Saddleback’s Nguyen Is the Surprising Single Survivor

Seven county players began the day in quest of the Southern Section girls’ individual singles title. Nearly six hours later and about 20 degrees cooler, the youngest and unlikeliest of the seven was the only one who still had hope.

Saddleback freshman Kim Nguyen, more famous for her taekwondo expertise than her tennis until Thursday, upset Riverside Poly senior and San Diego State-bound Julie Chidley, 6-2, 6-4, then outlasted second-seeded Shervin Saedinia, 7-6, (7-1), 4-6, 6-3. She will play third-seeded Morisa Yang of West Torrance in today’s semifinals at the Racquet Club of Irvine.

Nguyen said she is still alive because of her steady, cool play.

“I’ve been working hard all these days leading up to this, trying to keep my composure,” she said. “And I stayed aggressive on every single point.”

Nguyen was beaten by Saedinia, of Calabasas, a year ago at a junior tournament in Ventura. She remembered the three-set loss. “I wanted revenge,” she said.

During the season, Nguyen lost three sets but avenged all three losses. Though she is ranked seventh in the Southern California girls’ 14s, Nguyen admitted she’s unknown compared to county players Nina and Nadia Vaughan of Corona del Mar, Katey Becker of Villa Park and Melissa Esmero of Mater Dei, who all fell Thursday. But she didn’t care if nobody knew who she was.

“Now they do,” said a smiling Nguyen, who is a black belt in taekwondo.

Another possible reason Nguyen is still playing and Nina Vaughan and Becker aren’t is the draw. Neither Vaughan nor Becker, both seniors who have a history of playing well here, was happy with their place in the draw.

Vaughan was beaten by Diaz, 6-1, 6-4, in the quarterfinals and Becker lost in the quarterfinals to top-seeded Marissa Irvin of North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake, 6-1, 6-2.

“It’s stupid for Katey and me to have to go out and play these matches in the quarterfinals,” Vaughan said. “It’s hard to be grinding your butt off and then you look out there and you see two girls you could pretty much kill playing [to reach the semifinals]. I guess to win the tournament you have to beat everybody anyway, but I still don’t like it.”

A tournament official defended the seedings and said they were based on Southern California Tennis Assn. rankings. Becker said she felt helpless at times against Irvin, a national team player who has signed with Stanford.

“Most of the time I’d have to guess where she was serving,” Becker said. “I’d be up 30-0, then boom, two aces and it’s back to 30 all. I’m not used to being aced that much.”