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Men's Tennis Visits USC, Hosts Utah to Close Out Regular Season
April 18, 2023 | Men's Tennis
The UCLA men's tennis team (12-7, 3-3 Pac-12) takes a three-match winning streak into its final two contests of the regular season, starting Wednesday at crosstown rival and 11th-ranked USC (14-7, 4-2). First serve from David X. Marks Tennis Stadium is scheduled for 5 p.m. PT. The Bruins then close out the campaign at home, where they will meet No. 19 Utah (20-3, 5-1) Saturday for a 1 p.m. start.
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LAST TIME OUT
UCLA kicked off the final week of its regular season Monday with a 4-0 victory against UC San Diego at Los Angeles Tennis Center. The shutout win represents the Bruins' third in four days. UCLA did not drop a set on the afternoon, with Giacomo Revelli ultimately clinching the result. Timothy Li and Aadarsh Tripathi were also triumphant on the singles courts. The Bruins gave up just two total games to the Tritons in doubles play. UCLA previously topped Oregon (April 15) and Washington (April 14) by identical 4-0 scores.
UCLA VS. USC, UTAH
UCLA holds an 87-58 advantage in its all-time series with USC. The Bruins were bested by their crosstown rivals in a 4-0 non-conference result March 1 at Los Angeles Tennis Center. UCLA saw freshmen Gianluca Ballotta and Aadarsh Tripathi each nab a set, but both matches were left unfinished. The Trojans got singles wins from Bradley Frye, Lodewijk Weststrate and clincher Peter Makk. UCLA is 18-1 versus Utah. The programs most recently met April 21, 2022 in the quarterfinal round of the 2022 Pac-12 Championships. A comeback effort from Bryce Pereira sealed the fifth-seeded Bruins' 4-2 victory against the No. 4-seed Utes at Libbey Park in Ojai, Calif. Trailing 2-5 in his third set on Court 4, Pereira rallied to force a tiebreaker, which he ultimately seized in clinching fashion. UCLA also received singles wins from Stefan Leustian and Giacomo Revelli after taking the doubles point. After trailing by a 3-0 score, Utah cut its deficit to one with victories by Geronimo Espin Busleiman and Bruno Krenn.
SCOUTING THE TROJANS, UTES
Holding records of 14-7 overall and 4-2 in Pac-12 play, USC is currently ranked No. 11 by the ITA. Individually, Stefan Dostanic at No. 31 leads a group of four Trojans on the singles list. Joining him are No. 44 Peter Makk, No. 102 Wojtek Marek and No. 120 Bradley Frye. The doubles pair of Dostanic and Frye is No. 10. Utah is ranked No. 19, sporting records of 20-3 overall and 5-1 in conference matches. The trio of Geronimo Espin Busleiman (No. 52), Franco Capalbo (81) and Francisco Bastias (97) can be found in the singles rankings. The doubles tandem of Berk Bugarikj/Patrick Trhac is No. 41.
SENIOR DAY
Senior Patrick Zahraj will be honored after doubles play Saturday, as he prepares to take the Los Angeles Tennis Center courts for the final time. Zahraj, who has spent a majority of the 2023 dual-match season on the top singles courts, is 40-27 for his career in singles play and 52-41 overall in doubles action. He has reached a career-best position of No. 56 in ITA Singles Rankings, and climbed alongside Drew Baird to No. 52 on the doubles list. Zahraj has posted seven career match-clinching points, including a 7-6(4), 5-7, 7-6(7) winner-take-all decision over Riley Smith of USC in 2019. Off the court, Zahraj is two-time ITA Scholar-Athlete, two-time Pac-12 Spring Academic Honor Roll member and has eight times been named to the UCLA Athletic Director's Honor Roll.
IN THE RANKINGS
UCLA is No. 33 in the most recent ITA Team Rankings, released Tuesday. All rankings have been computerized since Feb. 21. The top 25 teams were previously determined by coaches poll. The ITA National Doubles Rankings, also announced Tuesday, include debuts by Timothy Li and Giacomo Revelli. Slotted at No. 60, the combination of Li and Revelli has knocked off No. 30 Joshua Charlton and Quinn Vandecasteele of Oregon (April 15 โ 7-5) and No. 73 Jay Friend and Jonas Ziverts of Arizona (March 31 โ 7-5). Alexander Hoogmartens sits at No. 84 in the singles rankings. He reached a career-best No. 15 Feb. 8. Each of Hoogmartens' most recent five wins has come versus an opponent ranked in the top 50 of the ITA National Singles Rankings. He is 7-3 overall against nationally-ranked foes during the 2022-23 season. Hoogmartens' four latest singles victories have also come in straight sets, starting when he beat No. 43 Trey Hilderbrand of Texas A&M 6-3, 6-2 (Jan. 13) at the Sherwood Collegiate Cup in Thousand Oaks, Calif. To start the dual-match campaign, Hoogmartens has knocked off No. 41 Andre Ilagan of Hawai'i (Jan. 20 โ 6-4, 6-1), No. 31 Daniel De Jonge of Pepperdine (Jan. 21 โ 6-1, 6-3), No. 39 Pablo Alemany of Memphis (Jan. 28 โ 6-1, 6-4) and No. 47 Sema Pankin of Portland (Feb. 4 โ 6-4, 6-3).
CLINCH WATCH
Gianluca Ballotta (Yale, Pennsylvania and Portland) and Azuma Visaya (at Arizona State, Pepperdine and Hawai'i) each have three clinching wins this season to lead the Bruins. Giacomo Revelli (UC San Diego, vs. Memphis) and Patrick Zahraj (Oregon, UC Irvine) have two apiece. Timothy Li (Washington) and Aadarsh Tripathi (Oklahoma State) have each posted the fourth point once on the year.
HOOGMARTENS HONORED BY PAC-12
Alexander Hoogmartens was named Pac-12 Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 16-22, the conference announced Jan. 24. Hoogmartens defended his spot on the top singles court emphatically as the Bruins opened the dual-match portion of their season with home wins against Hawai'i and No. 19 Pepperdine. The sophomore defeated No. 41 Andre Ilagan of the Rainbow Warriors (6-4, 6-1) and No. 31 Daniel De Jonge of the Waves (6-1, 6-3), increasing his 2022-23 win total versus players ranked in the ITA's top 50 to five since the fall. Hoogmartens contributed to each of UCLA's first two points scored in its 4-3 victory against Pepperdine, also teaming with Timothy Li to outlast Maxi Homberg and Eero Vasa in a tiebreaker, 10-8. The Court 2 decision came after the other two doubles results were split. The Pac-12 Player of the Week award represents the second of Hoogmartens' career and 48th in UCLA men's tennis program history.
FALL RECAP
The Bruins took part in five tournaments โ including two national events โ before the new year. Alexander Hoogmartens racked up a team-high seven singles wins, including two versus nationally-ranked opponents. He reached the ITA Southwest Regional Championships singles final round, beating No. 46 Gustaf Strom and No. 45 Tim Zeitvogel of Pepperdine along the way. Jeffrey Fradkin and Patrick Zahraj picked up five doubles victories each to lead the squad. Fradkin and Aadarsh Tripathi collaborated on a championship run at the UCSB Classic. Hoogmartens and Zahraj teamed to qualify for the ITA All-American Championships main draw.
2021-22 IN REVIEW
The 2021-22 Bruins went 13-12, but had their season stopped short of the NCAA team tournament. UCLA got past higher-seeded Utah in the Pac-12 Championships quarterfinal round, but came up on the wrong end of a 4-3 decision in its final-four matchup with Washington. The Bruins won six of their final eight matches. Individually, Alexander Hoogmartens became the first UCLA freshman to make the Pac-12's All-Conference First Team since Daniel Kosakowski in 2011. Patrick Zahraj earned Honorable Mention recognition. Hoogmartens qualified for the NCAA Championships singles tournament. He turned in a team-high 14 doubles wins while playing alongside three different partners. Stefan Leustian led all Bruins with 19 singles victories.
WHO'S NEW?
The UCLA roster features freshmen Gianluca Ballotta, Aadarsh Tripathi, Emon van Loben Sels and Azuma Visaya. Ballotta (Lima, Peru) holds a career-high ITF junior ranking of No. 42 and qualified for the singles and doubles draws at the 2022 US Open Junior Championships. Tripathi (Pleasanton, Calif.), a Blue Chip recruit according to TennisRecruiting.net, won the Boys' 16 doubles championship alongside van Loben Sels at the 2019 USTA National Level 3: Coyote Cup in Scottsdale, Ariz. Van Loben Sels, also a Blue Chip talent, teamed with Ethan Schiffman to claim the Boys' 16 doubles title at the 2021 Easter Bowl in San Diego. Visaya, another Blue Chip prospect and the top-rated player in Hawaii, swept singles and doubles championships at a number of USTA events in his home state.
BRUINS ON TOUR
Former UCLA standouts continue to become household names in the professional ranks, with Maxime Cressy, Marcos Giron, Mackenzie McDonald and Jean-Julien Rojer turning in notable results across the Grand Slams and on the ATP Tour. Cressy picked up his first ATP Tour championship when he beat Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan at the 2022 Hall of Fame Open in Newport, R.I. Giron was the singles runner-up at the 2022 San Diego Open. McDonald opened 2023 by beating top seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal in three sets at the Australian Open. Rojer collected his fourth Grand Slam title at Roland-Garros in 2022, teaming with Marcelo Arevalo to defeat Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek in the final. Rojer also won the 2023 Delray Beach Open doubles crown alongside Arevalo in February. Cressy (39, career-high 31 in 2022), McDonald (54, career-high 48 in 2022) and Giron (68, career-high 49 in 2022) are currently ranked among the ATP's top 70 singles players. Rojer is tied for No. 8 on the doubles list.
ANOTHER MARTIN MILESTONE
Head coach Billy Martin is in his 30th year at the helm of the UCLA men's tennis program and this season marks his 40th since joining the staff of friend, mentor and fellow UCLA Athletic Hall of Famer Glenn Bassett. Martin, who passed Bassett to became the program's all-time leader in head-coaching wins during the 2019 season, is the longest-tenured active coach at UCLA. He holds a record of 642-154 (.807) at the helm. He guided the 2005 Bruins to the program's 16th NCAA team title and just five Martin-led squads have finished outside the top five at the season-ending NCAA Championships. Benjamin Kohlloeffel (2006), Marcos Giron (2014) and Mackenzie McDonald (2016) have earned NCAA singles titles on Martin's watch, while UCLA has become a frequent landing spot for doubles champions of late. In addition to 1996 winners Justin Gimelstob and Srdjan Muskatirovic, three of the most recent six titleholders (McDonald/Martin Redlicki in 2016, Redlicki/Evan Zhu in 2018 and Maxime Cressy/Keegan Smith in 2019 have called Westwood home.
Players Mentioned
