Kao Efficiently Advances to Semifinals

Sunny Hills senior Joseph Kao made short work of his two opponents Thursday and advanced to the semifinals of the Southern Section individual boys’ tennis tournament at SeaCliff Tennis Club in Huntington Beach.

Kao, seeded fourth, ousted Westlake’s Alex Yaftali, 6-2, 6-3, in the round of 16, then beat Palos Verde Chadwick’s Scott Spencer in the quarterfinals, 6-1, 6-2.

Kao, who reached the round of 16 here last year, said simplicity was the key to his day.

“I didn’t over-hit the ball,” he said. “I just kept it in play.”

Kao will probably have a harder time keeping it in play in today’s 10:30 a.m. semifinal against top-seeded Phil Sheng of Thousand Oaks, who has not lost a juniors match in Southern California this year. Kao said he will play Sheng differently than did University sophomore Aaron Yovan, who lost, 6-4, 6-3, trying to out-slug Sheng from the baseline.

“That’s not going to work,” Kao said. “There’s another way to beat power players. Power’s their strength. You don’t want to play into their strength and play their game.”

Yovan’s strategy almost worked. He caught Sheng off guard early, leading, 3-1, with an array of sizzling ground-stroke winners.

“I like guys to hit hard and go for their shots,” said Sheng, the tournament’s defending champion. “Usually guys don’t make their shots, but Aaron was making everything.”

Yovan cooled off for a few games but still had a chance to win the first set. He trailed, 4-5, at deuce in his service game when the match turned. Yovan hit an approach shot that appeared to land inside the baseline, but Sheng called the ball out. Yovan challenged the call, but referee Jan Ryan did not overrule the call.

Yovan lost the next point, which was set point, and the next four games.

“That did affect me for that next point and the first four games of the second set,” Yovan said. “I kind of lost my head.”

Next time, Yovan said he will try to keep his composure.

“You have to stay focused and concentrate on every point,” he said. “You can’t let up.”

Yovan didn’t let up in his round of 16 victory over Andrew Rosenfeld of North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake, winning 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3).

Sheng and Kao have never played, but Sheng has seen enough of Kao to know the semifinals won’t be easy.

“I saw him at Ojai and I know he hits with a lot of topspin and the ball sits up,” Sheng said. “That will help me. But he’s got an incredible backhand, maybe the best backhand in junior tennis.”

Jack Li, Yovan’s teammate at University, had the misfortune of running into second-seeded K.C. Corkery of Manhattan Beach Mira Costa in the round of 16. Corkery, ranked second in the Southern California 18s behind Sheng, defeated Li, 6-2, 6-1.

In doubles, Corona del Mar’s Peter Kulmaticki and Michael Bean advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Elson Huang and Dennis Jung of Upland. But they were eliminated by second-seeded Brian Swatt and Ray Hekmat of Beverly Hills, 6-3, 6-3.

“We didn’t have to play Peninsula until the finals,” Kulmaticki said. “But maybe that was the problem. We were looking ahead.”

Capistrano Valley’s Chad Whidtfeldt and Derek Klunchoo lost in the round of 16 to Westlake’s Mike Horak and Billy Corso, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, and Sunny Hills’ Richard Kim and Sam Yeu lost in the round of 16 to Quoc Ly and Jason Mossembakker of Camarillo, 6-4, 6-4.