Junior Sectional Tennis Championships Start Today

The Southern California Junior Sectional Championships begin today at seven Orange County sites. The junior sectionals, with more than 1,700 participants, is the largest junior tennis tournament in the nation. Qualifying rounds in five boys’ and girls’ age divisions begin today and run through Tuesday. The 32-player main draws begin Wednesday and end June 30 with the finals at Los Caballeros Sports Village in Fountain Valley.

The junior sectionals serve as the Southern California championships and as a qualifier to the U.S. Tennis Assn.’s national championships in August.

Taylor Dent of Corona del Mar High, who won the Southern Section boys’ singles title, is one of the favorites to win a junior sectional title. Dent, who has spent the last three weeks in Europe with the USTA, is seeded fourth in the boys’ 16 division. Dent would play fifth-seeded Chase Exon of Woodbridge in the quarterfinals and top-seeded Andrew Park of San Marino in the final. Dent defeated Park in three sets to win the high school championships last month.

The highest-seeded county player is Newport Beach’s Nadia Vaughan, who will be a freshman at Corona del Mar next year. Vaughan is seeded second to Jieun Jacobs of Valencia in the girls’ 14 division. Vaughan’s sister, Nina, is seeded eighth in the girls’ 16 division.

Singles competition will be held in boys’ and girls’ 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 age divisions. Doubles competition will be held in boys’ and girls’ 18s.