Grilli aces Pac-10 individual championship in his first year

COURTNEY STEWART/Daily Bruin Staff Junior Rodrigo
Grilli took first place for singles in the Pac-10
Championships in Ojai, Calif. on Sunday. It is Grilli’s first year
at UCLA and first time playing Division I tennis.

By Greg Schain
Daily Bruin Reporter
[email protected]

An old sports cliché is that the players on a team are a
reflection of their coach.

Rodrigo Grilli, a junior transfer playing his first year of
Division I tennis, certainly embodies the image that his coach,
Billy Martin, left at UCLA in the 1970s.

Over the weekend, Grilli became just the second Bruin since
Martin in 1975 to win the Pac-10 individual championships in his
first year at UCLA.

The other was Peter Fleming in 1976.

“It is an honor to be on the same list as him,”
Grilli said. “I’ve learned a lot from him, both on and
off the court.”

Grilli defeated Alex Vlaski of Washington, 6-4, 6-3, to cap an
incredible run through the draw of 32 of the Pac-10’s most
elite singles players. The draw included the No. 1 through No. 4
players on each team (Washington State and Oregon State don’t
have men’s tennis teams).

In each of Grilli’s first three wins, he dropped the first
set, but rallied back to win the next two to advance. His
semifinals win over Matt Hanlin of Washington, and his finals win,
were both in straight sets.

“I wasn’t sure how his tank was,” Martin said.
“The first day was tough, because he had to play two matches
and he dropped the set in both.”

Grilli was as shocked as anyone at his tournament performance.
He went in with the goal to win the first round and knock off
Stanford standout David Martin, ranked No. 28 in the country, in
the second round.

Never did surviving the entire draw cross his mind.

“My goal going in was to beat Martin in the second round.
I wasn’t really thinking about getting to the
finals.”

Grilli’s run is even more remarkable considering he missed
much of the year with a groin injury that still lingers today.

“Rodrigo’s performance was the highlight of the
weekend,” Martin said. “To be out a few weeks and to
still win a conference championship is amazing.”

But other Bruins also made runs through the tournament.
Sophomore Marcin Matkowski made it to the semifinals before losing
to Vlaski in three sets, and sophomore Tobias Clemens made it to
the quarterfinals before losing to Hanlin.

In the draw of the No. 5 through No. 8 players on each team,
freshman Alberto Francis, who has only seen sparse playing time
this year, made it all the way to the finals before losing the
championship match in three sets to Ruben Torres of USC.

Junior Erfan Djahangiri made it to the semifinals before losing
to Francis, and junior Lassi Ketola made it to the semifinals
before losing to Torres.

“It was an exciting time for all of the guys,”
Martin said. “It let me know that our guys are
strong.”

Martin and the rest of the team hopes to carry the momentum into
the NCAA tournament, which begins next weekend.