No. 25 Men’s Tennis Series for ITA Kickoff Weekend at USC

The No. 25 UCLA men’s tennis team (2-0) will hit the road but stay in Los Angeles for the ITA Kickoff Weekend on the campus of USC. The Bruins face Memphis (0-1) in Saturday’s opener, with first pitch set for 11 a.m. PT. The host No. 7 Trojans (2-0) will then face Vanderbilt (0-0) at 2 p.m. The consolation game begins at 11 a.m. Sunday, followed by the championship game at 2 p.m. The overall winner earns a spot in the series. The 2023 ITA Team Indoor Championship event, which will be played from 17-20 February at XS Tennis Village in Chicago.

FOLLOW LIVE

Live streaming and scores for all ITA Kickoff Weekend games at David X. Marks Stadium are available HERE.

THE LAST TIME

UCLA capped off a successful opening weekend with a 4-3 win against No. 19 Pepperdine at the Los Angeles Tennis Center (Jan. 21). Azuma Visaya won 4-2. Alexander Hoogmartens and Patrick Play also won on the singles courts. Hoogmartens also helped secure a doubles point after extended tiebreaking. A day earlier, the Bruins opened the 2023 season by two games in the win column with a 7-0 home win against Hawaii. Honolulu native Visaya also posted a win in his debut, while Zahraj, Jeffrey Fradkin, James Revelli and Aadarsh ​​Tripathi each won in the singles and doubles competitions.

UCLA vs.

UCLA has never faced Memphis on the tennis courts. A meeting with Vanderbilt would be the fourth set. The Bruins have won twice before, most recently 4-0 in the third round of the 2013 NCAA Championships in Urbana, Illinois. They finished that season as the national runner-up. UCLA holds an 87-56 record over USC. In the latest chapter, the Bruins picked up the first two points before dropping a top-four set on Senior Day at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. Alexander Hoogmartens and Bryce Pereira won the top court tiebreaker 7-4 in the final doubles game. Pereira then ran straight to victory. Ryan Colby beat the Trojans.

HOOGMARTENS HONORED BY THE PAC-12
Alexander Hoogmartens The conference announced Tuesday that he was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week for Weeks 16-22. January. Hoogmartens defended his spot at the top of the singles team emphatically as the Bruins opened their season with a home doubleheader win over Hawaii and No. 19 Pepperdine. The sophomore beat 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) to extend his 2022-23 streak against players. ranked in the ITA’s top 50 five times since the fall. Hoogmartens had a hand in each of UCLA’s first two points in a 4-3 win over Pepperdine. Timothy Li beat Maxi Homberg and Eero Vasa in the semi-final 10-8. The Court 2 decision came after two other doubles results were split. The Pac-12 Player of the Week honor represents the second of Hoogmartens’ career and the 48th in the history of the UCLA men’s tennis program.

AUTUMN USE

The Bruins participated in five tournaments, including two national events before the New Year. Alexander Hoogmartens posted a team-high seven singles victories, including two against nationally ranked opponents. He reached the singles final of the ITA Southwest Regional Championships, defeating No. 46 Gustaf Strom and No. 45 Tim Zeitvogel of Pepperdine along the way. Jeffrey Fradkin and Patrick Play had five doubles each to lead the team. Fradkin and Aadarsh ​​Tripathi teamed up for the UCSB Classic championship. Hoogmartens and Zahraj combined to reach the main draw of the ITA All-American Championships.

IN FRANCE

UCLA earned a spot in the ITA Top 25 Coaches poll after a 2-0 start, rising to No. 25 on Jan. 25. The Bruins pair are ranked in the top 90 in the latest ITA National Singles Rankings, released Nov. 16. 2022. Alexander Hoogmartens fire No. 83, when James Revelli found himself ranked a career-best 89. In the final personal ranking for the 2021-22 season (May 25), Hoogmartens was ranked 43rd, Patrick Play No. 92 and double combination Hoogmartens and Bryce Pereira at No. 68. UCLA was No. 47 on the team list.

2021-22 REVIEW

The 2021-22 Bruins went 13-12, but their season fell short of the NCAA team tournament. UCLA cruised past top-ranked Utah in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Championships, but ended up with a lopsided 4-3 decision in its last-four game against Washington. The Bruins won six of their last eight games. Separately, Alexander Hoogmartens He became the first UCLA freshman to make the Pac-12 All-Conference First Team since Daniel Kosakowski in 2011. Patrick Play earned honorable mention recognition. Hoogmartens qualified for the singles tournament at the NCAA Championships. He won a team record 14 doubles while playing with three different partners. Stefan Leustian led all Bruins with 19 singles wins.

WHO’S NEW?

UCLA’s roster has Freshmen Gianluca Ballotta, Aadarsh ​​Tripathi, Emon van Loben Sels and Azuma Visaya. Ballotta (Lima, Peru) has a career-high ITF junior ranking of 42 and has qualified for the singles and doubles draws at the 2022 US Open Junior Championships. Tripathi (Pleasanton, Calif.), a Blue Chip by TennisRecruiting.net, won the boys’ 16 doubles title 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 win the Boys 16 Doubles Championship at the 2021 Easter Bowl in San Diego. Visaya, another Blue Chip prospect and Hawaii’s top player, won the singles and doubles titles at several USTA events in her 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 making notable appearances at Grand Slams and the ATP Tour. Cressy won his first ATP Tour title when he defeated Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik at the 2022 Hall of Fame Open in Newport. RI Giron was the No. 2 singles seed at the 2022 San Diego Open. McDonald opened 2023 by defeating Australian Open top seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal in three sets. Rojer won his fourth Grand Slam title at Roland-Garros in 2022 when he teamed up with Marcelo Arevalo to defeat Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek in the final. Cressy (41), Giron (56) and McDonald (65) are currently among the top 75 singles players on the ATP. Rojer is number 6 on the doubles list.

SECOND MARTIN POWER SERVICE

The head coach Billy Martin is his 30th year at the helm of the UCLA men’s tennis program, and this season marks 40 years since he joined the staff of friend, mentor and UCLA Athletic Hall of Famer Glenn Bassett. Martin, who passed Bassett to become the program’s all-time leader in head coaching wins in the 2019 season, is the longest tenured active coach at UCLA. He has a record of 632-147 (.811) at the helm. He guided the 2005 Bruins to their 16th NCAA team championship, and only five Martin-led teams 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 recently. In addition to 1996 winners Justin Gimelstob and Srdjan Muskatirovic, three of the last six title holders (McDonald/Martin Redlicki in 2016, Redlicki/Evan Zhu in 2018 and Maxime Cressy/Keegan Smith in 2019) have called Westwood home.