UCLA
Illinois
UCLA Drops 4-2 Decision to Illinois
February 13, 2019 | Men's Tennis
CHICAGO – The No. 7 UCLA men's tennis team got its first taste of playing outside Los Angeles Wednesday, falling 4-2 against No. 14 Illinois at the Midtown Athletic Club. The Bruins will return to the venue Friday for an ITA Team Indoor Championships first-round match versus No. 11 Notre Dame.
The Bruins claimed the doubles point for the second time this season, but Illinois responded early and often in singles play. Govind Nanda accounted for UCLA's singles win, the freshman's fourth in as many dual-match tries.
UCLA set the tone early in doubles play, with Courts 1 and 3 notching breaks of serve to take identical 3-1 advantages. The Illinois Court 2 pair of Aleks Kovacevic and Keenan Mayo kept Govind Nanda and Connor Rapp in check, breaking the Bruins at 3-2 to take control of that one. The final two games came quickly for Kovacevic-Mayo, but UCLA still had the overall edge.
Bryce Pereira-Patrick Zahraj of UCLA answered in a hurry, completing a 6-2 victory over Vuk Budic and Zeke Clark to pull the Bruins even. The win improved the Pereira-Zahraj combination to 4-1, with the pair's lone loss coming in narrow fashion versus California.
That left it up to the top court, where Maxime Cressy and Keegan Smith continued to impress for the Bruins. The duo of Alex Brown and Caleb Chakravarthi briefly interrupted its counterparts' momentum with a hold of serve, but the Bruin tandem cruised otherwise. The win improved the pair's mark to 4-0.
Unfazed by the lost doubles point, Illinois picked up four of six first sets in singles play.
Siphosothando Montsi got the Fighting Illini on the board with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Ben Goldberg on Court 6. Goldberg briefly fought back by taking two consecutive late games before bowing out.
In a prime top-court matchup, Maxime Cressy and No. 24 Aleks Kovacevic needed a tiebreaker to get through their first set. Kovacevic pulled through 7-5, giving Cressy his first set loss of the year by the thinnest of margins. Then, in the second, Cressy inched closer to a third set with a 5-4 lead. Kovacevic had other plans, however, taking the final three games and the second point for Illinois.
On the next court over, Smith faced another highly-ranked Illinois player in No. 23 Alex Brown. Brown put Smith behind the eight ball with a 6-4 first-set win, but the Bruin countered with a 6-4 response in the second. In a seesaw battle, Brown took control in the third at 4-1 before holding on for the 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 triumph and a 3-1 Illinois lead.
Tasked with taking down 30th-ranked Zeke Clark, Nanda did just that. The Redlands, Calif. native got off to a hot start in the first, only to have the veteran charge back and put the set in doubt. Nanda pulled through, though, 6-4. It was a rocky start for the first-year player in the second, as Clark took the first three games. Nanda answered with each of the next five, only to have Clark knot things up at 5-5. The Bruin took charge with each of the next two games and the win to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Bruin Mathew Tsolakyan showed resiliency in his first set on Court 5, taking the final three games for a 7-5 win. No. 116 Chakravarthi answered with a statement 6-0 second set, meaning the final point would come via a three-set match on Court 4 or Court 5. With Zahraj locked in a battle with No. 125 Mayo, Chakravarthi broke Tsolakyan at 3-3 en route to a 5-3 advantage. The Bruin freshman fought off a pair of match points at 5-3, but Chakravarthi prevailed 5-7, 6-0, 6-4.
The Bruins, seeded sixth in the upcoming ITA Indoors tournament, will meet 11th-seeded Notre Dame Friday at 10 a.m., PT.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
2,3,1
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
6,1,2,3,5
Players Mentioned
