Locals in singles semis

FOUNTAIN VALLEY ? Costa Mesa resident James Zillman lost to No. 2-seeded Ryan To, 7-5, 6-2, in a boys’ 10 singles quarterfinal match on Friday at the 104th annual Southern California Junior Sectional Championships.

Displaying a maturity beyond his age, Zillman, 10, was OK with it.

“This is as far as I’m supposed to make it, with the seedings,” the No. 8-seeded lefty said. “I don’t think I could have done any better.”

Two locals, however, did advance to today’s singles semifinals. In the girls’ 16 division, unseeded Ali Walters of Newport Beach posted a 6-4, 6-3 win over No. 5-seeded Arianna Colffer. Walters plays in the girls’ 16 semifinals today at 9 a.m. against Orange’s Kaitlyn Christian at Los Caballeros Racquet and Sports Club.

In boys’ 12 singles, Joseph DiGiulio also advanced to the semifinals. The No. 3-seeded DiGiulio dropped his first set of the tournament but rallied for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 8-seeded Rickey Baylon.

DiGiulio’s semifinal match is scheduled today at 2 p.m. at Los Caballeros, against No. 2-seeded Reo Asami of Irvine.

Cierra Gaytan-Leach of Corona del Mar teamed with Micaela Hein of Mission Viejo, has a girls’ 18 doubles quarterfinal match today at 2 p.m. at Los Caballeros.

If the pair wins, they’ll play Corona del Mar’s Jill Damion and Laguna Beach’s Sarah Fansler, who have already advanced to the semifinal match, at 4:30 p.m.

Zillman, meanwhile, had a very competitive first set with To, of Tustin. Down, 1-3, Zillman won four of five games to take a 5-4 lead. But To won the last three games of the set to take it.

To’s height presented a challenge for Zillman, who is used to regularly hitting lob shots over his opponents. The two had played in practice sets before, but never in an official match.

“I tried to mix it up,” Zillman said. “I was trying to hit it a little lower, because [To] is taller so I can’t get it over his head as much. He’ll get most of them.”

Zillman broke To’s serve in the first game of the second set, but To won five consecutive games to grab a 5-1 lead. Zillman tried to come back, breaking back with a couple of “Come on!” shouts thrown in for good measure.

Zillman nearly held serve to further pare the deficit, but an error on match point allowed To to prevail.

It was one of few unforced errors on the day. When the points were played with both players lobbing the ball over, Zillman had the advantage. But the scrappy Zillman had to scurry around the court in most of his service games, due to To’s strong returns.

“I don’t have a very strong serve,” Zillman said. “But it’s OK.”

Several Newport-Mesa residents also stayed alive in consolation play on Friday.

Corona del Mar’s Fabian Matthews took a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Alex Brigham in a round of 16 consolation quarterfinal.

Matthews plays Andre Dome of Arroyo Grande in the semifinals of the bracket today at 2 p.m. at Los Caballeros.

In an all-Newport Beach girls’ 14 round of 16 consolation bracket match, Hailey Hogan got a 6-4, 6-3 win over Melissa Matsuoka. Hogan plays Maya Humes of Los Angeles in the bracket’s semifinals today at 1:45 p.m. at the Costa Mesa Tennis Center.

Jungyeun Lee of Newport Coast won her match over Alex Tachovsky in the same bracket, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4. She plays Brynn Boren of Laguna Niguel today, also at 1:45 p.m. at Costa Mesa.

Gaytan-Leach, in the girls’ 16 singles round of 32 consolation bracket, won a 7-6, 6-3 decision over Jessica Harrow. Gaytan-Leach is scheduled to play Moreno Valley’s Amber Walker in the bracket’s semifinals today at 11 a.m. at Los Caballeros.