Staggs-Hart Medals for USA Team in Taipei
September 01, 2017 | Men's Tennis, Women's Tennis
TAIPEI – The world's top university athletes assembled in Taipei for the 29th Summer Universiade and four UCLA tennis student-athletes were at the heart of the action, representing USA Team and their home nation. Each of the four players—Terri Fleming, Jada Hart, Martin Redlicki and Logan Staggs—advanced past Round 2 of his or her respective singles tournament, while the unranked mixed doubles team of Hart and Staggs made a run into the semifinals. UCLA men's associate head coach Grant Chen guided the group.
Thank you FISU & Taiwan for hosting world class athletic and cultural event. Thank you @USATeam_ athletes, staff & coaches for the memories! pic.twitter.com/ZSyK0X55nc
— UCLA Men's Tennis (@uclatennis) August 30, 2017
Fleming and Hart each began the women's singles tournament with a bye, but would soon encounter a top-ranked foe. After defeating South Africa's Lienke de Kock, 6-2, 6-4, Fleming found herself matched up against No. 6 Haruka Kaji of Japan. Kaji would advance to the fourth round in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4.
Hart, meanwhile, faced her ranked opponent a round earlier, as No. 5 Anastasia Frolova of Russia looked primed for a run after her opening-round bye. Hart dropped the first set, 2-6, but she quickly answered with a 6-2 second-set win of her own. A back-and-forth third round went the way of the underdog, however, as Hart upset Frolova, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5. The Colton, Calif. rising sophomore's run would end a round later in another three-set battle, though, as India's Bhuvana Kalava needed a tiebreak, but took the 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (5) decision.
On the doubles courts, the Pac-12 Doubles Team of the Year of Hart and Fleming overcame an early first-round deficit against the Mexican duo of Giovanna Manifacio and Victoria Aracely Rodriguez to move on, 5-7, 6-3, (10-8). The bracket makers proved unkind to the Bruin pair, however, dealing them a second-round date with host Taipei's top-ranked duo of Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan. The No. 1 seed defeated Hart-Fleming, 6-3, 6-0, and never lost a set on the way to the gold medal.
WUG W Doubles Rnd of 32: Jada Hart & Terri Fleming def Rodriguez/Manifacio (Mexico) 5-7,6-3,10-8. Will face top seed Chan/Chan (TPE) next pic.twitter.com/zKOY6Cp4oa
— UCLA Women's Tennis (@uclawtennis) August 22, 2017
On the men's side, 11th-seeded Redlicki and Staggs also had first-round byes. No. 15 Ivan Kosec awaited Staggs in the second round, and the senior-to-be from Tracy, Calif. was ready. Staggs jumped out to an early advantage with a 6-2 first-set win, but was in for a fight from the Slovak, who forced a tiebreak in the second. Staggs would not let the match enter a third set, though, dispatching Kosec by a 6-2, 7-6 (5) tally. Thailand's Pol Wattanakul, seeded 19th, was next up for Staggs in the third round, in what proved to be a nail biter. Staggs dropped a first-set tiebreak before squeaking by in the second and setting up a decisive third set. There, Staggs found a second wind and cruised into Round 4, 6-7 (0), 7-5, 6-2. No. 30 Yuya Ito of Japan would prove too much, however, ending Staggs' run just short of the quarterfinals, 6-2, 6-2.
Redlicki opened his tournament against Botswana's Aobakwe Lekang, who the Boca Raton, Fla. native cruised past with a 6-0, 6-2 second-round win. The third-round opponent posed a tougher obstacle for Redlicki, but Pierre Michael Bonfre of Sweden also fell victim to the lefty, 7-5, 6-3. The Bruin rising senior finally met his match in Round 4 and host-country Taipei's No. 5 Kuan-Yi Lee, who knocked off Redlicki, 6-2. 6-2.
The Staggs-Redlicki team recorded a straight-set win over Slovenia's pair of Domen Vertot and Ziga Papez, 6-3, 6-1, in the opening round of the doubles tournament. Like Hart-Fleming, though, the men quickly ran into a top-ranked opponent in a talented field. Staggs-Redlicki exited the competition at the hands of fourth-seeded Jeamoon Lee and Yunseong Chung of Korea, 6-2, 6-4.
The Bruins saved their deepest run for mixed doubles, where the team of Staggs and Hart endured a fight from Marco Micunco and Natasha Piludu in the opening round, but won in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3. The moment of the trip proved to be the pair's second-round match against No. 2 Timur Khabibulin and Kamila Kerimbayeva of Kazakhstan. Staggs-Hart dropped the first set to the higher seed after a lengthy tiebreak, 6-7 (9), but bounced back to take the second, 6-4. The Bruins were ultimately able to carry their momentum into the 10-point third-set tiebreak, which they took—along with the match—6-7 (9), 6-4, (10-6). The pair had a much easier go of it in Round 3, where they took care of Arne Nel and Heliencia-Wilanie Van Zyl of South Africa, 6-3, 6-4, to reach the quarterfinals. There, Staggs-Hart was in for another battle, as it needed another third set to dispatch Luke Johnson and Olivia Nicholls of Great Britain, 6-2, 2-6, (10-4). A third three-set showdown proved to be the last for the Staggs-Hart, which fell to the Slovakian team of Kosec and Simona Parajova in the semifinals, 3-6, 6-3, (10-6). The performance earned the Bruins and USA Team a bronze medal.
Players Mentioned
