Pope Gets to the Point in Duel Against Tseng : Junior tennis: He survives, 7-5, 6-3, in tense semifinal between players recovering from injuries.

The stakes were unusually high for two tennis players who were recovering from injuries and trying to play their way back into shape.

But Derek Pope of Ojai and Philip Tseng of Los Angeles and Harvard-Westlake High are no ordinary players.

Pope and Tseng are two of the best 18-and-under players in the Southland and both are extremely competitive. Which explains why the two faced each other Saturday in the boys’ 18 singles semifinals of the Southern California Junior Sectional tournament at Los Caballeros Sports Village.

Right-hander Pope was recovering from a broken left wrist, Tseng a broken left leg. If the results are an indication, Pope’s injury was probably less severe.

He beat Tseng, 7-5, 6-3, to advance to today’s final.

“I’m relieved,” said Pope, who survived five set points in the first set. “I wanted to beat him really bad. I want to win this tournament.”

Though the two haven’t played since they met in the Sectional semifinals in the 12-and-under division, Pope said he and Tseng are old rivals.

They certainly were vocal and they battled like two boxers.

Third-seeded Tseng had second-seeded Pope on the ropes early. Pope had to serve 19 times to avoid being broken on his first service. At one point, Tseng was leading, 5-4, and had a triple-set point on Pope, who was serving at love-40.

“Can’t you make a shot under pressure?” Pope yelled at himself.

The answer was yes. After the game went to deuce and Tseng had two more set-point opportunities, Pope served to make it 5-5. Then he broke Tseng with a lob, and served out the set.

Tseng gave some credit to Pope, who served and volleyed, and attacked Tseng’s forehand. And it was obvious that Tseng, though cat-quick with a deadly backhand, didn’t have the stamina to stay with Pope’s constant pressure.

Tseng looked tired when he put an easy overhead smash into the net in the seventh game of the second set, giving Pope a service break.

“Choke,” Tseng yelled at himself.

After Pope held serve to lead, 5-3, Tseng double-faulted, hit a wide return, then watched Pope switch hands with his racket and hit a left-handed overhead winner to make it deuce.

When Tseng followed with a forehand into the net (giving Pope match point), he barked, “This is the bleeping worst day of my bleeping life. I feel like bleep.”

Then Pope ended it with a backhand cross-court winner.

Since he broke his leg in a skiing accident at Mammoth Mountain the first week of April, Tseng has played little tennis and certainly nobody has pushed him like Pope. The closest Tseng came to losing before Saturday was a 6-7, 6-1, 6-0 victory over Dennis Chang of Rancho Palos Verdes in Wednesday’s opening round.

“I definitely know how he feels,” said Pope, who suffered a hairline fracture in his wrist while diving for a ball in the Arizona Easter Bowl tournament in March. “You get out of tournament toughness.”

Speaking of toughness, Pope will face top-seeded Jakub Pietrowski of Huntington Beach in today’s noon final. Pietrowski, who beat No. 4 Nate Jackmon of Goleta, 6-1, 6-3, is Pope’s doubles partner. The two are national 18-and-under clay-court champions.

Pope has beaten Pietrowski only once in four tries, losing the last three. “The scores have been pretty bad,” Pope said. “Like 0 and 1, 2 and 1, 2 and 2.”

In girls’ 18 singles, top-seeded Ania Bleszynski of Thousand Oaks advanced to the final, where she will meet No. 4 Violette Ahn of Los Angeles at 10:30 a.m. today.

Bleszynski beat No. 7 Tu Dong of Long Beach, 6-1, 6-1, in the semifinals. Ahn defeated No. 6 Rosemary She of Cerritos, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

In boys’ 16 singles, top-seeded Joseph Gilbert of Fullerton defeated No. 3 Dylan Mann of Canoga Park, 6-4, 6-3, in the semifinals. Mann will play No. 7 Andrew Scorteanu of Palm Springs for third place today.

In the girls’ 10 singles final, top-seeded Angela Haynes of San Clemente beat No. 2 Lori Stern of Ojai, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2.