Di Giulio moves on

Newport Beach resident Austin Di Giulio has tennis as his sport of choice, not basketball, but he is a big Los Angeles Lakers fan.

And he has some advice for the Lakers, who have the No. 2 pick in Thursday’s NBA Draft.

“I think they should take Lonzo [Ball],” Di Giulio said. “My brother [Joseph] has seen him all the time at the [UCLA] cafeteria and stuff. That would be pretty cool.”

Many say the Lakers will, in fact, take the Bruins point guard on Thursday. It remains to be seen if Di Giulio will have a chance to watch it live on television. He has a boys’ 18 singles round of 32 match at the 115th annual Southern California Junior Sectionals at 2 p.m. at Los Caballeros in Fountain Valley.

Di Giulio will play Benjamin Gollin of Solana Beach two hours before the draft begins. He got the chance to stay in the main draw with his win on Wednesday. Di Giulio beat Sahm Irvine of Rancho Palos Verdes, 6-0, 6-2, in a round of 64 match also at Los Cab.

“I feel like I served really well, in the first set, for sure,” Di Giulio said. “The last few months I’ve been doing pretty solid. I think during our rallies, I was maybe hitting a little deeper. He hit a lot of short balls, and I was kind of moving him around.”

Irvine, who plays for Peninsula High, has had a good spring. He was the boys’ 16s champion at the Ojai tournament and advanced to the singles quarterfinals at the CIF Southern Section Individuals tournament.

But Di Giulio had his way. He did so with Joseph watching. Joseph, who just played his senior year at UCLA, was a three-time champion at the Junior Sectionals, in the 10s, 12s and 14s.

The youngest Di Giulio, Perry, is also in action this year in the boys’ 12s.

“It’s kind of like when I was younger and Joe was playing the older divisions,” Austin Di Giulio said.

Di Giulio knows that Gollin, who took down Irvine’s Leo Hibi in a long three-set match, will be tough. But he’s also confident. Austin has done well at Junior Sectionals in the past. Five years ago, he got to the title match in the 12s. Last year, he advanced to the quarterfinals of the 16s.

“I think that if I play well, I can for sure keep going,” he said.

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In other matches featuring locals on Wednesday, No. 2-seeded Newport Beach resident Max McKennon was knocked out due to injury in the boys’ 16s.

McKennon was leading Jett Cole of Laguna Beach, 6-1, 1-0, in the round of 64, but he aggravated a left wrist injury and was forced to retire from the match.

“I tried to slide for a ball, and my foot got stuck,” McKennon said in a phone interview. “I fell and landed on my wrist.”

McKennon said he hopes to be sidelined for days, not weeks or months, but he was disappointed to have to withdraw from the Level 1 tournament.

Cole will play Leo Wang of San Marino in the round of 32 on Thursday at 1 p.m. at Fountain Valley Tennis Center.

Other local players earned main draw wins Wednesday. In the girls’ 18s, No. 5-seeded Julia Lilien of Newport Beach got past Martina Asciuto of Irvine, 6-2, 6-2. Lilien will play Caroline Vincent of Pacific Palisades in the round of 32 Thursday at 2 p.m. at Los Cab.

No. 9-seeded Sydney Van Alphen of Laguna Beach beat Annika Bassey of Ojai, 6-2, 6-2. Van Alphen will play Jenna DeFalco of Tustin next, Thursday at 2 p.m. at Los Cab. Jasie Dunk of Newport Beach was another winner, as she got past Ashey Teng of Tustin, 6-2, 6-4. Dunk will play No. 9-seeded Jennifer Richards of San Diego in the round of 32 Thursday at 11 a.m., also at Los Cab.

Katherine Nguyen of Fountain Valley was another winner in the girls’ 18s. She beat Elizabeth Chang of San Marino, 6-4, 6-0, and will play top-seeded Alexa Ryngler of Calabasas in the round of 32 Thursday at 2 p.m. at Los Cab.

In the girls’ 16s, No. 9-seeded Leyden Games of Newport Beach beat Mia Linam of Palos Verdes Estates, 6-2, 6-0. Games faces Ashley Kua of Valencia in the round of 32, Thursday at 3 p.m. at Fountain Valley High.

In the girls’ 14s, top-seeded Rebecca Lynn of Newport Beach beat Mina Ewing of Lakewood, 7-6, 6-1, in her opening match. Lynn plays Bryn Johnson of Fountain Valley in an all-local matchup Thursday at 11 a.m. at Lakewood Tennis Center. Johnson got past Sydney Lichtenstein of Los Angeles, 6-2, 6-1.

No. 5-seeded Ella Pachl of Laguna Beach got past Makayla Whalen of Ladera Ranch, 6-3, 6-3, in another girls’ 14s round of 64 match. Next for Pachl is Madelyn Ferreros of Nipomo, Thursday at 3 p.m. at Lakewood.

Other local winners in the girls’ 14s included No. 9-seeded Kaytlin Taylor of Huntington Beach, Madeleine Page of Newport Beach and Sarah MacCallum of Laguna Beach. All have round of 32 matches Thursday at Lakewood.

Girls’ 12s winners included No. 5-seeded Mika Ikemori of Huntington Beach, and Katelyn Smith of Newport Beach.

In an all-local boys’ 16s matchup between Corona del Mar High teammates, Kyle Pham beat Diego Fernandez del Valle, 6-3, 6-4. Pham plays No. 5 Alexander Petrov of Irvine in the round of 32 Thursday at 1 p.m. at Fountain Valley Tennis Center.

Emin Torlic of Corona del Mar and Sage Hill School outlasted Marek Michulka of Laguna Niguel, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, in another boys’ 16s match. Torlic plays No. 9 Bryan Kulikov of Los Angeles in the round of 32 Thursday at 11 a.m. at Fountain Valley Tennis Center.

In the boys’ 12 singles, No. 5-seeded Perry Di Giulio beat Brian Hang of San Marino, 6-0, 6-1. Di Giulio plays Jack Li of San Marcos in the round of 32 Thursday at 11 a.m. at Costa Mesa Tennis Center.

Alan Ton and David Duong of Fountain Valley also both won in the boys’ 12s on Wednesday and have round of 32 matches on Thursday.

matthew.szabo@latimes.com

Twitter: @mjszabo