Costa Mesa Pro Classic down to eight singles players

COSTA MESA — Joshua Zavala continued his improbable run through the Costa Mesa Pro Classic, advancing to the quarterfinals along with seven other players, Thursday at Costa Mesa Tennis Center.

In doubles action, Newport Beach’s Carsten Ball plays Friday in doubles semifinals.

Zavala, who entered the main draw as a qualifier, defeated No. 1 seed Andre Begemann on Wednesday, and Thursday dispatched China’s Di Wu, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Zavala, ranked 700th in the world, plays Australian John Peers, who is ranked 557th, in Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Only three of the tournament’s top eight seeds survived to the quarterfinals: No. 4 seed Brian Baker, No. 5 Gregory Oullette and No. 6 Artem Sitak. No. 86 seed Daniel Kosawoski, of Downey, was beaten by Zimbabwe’s Takanyi Garanganga, 6-4, 7-5.

Baker, the field’s highest ranking remaining player (394) plays Sitak Friday at 10 a.m. After that match, Oullette will play Tennys Sandgren, who won last week’s USTA Pro Circuit event in Calabasas.

Trabuco Canyon’s Nicolas Meister failed to advance to the quarterfinals, dropping in straight sets to Sitak, 6-3, 6-4.

Meister did advance to the doubles semifinals. He and Peers defeated Wu and Tennys Sandgren, 7-5, 6-1. They join Newport Beach’s Ball and his partner, Andrew Begemann, who advanced to the semifinals on Wednesday.

Singles and doubles match play continues daily through Sunday. The doubles championship will be played Saturday and the singles championship will be held Sunday at 11 a.m.

The event is free.

— From staff reports