Pelletier wins junior title

NEWPORT BEACH — Jacqueline Pelletier has only been playing competitive tennis for about a year.

Pelletier, a Huntington Beach resident, still has plenty of time to grow as a player. She just turned 12.

But her game already appeared to be quite grown at the 20th annual Balboa Bay Club Junior Tournament, where she captured the girls’ 12 singles title Friday with a 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-0 victory over Natalie Penner of Alta Loma.

Other locals in finals included Jacqueline’s brother, Beau, who fell in a tough boys’ 10 singles championship match, 7-6, 6-4, to top-seeded Leo Hibi of Irvine. Parker Glore, who will be a junior at Marina High, battled in the boys’ 18 singles match but fell to Shane Korber of Newport Beach, 6-0, 6-4.

Jacqueline Pelletier was the top seed at the tournament better known as the War by the Shore, and she was in a war against Penner. But, after taking the second-set tiebreaker, Pelletier stepped it up a notch and cruised in the third set.

“I just forgot whatever happened in the first two sets,” she said. “I just pulled through. I haven’t played very long, so I’m the underdog most of the time.”

The Pelletiers have been training with Syd Ball, the former pro from Australia.

“He’s a great coach and he’s been teaching me the fundamentals and strategy I need,” Jacqueline Pelletier said.

Glore, who was unseeded, was shut out in the first set against No. 3-seeded Korber, but he stepped it up in the second set. He battled back from a 4-1 deficit to tie the score at 4-4. But Korber, who will be a junior at Corona del Mar, held serve then broke Glore’s serve in a long deuce game.

Glore is just starting to play up at the boys’ 18s level, he said. And he has been working on improving at the start of his matches.

“You never know what can happen,” Glore said. “I always start out slow, and usually try to get a good warmup so I can start out faster. This morning I didn’t have enough time with my coach, I guess.”

All three locals, plus other Huntington Beach residents, are also competing in the Costa Mesa junior tournament this week. Jacqueline Pelletier is the second-seeded player in girls’ 12s, while Eric Nguyen is top-seeded in boys’ 10s.