CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL OF ORANGE COUNTY TENNIS TOURNAMENT : Young and Old Have Mixed Results

Youth batted .500 in the semifinals of the Children’s Hospital of Orange County tennis tournament at the John Wayne Tennis Club.

In the first match, Trevor Kronemann and Richard Lubner, the Young Turks, beat Dick Miller and Eliot Teltscher, representing the old guard, 7-6, 6-2.

In the second match, Jon Leach, a junior at Laguna Beach High School, and Chris Dunk, 32, lost to veterans Tim Pawsat and Robert Van’t Hof, 6-7, 7-5, 6-2.

Kronemann and Lubner, seeded second, play Pawsat and Van’t Hof, the top seeds, in the final at 1 p.m. today.

The tournament is a tuneup for the NCAA tournament for Kronemann and Lubner, seniors at UC Irvine. The Anteaters face West Virginia in the opening round of the team tournament on Friday at Indian Wells.

The Leach-Dunk pairing was the most intriguing of all the doubles partners in the tournament.

Dunk is a friend of the Leach family--Dick, the father, is the USC men’s coach and Rick, Jon’s older brother, is one of the top doubles players in the world.

“We’ve been playing and practicing about four or five years now,” Dunk said. “It gives Jon a chance to learn a little from me.”

Leach, who won the 16-and-under national championship last year, appears to have picked up more than a few pointers from Dunk.

Playing against older men, however, Leach’s inexperience showed at times Saturday, though he and Dunk played Pawsat and Van’t Hof tough. Only a couple of service breaks kept them from advancing.

“I think the pressure was on us,” Pawsat said. “We were the stronger team, but that’s not to say they aren’t capable of beating us.”

Leach was serving for the match in the second set, but lost his serve. Van’t Hof held and Dunk lost his serve and the match slipped away. Pawsat and Van’t Hof then dominated the third set.

Kathy May Paben and Stephanie Rehe meet Barbara Lemberg and Sandy Collins in the women’s final at 11 a.m.

Paben and Rehe defeated Linda Howell and Cynthia MacGregor, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3, in one semifinal Saturday. Lemberg and Collins beat Beth Herr and Cammy MacGregor, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6, in the other semifinal.