McDaniel gains last 16 of Winter National boys 18s

   Marcus McDaniel of Vacaville surprised No. 17 seed Robert Baylon of Buena Park in the Los Angeles area 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 today to reach the boys 18 round of 16 in the USTA National Winter Championships on hard courts in Orlando, Fla.
   McDaniel, the only remaining Northern Californian in the age group, will face No. 3 seed Kevin Zhu of Pearland, Texas. Zhu defeated Andre Ilagan of Honolulu 6-3, 6-4. McDaniel reached the semifinals of the 16s last year in Scottsdale, Ariz.
   The three remaining NorCal girls in the 18s lost. Falling to high seeds were No. 17 seeds Jessi Muljat of Sacramento and Connie Ma of Dublin and unseeded Emily Zhou of Palo Alto.
   Only two NorCal boys are left in other age groups: No. 14 Brian Chong of Cupertino in the 14s and No. 7 Rudy Quan of Roseville in the 12s. They are playing on hard courts in Tucson, Ariz.
   Other NorCal girls advancing were:
   --No. 17 seed India Houghton of Belvedere Tiburon and unseeded Allura Zamarripa of Saint Helena in the 16s in Orlando.
   --No. 7 Priya Nelson of Sacramento, No. 10 Anushka Khune of Palo Alto and No. 14 Tomi Main of Seaside in the 14s in Tucson. Nelson won the Easter Bowl 12s at Indian Wells, Calif., in March and turned 12 in June.
   --Unseeded players Emily Novikov of Campbell and Gavathri Krishnan of Cupertino in the 12s in Tucson.