County Players Not Singles-Minded

Orange County hasn’t produced a Southern Section singles champion in nine years, since Dana Hills’ Anne Mall won in 1990. The drought might not be so long if everybody took the tournament as seriously as Saddleback High junior Kim Nguyen.

“This tournament and Ojai are the most important to me,” said Nguyen, who reached the semifinals as a freshman and the round of 16 last year. “I’ve been changing my training schedule to get ready for it. I really want to win it this year.”

But to some players, the section individual tournament--which takes place Thursday and Friday at the Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club in Newport Beach--is almost an afterthought. They either consider the high school championships secondary to a junior title or they strive for a more attainable goal, the doubles title.

Capistrano Valley seniors Leigh Ann Merryman and Jennifer Bailey, who played singles their first three years, entered the doubles tournament this year and have reached the round of 16.

“We’re good friends and we just wanted to have some fun our senior year,” Merryman said. “We didn’t want the pressure.”

Villa Park’s Faye DeVera, the last county player to reach the singles final, did the same thing. She lost to Palos Verdes Peninsula’s Amanda Basica in the 1995 final. Then, paired with her friend Katey Becker in 1996--her senior year--she won the doubles tournament.

The last two singles champions--Oxnard Rio Mesa’s Tiffany Brymer and North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake’s Marissa Irvin--didn’t play high school tennis their first three years so they could concentrate on their junior careers, but came back to win the title as high school seniors.

San Marino’s Luana Magnani, who lost to Brymer in the 1998 final, is the favorite this year. Magnani won the 1999 Southern California junior sectionals in the girls’ 16 division, beating Newport Harbor’s Natalie Braverman in straight sets.

Braverman, a sophomore who didn’t play the last high school tournament last year because of tendinitis in her ankle, is expected to be among the top-seeded players this year. Braverman would like a rematch with Magnani, but she hasn’t taken much time to size up her competition.

“I’m not so much focusing on everybody else,” Braverman said. “As long as I’m playing well, I don’t care how anybody else is doing.”

Mater Dei senior Melissa Esmero, who lost to Magnani in a semifinal last year, considers Magnani the one to beat.

“It’s going to be tough,” said Esmero, who won her second Division II team title last week. “There are so many good players. It’s like a designated [junior] tournament. But I think I have as good a chance as anybody.”

Three other players have a chance to end the nine-year county drought: Laguna Beach sophomore Ashley Maddocks, Woodbridge junior Susanna Lingman and Santa Margarita senior Erin Miller.

NO TROUBLE IN DOUBLES

The county has been much more successful in doubles competition. Woodbridge’s Adriana Hockicko and Danielle Hustedt won last year and Becker and DeVera won in 1996.

Hockicko is playing this year with Evangalina Soriano, and they could be the top-seeded team. Newport Harbor’s Jenny Meyer and Kristen Case, undefeated in dual matches and coming off a sweep of Peninsula in the Division I team final, might also be highly seeded. Also entered in the doubles draw are Kady Pooler and Chelsy Thompson of Dana Hills and Erin Herrel and Casey Knutson of Mater Dei.

The round of 16 singles and doubles begin Thursday at 11:30 a.m. with the quarterfinals to follow. The semifinals begin Friday at 9 a.m. with the finals to follow.

SUNNY HILLS TO PLAY HOST

The Sunny Hills Racquet Club will host the Intercollegiate Tennis Classic, formerly the Freedom Bowl tournament, from Dec. 26-30. The event is a final tuneup for West Coast residents who play college tennis.

There are men’s singles and doubles draws and women’s singles and doubles draws. USC sophomore Ryan Moore (Servite High) won the men’s tournament last year and Stanford senior Geoff Abrams (Newport Harbor) won in 1997.

The Sunny Hills Racquet Club also announced it will host the USTA National Open championships in the girls’ and boys’ 14-and-under divisions. The tournament, a new national designated event, will be held Nov. 23-26 next year.