Third-Seeded Men's Tennis Set for Pac-12 Championships
MATCH INFORMATION
Date/Time: Thursday, April 25/6:00 PM PT
Friday, April 26/4:00 PM PT*
Saturday, April 27/5:00 PM PT*
Television (Saturday): Pac-12 Network
Talent (Saturday): Gill Gross (play-by-play)
Corina Morariu (analyst)
Live Scoring: Tempuz Stream (YouTube)
* - if necessary
2024 PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
Wednesday, April 24
Match 1: #8 Washington vs. #9 Utah 12:00 PM
Thursday, April 25
Match 2: #4 Arizona State vs. #5 California 9:00 AM
Match 3: #1 Stanford vs. Winner Match 1 12:00 PM
Match 4: #2 Arizona vs. #7 USC 3:00 PM
Match 5: #3 UCLA vs. #6 Oregon 6:00 PM
Friday, April 26
Match 6: Winner Match 2 vs. Winner Match 3 1:00 PM
Match 7: Winner Match 4 vs. Winner Match 5 4:00 PM
Saturday, April 27
Match 8: Winner Match 6 vs. Winner Match 7 5:00 PM
THIS WEEK
The third-seeded and 22nd-ranked UCLA men's tennis team travels to Ojai, Calif. for Pac-12 Championships play, starting Thursday at Libbey Park. The Bruins (14-6) enter their quarterfinal-round matchup with Oregon (14-12) winners of seven straight contests.
FOLLOW LIVE
Tickets for the 2024 Pac-12 Championships at The Ojai are available at TheOjai.net. Live results for all matches at the Pac-12 Championships will be accessible through Tempuz Stream on YouTube. Pac-12 Network is set to air Saturday's final round, beginning at 2 p.m., PT, with Gil Gross and Corina Morariu on the call.
UCLA AT THE PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
UCLA men's tennis has captured the conference's team tournament title four times since the format was adopted in 2012 (2013, 2014, 2016, 2018). USC has won the other six championships. The Bruins have twice achieved runner-up status (2012, 2017). Last year, sixth-seeded UCLA was eliminated by No. 3-Utah in a 4-1 quarterfinal-round result at Libbey Park. Giacomo Revelli turned in the lone singles win for the Bruins, beating a top-50 counterpart. He also teamed with Timothy Li for a victory. Gianluca Ballotta also neared a singles win, but was stopped short when the overall result was decided. Prevailing for the Utes in singles play were Francisco Bastias, Patrik Trhac and clincher Franco Capalbo.
LAST TIME OUT
The Bruins ran their winning streak to seven with three regular-season-ending victories. Gianluca Ballotta sealed a 4-2 result over crosstown rival USC in an early-week home tilt (April 16). UCLA then blanked Utah 4-0 on the road three days later, with Giacomo Revelli supplying the final point (April 19). The Bruins finally recorded a 4-0 decision over UC San Diego at Los Angeles Tennis Center, where Aadarsh Tripathi's clinching performance capped a two-win day for the sophomore.
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.
JOHNSON VOTED PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK FOR APRIL 8-14
Spencer Johnson was voted Pac-12 Men's Tennis Player of the Week for the week of April 8-14, the conference announced April 16. The honor represents the freshman's first. Johnson knocked off No. 47 Samir Banerjee of Stanford in a third-set tiebreaker to help the Bruins beat 19th-ranked Stanford 4-3 at Los Angeles Tennis Center (April 12). UCLA at one point faced a 3-1 deficit, but pulled level when Johnson unleashed an ace past the 2021 Junior Wimbledon champion to complete his 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(3) win. Play would not have reached that stage if Johnson and partner Emon van Loben Sels had not provided the deciding doubles victory earlier that afternoon. With all eyes on its court, the Bruins outlasted No. 75 Banerjee and Nishesh Basavareddy 7-6(2).
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.
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. 178), Giron (51) and McDonald (76) are currently ranked among the ATP's top 200 singles players. Rojer is 20th 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 656-164 (.800) 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.