Baird, Hoogmartens Win Storied Pacific Coast Doubles Championship

LA JOLLA, Calif. – Drew Baird and Alexander Hoogmartens of UCLA men's tennis defeated teammates Stefan Leustian and Bryce Pereira in the final round of the 132nd Annual Pacific Coast Doubles Championship at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club.

Started in 1890 at the Hotel Del Monte in Monterey, Calif., the Pacific Coast Doubles Championship has seen the likes of Jack Kramer, Ted Schroeder, Bobby Riggs, Pancho Segura, Don Budge, Tony Trabert, Stan Smith, Bob Lutz, Arthur Ashe, Dennis Ralston and John McEnroe lift its trophy.

Joining the finalist quartet in the field were teammates and coaches Blaine Hovenier (seeded fourth with partner Clay Thompson), Rikus de Villiers (seeded 16th with Michael de Villiers), Ben Goldberg (seeded 16th with Grant Chen), Jeffrey Fradkin/Max Wild and Karl Lee/Giacomo Revelli.

Baird and Hoogmartens, seeded ninth, bested Marco Alvarez and Matthew Rowe by a 4-1, 4-1 score to begin their time in the tournament. The Bruins would go on to beat William Gatti and Ryan Nguyen of San Diego State in a 4-0, 4-0 result before edging out the second-seeded combination of former UCLA standout Martin Redlicki and Andrew Rogers of Pepperdine, 5-3, 5-4(7-5). The next two rounds saw Baird and Hoogmartens take down the Waves' fifth-seeded pair of Daniel De Jonge and Eero Vasa, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, and the third-seeded team of Stefan Dostanic and Wojtek Marek from USC, 6-4, 6-1.

Next up for Baird and Hoogmartens was the top-seeded and seventh-ranked tandem of Arthur Fery and Alexandre Rotsaert of Stanford, which the UCLA duo outlasted, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. That put Baird and Hoogmartens across the net from Leustian and Pereira in the championship match. Baird and Hoogmartens proved too much, capping their Pacific Coast Doubles debuts with a 6-2, 6-4 win.

No. 4 seed Leustian and Pereira's route to the final included victories against college pairs of Alex Lee/Dean Stratakos of Stanford, Derrick Chen/Michael Wright of California, 16th-seeded Juan Jose Bianchi/Max Motlagh of Boston College and Victor Moreno/Nic Wiedenhorn of Nebraska.

Additionally, Fradkin and Wild reached the third round, while Hovenier and the team of Lee and Revelli advanced to the second round.

The No. 59 Bruins return to the dual-match portion of their schedule Monday, when they visit the 35th-ranked University of San Diego. First serve from the Skip and Cindy Hogan Tennis Center is set for 12 p.m. PT.