TENNIS / WENDY WITHERSPOON : Keeping Track of Jellen During the Summer Requires an Atlas

Stacey Jellen of Calabasas used to look forward to her dad coming home from work so they could play tennis.

That was the first step toward a successful junior tennis career. But Jellen cannot wait around for her dad anymore. As do most juniors of her caliber, Jellen, 17, skips around the world during the summer, playing in tournaments.

Jellen currently is playing in the United States Tennis Assn. girls’ 18-and-under junior national championships, which began Sunday in San Jose.

Jellen was placed alphabetically in a group that includes the ninth through 16th seeded players. She won her first three matches, defeating Lizl Coetsee of Peoria, Ill., 7-5, 6-0; Lori Sowell of Opa Locka, Fla., 6-2, 6-2, and Nancy Dingwall of Houston, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

It looked as if Jellen was headed for a fourth-round match against fifth-seeded Karin Miller of Bradenton, Fla., and Jellen was concerned about Miller because Miller had defeated her in the Easter Bowl junior tournament in Miami in April.

But unseeded Dawn Buth of Wichita, Kan., upset Miller in the third round, 6-4, 6-1. Jellen jumped to a 4-0 lead in the first set, but Buth came from behind to win the first set and she also won the third, upsetting Jellen, 7-6 (6-3), 3-6, 6-3, on Wednesday.

In consolation matches Thursday, Jellen defeated Wilson Pate of Amarillo, Tex., 6-5, 6-2, and was defeated by Mashona Washington of Swartz Creek, Mich., 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-4.

Robert Jellen traveled several times between Los Angeles and San Jose this week to watch his daughter play. But Jellen is not always so easy to catch up with.

After Jellen reached the final of the Southern California Tennis Assn. girls’ 18 sectional championship in June, in which she lost to Anne Mall of Laguna Niguel, 6-2, 6-3, Jellen skipped town. She spent a month in France with other junior players, competing in four open tournaments on clay courts.

She returned to the United States last month and played in three professional tournaments in an effort to bolster her Women’s Tennis Assn. ranking. Jellen played in tournaments in Roanoke and Norfolk, Va., and in College Park, Md.

She lost in the first round of each tournament, but by playing in them she raised her ranking from 641 in June to 603.

Jellen will be a senior at Calabasas High in the fall and plans to graduate mid-year so that she can play in additional WTA tournaments before playing for a college team.

Add girls’ 18-and-under: Meilen Tu, 14, of Northridge, who won the girls’ 18-and-under clay court national tournament in Memphis, Tenn., last month, pulled a hamstring in the second round of junior nationals in San Jose and dropped out of the tournament this week.

The second-seeded Tu had an easy victory in the first round, defeating Adrienne Supino of Middletown, N.J., 6-1, 6-0. Then, despite sustaining the injury in her next match, she beat Lauren Gavaris of Potomac, Md., 6-0, 6-3.

After her recent clay court national tournament victory and two easy wins in the first two rounds this week, prospects were good for Tu to reach the final.

“I wanted to play. I had a really good draw in the tournament and I was really looking forward to getting to the finals, but things happen and there is nothing I can do about it,” she said.

Tu turned to her parents and her sister, Helen, who will be a senior on the UCLA women’s tennis team this season, to help her make the decision not to continue in the tournament.

Lynne Rolley, the USTA junior girls’ national coach, agreed with Tu’s decision to withdraw, even though it meant a possible national title.

“We know how well Meilen has competed. This is a time for her to learn, and when she’s injured, the last thing we would want is for her to push it,” Rolley said.

Rolley has worked with Tu in the USTA’s Training Assistance Program, which offers financial assistance, coaching and training supervision for top juniors.

“It was kind of a surprise injury and she just couldn’t continue, and that’s disappointing. But on the other hand, Meilen has a very healthy attitude and she knows she will have other opportunities to compete,” Rolley said.

Tu is scheduled to represent the United States along with two other girls in the World Junior Tennis Championships, an international 14-and-under tournament, Aug. 25-29.

Second add girls’ 18-and-under: Ania Bleszysnki of Thousand Oaks advanced to the third round of the main draw before losing to Christina Caparis of El Paso, Tex., 3-6, 7-6, 7-5, on Tuesday.

In the consolation bracket, Bleszynski defeated Lauren Gavaris, 6-2, 6-3, and Sarah Cyganiak of Mequon, Wis., 6-3, 6-4, before losing to Mashona Washington, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, Thursday in the consolation fourth round.

In doubles, Bleszynski was seeded second with her partner Sandra DeSilva of San Marino. Wendy Sacks of Memphis and Buth beat Bleszynski-DeSilva in a quarterfinal Thursday, 6-7 (7-2), 6-2, 7-6 (7-4). Kristen Hamilton of Agoura lost to seventh-seeded Kristina Brandi of Bradenton, Fla., 6-1, 6-1, in the second round.

Hamilton won two consolation matches before being eliminated by Sandy Sureephong of Haines City, Fla., 7-6, 6-3.

Boys’ 14-and-under: In the boys’ 14-and-under junior national championships, which began Sunday at the McFarlin Tennis Center in San Antonio, twins Bob and Mike Bryan of Camarillo, seeded third and fourth, advanced to Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Mike defeated seventh-seeded Hugo Armando of Bradenton, 6-2, 6-3, to advance to today’s semifinal against top-seeded Geoff Abrams of Newport Beach. In June, Mike lost to Abrams in a semifinal of the SCTA junior sectional championships, 6-4, 6-2.

Bob lost to eighth-seeded Nick Crowell of Amarillo, Tex., 5-2, 6-2, in the quarterfinals and will play 10th-seeded Emmett Braxton of Miami in the fourth round of the consolation bracket today.

In doubles, the top-seeded twins advanced to the final Wednesday and lost to second-seeded Keith Brill of Columbia, S.C, and Porter Jones of Mequon, 6-1, 6-3.

Dylan Mann of Canoga Park defeated David Chang of Spring Valley, N.Y., in the first round of the main draw, 6-1, 2-6, 6-2, before losing to 12th-seeded Eric McCulloch of Winston-Salem, N.C., 6-2, 6-0, in the second round.

In the consolation bracket, Mann defeated Nick Varvais of Simi Valley, 6-4, 6-1, and Ian Carrera of Goleta, 6-2, 6-4, before losing to Michael Berger of Greensboro, N.C., 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Mann also earned the tournament’s sportsmanship award.

Girls’ 14-and-under: In the USTA girls’ 14-and-under junior national championships that began Sunday at the South Fulton Tennis Center in College Park, Ga., Jessica Kessler of Studio City, seeded 11th, advanced to the fifth round of the consolation bracket before being eliminated by Megan Payne of St. George, Utah, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.

Kessler lost to Jenny Miller of Savannah, Ga., 6-1, 5-7, 6-0, in the first round of the main draw.

Jessica Improta of Camarillo lost to Rebekah Forney of New Braunfels, Tex., 6-1, 6-3, in the first round of the main draw and to Caroline Thompson of Atlanta, 6-1, 6-1, in a first-round consolation match.

Boys’ 16-and-under: In the boys’ 16-and-under junior national championships that began Saturday at Kalamazoo (Mich.) College, Derek Pope of Ojai advanced to the fourth round of the main draw before losing and moving into the consolation draw.

Pope, seeded 15th, lost to sixth-seeded Brian Patterson of Falmouth, Me., 6-4, 6-0, in the fourth round Thursday. Pope will play Adam Selkirk of St. Joseph, Mo., today in the consolation quarterfinals.

Jason Weiss of Tarzana defeated Mark Warnken of Scarsdale, N.Y., 6-4, 6-3, in the first round before losing to Ivan Lukacs of Las Vegas, 6-4, 7-5. Weiss lost to Robby Robertson of Paducah, Ky., 1-6, 6-2, 6-1, in the consolation second round.

In doubles, Weiss and his partner, Kevin Kim of Fullerton, lost to Tom Chicoine of Neenah, Wis., and Danny Goldin of Northbrook, Ill., 6-3, 6-7, 7-5 in the second round.