UCLA
Utah
Top-Seeded Men's Tennis Heads for Pac-12s
April 24, 2019 | Men's Tennis
ON SERVE
Fresh off winning the conference's regular-season championship, the No. 13 UCLA men's tennis team heads to Ojai, Calif. to defend its Pac-12 Championships title this week as the tournament's top seed. Wednesday's match between No. 8 Utah and No. 9 Oregon (12 p.m.) will determine the Bruins' initial opponent. The quarterfinals will occur Thursday, with UCLA taking the courts at 12 p.m. Pac-12 Bay Area will televise the Bruins' quarterfinal-round match, while any subsequent matches would be found on Pac-12 National.
LAST WEEK
In control of its own destiny, UCLA locked down the Pac-12's regular-season championship with wins against a pair of top-30 opponents at Los Angeles Tennis Center. Freshman Patrick Zahraj posted his third match-clinching win of the season, dispatching of fellow countryman Tim Ruehl in straight sets to seal a 4-2 win against No. 27 Arizona State Friday. The top-court trio of Maxime Cressy, Govind Nanda and Keegan Smith also notched wins for the Bruins, who rebounded from a lost doubles point. Cressy, Nanda and Smith swept their matches again Saturday, giving UCLA all it needed after seizing the doubles point from No. 24 Arizona. Head coach Billy Martin and the team honored senior Cressy following Saturday's 4-1 win. The top-court standout was joined by family from his native Paris.
CHASING HISTORY
Martin's next win at the helm would represent the 593rd of his career and make him the program's all-time leader in head-coaching victories. He is currently tied with mentor and predecessor Glenn Bassett, who guided UCLA from 1967-1993 and led seven teams to NCAA championships. The 1975 title-winning team featured Martin, who also won the NCAA singles championship in his one season before turning professional. Martin went on to assist Bassett for 10 years before taking the reins in 1994.
MORE ON MARTIN: During his tenure, Martin's teams have accumulated 15 regular-season Pac-12 championships, four conference tournament crowns 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-10/12 standings. He has earned Pac-12 Coach of the Year honors five times (1996, 2012-14, 2018) 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 NCAA singles titles and three pairs (Justin Gimelstob-Srdjan Muskatirovic in 1996, McDonald-Martin Redlicki in 2016 and Redlicki-Evan Zhu in 2018) to the NCAA doubles crown. An ITA Tennis Hall of Famer, Martin was named the "Junior Player of the Century" by Inside Tennis Magazine.
BY THE NUMBERS
A number of streaks were kept alive with UCLA's 4-1 home victory versus Arizona Saturday:
4 โ UCLA has won four straight Pac-12 regular-season championships.
29 โ Dating back to April 16, 2015, UCLA teams have won 29 straight Pac-12 regular-season matches.
59 โ Martin has led his teams to 59 straight home wins, a streak that started May 8, 2016
12 โ The Bruins have won 12 straight matches, a string that began Feb. 26.
13 โ The tandem of Cressy and sophomore Smith tallied a 13-0 doubles record in the regular season.
9 โ Sophomore Keegan Smith has won nine straight singles decisions since March 14.
UCLA IN THE PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
Since the conference adopted its current team format in 2012, UCLA has taken the tournament's top spot four times. Last year, the top-seeded Bruins defeated No. 3 seed USC 4-1 at Libbey Park. The UCLA duo of Redlicki-Zhu mounted an improbable comeback on on the top court in doubles play, giving the Bruins the momentum they needed going into singles action. Down 2-5 versus Brandon Holt-Riley Smith and facing a double break point, the reigning Pac-12 Doubles Team of the Year ran off five straight games to secure the 7-5 win. Redlicki and Cressy quickly made the lead 3-0 and freshman Connor Hance provided the heroics with a straight-set victory on Court 6. UCLA has also won Pac-12s in 2013, 2014 and 2016.
SMITH EARNS FINAL PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONOR
Smith garnered Pac-12 Player of the Week recognition for the week of April 15-21, the conference announced Tuesday. The sophomore clinched the Bruins' undefeated Pac-12 regular season on Saturday, April 20, holding off Arizona's Filip Malbasic in three sets. He also defeated ASU's Dominik Kellovsky in straight sets one day earlier. Both wins came on Court 2. Smith also teamed with Cressy to complete an undefeated regular season in doubles play, as the pair knocked off two nationally-ranked pairs. In beating No. 11 Kellovsky-Nathan Ponwith of ASU and No. 71 Igor Karpovets-Jonas Ziverts of Arizona, Smith-Cressy earned UCLA's first win each day. The award marks the first of the season for Smith and second of the San Diego native's career.
PAC-12 BEST: UCLA men's tennis has captured 42 weekly awards in the program's history and a league-best four this season. Cressy (March 12, April 2) and Govind Nanda (April 16) previously won in 2019. UCLA's Abi Altick received the women's award Tuesday, marking the eighth time that Bruins have swept the honors and second this year (April 2 โ Cressy, Jada Hart).
BRUINS IN THE RANKINGS
The Bruins moved up one spot to No. 13 in the latest Oracle/ITA team rankings, announced Tuesday. They are also represented by three highly-rated singles players and the nation's No. 4 doubles team. Cressy, who has a 12-3 individual record, rose to a career-best No. 17 after going 2-0 and turning in his fourth 2019 win against a nationally-ranked opponent. Smith's undefeated week--including his 20th win of the campaign--put him at No. 42, while a 2-0 record earned Nanda the No. 52 spot. Cressy-Smith's two top-75 wins elevated the pair to No. 4, while Cressy-Nanda checked in at No. 73. The team ascend to No. 6 in the Tennis Channel/USTA College Tennis Top 25 Rankings, most recently updated Wednesday, April 17.
FRESH FACES
The UCLA singles lineup has undergone a youth movement over the course of the dual-match season, as four true freshmen have held spots. In the Bruins' Feb. 26 win against visiting Grand Canyon, three of those first-year playersโNanda, Eric Hahn and Mathew Tsolakyanโtallied wins. Tsolakyan provided the clinching point in a 4-2 victory. Nanda leads the team with 15 dual-match singles victories. Zahraj has also been a pivotal part of the Bruins' singles and doubles lineups, participating in each match and clinching marquee wins versus No. 11 Notre Dame (Feb. 15), No. 9 USC (April 5) and No. 27 ASU (April 19). For good measure, freshman Max Wild teamed with Nanda for a doubles win in the GCU match.
KATZ FAMILY SCOREBOARD
UCLA tennis and the UCLA Athletic Department debuted the Katz Family Scoreboard Wednesday, Jan. 9 in front of donors and special invited guests at LATC. The ceremony culminated in a ribbon cutting by the Katz Family, Director of Athletics Dan Guerrero, Martin and women's tennis head coach Stella Sampras Webster. Each, along with Sr. Associate Athletic Director, External Relations Josh Rebholz, made remarks highlighting the meaning of the Katz Family's generous donation and the opportunities the scoreboard will provide the UCLA tennis programs. The Katz Family Scoreboard's Daktronics display, measuring 18 feet high and 31.2 feet wide, is among the largest LED video screens in collegiate tennis. Stationed at the east end of LATC's main stadium courts, the board has a 13HD pixel pitch capable of switching between content playback mode and video mode using Show Control. RGB LED lights, meanwhile, will allow for a multitude of graphics possibilities. Also new to the match-day experience is a custom JBL speaker system set to improve audio on the front courts while introducing sound to the back courts.
PROFESSIONAL BRUINS
Cressy played the role of underdog on the way to his first singles title on the ATP Challenger Tour, taking the top spot at the Cleveland Open on Feb. 2. His 6-7(4), 7-6(6), 6-3 victory over former Ohio State player Mikael Torpegaard elevated him to a career-best ranking of No. 313 among singles players on the ATP World Tour. He has also shined in doubles play, tallying nine ITF Futures titles since Oct. 2017 and picking up his first ATP Challenger title with partner Bernardo Saraiva Jan. 12 in Columbus, Ohio. Cressy is not the only Bruin having success in professional tournaments this year. One year after reaching the second round of the Australian Open and taking third-seeded Grigor Dimitrov to five sets, McDonald again advanced into the Grand Slam's second round, defeating Andrey Rublev of Russia, 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. He also reached the final round of the RBC Tennis Championships of Dallas and the semifinal round of the Delray Beach Open in February. Giron also got off on the right foot in 2019, defeating Darian King of Barbados, 6-4, 6-4, in the Orlando Open singles final. It marked the first ATP Challenger Tour singles title of Giron's career. The 2014 NCAA singles champion teamed with former Virginia player JC Aragone to claim another Challenger title when the pair earned the doubles title at Indian Wells, Calif. Giron also had a memorable week at the BNP Paribas Open, where he made an improbable run to the Round of 32 after advancing through qualifiers. For good measure, Nanda knocked off the recently-graduated Redlicki, 4-6, 7-6, 6-0, in the Tucson Futures singles final on Jan. 13.
2017-18 IN REVIEW
The Bruins turned in one of the finest seasons put together by a Billy Martin-coached team in 2018, posting 30 wins for the first time in his 25 years at the helm. The Pac-12 regular-season and tournament champions won 19 consecutive matches down the stretchโincluding an 8-0 record in conference playโbefore bowing out against Ohio State in the NCAA Championships semifinal round. Redlicki (Singles Player of the Year), Redlicki-Zhu (Doubles Team of the Year), Smith (Freshman of the Year) and Martin (Coach of the Year) swept the Pac-12 year-end awards. The year of tremendous team success ended with standout individual performances, as Redlicki-Zhu won the 13th NCAA doubles title in program history. Smith and Austin Rapp reached the doubles semifinal round, while Redlicki made the NCAA Singles Championships final four.
FALL BALL
It was a busy tournament season for a number of Bruins, including six who made their debuts in blue and gold. Smith got things started on one of the fall's biggest stages, winning once at the Saint Francis Health System ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla. before falling in three sets against top-seeded Nuno Borges of Mississippi State. Hahn reached the singles Round of 16 at the ITA Regional Championships, while Smith-Bryce Pereira was dealt a quarterfinal-round loss in doubles play. Hahn again impressed with a singles quarterfinal-round berth at the SoCal Intercollegiate Championships, while Pereira and Wild made the quarterfinal round in doubles action. Smith reached the singles and doubles (with partner Hance) semifinals at the Jack Kramer Collegiate Tournament. Connor Rapp advanced to the Flight One singles and doubles (with Lucas Bellamy) championship rounds of the Larry Easley Memorial Classic before coming up short in each, though Pereira and Wild did prove victorious in the doubles final. Rapp led the way with seven fall singles wins, while Hahn (six), Wild (six) and Tsolakyan (one) notched the first victories of their respective careers. Pereira and Wild each posted a 7-2 doubles record, including a 5-1 mark as partners. In January, the doubles pair of Nanda and Smith collected the Sherwood Collegiate Cup doubles title, while each also reached the semifinal round of the singles draw. Zahraj joined Nanda in debuting at Sherwood, while Roscoe Bellamy saw his first action at the National Collegiate Tennis Classic one week prior.
DE VILLIERS PROMOTED
Rikus de Villiers was elevated to the position of assistant coach with UCLA men's tennis on June 18, 2018. A familiar face to the program, de Villiers served in the role of volunteer assistant coach for five of the previous six seasons. He replaced Grant Chen, who was named head coach at Southern Methodist University. De Villiers joined the UCLA staff in the fall of 2012 and immediately aided the Bruins in their run to the final round of the NCAA Championships the following spring. Over the course of his five seasons on staff, UCLA registered an overall record of 124-28 (.816) and dropped just two regular-season Pac-12 matches (32-2). The Bruins also secured three Pac-12 tournament titles during de Villiers' time as a volunteer. He coached American Ryan Harrison on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour during his time away from the program in 2015-16. Wil Martin assumed the role of volunteer assistant coach.
Players Mentioned
