The Bruins and the Trojans’ crosstown rivalry came down to a winner-take-all singles match for the second time in just over a month.

And while the former dropped the schools’ last duel, Tuesday looked more promising for the Bruins.

UCLA men’s tennis (8-7, 6-1 Big Ten) entered this week’s rescheduled match after winning six contests in a row – outscoring their opponents by 30-1 in that stretch –while USC (11-6, 5-2) had dropped two of their last three.

After the two faced off Feb. 22, the Bruins entered a four-match skid and were off to their worst start to a season since at least 1981. Meanwhile, the Trojans had won two straight heading into Westwood.

But yet again, UCLA faltered in the third set of the deciding singles match, as senior Alexander Hoogmartens fell to Oscar Weightman 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 at David X. Marks Tennis Stadium.

“We came as close as you can without winning both times,” said coach Billy Martin.

UCLA entered the matchup after moving up 13 places in the ITA’s rankings since the postponement – going from No. 40 to No. 27 – after defeating then-No. 23 Illinois, Northwestern, Oregon and Washington.

Doubles action proved a competitive affair – with all three courts reaching 4-4.

Freshman Rudy Quan and junior Aadarsh Tripathi bested Volodymyr Iakubenko and Weightman 6-4 on court two to give UCLA the first doubles set.

“I love playing doubles with Rudy,” Tripathi said. “He has a very different type of energy and mentality that I don’t want to necessarily say I lack, but we’re kind of opposites, and it brings good out of each other.”

After senior Giacomo Revelli and Hoogmartens fell 7-5 to Tristan Bradley and Peter Makk on court one, junior Gianluca Ballotta and redshirt sophomore Emon van Loben Sels took down Matteo Morazzi and Nathan Trouve 7-6(6) to put UCLA ahead 1-0.

“I thought that it was going to be crucial for us to win that doubles point,” Martin said. “But obviously it wasn’t enough.”

The Trojans won three straight singles sets as Revelli fell to Karl Lee 6-2, 6-4, No. 34 Quan to No. 26 Makk 6-4, 6-4 and freshman Kaylan Bigun to Trouve 1-6, 6-0, 6-1 – giving the Bruins no room for error.

No. 84 van Loben Sels – who picked up his first Big Ten Player of the Week award Wednesday – put the Bruins back within one with a 7-6(4), 6-4 win over Iakubenko. He celebrated his victory with a racket mic drop directed toward the fans who had earlier cost USC a point deduction due to player harassment of UCLA.

“I just try to keep things simple and stick to the basics,” van Loben Sels said. “I don’t think I played even close to my best today, but I fought really hard and found a way.”

Then No. 118 Tripathi evened the scoreboard, topping Morazzi 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 before eyes turned to court four, where Hoogmartens faced Weightman in a third set.

“If I could have picked maybe one guy to want it to come down to, I would have picked him,” Martin said.

But confidence alone wasn’t enough for Hoogmartens to turn the tide, with Weightman capturing the rivalry’s first iteration that counted toward Big Ten records.

“We’ve lost matches, but they’ve all been relatively very close, so I don’t feel we’re too far away,” Martin said. “I’m hopeful we can turn things around and win some of those really close matches.”