Abougzir Overwhelms Yovan

One week, Aaron Yovan is playing a high school match for University against players who have difficulty just getting the ball over the net. The next, he is playing against the third-ranked junior in the world.

Yovan put up an admirable fight in the 95-degree heat Monday at Riviera Resort and Racquet Club. But he couldn’t handle the speed, consistency and touch of Ytai Abougzir of Boca Raton, Fla., losing, 6-2, 6-2, in the fourth round of the boys’ 18s at the Easter Bowl/USTA Super National Spring Championships.

“He just gets everything back,” said a drained and disgusted Yovan. “And then you’re putting so much into your shots to make them perfect . . . I guess I needed to be more patient.”

But Yovan realized that even patience might not have been enough against Abougzir, who is leaning toward turning professional after the French Open and Wimbledon junior tournaments this summer.

“I was trying to hit harder and shorten the points up, but he wasn’t giving me any short balls to do anything with,” Yovan said. “He has no real weakness and he has a pretty good return. I was hitting my hard first serve and it was coming back pretty fast and deep.”

Abougzir, who moved to Florida 10 years ago from Israel and trained at the Evert Academy, said he was impressed with Yovan’s game.

“He made me hit an extra ball and he has a nice one-handed backhand down the line,” Abougzir said.

That backhand was more effective in the first set, when Yovan had more energy and pace on his shots. Early in the set, Yovan had several chances to break Abougzir’s serve. He had two break points in a 20-minute, six-deuce game with Abougzir leading, 2-1, but he couldn’t break through.

“That was one of those games where the person that wins is going to win the match,” Abougzir said. “After that, I was just trying to move him around, mix up the pace and make him think.”

Afterward, Yovan began thinking about what it takes to beat the third-ranked junior in the world.

“I think I should have come in more on his serve,” he said. “That’s really all you have to attack.”

In the girls’ 16s, second-seeded Lindsey Nelson of Villa Park advanced to her first singles semifinal in a national tournament with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Riza Zalameda of Beverly Hills. Nelson played through a strained stomach muscle that was originally injured during her three-set match Sunday against Tracy Lin of Canyon.

After breezing through the first set, Nelson began to have trouble with her serve. She was broken at the end of the first set and twice to start the second. When she lost her serve and fell behind, 3-2, she called for a trainer.

“I was about to start serving underhand, even though I’ve never done it before,” Nelson said.

But once a trainer applied ice to her right side for five minutes, Nelson said the pain was a little more bearable.

“I decided to go all out and win this match,” she said. “I started serving through the pain.”

And then Zalameda began to feel her own pain. She won two more games and led, 5-4, but then she lost her serve at love and won only one point on Nelson’s service game. Zalameda lost seven of the eight points on unforced errors and trailed, 6-5. She continued her meltdown in the next game with three more unforced errors that ended the match.

“She might have thought I wasn’t going to finish,” said Nelson, who will play Francis Deason of Houston in the semifinals at 9:30 a.m. today. “She probably did loosen up. It’s all in the head.”

Once Nelson left the court, she headed straight to the trainer, who wrapped ice around her sore muscles. After a two-hour break, Nelson headed back to play doubles with partner Judith Devera of Carson. Nelson and Devera, seeded first, defeated Elizabeth Lumpkin of Naperville, Ill., and Lin, 6-3, 6-1. They will play Anne Yelsey of Corona del Mar and Zalameda in the semifinals at 3 p.m. today.

In the fourth round of the girls’ 18s singles, Susanna Lingman of Woodbridge High lost to fourth-seeded Amber Liu of La Mesa, 6-1, 6-2. Lingman was never able to put any pressure on Liu, who played a steady game from the baseline and moved Lingman around the court.

“I didn’t have a rhythm,” said Lingman, seeded 32nd. “I needed a little better and a little tighter shots. I couldn’t dictate play with my forehand like I usually can, because I didn’t have any confidence in it.”

Lingman, who had not dropped a set until Monday, said she will skip next week’s Ojai tournament.

“The Easter Bowl is too close to Ojai,” said Lingman, who will play college tennis at Harvard. “Last year, I did it and it took a lot out of me.”

Arpi Kojian of Villa Park, who reached the third round of the girls’ 18s here, also said she is not playing Ojai because of a previous tournament commitment.

In a boys’ 14s quarterfinal, Carsten Ball of Newport Beach lost to Clancy K. Shields of Grand Junction, Colo., 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-3.