated from Eastbluff Elementary this week and said he will attend Corona del Mar Middle School as a seventh-grader in the fall, wasn’t able to dictate the tempo. Rolland had a few inches on the 4 feet 8 Di Giulio, and he was able to move the lefty around the court for much of the match.

“Most of the guys I play are bigger than me,” Perry Di Giulio said. “But yeah, I wasn’t in control. He was more controlling the points.

“I just didn’t play too well. I didn’t execute when I had my chances. I was up 40-15 in one of the games, and 30-love in the last one. A few chances that I didn’t take advantage of.”

Still, he was mostly pleased with his tournament. Last year, he lost in the first round of the main draw.

Perry will try to regroup next week. He’s playing in the “Little Mo” tournament at the Tennis Club Newport Beach, where he trains.

Lynn advances to semifinals

In other action Saturday, top-seeded Rebecca Lynn of Newport Beach was the only local player to advance in the main draw, in the girls’ 14s.

Lynn beat No. 5-seeded Justine Dondonay of Alhambra, 6-3, 6-1, in the quarterfinals. She plays No. 3-seeded Kayla Meraz of Brea in the semifinals on Sunday at noon at Los Cab.

The final is scheduled for Monday at 10 a.m., also at Los Cab.

In the boys’ 16s quarterfinals, Jett Cole of Laguna Beach lost a close match against No. 9-seeded Ian Freer of South Pasadena. Freer won, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6.

matthew.szabo@latimes.com

Twitter: @mjszabo