Smith Earns Spot in Singles Second Round

ORLANDO, Fla. – Keegan Smith of the UCLA men's tennis team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Championships singles tournament Monday, while teammates Maxime Cressy and Govind Nanda suffered losses on Day 1 of individual matches at the USTA National Campus.

Smith surrendered just four total games, besting his freshman-year performance in the tournament with the victory. Nanda, meanwhile, gave a top-10 opponent all he could handle before falling short, while Cressy could not extend his collegiate singles career.

Playing in the day's first group of matches, No. 36 Smith made quick work of 64th-ranked Majed Kilani of Tulsa. Smith picked up an early break of serve and never looked back, cruising to a 6-2, 6-2 victory. The victory marked 13 in a row for the sophomore, who is now 24-5 on the season and 7-3 against nationally-ranked opponents.

A late addition to the field, No. 68 Nanda faced off against ninth-ranked Oliver Crawford of Florida. A back-and-forth first set ended in a tiebreaker, during which each player had a match-point opportunity before watching his counterpart pull even. Crawford ultimately prevailed by a 9-7 result and continued on to a 6-3 second set and the match victory. The loss concluded Nanda's debut season, during which the Redlands, Calif. native won a team-best 17 singles dual matches.

Rounding out the first day of action was 18th-ranked Cressy, who gave up a big break at 4-4 against No. 50 Bar Botzer of Wake Forest and never recovered. The Demon Deacon took the next game and six of eight in the second set for the win. Cressy had won seven straight singles decisions and 10 of 11. He completed his senior campaign with a 15-4 record in singles matches.

Cressy's season is not over, however, as the Paris native will team with Smith Tuesday for the first round of doubles play. The pair, seeded second for the tournament, will open up against Aziz Kijametovic and Francois Musitelli of Old Dominion.

Smith will have a busy day, as he is also scheduled to take on Timo Stodder of Tennessee in Round 2 of singles action. The Volunteer dealt Jason Kros of Virginia Tech a 6-3, 6-0 defeat.

Tuesday's match times have yet to be announced.