Top seed ousted in first round of Costa Mesa Pro Classic

COSTA MESA — Top seed Jorge Aguilar of Spain was unceremoniously dispatched Tuesday in the first round of the Costa Mesa Pro Classic, losing in straight sets to unranked Min Hyeok Cho of Korea.

First-round singles action and doubles action continues Wednesday beginning at 11 a.m. at the Costa Mesa Tennis Center.

Among the Southern Californians who will play are former Corona del Mar High standout Carsten Ball of Newport Beach; Bradley Klahn of Poway; Daniel Kosakowski of Downey; Jason Jung of Torrance; Nicholas Meister of Trabuco Canyon; and Daniel Nguyen of Oxnard.

Cho, 25, defeated the 28-year-old Aguilar, 6-0, 7-6 (4). Cho qualified for the Costa Mesa Pro Classic as a special exception, thanks to strong play in last week’s USTA Pro Circuit event in Calabasas, where he reached the semifinals, losing to Klahn. Earlier this year, while playing for Korea’s Davis Cup squad, Cho beat India’s top-ranked tennis player in straight sets. He also advanced to the semifinals in the preceding USTA Pro Circuit, last week in Calabasas, losing to Klahn.

Aguilar had better luck in the doubles competition, as he and partner Juan Carlos Saez advanced to the second round.

Falling in first-round doubles action were three Southern Californians: Dante Saleh of Newport Beach, and the team of Klahn and Kosakowski, who lost in the tiebreaker.

The top-ranked doubles team of Ball and Tennys Sandgren plays Wednesday in the late afternoon.

In singles action Wednesday, the third-seeded Klahn will play fellow American Dennis Lajola at 11 a.m. Also at 11 a.m., Nguyen plays America’s Mitchell Krueger. No. 6 seed Kosakowski will face off against long-time junior rival Jung in the afternoon on court No. 2. Meister plays America’s Ernesto Escobedo sometime after 1 p.m.

Part of the USTA’s Pro Circuit, the March $15,000 event features 32 singles players and 16 doubles teams. All players are seeking to boost their world tennis ranking through participating in USTA Pro Circuit events held weekly across the country.

The finals for both singles and doubles are on Sunday at Costa Mesa Tennis Center.

— From staff reports