Redlicki Advances, Smith Nearly Pulls Upset
May 23, 2018 | Men's Tennis
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. โ UCLA senior and No. 1 seed Martin Redlicki bounced back from a lost first set to defeat Tim Sandkaulen of Ole Miss in the NCAA Men's Tennis Singles Championships First Round Wednesday at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex. Teammate Keegan Smith, meanwhile, gave Nuno Borges of Mississippi State all he could handle in a three-set loss to the No. 3 seed.
Less than 48 hours removed from a loss in the team competition, Redlicki was slow out of the gate versus the nation's 33rd-ranked player. Sandkaulen registered a first-set win, 6-4, with thoughts of pulling an upset over the top-ranked Bruin. The Ole Miss sophomore appeared primed to do just that, jumping out to a 4-3 advantage in the second before Redlicki took charge. The Boca Raton, Fla. native secured three-straight games, the set win and a winner-take-all third set.
There, Redlicki took over. The lefty ultimately won nine of 10 games down the stretch to capture a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory, freezing Sandkaulen with a crosscourt forehand. The win moved Redlicki into Thursday's Second Round, where he will face UC Santa Barbara's Nicolas Moreno de Alboran, who notched a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Alexis Galarneau of North Carolina State Wednesday.
Smith nearly pulled the upset of Day 1, notching a 6-2 first-set win to make his presence felt. In a tit-for-tat second set, the players went to a tiebreaker, with Borges prevailing at 7-3. That left the match to be decided in a third set, which saw the Bruin take a 4-3 lead coming down the stretch. Borges, who reached the semifinals of the tournament last year, proved too much, taking the final three games, including a pivotal break to make it 5-4.
Smith dropped to 40-7 (25-2 in dual matches) in singles play for his debut campaign. He had registered 17 consecutive victories heading into Wednesday.
The San Diego native's season is not complete, though, as he will join doubles partner Austin Rapp on Thursday for the NCAA Doubles Championships First Round. The No. 16 tandem will face Cameron Klinger-Billy Rowe of Vanderbilt (12:30 p.m., PT). Redlicki, meanwhile, will join Evan Zhu, as the No. 29 duo takes on Gus Benson-Cesar Bourgois of Kentucky (noon). Redlicki's second-round singles match time has yet to be announced.
Players Mentioned
