Sophomore Duo Survives Test

It’s tough to go it alone in the City Section individual girls’ tennis tournament.

Players from the region are finding that out the hard way.

Sophomores Diana Friedland of Van Nuys High and Jasmin Dao of Granada Hills were the only singles players from the region who advanced after play Monday in the round of 16 at the L.A. Fitness-Warner Center Raquet Club in Woodland Hills.

Fifth-seeded Friedland defeated Kamilah Smith of Hamilton, 6-2, 6-2.

Seventh-seeded Dao won when Westchester’s Jennifer Bermudez retired with Dao leading, 3-0.

Friedland and Dao will play in quarterfinals at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday at the same location.

In other singles matches, Kelley Takeshita of Granada Hills fell to Yu Yu Myinttun of Fairfax, 6-4, 6-1, and Cleveland’s Debbie Yim lost a hard-fought battle with Julie Westerman of City champion Palisades, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Doubles teams from the region fared better, with five tandems, including two from Granada Hills, surviving Monday’s action.

The Highlanders’ No. 1 team of Valerie Ramirez and Shannon Slotnick advanced with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Lisa Hirth and Maggie Wartik of Taft, and the No. 2 team of Andrea Blieden and Jennifer Steinberg rallied to beat Cindy Banh and Lynette Aquino of Eagle Rock, 2-6, 6-2, 6-1.

Jane Han and Wandee Chivatakarn of Van Nuys defeated teammates Joanne Joo and Marsha Kadze, 6-2, 6-3.

San Fernando’s top team of Claudia Perez and Elizabeth Cardenas defeated Lauren Duran and Kate Linden-Kaye of Hamilton, 6-3, 6-2.

Helen Luu and Amy Pham of Verdugo Hills won, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, over Melissa Tong and Beth Jacobsen of Westchester.

Grant’s Alejandrina Reynoso and Sona Ovsenyan lost a 6-1, 6-2 decision to Marisa Edwards and Lauren Sykulsky of University, and Van Nuys’ Tina Trinh and Debbie Chang lost, 6-4, 6-1, to Marshall’s Kien Thay and Rozi Mirtchian.

Doubles competition continues at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.

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The father-son doubles team of Anand and Stephen Amritraj won the U.S. National Father-Son Tournament last weekend at La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club in San Diego.

Participating in the tournament for the first time, the seventh-seeded Amritrajes defeated Brian and Andrew Cheney, 6-2, 6-7 (8-6), 6-2, in Sunday’s final.

Stephen Amritraj, 14, a freshman at Crespi High, became the youngest tournament champion ever.

“Nobody there who saw the match could believe he was only 14,” Anand Amritraj said. “They all thought he must have been 18 or 19.”

Stephen and Derek Bauer of Los Angeles are the boys’ 14’s U.S. national doubles champions. They won the title in San Antonio in August.

“He always plays very good doubles,” Anand Amritraj said of Stephen. “I wanted to wait a couple of years to play this tournament, when I thought we would have a reasonable chance of winning, or at least making it to the quarters or semifinals. But he was very keen to do this.”

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Rio Mesa High senior Tiffany Brymer overcame emotions on and off the court to win the Southern Section individual title last week.

Upset with her play and some line calls that went against her in the final against San Marino’s Luana Magnani, Brymer received a warning for poor behavior from the match umpire in the second set before winning in three sets.

The difficult match came at the end of a difficult week in which Rio Mesa Coach Steve Worthington’s father died Wednesday after a long battle with cancer.

Worthington went to the viewing Wednesday afternoon, and that night, he and his players attended the team’s awards banquet. Brymer was selected most valuable player.

Two days later, player and coach reveled in Brymer’s victory. The individual title was the third by a Rio Mesa player in four years. Zuzana Stunova was champion in 1995 and ’96.

“With me there, and my condition, it was a tough week for everybody,” Worthington said. “But that just made it even more special.”