Nguyen Takes Wrong Turn on Lost Highway

Jason Nguyen was late, lost and the loser of a first-round match he didn’t play.

The Chatsworth High sophomore, who transferred from El Camino Real midway through his freshman year, was forced to default against William Powers of Santa Barbara on Wednesday and was eliminated from the Ojai tournament after arriving 50 minutes late to the match at Thacher.

“We didn’t leave that early,” said Nguyen, a first-time Ojai participant who was to compete in the boys’ high school division. “I knew we were really late.”

That wasn’t all.

“We got lost,” Chatsworth Coach Jim Araujo said. “We went past this place, way past it. We ended up in Santa Paula.”

By the time coach and player found Thacher, Nguyen was told he had defaulted.

“I’m going to probably watch the whole day,” said Nguyen, who is 12-1 this season as Chatsworth’s No. 1 player.

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Nguyen wasn’t the only player running late.

Thousand Oaks’ Philip Sheng, the top-seeded player in the boys’ high school division, nearly defaulted as well.

He showed up for his 8 a.m. match 30 minutes late.

Sheng called Thacher officials en route to the school, however, and was allowed to play.

He defeated John Kearney of Cate to advance to the round of 32.

“He was still within the parameters,” said Jim Hillman, the tournament’s junior referee.

Normally, default time is 20 minutes after the scheduled start of a match, though Hillman said he was giving players an extra 20 minutes on the first day.

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Nima Roshan, the No. 1 player for Granada Hills, also had a first-day mishap.

Just before his first match, Roshan realized he had left one of his two rackets behind at an Ojai resident’s home, where Granada Hills teammates Brian Mintz and Brad Steinberg played an earlymatch.

But Roshan managed fine, beating Jeff Malawy of Huntington Beach Edison, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2, to advance to the round of 32. Mintz and Steinberg were eliminated, 6-2, 6-2, by Chris Dennis and Ari Rosenthal of Brentwood.

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Quinn Borchard of Rio Mesa showed off a strong serve-and-volley game in victories over Jeff Lawrence of Irvine University, 6-1, 6-1, and Powers, 6-2, 6-0.

“It’s a good start. I’m really confident right now,” said Borchard, who is 26-0 in sets for the Spartans.

Borchard was doing well before the Ojai tournament.

He beat Paul Warkentin, the No. 1 player for San Marcos, 7-6 (7-4), for the first time in a nonleague match Wednesday.

“I think I can compete with anybody in this tournament,” Borchard said. “I’m playing a lot, just trying to get ready for college.”

Borchard is bound for the University of Portland.

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Harvard-Westlake sophomore Jesse Ferlianto is just as proficient on the keyboards as he is on the tennis court.

Ferlianto advanced to the round of 16 in the boys’ 16-and-under singles when Patrick Buchanan of Fullerton withdrew from a first-round match because of injury.

He will play Calabasas resident Lester Cook at 8 a.m. today at Nordhoff High.

At the piano earlier this month, Ferlianto was one of seven participants in the Southern California Junior Bach Festival who advanced to regional competition.

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Nick Weiss of Calabasas, the Southern Section singles runner-up last year, was upset by Cameron Ball of Corona del Mar, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, in the round of 32.