Tennis Notebook: Monrovia’s Madregallejo Represents U.S. in Junior Davis Cup

The San Gabriel Valley has turned out a number of fine tennis players over the years, and Monrovia’s Nikko Madregallejo is certainly amongst those. Madregallejo, who trains with the United States Tennis Association in Florida, has been selected to the U.S. Junior Davis Cup team (ages 16 and under).

The announcement came late last week giving Madregallejo and his two teammates, Luca Corinteli of Alexandria, Va., and Spencer Papa of Edmond, Okla., little time to prepare for their first event.

The group left Wednesday for Merida, Mexico. Beginning Friday, they will compete in a four-team round robin against the likes of Mexico, Canada, Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

Since Mexico is the host country of the Junior Davis Cup World Final, held Sept. 27 to Oct. 2, just one team from this weekend’s qualifying event will advanced to the 16-nation World Final. San Luis Potosi, Mexico is the venue of the Junior Davis Cup World Final.

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The 111^th Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament begins Thursday morning. Several local junior players will be in action.

Arcadia resident and La Salle freshman Garrett Mak is the top seed in the boys’ 14-and-under division. Mak received a first-round bye. His first match is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Thursday against an opponent that is yet to be determined.

James Wade, who is the No. 2 singles player at San Marino, is the third seed in the boys’ 16-and-under division. His first match Thursday is at 9:30 a.m. against Darius MacKenzie.

Arcadia’s Francis Dean is the No. 2 seed in the girls’ 16-and-under division. The Pacific League singles champion received a first-round bye. She will play against an opponent yet to be determined at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday.

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San Marino’s Johnny Wang will compete the Titans in the CIF high school boys’ competition, which takes the place of the 18-and-under division.

Wang’s opening match is at 8 a.m. Thursday against Maximilian Hawkins of Chadwick School in Palos Verdes Peninsula.

San Marino’s doubles team of Robert Carter and Nicholas Splichal will face Brandon Kim and Sherman Uyeno of Brea Olinda at 8 a.m. Thursday.

La Canada’s doubles team of Michael Choi and Tyler Jones will open against Nicolas Cummins and Blake Eggleston of Palm Desert at 11 a.m. Thursday.

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The Pacific League individual tournament begins next Monday at Pasadena High. Arcadia, which won the Pacific League title, will be looking to send its top singles player Travis Tu to postseason play.

The top two singles and doubles teams in the league move on to postseason individual competition. The finals will be held Wednesday afternoon, also at Pasadena High.

Tu’s top competition will likely come from Burroughs’ Garrett Auproux.

Arcadia’s No. 1 doubles team of George Chiu and Hardy Lou is the defending league champion. Repeating will be difficult as there are a number of quality doubles teams and some schools might elect to move some players into doubles to increase their chances of moving on into the postseason.

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The Rio Hondo League individual tournament will take place next Wednesday and Thursday at Live Oak Park in Temple City.

San Marino High’s Johnny Wang is the two-time defending league champion. His biggest competition could come from his own team as the Titans’ No. 2 singles player, James Wade, went undefeated in Rio Hondo League play just like Wang.

The Titans’ No. 1 doubles team of Robert Carter and Nicholas Splichal and La Canada’s team of Michael Choi and Tyler Jones are expected to be amongst the top contenders for the individual doubles title.