Xepoleas upset in round of 16

MESA, Ariz. — Corona del Mar High senior Lynda Xepoleas suffered an upset in a round of 16 match of the United States Tennis Assn. Winter National Championships (16s and 18s) at the Gene Autry Tennis Center Wednesday.

Stephanie Vlad, an unseeded player from Scottsdale, Ariz., beat the No. 3-seeded Xepoleas, 7-5, 6-4. Vlad had already upset the No. 14-seeded player to reach the round of 16.

Instead of advancing to the quarterfinals, Xepoleas, who advanced to the CIF Individuals semifinals earlier this month, went into the consolation bracket. She plays today at noon in the consolation fourth round.

Xepoleas and her doubles partner Melissa Kopinski of Illinois withdrew from its doubles match and lost in the round of 32. They were the No. 2-seeded team.

Newport Coast resident Max Pham and Newport Beach resident Meredith Xepoleas both lost their respective round of 32 matches at the USTA Winter National Championships (12s and 14s) in Tucson, Ariz.

Pham, seeded No. 17 in boys’ 12 seedings in the national Level 1 tournament, lost to No. 2-seeded Noah Schachter of Washington, 6-4, 6-3.

In girls’ 14s singles, No. 15 seeded Alexandra Letzt of Scottsdale, Ariz. beat No. 17-seeded Meredith Xepoleas, 7-5, 6-1.

Meredith Xepoleas then beat her doubles partner Maia Magill of Studio City, 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (10), to advance to the consolation fourth round.

Meredith Xepoleas will play against Alexandra Solovyev today at 8:30 a.m.

Meredith Xepoleas and Magill, the No. 7-seeded team, lost to Emma Higuchi and Maddie Pothoff, 6-0, 6-2, in the round of 32.

— From staff reports