HB’s Hernandez, Cancilla prevail at Adoption Guild

Art Hernandez still remembers the first time he played in the Roy Emerson Adoption Guild Tennis Classic. It was 1985, the top-ranked players in the world were Ivan Lendl and Jimmy Connors, and Hernandez was going into his sophomore year at UC Irvine.

Hernandez, a Huntington Beach resident, has played in the tournament almost every year since. This year, he recruited another guy going into his sophomore year of college as his teammate.

Huntington Beach resident Max Cancilla graduated from Marina High last year and just finished up his freshman season at Penn. He’s also more than three decades younger than Hernandez, who is a decorated doubles player at the national level, but the two made it work on Saturday.

Hernandez and Cancilla rallied for a 3-6, 7-5, 10-6 victory over Burton Gonzell and Shan Sondhu in a Roy Emerson Adoption Guild Tennis Classic men’s open doubles division quarterfinal at Palisades Tennis Club.

“I think he’s a great player,” Hernandez, 51, said of Cancilla. “My strength is doubles, and his strength is singles, [but] next year his goal is to play doubles at Penn. I think it’s really good for him to play this type of tennis, and he played great. We were down a set and a break, and we hung in there.

“He had laser passing shots, usually down the middle to split [the opponents], which is what you want to do in doubles. A couple of times, he went down the line, which was key. I needed his help, especially because I was getting broken. I think I got broken three times, and I wasn’t making my first serve. I needed him to help me out there at the net, and he did.”

Hernandez and Cancilla were down midway through the second set when a call went against them. Cancilla thought his volley hit the right sideline, but it was called out by the opponents. Cancilla fumed on the changeover, and he and Hernandez fell behind 4-2 in the set before they rallied for the win.

“It’s a disagreement, it happens,” Cancilla said. “Things kind of fell our way after that. I don’t know if I would attribute it to that, per se. I was definitely motivated throughout the whole match. Just playing with Art, Art’s like an idol to me, he’s like a dad to me. It was our first time playing together, and I wanted to do my best.”

They also want to do their best in the semifinals Sunday. Hernandez and Cancilla will play Neel Grover and Cornel Catrina, who upset the top-seeded team of USC’s Tanner Smith and Jens Sweaney in another quarterfinal match. Hernandez and Grover, who lives in Laguna Beach, are good friends and both are UC Irvine tennis alumni.

They are also the top-seeded team for the men’s 35s division at the Adoption Guild, which starts play with the semifinals on Sunday.

“I love it,” Hernandez said of playing in the tournament. “I’ve been playing it almost every year for over 30 years. This is the one open title that I haven’t won. I’ve won Top Gun, I’ve won CHOC, I’ve won Queen of Hearts, but we’ve lost in the finals here I think four or five times in the open [division]. It’s always fun playing here. And now Max, he’ll start playing this every year, that’s the hope. [Palisades owner] Ken [Stuart] is awesome to host it this year.”

In other action from Saturday, Corona del Mar resident Cierra Gaytan and Newport Coast resident Natasha Hill played matches in the mixed open doubles. Hill won with her coach, Patrick Crow, 6-2, 6-0, over another all-local team of Newport Beach’s Fernando Zuliani and Costa Mesa’s Ivana Vlakic.

The match ended with an overhead slam from Hill, who is just finishing up her freshman year at Mater Dei High. Last fall, she helped the Monarchs girls team win the Trinity League title and individually Hill also was part of the league champion doubles team. She said she is enjoying the atmosphere at her first Adoption Guild tournament.

“I just live right up the road,” said Hill, 15. “I come to Palisades every Thursday for a clinic … I was nervous in the beginning, but once Pat and I got our groove on, it was fine. It’s nerve-wracking at first [playing against adults], but at the end of the day, we all play the same sport. It’s fine. You’ll get used to it; I did.”

Gaytan and her partner, Taran Sondhu, lost to top-seeded Emily Maxwell and Maximillian Wild, 6-2, 6-4. Gaytan said it was her first time playing the Adoption Guild since years ago, when she attended CdM, helping the Sea Kings win the CIF Southern Section Division 1 title. Gaytan currently is the girls’ tennis coach at Sage Hill.

“It was really fun,” Gaytan said. “I just knew they were the No. 1 seeds, and we’d have to be really aggressive. The second set, we were. The first set, we were a little tight … [but I love that we had a lot of people watching and cheering. I love the camaraderie of this tournament.”

Gaytan and Hill, who are close family friends, are also teamed up in the women’s open doubles. They are the No. 2 seeds and will play Mazy Watrous and Jennifer Zick in an all-Newport Beach semifinal on Sunday.

In other open division action featuring local players, top-seeded Sydney Van Alphen of Laguna Beach advanced to the women’s open singles semifinals with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Jami Pinter. Van Alphen will play No. 3-seeded Hannah Zhao on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. at the Tennis Club Newport Beach in a semifinal match.

The tournament continues through Memorial Day, with all championship matches scheduled for Monday at Palisades.

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Twitter: @mjszabo