Area’s best holding their own at tourney

Hamlet Nalbandyan

Of the 1,414 boys’ and girls’ tennis players who began play Friday in

the 102nd annual Southern California Tennis Assn. Junior Sectionals

Championships, 20 had local ties.

And after four days of intense competition at seven sites in

Orange County, 11 are still in the hunt in the prestigious

tournament, which has divisions for athletes ranging from 10 to 18

years of age.

One of the most prominent brackets -- the boys’ 18 main draw --

has three area participants. Two of them -- Glendale resident Sam

Tadevosian and recent Flintridge Prep graduate Tom McCullough -- were

already set to compete today at the Los Caballeros Sports Village,

but Hakop Tadevosian was not.

The Hoover High graduate had to qualify for the draw, and he had

little trouble doing so. He defeated Mark Sheiness, 6-1, 6-3 on

Saturday and Greg Lam 6-0, 6-2, on Sunday to qualify for the main

draw. He will face Spencer Reitz at 4:30 p.m. today in the round of

64.

Sam Tadevosian, the No. 10 seed in the bracket, will face

Fallbrook’s Robert Dabbs at 4 p.m.

McCullough will take on Murrieta’s Chad Becker at 1:45 p.m. in

another opening-round match.

The boys’ 16 main draw also has lots of local appeal, thanks to

four area participants.

Three of them -- Glendale residents Norik Otzubiryan and Alex

Sarkissian and La Crescenta’s Brian King -- had to qualify over the

weekend.

Otzubiryan defeated Matt Sorensen and Matthew Chung to earn the

right to face Beverly Hills’ Jeffrey Karsh at 4:15 p.m. today at the

Cabrillo Tennis Center in Santa Ana.

Sarkissian won three matches over the weekend, despite playing in

an age bracket higher than his. His final victory came against fellow

Glendale resident Edmond Halebian, 6-1, 7-6, which earned him a bid

in the main draw against No. 9-seed Bijan Moallemi from Del Mar at

4:45 p.m.

King also won three matches over the weekend and will take on No.

2-seed Michael McClune from Irvine at 4:15 p.m.

Glendale High junior Mike Youn was already guaranteed a spot in

the main draw. He will take on Pasadena’s Reynaldo Alvarez at 4:45

p.m.

In the girls’ 16 main draw, La Canada Flintridge resident Ina Dan

earned a surprising bid with a pair of victories Saturday and Sunday.

She defeated Tara Gonzalez, 6-1, 6-1, and Jessica Winkler, 6-3,

7-5, to face No. 10 seed Molly Scott from Trabuco Canyon at 10 a.m.

today at Los Caballeros Sports Village.

Glendale resident Ekaterina Nikolova earned a bid in the girls’ 14

main draw with a 6-2, 6-0 victory Sunday against Kristin Eggleston.

Nikolova had a bye in the round of 128.

She will take on No. 4-seed Lauren Ritz from Thousand Oaks at 1

p.m. today at the Cabrillo Tennis Center.

In the boys’ 12 main draw, Glendale resident Sahak Bazrganian won

a pair of matches Monday to advance to today’s round of 16.

The No. 6 seed defeated Brett Allchorn, 6-2, 6-3, and William

Sokurski, 6-0, 6-3.

Bazrganian will face No. 12-seed Dennis Mkrtchian from Reseda at 1

p.m. at the Los Caballeros Sports Village.

In the girls’ 12 main draw, La Crescenta resident Jessica Harrow

won her opening-round match Monday, but lost to No. 2 seed Kaitlyn

Christian in the round of 32, 6-4, 6-4.

Harrow had defeated Brianna Morgan, 6-0, 6-1.

And lastly, Alex Halebian kept on winning in the boys’ 10 singles

draw. The No. 3-seed has advanced to the quarterfinal round, where

he’ll face No. 8-seed Justin Agbayani from Yorba Linda at 9 a.m.

Wednesday at the Los Caballeros Sports Village.

Alex Halebian defeated Andrew You in the round of 6-4, 6-2, 6-1,

Bryan Chavez in the round of 32, 6-0, 6-0, and Alex Scheinman in the

round of 16 on Monday, 6-2, 6-1.