Kohlloeffel moves on to next round

Big serves are just not enough to beat junior Benjamin
Kohlloeffel, and his opponent in the first round of the NCAA
singles championships learned that lesson Tuesday.

Kohlloeffel, the Bruins’ No. 1 singles player, overmatched
Florida’s Vladimir Obradovic 6-2 6-4 in straight sets and
moved on to the second round of the NCAA Singles Tournament in Palo
Alto.

“Obradovic played a very good match. It is always a bit
tougher in the first round but all went well,” UCLA coach
Billy Martin said.

Kohlloeffel took an early lead, breaking his opponent’s
serve on two occasions at the beginning of the first set. The
junior earned his first break at 2-2 and the second one at 4-2.

Kohlloeffel played an offensive game, leading the net game and
pushing his opponent to make more unforced errors than usual.
Obradovic was already a set behind 25 minutes into the match.

“He served well, and it was a bit windy, so I didn’t
manage to return that well,” Kohlloeffel said.

Kohlloeffel will face Colorado’s Eric Molnar in the second
round today, as Molnar beat Yale’s Brando Wai 6-3 6-1
Wednesday afternoon.

Molnar and Kohlloeffel already met this season during the second
round of the NCAA Team Championships.

The match, which took place a bit more than two weeks ago at the
LATC, was over in a little under an hour. Kohlloeffel had a
dominating performance, beating a frustrated and hopeless Molnar
6-0 6-0.

“I know who I’m playing, so that will be an
advantage,” Kohlloeffel said.

“I don’t think (Kohlloeffel) will come close to
winning that easily tomorrow, but I am confident about this
match.” Martin said.