Men's Tennis Hosts USC to Start Final Week of Regular Season
MATCH INFORMATION
Date/Time: Tuesday, April 16/4:00 PM PT
Friday, April 19/2:00 PM PT
Sunday, April 21/2:00 PM PT
Live Stream: UCLABruins.com / UtahUtes.com
Live Stats: UCLABruins.com / UtahUtes.com
Series vs. USC: UCLA leads 88-59
Last Meeting vs. USC: UCLA won 4-1 on March 29
Series vs. Utah: UCLA leads 18-3
Last Meeting vs. UTAH: Utah won 4-1 on April 27, 2023
Series vs. UC San Diego: UCLA leads 6-0
Last Meeting vs. UCSD: UCLA won 4-0 on April 17, 2023
THIS WEEK
Winners of four matches in a row — including last week's 4-3 home victory against No. 19 Stanford — the UCLA men's tennis team (11-6, 3-2 Pac-12) welcomes rival USC (6-14, 1-4 Pac-12) to Los Angeles Tennis Center Tuesday at 4 p.m. PT. The latest crosstown showdown features a post-match Senior Day ceremony, free pizza for the first 150 fans (to be distributed after doubles play) and an appearance by the UCLA Band. The Bruins then invade Utah's (3-17, 0-6 Pac-12) George S. Eccles Tennis Center for their conference finale Friday at 2 p.m. PT. The regular season then comes to a close Sunday (12 p.m. PT), when UCLA takes on UC San Diego (8-14, 1-1 Big West) at LATC.
FOLLOW LIVE
Fans unable to attend home UCLA matches in person can still follow live. Point-by-point scoring and streaming will be available for all contests played at Los Angeles Tennis Center through UCLABruins.com. UtahUtes.com provides live coverage of all contests played at George S. Eccles Tennis Center.
LAST TIME OUT
The Bruins had their Sunday home match against California postponed due to rain. Two days earlier, UCLA earned three three-set wins to overcome a 3-1 deficit and defeat No. 19 Stanford 4-3 in Pac-12 action at Los Angeles Tennis Center. Jorge Plans Gonzalez secured the final point, unleashing a pack of Bruins to congratulate him on Court 6. Alexander Hoogmartens and Spencer Johnson also prevailed for UCLA, which collected the doubles point to start action. The Cardinal singles charge came from Nishesh Basavareddy, Max Basing and Neel Rajesh, but was ultimately stopped short.
UCLA VS. USC, UTAH, UC SAN DIEGO
UCLA improved its all-time record aganst USC to 88-59 earlier this season. The Bruins registered a 4-1 non-conference win March 29 at David X. Marks Tennis Stadium, with Alexander Hoogmartens clinching the result. He was also on court for the deciding doubles win. The final point came by way of an ace, completing Hoogmartens' comeback from a lost first set. Also triumphant in singles play for UCLA were Spencer Johnson and Jorge Plans Gonzalez. Johnson, like Hoogmartens, had a two-win day after also helping his team to the doubles point. Lodewijk Weststrate prevailed for the Trojans' lone point.The Bruins will try to better their program's all-time record of 18-3 versus Utah. The third-seeded Utes beat No. 6-seed UCLA 4-1 in Pac-12 Championships quarterfinal-round action April 27, 2023 at Libbey Park in Ojai, Calif. Giacomo Revelli turned in the only singles victory for the Bruins, beating a top-50 counterpart. Gianluca Ballotta neared a singles win, but was stopped short when the overall result was decided. Prevailing for Utah in singles play were Francisco Bastias, Patrik Trhac and clincher Franco Capalbo. UCLA is 6-0 against UC San Diego.The Bruins beat UCSD 4-0 at Los Angeles Tennis Center April 17, 2023. UCLA did not drop a set on the day, with Revelli ultimately clinching the decision. Timothy Li and Aadarsh Tripathi were also triumphant on the singles courts. The Bruins gave up just two total games to the Tritons in doubles play.
IN THE RANKINGS
UCLA sat at No. 28 in the April 9 ITA team rankings after being No. 25 the previous week. Individually, Govind Nanda held on to a spot in the singles top 30 for the fith consecutive installment, checking in at No. 26. Nanda, who is 9-8 in singles action, has knocked off No. 3 Murphy Cassone of Arizona State 6-4, 6-2 March 22, No. 18 Tyler Zink of Oklahoma State 7-5, 6-1 Jan. 30 and No. 28 Edward Winter of Pepperdine 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 Feb. 18. Nanda is 7-7 in dual-match singles play, with each of the decisions made on Court 1.
NANDA NAMED PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK FOR JAN. 29-FEB. 4
Redshirt senior Govind Nanda was named Pac-12 Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 29-Feb. 4 after he had a hand in the Bruins' initial two points of their thrilling 4-3 victory at Oklahoma State (Jan. 30). Nanda and Alexander Hoogmartens dealt Leighton Allen and Erik Schiessl a 6-2 defeat on the third doubles court to put UCLA on the scoreboard first. Nanda then knocked off the nation's 18th-ranked singles player, Tyler Zink, 7-5, 6-1 on the top court to give his team a 2-1 lead. The Cowboys' loss was their first at Greenwood Tennis Center in four early-season matches. The third weekly honor of Nanda's career also marked his first since March 31, 2021. UCLA men's tennis has garnered 49 of the awards overall.
FALL RECAP
Bruins were in action at five tournaments before the new year. They wrapped up 2023 with a championship performance at Jack Kramer Club in Rolling Hills Estates, Calif, where freshmen and first-time partners Spencer Johnson and Emon van Loben Sels rolled to the Dennis Rizza Classic doubles title. Johnson and van Loben Sels beat the tournament's top three seeds – including No. 2-seed Kai Brady/Lucca Liu of UC Santa Barbara in the final – en route to the trophy. Johnson and van Loben Sels also turned in standout singles performances, with both reaching the semifinals. Johnson led UCLA with a 7-3 singles record and 6-3 doubles mark during the fall. Just behind him in both categories was van Loben Sels, who was 5-3 in singles matches and 4-1 in doubles play. Aadarsh Tripathi logged three singles wins, advancing to the quarterfinal round of the ITA Southwest Regional Championships.
WHO'S NEW?
Seeing action in blue and gold for the first time this season are a trio of Bruins: freshman Spencer Johnson (Ladera Ranch, Calif./Connections Academy), senior Jorge Plans Gonzalez (Barcelona, Spain/Clemson) and redshirt freshman Emon van Loben Sels (Sacramento, Calif./Visions in Education). Johnson, part of the Class of 2021, served a two-year Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints mission in Argentina before enrolling in time for the current academic year. He was tabbed a Blue Chip recruit by TennisRecruiting.net and slotted at No. 1 in the state of Utah and Mountain region. Plans Gonzalez went 50-28 in singles matches across three seasons at Clemson. He also logged 29 doubles victories. Plans Gonzalez, who earned a wild card into qualifying for the 2019 Mutua Madrid Open in his home country of Spain, occupied every spot in the singles and doubles lineups for the Tigers. Also a Blue Chip talent, van Loben Sels helped claim the Boys' 16 doubles title at the 2021 Easter Bowl in San Diego. He redshirted in 2022-23.
BRUINS ON TOUR
Former UCLA standouts continue to be household names in the professional ranks, with Maxime Cressy, Marcos Giron, Mackenzie McDonald and Jean-Julien Rojer turning in notable results across the Grand Slams and on the ATP Tour. Cressy picked up his first ATP Tour championship and saw his singles ranking reach a career-best No. 31 when he beat Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan at the 2022 Hall of Fame Open in Newport, R.I. An ATP doubles title followed for Cressy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he teamed with Fabrice Martin to take the 2023 Dubai Open's top prize. Giron reached the Roland-Garros singles third round for the second time in 2023. He also earned top-10 wins against Holger Rune of Denmark and Casper Ruud of Norway in subsequent 2023 tournaments. Giron is off to a hot start in 2024, reaching the Dallas Open singles final and a career-high singles ranking of 44 (Feb. 19). His run included straight-set victories opposite No. 14 Frances Tiafoe of the United States and No. 17 Adrian Mannarino of France. McDonald, who opened 2023 by beating top seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal in three sets at the Australian Open, represented the United States at the Davis Cup Finals in Uzbekistan and achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 37 the same year. Rojer collected his fourth Grand Slam title at Roland-Garros in 2022, teaming with Marcelo Arevalo to defeat Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek in the final. Rojer and Arevalo won three ATP championships in 2023. Cressy (No. 190), Giron (48) and McDonald (76) are currently ranked among the ATP's top 200 singles players. Rojer is 18th on the doubles list.
MORE MARTIN MILESTONES
Head coach Billy Martin is in his 31st year at the helm of the UCLA men's tennis program and this season marks his 41st since joining the staff of friend, mentor and fellow UCLA Athletic Hall of Famer Glenn Bassett. Martin, who passed Bassett to became the program's all-time leader in head-coaching wins during the 2019 season, is the longest-tenured active coach at UCLA. He holds a career record of 653-164 (.799) as head coach. Martin guided the 2005 Bruins to the program's 16th NCAA team title and just six of his 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 most recent six titleholders – McDonald/Martin Redlicki in 2016, Redlicki/Evan Zhu in 2018 and Maxime Cressy/Keegan Smith in 2019 – have called Westwood home.