TENNIS CITY SECTION SEMIFINALS : Finals to Have an East European Flavor

It won’t just be an all East Valley final at the City Section individual tennis championships on Wednesday in Studio City.

It will also be an all Eastern Europe final.

Grant High senior Paul Knizek, born in Czechoslovakia, and North Hollywood junior Dragan Jovanovski, born in Yugoslavia, each won three-set semifinal matches at the Racquet Centre to set up a final between two immigrants-turned-Valley-dudes.

Knizek upset No. 1 seed Robert Johnson of Banning, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in a tightly contested match. Jovanovski, the tournament’s No. 2 seed, defeated Grant junior Marc Simon, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 on an adjacent court.

Knizek, who came to America in 1984, and Jovanovski, who immigrated in 1989, know each other well. Not only are the pair hitting partners, Jovanovski has defeated Knizek in all three of their official matches against one another.

“We’re real good friends,� Knizek said. “But he usually beats me.�

The left-handed Jovanovski dominated matters in the third set of his win over Simon. Ahead in the third set, 4-2, Jovanovski held service with a slam winner of a Simon lob, then broke Simon’s serve for the match.

Knizek’s win over Johnson was the more riveting match. Johnson, who had lost just twice in his high school career, made a stirring comeback after falling behind 5-3 in the third set. Faced with a triple match point, Johnson hit a clutch forehand winner, then enjoyed three unforced Knizek errors to make it 5-4. Knizek, however, refused to bend. He broke Johnson’s serve for the match, the winning point coming on a Johnson backhand into the net.

In the doubles semifinals, Taft’s Derek Halpern and Andy Kimelman rode a roller-coaster match into the finals, defeating Westchester’s Aaron Polk and Omar Yassin, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. After breezing in the first set and taking a 2-0 lead in the second, Halpern and Kimelman watched Polk and Yassin win six straight for the set, then take a 4-1 lead in the third set.

The Taft duo rebounded, however, to win the next five games and advance into the finals against Carson’s brother tandem of Roel and Rene DeVera, who defeated Taft’s Robert Polak and Eric Ficksman, 6-0, 6-3.

“I think we relaxed in the second set,� Kimelman said. “We finally got a little more aggressive in the third set. I told Derek, ‘There’s no way we’re losing this.’ �