Favorite Son

Thousands of miles from home, Sargis Sargsian can hear the cheers of his countrymen.

“Sarg-oh,” they yell.

Sargsian glances courtside and sees the smiling faces of his Armenian homeland.

“It helps a lot,” he said. “It keeps you trying harder.”

All week, Sargsian has drawn friendly crowds from the substantial Armenian community in and around Burbank. These fans have cheered him into the semifinals of the HealthSouth USTA Challenger at McCambridge Park.

Fans such as Greg Gasparian, of Burbank, who videotapes the matches. Or Sophia Aprahamian, of La Canada Flintridge, who put her Thanksgiving turkey in the oven, then slipped out of the house to watch tennis.

“This is a very close community,” Aprahamian said. “We stick like glue, are you kidding?”

Aram Yernazian, who emigrated four years ago, basked in the presence of his compatriots at a quarterfinal match on Friday.

“We are a small country and we feel so emotional,” the 75-year-old Glendale resident said. “This makes me cry.”

The support came in handy as the top-seeded Sargsian found himself down a break in the third set before scrambling back for a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory over former USC All-American Brian MacPhie.

The match turned on Sargsian’s patience and persistence. With no particularly dominant weapon, he relies on solid shots and an intelligent attack. A sharply angled backhand, a well-placed lob.

It took every bit of his arsenal to combat MacPhie’s booming serve, which kicked into gear in the second set.

“I got a little worried with him serving so well,” Sargsian said. “He hits so hard and there’s no way you can read where it’s going.”

But after MacPhie built a 2-1 lead in the third, his best shot deserted him. Sargsian chipped away, catching the line with several returns, feathering a couple of drop volleys. He won five of the next six games to close out the match.

“I served pathetic in the third,” MacPhie complained. “If I didn’t get the first serve in, he made me pay for it.”

The crowd, heavily biased toward Sargsian, didn’t help matters.

“Where did they all come from?” MacPhie asked.

With an estimated 40,000 Armenian residents, neighboring Glendale is the largest such colony outside of Armenia. There are eight culturally based newspapers and four television programs produced in the city.

In all, an estimated 250,000 Armenian Americans live in Los Angeles County.

“A lot of us are really involved in tennis,” said Aprahamian, a regular at the Burbank Tennis Center, site of the $50,000 tournament. “And we don’t really have that many Armenian superstars.”

Sargsian came from Yerevan, Armenia, to the U.S. in 1993 to play for Arizona State. Two years later, he became that school’s first NCAA singles champion.

As a professional, his big break came last July when he won the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships at Newport, R.I., his first title on the Assn. of Tennis Professionals Tour. He subsequently upset Alex O’Brien at the Infiniti Open and reached the quarterfinals of the Kremlin Cup at Moscow.

“I felt like I was playing really well after Newport,” he said. “I set a goal for myself to break the top 50.”

The No. 58-ranked Sargsian could fall a few places short of that goal this year, but his fans don’t seem to mind. For them, tennis is only part of the equation.

“He’s a respectable young man,” Yernazian said.

Gasparian explained: “It’s very important for us which kind of person he is. We want a nice person representing our country, our nation. We are proud of him.”

And Sargsian is glad to play in front of hometown fans so very far from home. He is counting on their support for his semifinal match against fifth-seeded Martin Sinner of Germany today.

“They’re going to be out there every day, every match I play,” he said.

Some of them might even show up to see the other semifinal between Andre Agassi and Daniel Nestor.

“Agassi’s father is Armenian,” Yernazian said. “Did you know that?”

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It didn’t take long for Agassi to realize he was playing well on Friday.

“I looked over at [Coach] Brad [Gilbert] and said, ‘Feels good today,’ ” Agassi recalled.

And that was after dropping the first game of the match.

The third-seeded Agassi didn’t lose many more, defeating No. 211-ranked Roberto Jabali of Brazil, 6-1, 6-3. He is scheduled to play second-seeded Nestor at 11:30 a.m. today, with the Sargsian-Sinner match to follow.

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Nestor, for his part, got off to another slow start before recovering for a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win over eighth-seeded Michael Sell.

“I think it’s the result of a long year,” Nestor said. “It’s been kind of a grind.”

The Canadian player, ranked No. 112, expects no such problem against Agassi.

“I’m sure that just playing against him will get me going,” Nestor said.

Added Nestor: “[Agassi] looks pretty fit and excited to play.”