Trojans’ Nelson advances to singles final

Lindsey Nelson is showing that she is comfortable on almost any stage.

The USC junior, who majors in creative writing and minors in theater, used energetic and passionate play to take all the drama out of her semifinal match against Stanford senior Theresa Logar in the Pacific 10 Conference championships Saturday at the 107th Ojai Valley tennis tournament.

Nelson, ranked No. 9 nationally by the Intercollegiate Tennis Assn., advanced to the Pac-10 finals with a command performance that resulted in a 6-3, 6-3 victory to set up a rematch of last year’s NCAA singles championship final with Cal junior Susie Babos this morning at Libbey Park.

Babos, the highest-ranked women’s player in the conference at No. 4, won the NCAA title over Nelson with a 6-4, 6-1 victory last May.

“This was probably one of the best matches I’ve played this season. I’ll just relax the rest of the day and, hopefully, prepare and be ready to play,” Nelson said as Babos finished beating Stanford junior Celia Durkin, 6-4, 6-4, in the other semifinal.

Stanford sophomore Matt Bruch showed that he is in his comfort zone at Ojai, where he will go for his second consecutive Pac-10 men’s singles championship today after a 6-4, 6-2 semifinal victory over Cal junior Pierre Mouillon.

Unseeded because of wrist and foot injuries that kept him out of action for more than a month, Bruch faces top-seeded Washington senior Alex Slovic, a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 winner over Juan Carlos Rebaza of Arizona State.

lauren.peterson@latimes.com