Men’s tennis sends two to smash ITA All-American Championships
Senior Gage Brymer is one of two UCLA men’s tennis players to qualify for the main draw of this weekend’s tournament in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the team lost in the NCAA championships last year. (Kathy Chen/Daily Bruin)
By Hanson Wang
Oct. 6, 2016 1:32 a.m.
Joe Di Giulio tried to play through the pain.
The senior was serving up 5-2 in the second set against Columbia’s Alex Keyser, when he aggravated his groin injury reaching for a drop shot in front of him.
“It actually happened in my match against (USC’s Laurens Verboven) in first match of the day,” Di Giulio said. “After the first game of the second set (against Keyser), I took an injury timeout and the trainer came out and wrapped it a little bit. By the third set, it was hurting me a good bit so it was tough to battle through it.”
Di Giulio’s limited mobility was too much to overcome as he eventually fell 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-1 to Keyser. The loss left UCLA with only two representatives for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Men’s All-American Championships main draw, which kicks off Thursday in Tulsa, Oklahoma – junior Martin Redlicki and senior Gage Brymer.
This weekend, Redlicki returns to the same site where he teamed with Mackie McDonald to win the NCAA doubles title earlier this year. While the lefty will only participate in singles this time around, he can potentially face some of the top collegiate players such as preseason No. 1 Mikael Torpegaard of Ohio State and No. 4 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski of Virginia.
“When you have as strong of a field as you do in Tulsa every year, it motivates you to give it your all,” Redlicki said. “Torpegaard, he just won an (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour event in Columbus – a $50,000 Challenger – it’s incredible. Those are the kinds of players you have in this tournament and the guy that comes out on top here – it’s a really good indicator of how good he is as a tennis player.”
This will be Redlicki’s third consecutive appearance at the ITA All-American Championships. He fell to Kwiatkowski in the second round of qualifiers in 2014 and lost to San Diego’s Jordan Angus in the same round last year.
Brymer will be making his second appearance in the All-American Championships main draw, following his first round loss to Vanderbilt’s Gonzales Austin in 2014. The senior said the upcoming tournament is a good shot at redemption after UCLA fell to Oklahoma in the NCAA quarterfinals in May.
“We were talking to each other about how we felt like we were just here yesterday,” Brymer said. “(The Oklahoma loss) was a disappointing end to the season, but we have the opportunities in this tournament to redeem ourselves from last year and play some really solid tennis this upcoming week.”
In the first round Thursday, Redlicki faces qualifier Julius Tverijonas of George Washington, and Brymer takes on Denver’s Diogo Rocha.
Not only do UCLA’s All-American Championships hopes rest on the shoulders of its top two returning players, but the tournament is the first major one of the fall collegiate season that offers a preview of how the Bruins will perform in the spring.
“Tulsa’s a great place,” Redlicki said. “It’s a great proving ground for us for sure.”
