CdM duo nears a repeat

SEAL BEACH — The Corona del Mar High doubles team of Dustin Hladek and Fabian Matthews has a strategy, but it doesn’t depend on them.

Their strategy is to try to figure out the strategy of the team they’re playing.

It shows how versatile Hladek and Matthews are, and it worked to perfection again Friday at Seal Beach Tennis Center at the CIF Southern Section Boys’ Tennis Individual Championships.

Hladek and Matthews, the defending CIF champions and No. 1 seed, had few problems advancing to the semifinals. They beat Aiden Lloyd and Casey Grindon of Brentwood, 6-2, 6-0, in the Round of 16, then got by Warren Hardie and Mark Bloom of Dana Hills, 6-4, 6-0, in the quarterfinals.

CdM teammates Josh Kim and Parker Rhodes weren’t as fortunate. They watched leads in both sets slip away in a 7-5, 6-4 Round-of-16 loss to Evan Paley and Jackson Isaacs of Brentwood.

For Hladek and Matthews, it wasn’t an accident that both of their second-set scores were bagels — 6-0.

“We wanted to see how they play, then use it to our advantage in the second set,” Matthews said. “That’s exactly what we do.”

Especially against Dana Hills. CdM broke serve in the third game on Matthews’ slam, giving the Sea King duo a 2-1 lead, then made it hold up to win the set.

In the second set, they became more animated, but again, that was because of a perceived action on the part of Dana Hills.

“They were being annoying,” Matthews said. “They were trying to peg Dustin.”

Hladek, who needs little reason to get pumped up, returned the favor by showing more emotion himself, swinging wildly at shots he knew were well out.

“We were like, ‘All right, you guys want a match, let’s do it,’ ” Hladek said.

Their semifinal match today at 11:30 a.m. should be much more challenging. It’s against Tyler Bowman and Jon Kazarian of Peninsula, the Panthers’ top two singles players who have teamed up for a formidable doubles duo.

“That’s the big one,” CdM Coach Tim Mang said. “That will be like a finals match.”

Kim and Rhodes were thoroughly frustrated by the end of their first-round match, in which they couldn’t hold a 4-1 lead in the first set.

“It happened because we just started missing easy shots,” Kim said. They started getting confident, and it just slowly slipped away.”

With Brentwood serving for the set, up 6-5 and 40-15, controversy ensued. A Brentwood shot near the back line was called long by Rhodes. But an official, watching the match from two courts away, overruled the call, giving the point — and set — to Paley and Isaacs.

“She was watching the match, but we didn’t even call for a line judge or anything,” Kim said. “It was all up to us. We saw it out, so that’s how it is. She can’t just come in and make the call.”

The frustration carried over to the first few games of the second set, when Brentwood built a 2-0 lead. CdM won three games in a row, but Brentwood did the same, taking a 5-3 lead and eventually winning the match.

After the match, Rhodes remained indignant.

“[The official] said [the shot to end the first set] was way in, but we called it out,” Rhodes said. “If we play them again, I guarantee that we’ll beat them oh-and-oh [6-0, 6-0]. I swear.”

Mang wasn’t too upset about the call, though.

“I’m not complaining,” he said. “We could have been defaulted because of attitude, and so could they. There was a lot of talking going on between points … Hopefully it’s a learning experience.”

If Hladek and Matthews defeat Bowman and Kazarian, they’ll play either Paley and Isaacs or Troy’s Brian Fang and Jeff Kamei in the championship match.

Hladek and Matthews defeated Fang and Kamei in three sets in last year’s semifinals, en route to a championship win over Santa Barbara’s Chris Ho and Billy Grokenberger.

Bowman and Kazarian beat Ho and the Dons’ Mike Williams, 6-3, 6-1, in another quarterfinal.

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or [email protected].