University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
Pepperdine
Men's Tennis to Host Waves, Two Pac-12 Foes
April 08, 2019 | Men's Tennis
The No. 13 UCLA men's tennis team will bring a seven-match winning streak into the second week of a three-week homestand, as Pepperdine, Oregon and Washington visit Los Angeles Tennis Center starting Tuesday. The Bruins will welcome the Waves that day, then wrap up against the Ducks Friday and Huskies Saturday. Each match will begin at 2 p.m. Live stats will be available throughout the week at uclalivestats.com.
LAST WEEK
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 led 3-2 before Ben Goldberg and Zahraj willed the Bruins to victory via three-set wins. With the win, UCLA tookย sole possession of first place in the Pac-12.
UCLA VS. PEPPERDINE, OREGON, WASHINGTON
UCLA holds a 50-15 all-time record against Pepperdine. They last squared off Jan. 20, 2018, when the Bruins dealt the Waves a 7-0 loss at LATC. Bruins Evan Zhu and Keegan Smith each showed resolve late on the top two courts, winning 10-point third-set tiebreaks by identical 10-8 scores with the match already clinched. The other four courts were won in straight sets, with Logan Staggs doing the honor of icing the victory on Court 3. UCLA is 27-0 against Oregon. The Bruins last topped the Ducks by a 4-1 score at the Oregon Student Tennis Center on March 9, 2018. Martin Redlicki defeated Thomas Laurent in the featured match, 7-6(5), 6-3, to clinch. The Bruins defeated the Huskies 4-1 on the same road trip, improving their record against their Pacific Northwest foes to 34-2. UCLA bounced back from a rare lost doubles point to win. Staggs clinched the match with a three-set win over the Huskies' Amit Batta on Court 4. With Courts 1 and 2 also locked in three-setters, Staggs finished the job after coming out victorious in a third-set tiebreaker.
CRESSY NAMED PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK FOR MARCH 25-31
Cressy was voted Pac-12 Player of the Week for the week of March 25-31, the conference announced Tuesday. UCLA posted a 3-0 week and Cressy clinched each of the wins, culminating in the program's first NorCal road sweep since 2013. He got started with a straight-set defeat of No. 86 Lukas Moenter of Loyola Marymount at LATC March 27. On March 29, with Stanford up a set in the other remaining match, Cressy took matter into his own hands. The Hermosa Beach, Calif. native notched the highest-ranked win of his career, dispatching of No. 8 Axel Geller with a 7-5, 6-4 result to ensure the Bruins' upset victory of the No. 10 Cardinal. Perhaps his finest performance came March 30 against California. Trailing 3-6, 0-5 versus Yuta Kikuchi of California, Cressy took 13 of the next 15 gamesโincluding a second-set tiebreakerโto complete the unlikeliest of comebacks. Cressy and Smith also teamed for three impressive doubles wins. Each one came against a ranked opponent and the pair's 7-6(6) edging of No. 43 Geller and Alexandre Rotsaert of Stanford clinched the doubles point. All of Cressy's wins came on Court 1. The award marks the second of Cressy's season, fifth of his career and 41st all time for the UCLA men's tennis program.
BRUINS IN THE RANKINGS
The Bruins moved up six spots to No. 13 in the Oracle ITA team rankings, announced Tuesday, April 2. UCLA is also represented by three top-50 singles players and a top-10 doubles pair. Cressy made the nation's biggest jump of the week on the singles list, going from No. 92 to No. 21. Nanda is in at 46, while Smith climbed from No. 80 to No. 49. The tandem of Cressy and Smith, meanwhile, jumped 30 spots to No. 6 in the doubles rankings. The combination of Cressy and Connor Rapp rounds out the list of Bruins in the rankings at No. 84. The team also moved up a spot to No. 12 in the Tennis Channel/USTA College Tennis Top 25 Rankings, announced Wednesday, April 3.
HOME COOKING
With its April 5 win over USC and a 7-0 home record on the dual-match season, UCLA has captured 54 consecutive on-campus matches dating back to the 2014-15 campaign. The Bruins won all 16 of their matches at LATC in 2018, outscoring opponents by an 82-8 margin. They tallied 12 sweeps in those matches and never surrendered more than two points. Including a pair of NCAA Championships triumphs, UCLA went 16-0 at Sunset Canyon Tennis Courts as construction moved them out of LATC in 2017. The Bruins also held an unblemished home mark in 2016, as they won all 13 of their matches at LATC.
CRESSY NAMED PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK FOR MARCH 4-10
Cressy was named Pac-12 Player of the Week for the week of March 4-10, the conference announced Tuesday. The Bruins traveled to the unfamiliar confines of Utah for their Pac-12 opener (March 8) and returned winners, thanks in large part to Cressy. The 6-7 big server controlled his match against 64th-ranked Dan Little of Utah, registering a 6-4, 6-1 victory on Court 1 to give his team a 3-0 cushion. UCLA would go on to win 4-2. The triumph marked Cressy's first against a nationally-ranked opponent this season. The Hermosa Beach, Calif. native also teamed with Connor Rapp to establish momentum in doubles play, beating David Micevski and Slava Shainyan 6-1 on the top court. Cressy now holds a 5-1 record in singles matches and a 9-0 mark in doubles play. The award represents the fourth of Cressy's career and 40th all time for the UCLA men's tennis program. He earned the honor a league-high three times in 2018.
FRESH FACES
The UCLA singles lineup has undergone a youth movement over the course of the dual-match season, as four true freshmen have played roles. In their Feb. 26 win over 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 11 dual-match singles victories. Zahraj has also been a pivotal part of the Bruins' singles and doubles lineups, participating in each match and securing marquee wins over No. 11 Notre Dame on Feb. 15 and No. 9 USC on April 5. For good measure, freshman Max Wild teamed with Nanda for a doubles win in the GCU match.
2017-18 IN REVIEW
The Bruins turned in one of the finest seasons put together by a Billy Martin-coached team, 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. Martin Redlicki (Singles Player of the Year), Redlicki-Evan 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 13 NCAA doubles title in program history. Smith and Austin Rapp reached the doubles semifinal round, while Redlicki made the NCAA Singles Championships final four.
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 past 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.
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.
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 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. 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.
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 before taking third-seeded Grigor Dimitrov to five sets, Mackenzie McDonald again advanced into the Grand Slam's second round, defeating Andrey Rublev of Russia, 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. He has also reached the final round of the RBC Tennis Championships of Dallas and the semifinal round of the Delray Beach Open this month. Marcos 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.
HEAD COACH BILLY MARTIN
Martin is in his 26th season as head coach of the Bruins, and 36th on the staff. During his tenure, Martin's teams have accumulated 14 conference championships 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- 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 the NCAA singles title and three pairs (Gimelstob-Muskatirovic in 1996, McDonald-Redlicki in 2016 and Redlicki-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. Before turning pro, he played one season at UCLA (1975), during which the Bruins captured an NCAA team championship. He also won the NCAA singles championship. Martin holds an overall record of 587-122 (.828) overall and a 161-27 (.856) mark in Pac-12 play.
Players Mentioned
