Men's Tennis Set to Host UC Irvine Sunday

The UCLA men's tennis team returns home for the first time in 19 days Sunday, when it welcomes UC Irvine to Los Angeles Tennis Center. First serve is set for 12 p.m. PT. The match was previously scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. before being changed last week. Admission to the non-conference contest is free. For more on UCLA fan attendance COVID-19 policies and procedures, CLICK HERE.

FOLLOW LIVE
Fans unable to attend home UCLA men's tennis matches in person can still follow live. Live streaming and live scoring will be available for all matches played at Los Angeles Tennis Center HERE.

LAST TIME OUT
Visiting UCLA fell to Stanford, 6-1, in a non-conference matchup Feb. 6 at Taube Family Tennis Center. Karl Lee earned a singles win to account for the Bruins' point after the match was decided. He also teamed with Giacomo Revelli for a victory in doubles play, but the Cardinal ultimately prevailed in a tiebreaker to get on the scoreboard first. Max Basing notched the deciding win for Stanford. One day earlier, UCLA dropped a 4-0 non-conference decision to California at the Golden Bears' Hellman Tennis Complex. The Bruins forced four singles third sets after dropping the doubles point, but just one match was finished. Yuta Kikuchi clinched the win for Cal.

UCLA VS. UC IRVINE
UCLA holds an all-time record of 43-2 against UC Irvine. The programs last faced off March 23, 2021, when the Bruins dropped just one game en route to a 7-0 win at Los Angeles Tennis Center. Returning UCLA team members Drew Baird, Roscoe Bellamy and Mathew Tsolakyan were all victorious on the afternoon, with Tsolakyan providing a 6-2, 6-2 win versus Thomas Smart to clinch the overall decision. The Anteater program earned its two victories in the series during the 1988 and 1989 seasons.

UCLA IN 4-3 MATCHES
UCLA holds a 13-9 record in matches decided by 4-3 scores since the start of the 2016 season. Head coach Billy Martin's 2022 team is 1-0 in such results, as Drew Baird rallied from a 2-5 deficit to notch the decider against Texas Tech in the Jan. 30 ITA Kickoff Weekend consolation contest. In 2021, the Bruins played five matches that ended in 4-3 scores, going 2-3. The previous three do-or-die situations went to UCLA.

BRUINS IN THE PROS
Three former UCLA men's tennis players are currently listed in the top 70 of the ATP singles rankings. Mackie McDonald is currently slotted at a career-best No. 49. He skyrocketed back into the top 100 in August 2021, on the heels of his ATP Tour final-round appearance at the Citi Open in Washington. McDonald beat Top-100 players Nick Kyrgios of Australia, Ilya Ivashka of Belarus, Benoit Paire of France and Kei Nishikori of Japan in Washington, D.C. Maxime Cressy, meanwhile is at a career-high No. 59. He has had a standout 2022, reaching his first ATP Tour final as a qualifier at January's Melbourne Summer Set ahead of the Australian Open. He defeated top-30 counterparts Reilly Opelka of the United States and Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, but was ultimately felled by Rafael Nadal. Cressy then went on to reach his first Grand Slam fourth round at Melbourne Park, a run that started with a five-set victory against fellow American John Isner. No. 70 Marcos Giron, meanwhile, saw his ranking gradually climb throughout 2021, at one point reaching his top showing of No. 57 in November, after advancing through qualifying and into the third round at the ATP Masters 1000 Paris event. Giron beat top-50 opponents Frances Tiafoe of the US and Diego Schwartzman of Argentina in the main draw. McDonald (2016 singles and doubles), Cressy (2019 doubles) and Giron (2014 singles) each won an NCAA individual championship under head coach Billy Martin while at UCLA.

FALL RECAP
UCLA took part in five tournaments during the fall. Stefan Leustian racked up a team-best eight singles wins, recording quarterfinal-round finishes at the SoCal Intercollegiate Championships and the ITA Southwest Regional Championships. Alexander Hoogamartens knocked off a nationally-ranked counterpart, No. 70 Lleyton Cronje of UCF, in his debut, and went on to beat another, No. 117 Daniel De Jonge of Pepperdine, at the ITA Southwest Regionals. He finished the year with a 4-2 singles record. Giacomo Revelli and Patrick Zahraj teamed to make the ITA Southwest Regionals doubles final round. Their three wins tops on the team during the fall.

IN THE RANKINGS
Alexander Hoogmartens is No. 72 in the latest ITA singles rankings, released Feb. 9. The freshman from Beersel, Belgium has a 6-4 record this season, including a 2-1 mark against nationally-ranked opponents. In his debut at the ITA All-American Championships, Hoogmartens turned in a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 win against No. 70 Lleyton Cronje of UCF in qualifying. He also beat No. 117 Daniel DeJonge of Pepperdine, 7-6(2), 7-5, to reach the singles quarterfinal round at the ITA Southwest Regional Championships. As a team, the Bruins completed the 2020-21 season slotted at No. 25.

2020-21 IN REVIEW
The 2020-21 Bruins went 13-7, earning a spot in the program's 44th NCAA tournament in as many opportunities. Shorthanded for a majority of the season, a near-full-strength group won eight of nine matches played from March 2-April 6. During that stretch, UCLA turned in 4-3 victories versus Stanford (March 22) and at Arizona State (March 26), with Govind Nanda and Mathew Tsolakyan the last men standing in those contests, respectively. Keegan Smith logged the most singles wins on the team, going 13-2 before his season was cut short. Bryce Pereira accumulated a team-best 10 doubles triumphs, playing with three different partners. Smith was named to the All-Pac-12 first team, while Nanda was voted to the second team. Drew Baird earned honorable mention acclaim. Smith was ranked No. 55 by the ITA among singles players, while Baird and Nanda formed the No. 46 doubles tandem, to finish the season.

WHO'S BACK?
The Bruins' core of returners is headlined by junior Drew Baird, who posted eight singles results each on Courts 2 and 3. Six seniors with dual-match experience – Roscoe Bellamy, Eric Hahn, Bryce Pereira, Mathew Tsolakyan, Max Wild and Patrick Zahraj -- are also back. Pereira, who a team-high 10 doubles wins in 2020-21, returns for a fifth year. Also back are redshirt junior Blaine Hovenier and sophomores Stefan Leustian and Timothy Li.

WHO'S GONE?
Seniors Lucas Bellamy (no records in 2020-21), Ben Goldberg (9-8 singles, 3-0 doubles), Connor Hance (0-1 singles, 1-0 doubles), Connor Rapp (3-2 doubles) and Keegan Smith (13-2 singles, 8-6 doubles), as well as graduate student Sam Feit (11-6 singles, 4-2 doubles), moved on after the end of the 2020-21 season. Govind Nanda (8-4 singles, 5-5 doubles) also left following his junior campaign to pursue a full-time career in professional tennis. Though he exhausted his eligibility after using the extra year afforded by the NCAA due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Goldberg remains with the program in the position of volunteer assistant coach.

WHO'S NEW?
The UCLA roster features freshmen Jeffrey Fradkin, Alexander Hoogmartens, Karl Lee and Giacomo Revelli. Fradkin (New York, N.Y.), a 5-Star recruit according to TennisRecruiting.net, was the Boys' 14 Combined No. 1 player for the USTA Eastern Section in 2016 and captured the ITF J4 Guatemala singles title in 2019. Hoogmartens (Beersel, Belgium) teamed with Jeffrey von Der Schulenburg to win the ITF J1 Bradenton (Eddie Herr ITF) doubles title in 2019 and participated in the Roland-Garros and Australian Open junior tournaments in 2020. Lee (Sacramento, Calif.), a Blue Chip prospect who was named the top player in his class by TennisRecruiting.net in 2017, collected the 2020 UTR Newport Beach (Calif.) Open singles title. Revelli (London, England) advanced to the ITF M25 singles second round in 2021 and qualified for singles main draws at the M25 Calabasas, CA, M15 Warmbad-Villach and M25 Grodzisk Mazowiecki events the same year.

HEAD COACH BILLY MARTIN
Head coach Billy Martin, who became the program's all-time leader in head-coaching wins in 2019, is the longest-tenured active coach at UCLA. In his 29th year as head coach and 39th campaign on staff, Martin holds a record of 619-138 (.818) at the helm. He guided the 2005 Bruins to the program's 16th NCAA team title and just three 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 last four titleholders (McDonald/Martin Redlicki in 2016, Redlicki/Evan Zhu in 2018 and Maxime Cressy/Keegan Smith in 2019 have called Westwood home.