Brachman Reaches Sunday Finals in Sun Devils’ First Weekend of Action

TEMPE - Sun Devil Men's Tennis kicked off their first weekend of action with a pair of tournaments on the West Coast. Fabien Salle and Nicola Cigna competed in the Battle in the Bay Classic in San Francisco Wednesday-Friday, while Mortiz Hoffmann, Jonah Wilson, and Spencer Brachman played UNLV's Larry Easley Memorial Classic in Las Vegas.
 
Battle in the Bay Classic
Doubles
Cigna and senior transfer Salle represented the Sun Devils in a pair of doubles matches. They opened in the main doubles qualifying draw against where the duo came up short, 8-6, versus Philip Hjorth/Magnaudet Lucas of Cal. They went on to collect a 8-6 victory over Noaj Berry/ David Woodland in the back draw semifinals before scratching from the final match.
 
Singles
Cigna came up short against Nevin Arimili, 5-7, 1-6, on Wednesday afternoon in qualifying. He picked up a two-set win in the back draw against Paul Barretto before losing in two to Neel Rajesh.
 
Salle lost 2-6, 6-4, 8-10 in the opening main draw to the German Zeitvogel, but picked up three victories in the back draw against Evin McDonald, Nick Beaty and Colton Smith.
 
 
Larry Easley Memorial Classic
Singles
On the first day of the Larry Easley Memorial Classic, sophomore Spencer Brachman opened the flight one first round singles by defeating Milos Dabic of UNLV (5-7, 6-4, 6-4) to move on to the flight one quarterfinals in the singles. He then faced Colter Smith from Cal Poly where he advanced to the semifinals to cap off the first day of the tournament where he won his sets 7-5 and 6-4. On day two, he won both of his sets in dominant fashion, 6-1, in the semifinals where he advanced to the finals where he lost to Sasha Trkulja, 6-1, in both of the two sets to represent ASU.
 
Also playing in flight one, junior Jonah Wilson was defeated by Matthew Hollingsworth of Gonzaga in the opening game and then was also defeated by Gary Vardanyan from Cal Poly in the first match of the consolation singles. For flight two, sophomore Mortiz Hoffmann came up short to Alexis Delisle of Cal Poly in three sets (6-4, 4-6, 7-6) but then went on to win his next three matches in the consolation bracket, where he defeated Judson Blair of San Diego State  in the final in three sets, 6-4, 4-6, 1-0.
 
 
Doubles
The duo of Brachmann and Hoffmann were on the Sun Devil side in the tournament in Las Vegas. In the first round on Friday, Hoffman and Brachmann were defeated by Alexander Mandma and Victor Castro of SDSU, 8-4. The doubles partners did compete in day two of the tournament in an added doubles match, but were defeated by Zach Garner and Tom Ciszewski of UNLV, 9-8.
 
 
Sept. 15, 2021 and Sept. 17, 2021 at San Francisco, CA
Battle in the Bay Classic
 
Singles
Nevin Arimili (Texas) def. Nicola Cigna (ASU) 7-5, 6-1
Nicola Cigna def Paul Barretto 7-6, 7-5
Neel Rajesh def Cigna 6-2, 7-5
 
Tim Zeitvogel def Fabien Salle 6-2, 4-6, 10-8
Salle def Evin McDonald 6-4, 6-3
Salle def Nick Beaty 7-5, 5-7, 10-4
Colton Smith def Salle 6-3, 7-6
 
Doubles
Philip Hjorth/Magnaudet Lucas (California) def. Nicola Cigna/Fabien Selle 8-6
Nicola Cigna/Fabien Selle 8-6 def Noah Berry/David Woodland 8-6
 
 
Sept. 17- Sept. 19, 2021 at Las Vegas, NV
Larry Easley Memorial Classic
Day One
 
Flight One First Round Singles
Matthew Hollingworth (Gonzaga) def. Jonah Wilson (ASU) 2-6, 7-6 (6), 6-2
Spencer Brachman (ASU) def. Milos Dabic (UNLV) 5-7, 6-4, 6-4
 
Flight One Quarterfinal Singles
Spencer Brachman (ASU) def. Colter Smith (Cal Poly) 7-5, 6-4
 
Flight One Consolation Singles
Gary Vardanyan (Cal Poly) def. Jonah Wilson (ASU) 3-1
 
Flight Two First Round Singles
Alexis Delisle (Cal Poly) def. Mortiz Hoffmann (ASU) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6
 
Flight Two Consolation Singles
Mortiz Hoffmann (ASU) def. Thomas Navarro (UNLV) 6-4, 6-3
 
First Round Doubles
Alexander Mandma/Victor Castro (SDSU) def. Spencer Brachman/Moritz Hoffmann (ASU) 8-4
 
 
Day Two
Flight One Semifinal Singles
Spencer Brachman (ASU) def. Colter Smith (Cal Poly) 6-1, 6-1
Flight Two Consolation Singles
Mortiz Hoffmann (ASU) def. Carter Crookston (Cal Poly) 6-4, 6-0
 
Added Doubles Matches
Zach Garner/Tom Ciszewski (UNLV) def. Spencer Brachman/Moritz Hoffmann (ASU) 9-8
 
 
Day Three
Flight One Singles Final
Christopher Bulus (UNLV) def. Spencer Brachman (ASU) 6-3, 6-4
 
Flight Two Consolation Final
Mortiz Hoffmann (ASU) def. Judson Blair (SDSU) 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (10-7)