OJAI, Calif. - The 2022 Pac-12 Men’s Tennis Championship will feature a matchup between the No. 2 seed USC and No. 8 seed Washington for the first time in tournament history. In a second battle that came down to the last match, the eighth-seeded Washington Huskies came out victorious against the second-seeded UCLA Bruins (4-3) in Friday’s semifinals, leading the Huskies to reach the final round of the Pac-12 Championship tournament for the first time in program history. The following match of the day featured a semifinal shutout win for the No. 2 seed USC Trojans over the No. 3 seed Stanford Cardinal. With a 4-0 win, the USC Trojans and defending Champions are set to advance to the title match in hopes of taking their third straight Pac-12 Tournament title for the first time in school history.  

The eighth-seeded Washington Huskies backed up their quarterfinal upset of top-seed Arizona with a 4-3 win over No. 5-seed UCLA in the semifinals to advance to the final round of the championship tournament for the first time in program history. Just one day after erasing the top-seed in a battle that came down to the last match, Washington freshman Cesar Bouchelaghem managed to clinch the match yet again for the Huskies on court No. 5 in a consecutive second set tiebreaker. 

After losing the first doubles match to UCLA’s Giacomo Revelli and Patrick Zahraj (6-3, 6-3) on top court, the Huskies came back to take the doubles point with wins on court three (Cesar Bouchelaghem/Brandon Wong) and two (Clement Chidekh/Nedim Suko).

The Huskies continued by taking a 3-1 lead in the match thanks to wins at the top two singles spots from Clement Chidekh (6-3, 6-3) and Jack Davis (6-3, 3-6, 6–3). UCLA fought back and rallied with two third-set wins on court Nos. three and four. UCLA’s Karl Lee took a 6-3, 0-6, 6-3 win on court three over Ewen Lumsden and Bryce Pereira defeated Washington’s Han-Chih Lin on court four (3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4) to tie it at 3-3. 

On what would ultimately be the deciding court of the match, UCLA’s Stefan Leustian won the first set in a tiebreaker, jumping ahead of Washington’s Bouchelaghem. The Huskie freshman responded with a 6-4 win in the second set before falling down in the third set. Down just one service break, Bouchelaghem took the break back to make it 3-4. The freshman held serve and broke again to take the lead, 5-4. Bouchelaghem came to net and put away a volley, earning match point for the consecutive day, allowing the Huskies to advance to the final round of the tournament for the first time in program history. 

In the second and final semifinal match of the day, USC showed no mercy in hammering out the doubles point against No. 3 seed Stanford (4-0). Thanks to the duo’s of Stefan Dostanic/Bradley Frye and Peter Makk/Lodewijk Weststrate, USC was able to take the first point of the match. The Trojans then collected three straight-set singles victories to lock up the ticket to the title match, thanks to Bradley Frye with a 6-2, 6-3 win on court No. 2 over Stanford’s Max Basing and Lodewijk Weststrate on court No. 5 five with a 6-0, 6-4 decision over Sangeet Srdihar to give USC a 3-0 lead over the Cardinal. USC freshman Ryan Colby issued the clincher for the Trojans, advancing them to the final round with his 6-4, 6-4 win over Alexandre Rotsaert. 

2022 PAC-12 MEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP Results 

Semifinals // Fri., April 22 // Libbey Tennis Courts, Ojai, Calif. 

No. 2 USC, No. 3 STANFORD

DOUBLES:
1. Stefan Dostanic/Bradley Frye, USC def. Axel Geller/Tomas Kopczynski, STAN - 6-3 
2. Peter Makk/Lodewijk Weststrate, USC def. Arthur Fery/Alexandre Rotsaert, STAN - 6-3
3. Sam Rubell/Ryder Jackson, USC v. Sangeet Sridhar/Max Basing, STAN - 4-3 unf. 
Order of finish: 1, 2

SINGLES:
1. Stefan Dostanic, USC def. Arthur Fery, STAN - 6-7(5), 3-3 unf.
2. Bradley Frye, USC v.  Max Basing, STAN - 6-2, 6-2
3. Peter Makk, USC v, Axel Geller, STAN - 7-6(1), 2-4 unf. 
4. Ryan Colby, USC v. Alexandre Rotsaert, STAN - 6-4, 6-4 
5. Lodewijk Weststrate, USC v. Sangeet Sridhar, STAN - 6-0, 6-4 
6. Sam Rubell, USC def. Aryan Chaudhary, STAN - 7-6(9), 0-1 
Order of finish 2, 5, 4

No. 8 Washington 4, No. 5 UCLA 3
DOUBLES:
1. Giacomo Revelli/Patrick Zahraj, UCLA def. Jack Davis/Ewen Lumsden, WASH - 6-2
2. Clement Chidekh/Nedim Suko, WASH def. Karl Lee/Max Wild, UCLA - 7-5
3. Cesar Bouchelaghem/Brandon Wong, WASH def. Jeff Fradkin/Bryce Pereira, UCLA - 6-4
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2

SINGLES: 
1. Clement Chidekh, WASH def. Patrick Zahraj, UCLA - 6-3, 6-3
2. Jack Davis, WASH  def. Giacomo Revelli, UCLA - 6-3, 3-6, 6–3
3. Karl Lee, UCLA def. Ewen Lumsden, WASH - 6-3 0-6, 6-3
4. Bryce Pereira, UCLA def. Han-Chih Lin, WASH - 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4
5. Cesar Bouchelaghem, WASH  v. Stefan Leustian, UCLA - 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4
6. Jeff Fradkin, UCLA def. Nedim Suko, WASH - 6-1, 6-3 
Order of finish: 1, 6, 2, 3, 4, 5