TENNIS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA JUNIOR SECTIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS : Phebus Puts Behind Snub by Winning Third Tournament Title

Here’s a misguided idea: Tell one of the nation’s best junior tennis players she doesn’t have “the potential to be a top-class player.”

Be sure to use those precise words to explain why she was not picked for the U.S. Junior team.

That’s what someone from the U.S. Tennis Assn. told Keri Phebus of Newport Beach in January.

At first, it was enough to make the sweet music of a ball meeting a racquet sound like fingernails on a chalkboard.

Last year, Phebus won almost every tournament in which she played, including her second consecutive Southern Section championship, and was the country’s top-ranked player in the 16-and-under division. “What more did they want me to do?” she asked herself in frustration.

Now, she says it’s all in the past. She figures there is no explaining the political process behind the selection, anyway.

On the court, an ounce (a ton?) of motivation has propelled Phebus to new heights.

Sunday at Los Caballeros Racquet Club, she won the 18-and-under division of the Southern California Junior Sectional championships, her third consecutive tournament title since she was snubbed. Phebus defeated Anne Mall of Laguna Niguel, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5), in a match that was difficult only when she made it so.

Her victory goes nicely with titles at the Maze Cup tournament, a team competition against Northern California junior players, and the Seventeen Magazine Tournament of Champions. Add the Southern Section singles title, and Phebus’ winning streak stands at four.

She leaves Thursday in search of her fifth consecutive victory at the Olympic Festival in Minneapolis.

“My main goal is nationals (in August at San Jose),” said Phebus, a 16-year-old who just completed her sophomore year at Corona del Mar High School. “I want to win that really bad.”

Maybe then the powers that be will realize they made a mistake.

“The only time they (USTA selection officials) saw me play last year was at the Junior U.S. Open and I played really bad,” she said. “It doesn’t affect me anymore. It would have been nice to be on the team because you get a lot of experience against international players, and your name gets known.”

Instead, Phebus was in Fountain Valley on Sunday morning, running Mall ragged.

At one point, Phebus allowed Mall just four points in five games.

“She was playing really well,” said Mall, a 15-year-old who attends Dana Hills High. “I didn’t do anything to counteract her.”

Down 1-0 in the second set, Mall made a stand. Later, she led, 4-3, but Phebus broke Mall’s serve and soon they were playing a tiebreaker.

Mall went up, 4-1, in the tiebreaker, but Phebus rallied to win, 7-5, and take the match.

“I changed my game plan (in the second set),” Phebus said. “I guess I stopped going for my shots. Actually, this tournament I’ve been very business-like. I wasn’t like that in the second set. I lost my tenacity.”

In the boys’ 18s, future teammates and roommates at UC Irvine, Brett Hansen-Dent of Newport Beach and Marco Zuniga of Bonita battled for bragging rights. Hansen-Dent won, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.

“I was going to tell him we’d play for the best bedroom, but I didn’t,” Hansen-Dent said.

The victory marked another giant step in Hansen-Dent’s fast-improving career. In May, he won the Southern Section singles title. In April, he won the 18s at Ojai.

“I don’t know what it is,” he said. “I just feel like I’m one of the top guns now.”

Adam Peterson of Orange won the 16s title, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, over Ross Loel of Los Angeles for his third major championship this year.

Earlier, he won at the Easter Bowl tournament in Miami and at Ojai.

In the 14s, Jakub Pietrowski of Huntington Beach lost to Phillip Tseng of Los Angeles, 6-1, 6-3.

Geoff Abrams of Newport Beach beat Kevin Kim of Fullerton, 6-3, 6-3, in the 12s.