Fangran Tian was not a household name among college tennis fans when the Bruins announced her signing.

By now, those same fans should be shouting her name from a mountaintop for all of the world to hear.

Tian, a freshman for UCLA women’s tennis, ascended to No. 17 in the latest ITA singles rankings Tuesday, marking a nearly 80-spot jump since starting the dual-match season at No. 94. She is now the third-highest ranked freshman in the nation, behind only No. 6 Madison Sieg of USC and No. 15 Reese Brantmeier of North Carolina.

Brantmeier and Sieg both entered the collegiate ranks with accolades aplenty, slotting in at No. 1 and No. 5 in the class of 2022, respectively.

Tian was not among them.

Hailing from Beijing, China, Tian was the first international commit for the blue and gold since now-senior Sasha Vagramov of Canada in 2019, and arrived in Westwood with little-to-no national acclaim. She came with no Blue Chip tag, no major tournament wins on the US junior circuit and no national standing in the class of 2022.

So when Tian became the first freshman to take No. 1 singles duties for the Bruins since Elysia Bolton in 2019, heads were turned.

But since taking the top court at the Los Angeles Tennis Center for UCLA’s home opener against Loyola Marymount, Tian has been a shining star in the otherwise stormy sky of the Bruins’ 2023 dual-match season.

The freshman has yet to lose across her 12 dual-singles contests, with just one going unfinished – a match which Tian led 7-5, 3-2 at the time of stoppage. She has notched five ranked wins along that run, with three coming against top-50 opponents.

Tian’s finest performance perhaps came against then-No. 28 Angelica Blake of Stanford in a 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 decision. Though she upended Sieg earlier this season as well, the win came with an asterisk, as the Trojan retired in the second set with the Bruin up 6-3, 1-0.

Closing time is when Tian has been particularly dangerous. In the deciding set of each of her singles wins, the CNU Yuxin School product has only gone to a tiebreaker once – in her first match at the position.

With the Bruins now past the halfway point of conference play, Tian’s breakout campaign has accumulated legitimacy, proving itself more than just a strong start. And it comes at a time of great need for the program.

The loss of Abbey Forbes to North Carolina and Bolton to the pro tour left UCLA with a young and thin roster going into 2022-2023, and the singles decline of Vagramov – the only senior projected to be in the starting lineup this season – didn’t offer much more promise. Forbes and Bolton were the Bruins’ No. 1 and No. 2 singles options, respectively, and represented the last remaining parts of a core that took the blue and gold to the Elite Eight in 2021.

Former freshman phenom Kimmi Hance appeared to be the face of the future after going a combined 24-2 across all dual-match play last season, but she’s since come down to Earth after a promotion from No. 4 to No. 2 singles. Her No. 12-ranked tandem with sophomore Elise Wagle has produced a respectable 8-3 dual-match record on the doubles side, but alone, she’s 5-6 in 2023 after winning 12 consecutive dual-singles matches to wrap up last season.

The other half of UCLA’s 2022 recruiting class in freshman Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer, a former No. 3 recruit, also offered reason for excitement this season, but her 4-6 singles mark – including three losses in her last four completed contests – has dropped her to No. 6 in the lineup.

As a whole, UCLA’s win total since 2022 has yet to match its 22 wins from 2021, more than doubling its loss total from that season in the same timeframe. Though it was enough to reach the NCAA team tournament last season, the Bruins made their earliest exit since 2017.

There’s a very real possibility that, should the Bruins continue to trend in their current direction, they miss out on the tournament entirely for the first time this century.

The key to avoiding that fate may very well be whether Tian can continue to successfully spearhead the singles front, clutching up when needed, as she has done time and again so far as a Bruin. Having someone like her that provides a near-guaranteed point every time your team takes the courts makes all the difference once quality opponents become a regularity in May.

Tian has provided consistency in a tumultuous time, an uncommon role for a freshman to find themselves in, but precisely what UCLA needs right now. Should she remain hot, she may find herself in the top 10 – becoming the first Bruin newcomer to achieve the feat since Ena Shibahara in 2017.

That part remains a question mark, but there should be no doubt about one thing.

Tian is a revelation, and a timely one at that.