Ojai Tennis Tournament : Walker Taken to Three Sets Before He Reaches Semifinals
Defending champion Miles Walker of Chapman College survived a three-set quarterfinal match as he defeated Mike Giusto of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 6-4, 0-6, 6-4, in the men’s independent collegiate singles event of the Ojai tennis tournament Friday.
In last year’s final, Walker defeated Cal State Long Beach’s Greg Failla, who is the eighth-ranked player in the country. Walker will meet Kip Brady of UC Santa Barbara in one semifinal match today.
Another Chapman player, Olivier Amerlinck, will face Jeff Greenwald of Santa Barbara in the other semifinal. Amerlinck advanced with a 6-4, 6-2 quarterfinal victory over Yoram Baron of United States International University.
Two UC Irvine players lost their second-round matches in the independent collegiate event. Shige Kanroji was defeated by Giusto, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, and Mike Cadigan lost to Pat Crow of Long Beach, 7-5, 6-4.
Jonathan Leach of Laguna Beach continued to have little trouble in the 16-and-under division, defeating Mark Jamali of Santa Barbara, 6-1, 6-1, in the quarterfinals. Leach will play Bret Hansen-Dent of Newport Beach in today’s semifinals at 8 a.m. Hansen-Dent advanced with a three-set victory over Ari Nathan of Los Angeles.
Two other Orange County players--Graham Gilles of Laguna Beach and Adam Peterson of Orange--reached the semifinals of the boys’ 14-and-under event. Gilles has lost only three games in two matches.
In the junior girls’ competition, Kimberly Chang of El Toro reached the semifinals of the 16-and-under event, defeating Heather Willens of Los Angeles, 6-2, 7-6, in the quarterfinals, and Danielle Scott of Corona del Mar High School advanced to the semifinals of the 18-and-under division, losing just two games in three matches.
