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ORONO – Misha Mytar of George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill may not have advanced to the semifinals of the state singles tennis championships at the University of Maine on Saturday.
But the 14-year-old from Surry served notice that she will be a force to be reckoned with in the future.
Mytar won two matches, eliminating Joline Cloutier of St. Dominic of Lewiston in three sets and Cape Elizabeth’s Julie Nickerson in straight sets, and then turned in an impressive performance in losing to top seed Caitlin Tso of Portland’s Waynflete School 6-2, 7-5 in the quarterfinals.
“She played pretty well,” said Tso, a senior from Saco who lost only seven games in her first two victories and will make her second straight trip to the semifinals.
“I was nervous at first. But I didn’t give up,” said the 5-foot Mytar, who was unranked. “I thought I played pretty well. I didn’t make too many mistakes in the second set and that helped.
“I didn’t mind playing the number one seed. It’ll help my seeding for next year,” added Mytar.
Tso was the only one of the top four seeds in the girls division to qualify for Wednesday’s semifinals and finals at Falmouth High School.
Unranked Suzanne deGolian of Gorham upset No. 2 Lise Carter of Caribou 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, in the quarterfinals; Hungarian exchange student Boglarka Rozsasi of Auburn’s Edward Little High School advanced from the preliminary round by winning four matches, including a 6-4, 6-0 quarterfinal win over Gardiner’s unseeded Kim Palmer; and sixth seed Shanna Gagnon of Gardiner beat Cape Elizabeth’s Elizabeth Newcomb, the third seed, 6-3, 6-2, in their quarterfinal.
Tso will now face Rozsasi and Gagnon will play deGolian in Wednesday’s 11 a.m. semis.
On the boys side, the top three seeds and fifth seed Jeff Lathrop of Hall-Dale all advanced.
Top seed Brian Patterson of Falmouth, a senior who has never lost a schoolboy match in the state and is ranked 10th nationally and first in New England in his under-18 age group, breezed through three matches without losing a game. Second seed Marko Perica, a Croatian exchange student from Richmond High School, ousted seventh seed Marcus Bosch of Camden-Rockport 6-3, 6-2 in their quarterfinal.
Lathrop upset fourth seed Al Hassan Zaher of Wiscasset 6-0, 6-2 in their quarterfinal to avenge a three-set loss suffered two weeks ago, and No. 3 seed Andy Brenner of Yarmouth eliminated Orono’s Robbie Butler, the sixth seed, 6-2, 6-0.
Wednesday’s 12:45 p.m. semifinals will pit Patterson against Lathrop and Perica against Brenner.
One of the most stirring performances of the day belonged to deGolian, who overcame bronchitis, asthma and a three-set match in the round of 16 to oust Carter, who was plagued by a rash of unforced errors.
“I’m really shocked that I did as well as I did,” said deGolian. “I just tried as hard as I could. I gave it everything I had. This is what I’ve wanted for four years.
“I was really hitting my lines with my shots today, especially in the last match,” said deGolian.
Orono’s Butler, a junior, made it to the quarterfinals for the first time but Brenner played a terrific match against him. Brenner put constant pressure on Butler by running down balls all over the court and keeping the ball in play.
“He totally outplayed me. He took me off my game. I made a lot of unforced errors and he played very well,” said Butler.
“That was my best match of the day,” said Brenner. “The match was closer than the score indicated. There were some pretty nervous points out there. I tried to mix it up and keep the ball in play. Eventually, he has to come to the net or he’ll make an error.”
Perica, who said he was rated as high as 14th in his native Croatia among under-18s two years ago, said he expected a much tougher match from Bosch.
“He made a lot of mistakes and I served pretty well today,” said Perica, who hasn’t lost this year. “He had a lot of double faults. This was the best of my three matches. It took me two matches to get used to these courts.”
Final four matchups
BOYS
Brian Patterson (Falmouth) vs. Jeff Lathrop (Hall-Dale)
Marko Perica (Richmond) vs. Andy Brenner (Yarmouth)
GIRLS
Caitlin Tso (Waynflete) vs. Boglarka Rozsasi (Edward Little)
Suzanne deGolian (Gorham) vs. Shanna Gagnon (Gardiner)
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