Crescenta Valley tennis advances doubles team, singles player to league semifinals

PASADENA — Things went pretty much as planned according to the seedings at Monday’s first day of the Pacific League boys’ tennis tournament.

In the event at Pasadena High, the top four seeds in both singles and doubles all advanced to the semifinals, which are scheduled to take place Wednesday at the same venue.

PHOTO: Top seeds advance in Pacific League boys’ tennis tournament

The seedings staying true to form was a good thing for Crescenta Valley singles player Arin Meserkhani, as well as the Falcons doubles team of Albert Chtchyan and Jason Chang. While Meserkhani breezed through his two matches to earn a spot in the final four from his No. 4 spot, Chtchyan and Chang, at No. 2, had to work overtime to win their two contests, which were both settled via tie-breaker.

“There are some very good players in the tournament this year,” Crescenta Valley Coach Sam Hyun said. “This is going to be a tough one to win. ... Everybody will have to work very hard.”

Meserkhani, who transferred from Glendale, was feeling under the weather and admitted he was not at his best because of illness. Nevertheless, the senior easily dispatched No. 13 Samuel Hayak of Pasadena, 6-2, 6-0, in the first round. In the second round, Meserkhani earned a 6-0, 6-1 win against No. 5 Jonathan Figueira of Arcadia, 6-0, 6-1.

“I really didn’t feel all that great today and I tried just to fight through it,” Meserkhani said. “I had the flu and now it’s turned into a bad cold.

“But I was happy with the way I played today. ...For something like the league tournament, I just try and play more consistent and I play like I would usually play during the season.”

Meserkhani will have the difficult task of taking on the No. 1 seed, Charles Deng of Arcadia, in Wednesday’s semifinals. Deng, who missed a portion of the season after having to sit out following a transfer from San Marino, didn’t drop a game Monday.

In the other semifinal, two-time defending champion and reigning All-Area Singles Player of the Year Sawyer Patterson of Burroughs, at No. 2, will face No. 3 Nicholas Figueira of Arcadia.

Winning his first set in singles was No. 7 Alex Jang of Crescenta Valley, who defeated No. 10 Logan Tran of Burroughs, 3-6, 7-5 (11-9), before losing in the second round to Patterson, 6-0, 6-0. Falling in first-round contests were No. 9 Melvin Issaei of Glendale, 7-5, 6-1, No. 12 Danny Chung of Crescenta Valley, 6-4, 6-3, No. 14 Michael Tufenkchian of Glendale, No. 11 Patrick Co of Glendale, 6-0, 6-0, and No. 16 Anton Belosludtsev of Hoover, 6-0, 6-0.

Chtchyan and Chang narrowly avoided being upset in their two matches. The duo began the day by outlasting No. 15 Eric Jiang and Matt Kim of Arcadia, 6-3, 3-6 (10-6). In their second set, the Falcons survived to get by No. 7 Stephen Campbell and John Hoang of Burroughs, 6-0, 6-7 (10-6).

“When they are close like that, I just keep hitting the ball and I try not to over think too much,” Chang said. “We started off well in that last one and we won the first set pretty easily. But we didn’t play that well in the second set and that’s why we lost.

“But after we lost, we came back and we pulled through and I was pretty happy with that.”

The Falcons will face No. 3 Brian Kim and Stanley Lim of Arcadia in the semifinals.

The No. 9 seed from Hoover, Chris Ghadimi and Hrant Agakanyan, won its first set against No. 8 Nick Zatikian and Artiom Ambartsoumian Glendale, 6-3, 6-2, before losing to No. 1 Henry Zhang and Kevin Yang of Arcadia, 7-5, 6-4. Also winning in their opener were No. 5 Eric Kim and Kevin Rowe of Crescenta Valley, 6-1, 6-2, before falling to No. 4 Cibi Pari and Ken Nakamine of Arcadia, 6-0, 6-0. The Falcons’ Eric Kim and Jonathan Frink, at No. 11, won against No. 6 David Casaburi and Matt Davidian of Glendale, 6-1, 6-3, but lost in the second round.

In the other doubles semifinal, two Arcadia squads will square off.