Nguyen remains on top

COSTA MESA — Some play a sport because they love it and some play it because they’re good at it.

Corona del Mar High incoming sophomore Katelyn Nguyen, the No. 1 seed in the 17th annual Costa Mesa Summer Junior Classic, is the latter. She showed that Thursday, as she moved on to today’s 16-year-old girls’ singles final at the Costa Mesa Tennis Center. The title match starts at 9:30 a.m.

“I actually like basketball more than tennis,” Nguyen said. “But I’m already so far in tennis so might as well just go with it.”

Nguyen, who played tennis for nine years, won her match against No. 11-seeded Thao Pham of Fountain Valley, 6-2, 6-1, Thursday and faces No. 3 seed Kendall Heitzner of Irvine today.

“I played [Heitzner] like three times already,” Nguyen said. “So I kind of know what I’m going to do against her.”

In her match against Pham, Nguyen hit many forehand winners near the lines and kept her opponents on their toes with lots of drop shots because she wanted to attack.

“My first two matches I was kind of tempted,” Nguyen said of wanting to be aggressive in the tournament. “I needed to be more aggressive and [that mind-set] helped a lot.”

That match was in 90-plus degree weather, but Nguyen said the heat doesn’t bother her anymore.

“I’m kind of used to it because I train very hard,” she said. “I just hit three hours in the morning and three hours later, but most of the later three hours is physical training — footwork and stuff like that.”

Since the beginning of the tournament, Nguyen said she’s felt the stress of being the No. 1 seed, but with her family at her every match, she’s up to the challenge.

“It’s always pressure when you’re No. 1 because you have to win,” she said. “If my dad’s busy, it’s my mom. It’s always somebody there with me.”

In the Costa Mesa Summer Junior Classic, Nguyen started with a first-round bye, defeated Dominique Moore of North Tustin in the second and defeated Mariel Ante of Riverside in the quarterfinals before Thursday.

While the 15-year-old Nguyen is busy playing tennis and earning No. 1 rankings and trophies, she still lacks an achievement that many of her peers have — a driving permit.

“I want to get it as soon as possible,” Nguyen said.

The permit-less Nguyen’s next tournament is the West Coast Championships at Sacramento on Aug. 3. Before then she wants to continue her drive toward a Costa Mesa Classic championship.

Peyton in final

In the boys’ 18 singles division, Corona del Mar High incoming senior Ryan Peyton will play in today’s final.

Peyton, the No. 2 seed, will play for the championship against No. 4-seeded Pilki Min of Cerritos at 8:30 a.m.