INDIANAPOLIS – UCLA men's tennis players Maxime Cressy and Keegan Smith have been selected to participate in the singles and doubles competitions at the upcoming NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championships in Orlando, Fla., the NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Subcommittee announced Tuesday.
The tandem of Cressy-Smith earned an automatic qualification as the Pac-12's highest-rated team. The pair is seeded second and achieved All-America status as a result. Cressy and Smith were also chosen for at-large spots in the singles draw. Freshman Govind Nanda is the eighth singles alternate.
Competitions will take place May 20-25 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla. The University of Central Florida and the Greater Orlando Sports Commission will serve as hosts. The final three rounds of the team tournament will occur May 16-19.
All matches will feature a best-of-three-sets format. Like the regular-season, no-ad scoring and a seven-point tiebreaker at six-games-all will be employed. Unlike the regular season, not only will doubles feature more than one set, but a potential third set would be decided by a 10-point match tiebreaker.
Cressy-Smith has yet to drop a match since first competing as a duo in January. Playing exclusively on the top court, the pair is 15-0 overall and 9-0 against nationally-ranked opponents. At last week's Pac-12 Championships, Cressy-Smith turned in two wins while surrendering just one total game. In 10 of the pair's 15 victories, foes have managed three or fewer games.
After taking the fall off, Cressy has defended the singles top court to the tune of a 12-3 mark. Two of his three losses came in three sets and each was at the hands of a top-25 challenger. The senior's signature victory came on March 29, when he defeated then-No. 8 Axel Geller to clinch a 4-2 win at No. 10 Stanford.
Smith has accumulated a team-best 21 singles wins over the course of the season, including a streak of 10 in a row that is still ongoing. The sophomore is 13-2 in dual matches and holds three victories against top-40 opponents. In the Bruins' home win against crosstown rival USC on April 5, Smith dealt then-No. 13 Daniel Cukierman a 7-6(4), 6-3 defeat on Court 2.