UCLA
Aztec Fall Invitational
Men's Tennis Sending Six to San Diego, Tulsa
October 03, 2019 | Men's Tennis
LOS ANGELES โ Six members of the UCLA men's tennis team will travel to tournaments in San Diego and Tulsa, Okla. this week as the Bruins look to continue junior Keegan Smith's strong start to the tournament portion of the schedule last week.
Getting matters underway this week will be the quartet of sophomore Eric Hahn, junior Bryce Pereira, redshirt junior Connor Rapp and sophomore Max Wild, who will begin play at the Aztec Fall Invitational Friday. Matches at San Diego State's Aztec Tennis Center will run through Sunday.
Smith will return to action at the ITA All-American Championships on the campus of the University of Tulsa, where he will be joined by freshman Drew Baird. Making his UCLA debut, Baird will participate in the singles qualifying draw, beginning Monday, Oct. 7. He hopes to join the 20th-ranked Smith in singles main-draw action, which will get going Wednesday, Oct. 9. All action will take place at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.
LAST WEEK
Smith made a run to the Oracle ITA Masters singles final round, beating a pair of top-30 opponents on the way. The San Diego native got off to a flying start in the first round, beating South Alabama's Alexis Collard, 6-2, 6-2. Smith coasted to victory again in the second round, dispatching of Grand Canyon's Lorenzo Fucile by a 6-3, 6-1 decision. No. 28 Joseph Guillin of UC Santa Barbara was next up in the quarterfinals and there was more of the same, as Smith moved into the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. Smith had a tougher go of it in the final four against 23rd-ranked Alex Brown of Illinois, who forced a third set before the Bruin rolled to a 6-1 third-set win. Smith made a statement early against No. 8 Daniel Cukierman of USC in the final, but the Trojan answered to force a deciding third set. There, Smith forced deuce at 4-5, but Cukierman would not allow him to pull back even.
MORE ON AZTEC FALL INVITATIONAL
The Aztec Fall Invitational will feature three singles flights and two doubles draws, with play scheduled to begin Friday at 9 a.m., PT. Hahn, Pereira, Rapp and Wild will face off against players from Arizona, GCU, Loyola Marymount, SDSU, San Diego and San Diego Christian, UC Irvine and UC San Diego.
The last time UCLA participated in the Aztec Fall Invitational was 2017, when Rapp's brother, Austin, won the Flight 1 singles title and teamed with Ben Goldberg to capture the doubles crown.
MORE ON ITA ALL-AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
Baird will look to win three matches in two days in order to join Smith in the 64-player main draw. Smith makes his return trip to Tulsa, where he won a first-round match in 2018 before bowing out against top-seeded Nuno Borges of Mississippi State in three sets.
Play will conclude Sunday, Oct. 13, with ESPNU providing live coverage of the singles final at 6 p.m., PT.
Players Mentioned
