Men’s Tennis Continues Pac-12 Road Swing in California, Stanford

Coming off a thrilling 4-3 win at Arizona State, the UCLA men’s tennis team continues Pac-12 play on the road this week in Northern California. The Bruins begin the trip Friday (1 p.m. PT) at the Hellman Tennis Complex, where they will face California, before heading across the bay on Saturday (1 p.m.) to meet No. 24 Stanford at the Taube Family Tennis Center.

FOLLOW LIVE

California Streaming/Scoring: https://calbears.com/sports/2013/4/17/208195810.aspx

Stanford Live Streaming/Scoring: https://gostanford.com/sports/2022/3/16/mens-tennis-live-video-stats

THE LAST TIME

All eyes on the court, freshman Azuma Visaya went three innings in visiting UCLA’s thrilling 4-3 conference win against Arizona State on the 2nd. April at the Whiteman Tennis Center. Visaya and James Revelli won the last two games of the day for the Bruins. Gianluca Ballotta also won in singles for UCLA, who started the day by taking the doubles point. The Sun Devils got Murphy Cassone, Roi Ginati and Max McKennon.

UCLA vs. CALIFORNIA, STANFORD

UCLA holds a 102-16 all-time record against California. The Bruins bounced back from an early loss to defeat the Golden Bears 4-1 on March 25, 2022 at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. UCLA swept four complete singles matches, three of which went the distance. Carl Lee provided heroics in his first career win. Alexander Hoogmartens, Stefan Leustian and James Revelli also won the singles match. Cal grabbed a double point but couldn’t get on the board again. UCLA is 76-57 against Stanford. The Cardinal outscored the Bruins late for a 4-2 win on March 26, 2022 at LATC. Hoogmartens won in the singles and doubles courts, including a straight-set win over the country’s number two Arthur Fery. This made it 2-0 in favor of the Bruins, who started the day by winning the double point convincingly. However, Stanford bounced back with wins from Axel Geller, Alexandre Rotsaert, Timothy Sahi and Max Basing, who picked up the win.

GOLDEN BEARS Patrol, Cardinal

Ranked No. 43 in the ITA, California is 9-7 overall and 1-2 in Pac-12 play. Yuta Kikuchi is number 37 in the singles ranking. On the doubles side, Ryder Jackson and Lucas Magnaudit form the number 60 doubles pair. Stanford, meanwhile, is 11-6 (2-1). The Cardinal is ranked 24th in the country and has four singles players: Arthur Fery 9, Nishesh Basavareddy 10, Max Basing 16 and Samir Banerjee 74. The singles tandem of Basavareddy and Fery is ranked 28th.

IN FRANCE

UCLA is ranked No. 28 in the latest ITA Team Rankings, released Tuesday. All rankings have been computerized since February 21. The top 25 teams were previously determined based on a coaches poll. Winner of five consecutive decisions all with top 50 matches Alexander Hoogmartens is ranked No. 75 in the latest ITA National Singles Rankings, which were also released on Tuesday. He is now ranked in the top 80 in every singles event since 12/8/2021. Hoogmartens reached the best position of his career on February 15, 8. Hoogmartens is also in the doubles ranking alongside Patrick Play. The pair ranks 89th.

CLINCH BELL
Gianluca Ballotta (Yale, Pennsylvania and Portland) and Azuma Visaya (Arizona State, Pepperdine and Hawai’i) each have three wins this season to lead the Bruins. James Revelli (vs. Memphis), Aadarsh ​​Tripathi (Oklahoma State) and Patrick Play (UC Irvine) have each posted a fourth point once a year.

BLAME IT ON THE HOOGIE

Every Alexander Hoogmartens the last five wins have come against opponents ranked in the top 50 of the ITA National Singles Ranking. He is 7-3 overall against nationally ranked foes in 2022-23. Hoogmartens’ last four singles wins have also come in straight sets, starting with a 6-3, 6-2 (Jan. 13) win over Texas A&M’s No. 43 Trey Hilderbrand at the Sherwood Collegiate Cup in Thousand Oaks, California. To the beginning. in the two-match campaign, Hoogmartens has knocked off No. 41 Andre Ilagan of Hawaii (Jan. 20, 6-4, 6-1), No. 31 Daniel De Jonge of Pepperdine (Jan. 21, 6-1, 6-). 3), No. 39 Pablo Alemany of Memphis (Jan. 28, 6-1, 6-4) and No. 47 Sema Pankin of Portland (Feb. 4, 6-4, 6-3).

HOOGMARTENS HONORED BY THE PAC-12
Alexander Hoogmartens On Jan. 24, the conference announced the Pac-12 Player of the Week. Hoogmartens strongly defended her spot at the top singles spot as the Bruins opened their season with a dual home opener. wins 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.

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. Rojer also won the 2023 Delray Beach Open doubles crown alongside Arevalo in February. Cressy (38, career high 31 in 2022), McDonald (55, career high 48 in 2022) and Giron (69, career high 49 in 2022) are currently among the top 70 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 639-152 (.808) 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.