Junior Tennis Sectional Opens in Orange County

Southern Section finalists Doug Stewart of Malibu High and Patrick Buchanan of Anaheim Servite are among a field of 1,600 tennis players competing in the 99th annual Southern California Junior Sectional Championships that begin today at Los Caballeros Racquet and Sports Club in Fountain Valley and six other sites around Orange County.

Stewart, who capped his junior season at Malibu by winning the Southern Section singles title last month, is the top-seeded player in the boys’ 18 division.

Stewart will have to contend with Buchanan, the Southern Section runner-up, as well as Rylan Rizza of Palos Verdes Peninsula High and probable qualifiers Travis Rettenmaier of UCLA and Ryan Redondo of Pepperdine.

Anaheim Canyon’s Tracy Lin will move up two divisions, to girls’ 18s, after winning the 14-and-under title in 2000. The jump puts Lin, seeded eighth, in the company of top-seeded Iris Ichim , the No. 1 player at Beverly Hills as a freshman last season, and second-seeded Saddleback High graduate Kim-Ahn Nguyen.

The tournament, which concludes July 1, is a qualifying event for the U.S. Tennis Assn.’s Super National Hardcourt Championships in August.

Kevin Kim of Fullerton and partner Glenn Weiner of Bradenton, Fla. have earned a berth into the doubles main draw of Wimbledon.