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UCLA men’s tennis falls to cross-town rival USC at ITA Kickoff Weekend

Giacomo Revelli of No. 25 UCLA men’s tennis digs down for a backhand return. The sophomore split his singles matches at ITA Kickoff Weekend, clinching a Bruin shutout Saturday. (Bryan Palmero/Daily Bruin senior staff)

Men's Tennis


No. 25 UCLA4
Memphis0
No. 25 UCLA0
No. 7 USC4

By Jeremy Chen

Jan. 30, 2023 2:33 p.m.

This post was updated Jan. 31 at 11:35 p.m.

The Bruins entered Sunday’s match looking to snap a four-year, five-match losing streak against the Trojans.

But just like the last five times, they just didn’t have enough.

No. 25 UCLA men’s tennis (3-1) split its two matches at Marks Stadium during ITA Kickoff Weekend, defeating Memphis (1-2) by a score of 4-0 on Saturday and falling to No. 7 USC (4-0) by the same margin Sunday. The blue and gold lost its chance to move on to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships with the loss.

After quickly falling down 4-0 in two of their three doubles matches, the Bruins were unable to recover despite a late push from redshirt sophomore Jeffrey Fradkin and freshman Aadarsh Tripathi on court three.

The Trojans took the doubles point, led by the No. 12-ranked tandem of Stefan Dostanic and Bradley Frye. The court one duo and reigning Pac-12 Doubles Team of the Year defeated redshirt senior Patrick Zahraj and sophomore Giacomo Revelli 6-0.

“They came out all guns blazing,” Revelli said. “(They) served and returned very, very well and made it really hard for us on every point.”

Coach Billy Martin said he was disappointed with his team’s tentative start to the doubles matches.

“It (doubles) is a way of giving them momentum, which I really was hoping we wouldn’t do,” Martin said.

The first sets of singles play were tight at the start, with all six courts sitting at a 3-2 first-set Trojan lead at one point.

However, USC’s No. 38 Peter Makk and Wojtek Marek soon pulled away from their respective opponents, Revelli and Tripathi, to eventually hand UCLA 6-2, 6-2 and 6-3, 6-4 defeats on courts two and four, respectively.

Revelli said Makk’s strong baseline play and endurance were difficult to overcome.

“I tried to mix things up a little bit, tried to vary some of my strategies,” Revelli said. “But he just seemed to come out on top in most of the rallies.”

Revelli noted the tense atmosphere of Marks Stadium and said it energized him. An umpire even had to address the crowd during doubles play to keep the cheers civilized.

“I tried to feed off it, but unfortunately they (USC) were too strong today,” Revelli said.

(Bryan Palmero/Daily Bruin senior staff)
Alexander Hoogmartens watches the ball as he prepares to hit a forehand. The sophomore for UCLA men’s tennis sits at 3-0 in singles play after his match on Sunday went unfinished. (Bryan Palmero/Daily Bruin senior staff)

No. 83 sophomore Alexander Hoogmartens took his first singles set to a tiebreaker but ultimately lost to USC’s No. 79 Dostanic 7-6(8-6) – his first singles set loss of the season.

Hoogmartens added that Sunday’s match was more of a battle than Saturday’s sweep of Memphis.

“You also play at their home so it’s always a little bit more tension. Everyone is playing better,” Hoogmartens said.

Martin said Hoogmartens’ match with Dostanic was different from their matchup last year, in which Dostanic came out on top 7-5, 6-1.

“I feel like Alex has closed the gap a little bit for sure,” Martin said.

The sophomore’s 6-1, 6-4 victory over Memphis’ No. 39 Pablo Alemany on Saturday marked his sixth win over a top-50 opponent this season. Hoogmartens said he has been happy with his hot start.

“I started off very strong actually. I got surprised a little bit with my level,” Hoogmartens said.

UCLA will have at least two more shots at its crosstown rival later this season once conference play is underway – two or more shots to rekindle the winning pedigree that then-freshman Zahraj demonstrated when he clinched the Bruins’ last win over the Trojans nearly four years ago.

Martin said it was interesting to watch how his younger players handled the rivalry match in light of the experienced lineup that USC put forth.

“This is as good a team as there might be in the country,” Martin said. “We can hold our head up high and know that we didn’t lose to a bad team in any way.”

UCLA will return to the Los Angeles Tennis Center on Feb. 4 to host Portland.

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Jeremy Chen
Chen is a Photo editor and a sports contributor on the men's tennis beat. He is a fourth-year cognitive science student pursuing a minor in film, television, and digital media, and he is from Alameda, California. He was previously an assistant Photo editor on the Sports beat.
Chen is a Photo editor and a sports contributor on the men's tennis beat. He is a fourth-year cognitive science student pursuing a minor in film, television, and digital media, and he is from Alameda, California. He was previously an assistant Photo editor on the Sports beat.
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