USTA Boys’ 18s Tennis Event Starts in Michigan

Several Southern California players won and others advanced with byes in the first round of the U.S. Tennis Assn. Boys’ 18 Super National Hard Court Championships Friday in Kalamazoo, Mich.

Derrick Bauer of Marina del Rey moved on with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Stephen Rozek of Chardon, Ohio. Rylan Rizza of Rancho Palos Verdes defeated Zachary Malmgren of Cibolo, Texas, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.

Stephen Amritraj of Calabasas beat Michael Wojnarowicz of Kaneohe, Hawaii, 6-3, 6-0, and Matthew Loucks of Irvine topped Brad Pomeroy of Asheville, N.C., 6-0, 6-4.

Aaron Yovan of Irvine posted a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Mark Barry of St. Charles, Ill.

Patrick Buchanan of Fullerton advanced with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Eric Baumgardner of Hoover, Ala.; Ryler De Heart of Tampa, Fla., defeated Sergiu Modoc of Placentia, 6-3, 6-4, and Cameron Ball of Newport Beach lost to Morgan Bauer of New York, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.

The top-seeded players from the area had byes, including No. 9 Prakash Amritraj of Encino, No. 10 Lester Cook of Sherman Oaks, No. 15 Robert Yim of Glendale, No. 19 K.C. Corkery of Manhattan Beach and No. 20 Philip Sheng of Thousand Oaks.

Cosmina Ciobanu of Brea, the Southern California girls’ 14 sectional champion, is seeded eighth--highest for a Southland player--in the USTA Girls’ 14 Super National Championships, scheduled today through Aug. 11 at South Fulton Tennis Center in College Park, Ga.

Other seeded players among the 256-player draw include Jessica Nguyen of Chatsworth, Kristen McVitty of Woodland Hills, Sarah Fansler of Thousand Oaks and Karina Potrushkevich of Los Angeles.

Steven Forman of Del Mar, Gary Sacks of Calabasas and Sam Querrey of Thousand Oaks are among the top players in the USTA Boys’ 14 Super National Championships, scheduled Sunday through Aug. 12 in San Antonio.

Also in the field is Lee Singer of Laguna Niguel, Stefan McKinney of Camarillo, Alex Krueger-Wyman of Pasadena and Bryant Yung of San Marino.