UCLA
Oregon
UCLA to Open Pac-12 Play at Oregon, Washington
March 07, 2018 | Men's Tennis
The No. 4 UCLA men's tennis team will open Pac-12 play this week with trips to Oregon and Washington. The Bruins will take on the No. 40 Ducks Friday (5 p.m.) at the Oregon Student Tennis Center, before concluding their trip north with a Saturday (1 p.m.) match against the Huskies at Bill Quillian Tennis Stadium. UCLA won the conference's regular-season title in 2017. Live stats and video from Oregon will be available at goducks.com, while Washington will provide live coverage at gohuskies.com.
UCLA vs. Oregon/Washington
The Bruins hold a 25-0 all-time record versus the Ducks. Last year, Logan Staggs clinched a 4-3 win for UCLA in a matchup of top-25 teams, defeating Jayson Amos, 7-6(3), 6-7(5), 6-4 (April 1). UCLA jumped out to a 3-0 advantage before Oregon came back to force the decisive Court 4 match. The Bruins, meanwhile, hold a 32-2 mark against the Huskies. UCLA continued its run of success against Washington with a 4-0 win last season (March 31). The team of Ben Goldberg-Maxime Cressy clinched the doubles point, while returners Martin Redlicki, Cressy and Staggs posted subsequent wins to capture the victory.
Last Week
The team of Austin Rapp-Keegan Smith of UCLA reached the final round of the 129th Annual Pacific Coast Doubles Championships before falling to Jack Jaede-Laurens Verboven of USC March 4. The runner-up finish capped a productive weekend for the Bruins, who also had duo Cressy-Bryce Pereira earn the consolation championship at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club. Each all-Bruin duo recorded at least one victory at the second-oldest tennis event in the United States.
Redlicki Wins No. 100
With his 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(6) win over Patrick Kypson of Texas A&M at the ITA Team Indoor Championships on Feb. 18, Martin Redlicki earned the 100th singles victory of his UCLA career. The senior is 100-29. The Boca Raton, Fla. native joined an elite club that includes former teammate Karue Sell (2012-16). Redlicki's top-court win over Kypson also clinched the match and put the Bruins into the ITA Indoors final.
Home Cooking
UCLA's nine wins at LATC to start the season continued a string of recent success for the Bruins on their home courts. When the Bruins defeated Ole Miss in the second round of last year's NCAA Championships, they completed their home season with a 16-0 mark at the Sunset Canyon Tennis Courts. Over the course of that streak at its temporary home, UCLA outscored opponents 67-13. The Bruins also held an unblemished home mark in 2015-16, as they won all 11 of their matches at LATC. Dating back to the 2014-15 season, the Bruins have won 38 consecutive home contests at LATC and Sunset Courts.
Bruins in the Rankings
UCLA maintained its hold on the No. 4 spot in the March 6 installment of the Oracle/ITA team rankings. In the player rankings, Martin Redlicki remains at No. 3. Rounding out the list of Bruin individuals in the latest rankings are Keegan Smith (No. 58), Logan Staggs (62) and Evan Zhu (116). UCLA doubles tandem Austin Rapp-Smith jumped from No. 39 to No. 24 on the latest list.
ITA Indoors Run
Seventh-seeded UCLA became the lowest-seeded team to advance to an ITA Team Indoor Championships final under the current seeding system last month in Seattle. After dispatching 10-seed Illinois in the first round, 4-2, the Bruins pulled off improbable upsets of second-seeded Ohio State, 4-1, and sixth-seeded Texas A&M, 4-2. The Bruin journey would come to a close in the title match, where UCLA fell to No. 1 Wake Forest, 4-2, despite winning the doubles point. The Bruins did not once drop the doubles point during their four matches, with their Court 2 team of Austin Rapp and Keegan Smith shining the brightest. The senior-freshman duo went 3-0 on the tournament, clinching the doubles point on each occasion. The Austin Rapp-Smith team was rewarded for its performance, as it earned All-Tournament Team recognition. Smith also went on to earn the first Pac-12 Player of the Week honor of his career on Feb. 20.
Fall Ball
A number of Bruins put on championship performances throughout the fall. Austin Rapp did double duty at the San Diego State Fall Invitational (Oct. 6-8), claiming the Flight 1 championships for both singles and doubles (with Goldberg). Smith took the top spot at the Jack Kramer Collegiate Tournament (Nov. 2-5), edging out then-No. 8 Tom Fawcett of Stanford for the singles crown. The Larry Easley Memorial Classic (Nov. 3-5) singles title went to Cressy, who also picked up the consolation championship at the Sherwood Collegiate Cup (Jan. 12-15).
Professional Bruins
Dennis Novikov picked up a 6-4, 6-3 win over Christian Garin at the $50,000 Morelos Challenger, which spanned from Feb. 19-25. It marked Novikov's third Challenger title. Mackenzie McDonald, meanwhile, nearly shocked the professional tennis world Jan. 17 in second-round play at the Australian Open. The Piedmont, Calif. native, who turned professional after the 2016 season, fought third-seeded Grigor Dimitrov to five sets before falling, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 0-6, 8-6. McDonald won four qualifying matches in order to reach the main draw, where he posted a first-round victory over Elias Ymer, 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1. In other recent Grand-Slam action, Jean-Julien Rojer (2000-02), joined Horia Tecau to take the men's doubles title at the US Open in September. They defeated the Spanish pair of Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez, 6-4, 6-3.
Head Coach Billy Martin
Head coach Billy Martin is in his 25th season as head coach of the Bruins, and 35th on the staff. During his tenure, Martin's teams have accumulated a dozen conference championships and the 2005 NCAA title. Just two of Martin's teams have finished outside of the top five teams at the season-ending NCAA Championships. They have also not finished outside of the top three teams in the Pac-12 standings. He has earned Pac-12 Coach of the Year honors four times (1996, 2012-14) and the ITA National Coach of the Year award once (1996). Martin has also led three players (Benjamin Kohlloeffel in 2006, Marcos Giron in 2014 and Mackenzie McDonald in 2016) to the NCAA Singles Championship and two teams (J. Gimelstob/S. Muskatirovic in 1996 and M. McDonald/M. Redlicki in 2016) to the NCAA Doubles crown. An ITA Tennis Hall of Famer, Martin was named the "Junior Player of the Century" by Inside Tennis Magazine. Before turning pro, he played one season at UCLA (1975), during which the Bruins captured an NCAA team championship. He also won the NCAA Singles Championship. Martin holds an overall record of 559-119 (.824) overall and a 149-27 (.847) mark in Pac-12 play.
Players Mentioned
