Rylan is coaching at the same club as Peter Smith. One of his kids has made a deep run at the Easter Bowl.


A Southern California champion is assured in the girls 14s, with San Diego's own Elena Zhao, a No. 9 seed, facing unseeded Iva Jovic of Torrance. Zhao had the tougher match, needing three sets to defeat No. 3 seed Christasha McNeil 6-4, 1-6, 6-0, while Jovic beat unseeded Tianmei Wang 6-3, 6-0.

Jovic, who just turned 13, was not expecting to go quite this deep in the tournament.

"I knew that I could go far," said Jovic, who trains with former USC coach Peter Smith and Rylan Rizza at the Jack Kramer Club in Los Angeles. "but maybe not exactly this."

Jovic, who lost her first set of the tournament, but has not dropped one since, was happy with her performance in the semifinals.

"I think I played pretty well," Jovic said.
I was being aggressive and smart when I needed to; my backhand was really good today."