Di Giulio, Matthews cruise

Newport Beach residents Joseph Di Giulio and Fabian Matthews, both seeded No. 4 in their respective divisions, won round-of-32 matches Friday at the 106th annual Southern California Junior Sectionals tennis tournament.

Di Giulio and Matthews, the top local seeds in a draw at the tournament, highlight six locals who still have a shot at a singles title. They also include Cierra Gaytan-Leach and Ali Walters in the girls’ 18s draw, Hailey Hogan in the girls’ 16s draw and James Zillman in the boys’ 12s draw.

Di Giulio breezed through his boys’ 14 singles match against Jacob Johnson of Rancho Santa Fe, 6-0, 6-1. The boys’ 12s champion from last year, Di Giulio will face No. 6-seeded Nathan Lewis of Irvine in the round of 16 today at 2:45 p.m. at Fountain Valley Tennis Center.

In boys’ 18 singles, the UC Irvine-bound Matthews defeated Daniel Moss of Malibu, 6-1, 6-3. Matthews, who won two CIF Southern Section doubles titles and one singles title in a recently finished career at Corona del Mar High, meets Ken Mkrtchian of Reseda in the round of 16 today at 12:30 p.m. at Los Caballeros Racquet and Sports Club in Fountain Valley.

Newport Beach resident Hailey Hogan won, 6-0, 6-1, in the girls’ 16 round of 32 over Victoria Wing of Laguna Niguel. Hogan, a junior-to-be at CdM, will square off against No. 6-seeded Danielle Flores of Carlsbad in the round of 16 today at 3 p.m. at Costa Mesa Tennis Center.

Flores knocked off Sage Hill School junior-to-be Julia Blakeley, 6-4, 6-1, in the round of 32.

No. 7-seeded Melissa Matsuoka, a Newport Beach resident, also lost in the girls’ 16 singles round of 32. She defaulted due to illness against Del Mar’s Karen Forman after dropping the first set, 7-6.

In the girls’ 18 singles draw, CdM resident Cierra Gaytan-Leach outlasted Marivick Marmiit of Los Angeles, 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, in the round of 32. Gaytan-Leach will face No. 7-seeded Sabrina Santamaria in the round of 16 today at 9:45 a.m. at Los Cab.

UCLA-bound Newport Beach resident Ali Walters was also victorious in the girls’ 18s draw, 6-0, 6-3, against Tiffany Mai of Westminster. Walters will face No. 2-seeded Catherine Isip of Anaheim in the round of 16 today at 9:45 a.m. at Los Cab.

Costa Mesa resident James Zillman also advanced in boys’ 12 singles, after upsetting No. 7-seeded Darius MacKenzie of Woodland Hills, 6-3, 6-1, in the round of 16. Zillman squares off against No. 2-seeded Collin Altamirano of Santa Barbara in a quarterfinal today at 12:45 p.m. at Los Cab.

Newport Coast resident Max Pham lost in the boys’ 12 singles round of 32 to No. 6-seeded Eduardo Nava of Woodland Hills, 6-2, 6-2.

No. 9-seeded Austin Di Giulio, Joseph’s brother, lost to top-seeded Maxwell Cancilla of Huntington Beach, 6-1, 6-2, in the boys’ 10 singles round of 16.

CdM resident Garrett Kurtz also fell, 6-0, 6-1, in the boys’ round of 16 against No. 5-seeded Konrad Kozlowski of Irvine.

Costa Mesa resident Chris Freeman fell, 6-2, 6-3, in the boys’ 18 singles round of 32 to No. 7-seeded Steve Johnson of Orange.

— From staff reports