Men's Tennis Logs Semifinal Showings at UCSB Classic
October 09, 2023 | Men's Tennis
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. โ The UCLA men's tennis team continued the fall portion of the 2023-24 schedule at UC Santa Barbara's Arnhold Tennis Center, site of the UCSB Classic.
Freshman Spencer Johnson made his debut with the Bruins, reaching the semifinal rounds of both the singles and doubles A Flight draws. He was joined in the field by redshirt junior Timothy Li and sophomore Aadarsh Tripathi.
Johnson earned his first collegiate singles victory against Fernando Fonseca of Cal Poly, dispatching of the redshirt senior by a 6-2, 6-3 score. Johnson then prevailed 7-6(6), 7-6(3) versus UCSB's Luka Mrsic in the quarterfinals. His run was stopped by the Gauchos' Gianluca Brunkow, who ultimately took the tournament's top prize, in a marathon 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 result.
Li also started his campaign on the right foot, beating San Diego State's Robin Parts 7-5, 6-2 in the A Flight. Li was edged out of a spot in the semifinal round by Lucca Liu of UCSB, however, falling 7-6(6), 6-4. The Bruin bounced back in an extra match, though, knocking off Grand Canyon's Jonathan Da Silva 7-6(5), 6-2. Tripathi was forced to retire from his first-round match with Da Silva after splitting sets.
On the doubles side, Johnson and Li collaborated on a 8-7(5) win against the Cal Poly tandem of Fonseca and Raz Haviv to start play. An 8-5 loss to Mrsic and Conrad Brown of UCSB followed, leaving the Bruins just short of the final. Johnson and Li would also drop an 8-5 decision to UC Irvine's Rithvik Krishna and Matthew Sah in an added match.
UCLA continues tournament play Oct. 19 with the start of the ITA Regional Championships at Pepperdine's Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center in Malibu, Calif.
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UCSB Classic
10/6-10/8/2023 at Santa Barbara, CA (Arnhold Tennis Center)
| Singles competition | |
| A Flight | |
| 16 | ย ย Jonathan Da Silva (Grand Canyon) def. Aadarsh Tripathi (UCLA) 6-2, 5-7, retired |
| 16 | ย ย Timothy Li (UCLA) def. Robin Parts (San Diego State) 7-5, 6-2 |
| 16 | ย ย Spencer Johnson (UCLA) def. Fernando Fonseca (Cal Poly) 6-2, 6-3 |
| QF | ย ย Lucca Liu (UC Santa Barbara) def. Timothy Li (UCLA) 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 |
| QF | ย ย Spencer Johnson (UCLA) def. Luka Mrsic (UC Santa Barbara) 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-3) |
| SF | ย ย Gianluca Brunkow (UC Santa Barbara) def. Spencer Johnson (UCLA) 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 |
| A Flight Consolation | |
| CQF | ย ย Conrad Brown (UC Santa Barbara) def. Aadarsh Tripathi (UCLA), walkover |
| ย ย Timothy Li (UCLA) def. Jonathan Da Silva (Grand Canyon) 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 | |
| Doubles competition | |
| A Flight | |
| QF | ย ย Spencer Johnson/Timothy Li (UCLA) def. Fernando Fonseca/Raz Haviv (Cal Poly) 8-7 (7-5) |
| SF | ย ย Conrad Brown/Luka Mrsic (UC Santa Barbara) def. Spencer Johnson/Timothy Li (UCLA) 8-5 |
| ย ย Rithvik Krishna/Matthew Sah (UC Irvine) def. Spencer Johnson/Timothy Li (UCLA) 8-5 | |
