USC tennis coach Peter Smith will be the most relaxed person in the crowd during today's semifinal round of the Pac-10 Men's Singles Championships at The Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament.

That's because all four players in the semifinals are Trojans — top seed Robert Farah, second seed Kaes Van't Hof, sophomore Gary Sacks and freshman sensation Jaak Poldma.

Smith knows no matter what happens today, he will get to watch two of his players battle for the Pac-10 title on Sunday.

"That is a nice day for me," Smith said. "I can go grab an orange juice, sit down and watch them play. I'm very pleased with how our team has played here during the first two days.

"We've done well in the Invitational and we've done well here.

"We like this tournament. We take this tournament seriously. It's always special to be a part of The Ojai.

"I grew up playing this tournament, Kaes grew up playing this tournament, both my assistants grew up playing this tournament, so we have a very strong connection to this tournament."

While Smith will be smiling ear to ear, the same won't be true for the four teammates who have to square off against each another.

Van't Hof, who played in three Ojai finals as a junior and never won, would love to break through, but he would prefer that he didn't have to do it against a teammate.

"It's less sweet if you win against a teammate. No one wants to beat a teammate. It's the worst thing ever," Van't Hof said. "It's so hard to be fired up to play your friend. It's impossible.

"Today (in the quarterfinals) I was playing against our archrival from UCLA, so it was easy to get fired up. But when you're playing against a guy you practice with every day and a guy you see outside of tennis, it's hard."

Farah, who has been USC's No. 1 player all season, agreed with Van't Hof.

Farah and Van't Hof are also doubles partners and are seeded No. 1. There's a chance the two men could play each other in the singles final and then turn around and play with each other in the doubles final.

"It's always tough, you never want to play against your teammate," Farah said. "You want to see them win, but you don't want to have to play against them.

"I play Jaak and he's a really good player. I'm going to have to get through him (to reach the final) and he's a wall. In practice, he's always really tough. So it's going to be a really good match."

Farah defeated Cal's Pedro Zerbini 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 in Friday's quarterfinals. After winning the first set easily, Farah was hoping for a quick match so he could get out of the sun, but it didn't happen.

"The guy played well in the second set and I wasted some chances," Farah said. "I was two breaks up, I broke his serve and he came back. I broke his serve again, and he came back. Those are the chances you get in tennis and you have to take advantage of them."

Using his vaunted serve, Van't Hof defeated UCLA's Jeremy Drean 7-6(5), 6-4 in the quarterfinals.

"I heard it's going to be warmer (today), so it's always nice to get done in straight sets, rather than grinding through a tough three-setter," Van't Hof said. "The good thing is the heat makes the ball fly a little faster. It helps a guy like me who is not a big grinder, because the serve goes a lot faster, so you get a few more free points."

Van't Hof said there might be some people in the conference who don't like that it's an all-USC semifinals.

"We brought our four top guys. Maybe if all the other teams brought their four top guys, it would not be this way," Van't Hof said. "We take so much pride in having four guys in the semis. Not bringing all your top guys ruins the sanctity of this tournament.

"This tournament is here for a reason. It's been here 108 years. It's the Pac-10 Championships. It's not just a walk in the park. You have to bring it. You have to bring the fire and that's what we have done."

USC's Amanda Fink will represent the Trojans in the Pac-10 Women's Championship semifinals. Fink defeated Cal's Cristina Viscio 6-0, 6-1 in Friday's quarterfinals. As the No. 2 seed, the former Calabasas High standout is the highest ranking seed left, since top seed Hilary Jo Barte from Stanford was forced to withdraw because of a shoulder injury.

Fink will play Nadia Abdala of Arizona State at 11 a.m. today at Libbey Park. The other semifinal will feature UCLA's Reza Zalameda and Cal's Claire Ilcinkas, who advanced when Barte withdrew.

— For more results, go to The Ojai's Web site: http://www.ojaitourney.org.