UCLA has poor showing in tournament play

  Daily Bruin File Photo Chris Sands
returns the ball against Arizona State last year. He and doubles
partner Derrick Nguyen lost in the quarterfinals on Saturday.

By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

He was unseeded at the Southern California Tennis
Intercollegiate Tournament, but that didn’t stop UCLA
sophomore Travis Rettenmaier from making a victorious run through
the tournament that ended with a loss in the final match to
USC’s Andrew Park.

“I guess it was unexpected because I’d taken the
week off before,” Rettenmaier said of his success. “I
always expect to do well.”

After winning four consecutive matches in straight sets,
Rettenmaier fell to Park, the No. 7 seed, 6-3, 6-2 in
Monday’s final.

“Unfortunately for him, it was the worst match he played
the whole tournament,” Bruin head coach Billy Martin said.
“He really didn’t play anywhere near the ability that
he had been playing the whole week.”

Rettenmaier and Park started playing the final match on Sunday
and Rettenmaier was up a break when the match was canceled because
of rain, and rescheduled for Monday.

He went into Monday’s match “overconfident,”
he said and found Park to be a tougher opponent than expected.

“He’s the kind of player who, if you play bad, he
makes you look really bad,” Rettenmaier said. “He just
doesn’t let you get back in the game.”

But Rettenmaier was more dissatisfied with his own performance
in that match.

“I was whining and complaining, just being a baby.
I’d go to the coach and say, “˜Oh, God. I can’t
play today. My serve sucks. I can’t volley,'” he
recalled. “I didn’t let myself play.”

The tournament’s No. 1 seed, Bruin senior Jean-Noel
Grinda, withdrew from the tournament due to injury. The No. 3 seed,
UCLA sophomore Jean-Julien Rojer, fell in straight sets in the
second round.

To get to the quarterfinals, Rettenmaier had to beat fellow
Bruin freshman Tobias Clemens, 7-5, 3-4 (ret.).

“I don’t like playing my teammates,”
Rettenmaier said. “It’s not always nice to have to
compete against your teammates.”

Three of UCLA’s four doubles teams won their first match
to advance to quarterfinals: Efran Djahangiri-Rettenmaier, Clemens-
Lassi Ketola, and Derrick Nguyen-Chris Sands. The No. 2-seeded team
of Grinda and Rojer, however, were upset in the first round.

Only one team advanced to the semifinals. as Clemens-Ketola
defeated teammates Nguyen-Sands 8-6 to advance.

They did not get to the finals, though, losing to
Pepperdine’s Chase Exon and Stefan Suter 6-3, 6-3.

“We made so many mistakes (that game), especially in the
return game,” Clemens said. “I think we could’ve
beaten everybody in the tournament, but we just had a bad
day.”

He wasn’t satisfied with how far his doubles team got.

“Semifinals is not really the goal,” Clemens said.
“I mean, for the fact that we played for the first time
together it was OK, but we should be able to win the
tournament.”

There was one thing Martin learned: the Bruins definitely have
things they need to work on.

“I’d say that we really didn’t look
tremendously sharp, except for Travis. There were a lot more
unforced errors than I’d like to see,” he said.
“If we’re going to have a good tournament in a couple
weeks over at Pepperdine, we’re going to have to cut down on
our unforced errors. We got a lot more work ahead of us to play our
best tennis.”

On the other hand, Martin also attributes some of his
team’s poor play to the fact they are working on game changes
now, in the fall, when it’s less important than in the winter
when team dual matches begin.

“Sometimes you’re not playing your best tennis while
you’re trying to change some things,” he said.
“The fall quarter winning isn’t quite as important,
whereas in January winning does have to be a priority.”

The Bruins’ last preseason event is on Nov. 8-12 in the
ITA Regional Championships, hosted by Pepperdine in Malibu,
Calif.