SERVING UP A TITLE RUN MALIBU SENIOR SHOWS POWER.

Byline: Nevin Barich Staff Writer

OJAI - Earlier this year, Doug Stewart began working to improve his serve. He showed Thursday at the 102nd annual Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament that his work has paid off.

Stewart, a senior from Malibu High, advanced to today's round of 16 with a 6-2, 6-3 second-round victory over Chase Ora of Dana Hills at The Thacher School.

Stewart, who defeated Matthew Ozurovich of Santa Margarita 6-2, 6-3 in the first round, dominated Ora with his serve. Stewart held every time and usually had Ora backing off toward the end of the court in an attempt to fend it off.

``Up until a few months ago, my serve wasn't that great,'' said Stewart, who won the 16-and-under tournament at Ojai last year. ``So I started working on it a lot, trying different swings. It was just a matter of which swing I liked.''

One person who attested to Stewart's serve was Ora.

``It was so hard,'' Ora said. ``I've played people who have hard serves but never one who did it that consistently. His serve was in almost every time.''

Stewart's big serve allowed him to overcome 29 unforced errors.

``I made a few errors today, but sometimes that happens,'' Stewart said. ``You just have to play through it.''

Orange County schools have typically dominated the tournament, but Stewart has shown he's capable of defeating top-notch competition. He defeated defending Ojai champion Patrick Buchanan of Servite of Anaheim at the Easter Bowl tournament two weeks ago in Palm Springs.

Buchanan is also in the round of 16 at Ojai after a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Aaron Bert of Westlake High.

``I didn't expect to win, so my objective was to just go out there and have some fun,'' Bert said. ``If I had cut down on the errors, maybe I could've made it a little closer. Doug, though, definitely has a shot to beat Pat. Doug's a great player. He has a lot of confidence in his game and it would be a great match.''

If Stewart and Buchanan win out, they would meet in Saturday's semifinal. Buchanan plays Adrian Mardyks of Rio Mesa of Oxnard in the third round. Mardyks is coming off a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Eric Yandoc of Torrey Pines of Encinitas.

Stewart meets Camarillo High's Jason Mossembekker today at 8 a.m. Mossembekker, who lost to Stewart in a tournament earlier this year, rallied to defeat Jayce Fitch of Canyon of La Costa 4-6, 6-0, 6-3.

``In the first set, I was trying to do too much,'' said Mossembekker, who defeated Logan Johnson of Capistrano Valley 6-3, 6-3 in the first round. ``After that, I just started keeping more balls in and was able to hit my corners really well.''

Another third-round match featuring local players will be between Jason Nguyen of Chatsworth and Andrew Lieu of Thousand Oaks. Nguyen defeated Mike Stryker of Laguna Hills 6-2, 6-1 and Sean Canullas of Bishop Montgomery of Torrance 6-0, 6-1 on Thursday.

Lieu, who reached the semifinals last year, defeated Daniel Chang of Sunny Hills of Fullerton 6-1, 6-2 and had a tougher time with Christian Hand of Fairmont of Anaheim 6-1, 5-7, 6-3.

OJAI TENNIS TOURNAMENT

CIF boys' singles and doubles: Third-round play begins at 8 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., with quarterfinals to be staged at 12:30 and 2 p.m.

Pac-10 men's and women's main draw and invitational singles: Men's quarterfinals begin at 8 a.m. Women's invitational quarterfinals begin at 8 a.m. and the main draw begins at 9:30 a.m.

Pac-10 men's and women's main draw and invitational doubles: First round for men's and women's main draw begins at 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., with quarterfinals at 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. First round for men's invitational begins at 11 a.m. and quarterfinals are at 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. First round for women's invitational begins at 9:30 a.m., with quarterfinals at 2 p.m.

Big West Championships: The Cal State Northridge women play Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at 2:30 p.m.

For complete draws: Go to www.ojaitourney.org.

- Nevin Barich

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OJAI TENNIS TOURNAMENT (see text)