Roshan of Granada Hills Is Spoiler

Nima Roshan of Granada Hills High dashed El Camino Real’s hopes of an all-Conquistador singles final, knocking off defending champion James Magsino in the City Section tennis semifinals Friday at Balboa Sports Complex in Encino.

Roshan, a junior who was eliminated in the quarterfinals last season, rallied for a 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 victory.

In the final set, Roshan had Magsino, a friend and former practice partner, frustrated. Magsino struck his racket against the ground and muttered to himself as Roshan steadily pulled away.

“He’s a good friend of mine, but I had to leave that friendship behind on the court,” Roshan said. “I had a lot of opportunities in the first set which I thought I blew. He fell apart at the end because he also had some opportunities to put me away.”

Roshan will play Matt Jones of El Camino Real in the final Wednesday at Balboa Sports Complex. Jones advanced with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Reyniere Roxas of Carson.

Jones worked efficiently, double-faulting only once in a rematch of last year’s third-place match, also won by Jones.

“[Roxas] is a good player,” Jones said. “I just played beyond my best game. I didn’t want to get into a match where we would be hitting 20 balls. I knew I had to put the ball away.”

Roshan’s serve wasn’t as accurate as Jones’ but was enough to fluster Magsino. When Roshan did fault, he relied on accuracy.

“My serve was good, but not nearly good enough if I hope to win this tournament,” Roshan said. “I just couldn’t get the timing down. I had to rely on spin and not go for the lines so much.”

Jones has won three previous meetings with Roshan, including a victory last week to lead El Camino Real over Granada Hills for the City team championship.

“[Roshan] keeps getting better and better,” Jones said. “I have to play well to beat him.”

In doubles, Alex Leb and Peter Shirley of Palisades defeated Shawn Flynn and Nick Kogan of El Camino Real, 6-2, 6-2.

Carson’s Ron Esguerra and Nick Noa defeated Anand Murthy and Brad Steinberg of Granada Hills, 6-2, 6-2, in the other semifinal.