UCLA
USC
Zahraj, UCLA Edge USC 4-3
April 05, 2019 | Men's Tennis
LOS ANGELES โ Freshman Patrick Zahraj introduced himself to the UCLA-USC rivalry in a major way Friday, winning a third-set tiebreaker to give the 13th-ranked Bruins a 4-3 win against the No. 9 Trojans at LATC.
Zahraj, who trailed 2-4 in the third set on Court 4, sent a backhand winner past Riley Smith to set off a celebration on the court and in the standing-room-only crowd. A raucous group had moved from the main grandstand to the back courts for the final two matches of the day. USC (13-7, 3-1) led 3-2 before Ben Goldberg and Zahraj willed the Bruins to victory via three-set wins. With the win, UCLA (11-4, 4-0) takes sole possession of first place in the Pac-12.
UCLA's Court 2 doubles combination of Govind Nanda and Connor Rapp continued coming into its own, notching its second win in a row to get the Bruins off on the right foot. The pair picked up an early break of serve against Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven and capitalized with a 6-3 win.
No. 6 Maxime Cressy-Keegan Smith seemed destined to be the first team off the courts, jumping out to a 5-1 lead against 14th-ranked Brandon-Holt-Riley Smith of USC up top. The Trojans charged back, however, cutting their deficit to 4-5 with the ball back in the Bruins' court. The return of Smith's serve went long, securing the first point of the day for UCLA and a 9-0 record for the pair.
Three singles first sets went to tiebreakers and a fourth was decided by a 12th game. The Bruins took three of those matches for their only first-set wins of the day. Trojan Mor Bulis claimed his tiebreaker on Court 6 and used it en route to a 7-6(2), 6-1 defeat of Mathew Tsolakyan on Court 6 to make it 1-1.
No. 23 Verboven followed his teammate's lead, giving 46th-ranked Nanda his first dual-match loss since Feb. 17. The Bruin freshman was the first to three games in each set, but the veteran Verboven proved too much in a 6-3, 6-4 victory that gave USC its first lead of the day at 2-1.
No. 49 Keegan Smith got the Bruins on the board in singles play, turning in an impressive win against 13th-ranked Daniel Cukierman on Court 2. Smith forced a first-set tiebreaker, which he took by a 7-4 score, and then doubled up his counterpart in the second. Smith has now won five matches in a row, with three of his triumphs coming against top-40 opponents.
On the top court, No. 21 Cressy nearly came all the way back to force a third set against No. 11 Holt, but the top Trojan ultimately prevailed. Holt led 6-2, 5-3 before Cressy forced a tiebreaker, which the former grabbed by a 7-2 score.
As the crowds migrated to the lower courts, the remaining matches were either already in a third set or nearing one. No. 74 Logan Smith of USC answered a Goldberg first-set win with a commanding performance in the second. At one point trailing 1-2 in the deciding set, Goldberg took five of the last six games for his third win of the season against a ranked opponent.
With the score tied 3-3, Zahraj's match was slowly turned in favor of the Trojans. Riley Smith picked up consecutive games for a 4-2 advantage, but the Bruin did not go quietly. A big break made it 4-4 before holds were traded the rest of the way. Zahraj jumped out to a 4-1 advantage in the tiebreaker, only to have Smith run off four consecutive points and take the lead. Serving down 5-6 with the match on the line, the Bruin delivered a huge serve to knot things back up. Tied 7-7, Zahraj picked up the final two points for his second, and biggest, clinching win of the year.
The Bruins will take a brief hiatus from Pac-12 play to host Pepperdine on Tuesday, April 9. First serve is set for 2 p.m. They will then wrap up the week with conference matches against Oregon on Friday, April 12 and Washington on Saturday, April 13. Both of those ones will begin at 2 p.m.
Tennis Match Results
USC vs UCLA
4/5/2019 at Los Angeles, CA
(Los Angeles Tennis Center)
#13 UCLA 4, #9 USC 3
Singles competition
1. #11 Brandon Holt (USC) def. #21 Maxime Cressy (UCLA) 6-2, 7-6 (7-2)
2. #49 Keegan Smith (UCLA) def. #13 Daniel Cukierman (USC) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3
3. #23 Laurens Verboven (USC) def. #46 Govind Nanda (UCLA) 6-3, 6-4
4. Patrick Zahraj (UCLA) def. Riley Smith (USC) 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 7-6 (9-7)
5. Ben Goldberg (UCLA) def. #74 Logan Smith (USC) 7-5, 3-6, 6-3
6. Mor Bulis (USC) def. Mathew Tsolakyan (UCLA) 7-6 (7-2), 6-1
Doubles competition
1. #6 Maxime Cressy/Keegan Smith (UCLA) def. #14 Brandon Holt/Riley Smith (USC) 6-4
2. Govind Nanda/Connor Rapp (UCLA) def. Jack Jaede/Laurens Verboven (USC) 6-33. Bryce Pereira/Patrick Zahraj (UCLA) vs. Daniel Cukierman/Tanner Smith (USC) 5-5, unfinished
Match Notes:
USC 13-7; National ranking #9
UCLA 11-4; National ranking #13
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (6,3,2,1,5,4)
T-3:30
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
2,1
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
6,3,2,1,5,4
Players Mentioned
