Cal Opens Season With Battle In The Bay Qualifier

John Kim and the Bears host the qualifying tournament for the Battle in the Bay Classic in San Francisco.

MTEN9/13/2023 5:35 PM | By: Cal Athletics

BERKELEY – The California men’s tennis team opens the 2023-24 season when the Golden Bears host the Battle in the Bay Qualifier from Friday through Sunday at the Hellman Tennis Complex and the Channing Tennis Courts. Student-athletes will seek to qualify in singles and doubles for the upcoming Battle in the Bay Classic through the tournament at Cal.
 
Admission to the Battle in the Bay Qualifier is free. The Battle in the Bay Classic will be held from Sept. 20-24 at the California Tennis Club in San Francisco.
 
Fans can follow the matches in Berkeley through the Cal livestream by clicking here.
 
The following teams will send players to vie with the Bears in the qualifier: Arizona State, UC Davis, Hawaii, Nevada, Pacific, Saint Mary’s and San Francisco. Please check back here closer to the tournament for the link to the draws and the official webpage.
 
Last Year’s Battle In The Bay Classic
Lucas Magnaudet reached the singles final of the 2022 Battle in the Bay Qualifier on Sept. 17 to advance to the Battle in the Bay Classic, as the qualifying tournament came to a close in Berkeley. The event had been scheduled to conclude on Sept. 18, but officials ended the tournament early due to rain.
 
Magnaudet defeated UNLV’s sixth-seeded Maxim Verboven, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, in the quarterfinals and beat Stanford’s seventh-seeded Neel Rajesh, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3, in the semifinals. James Watt of Saint Mary’s, the other singles finalist, also advanced to the Battle in the Bay Classic.
 
In doubles, the Gaels’ Watt and Thibaud Maxant advanced from the qualifier to play in San Francisco.
 
Scouting the Bears

• The Bears finished the 2022-23 dual-match season with a No. 27 ranking and a 13-11 record, including a 4-4 mark in the Pac-12 Conference
• Cal defeated LSU, 4-1, in the NCAA Championship first round last spring, with Lucas Magnaudet clinching the victory
• The season ended for the Cal team with a 4-0 loss at No. 7 Michigan in the NCAA second round
• Yuta Kikuchi completed his stellar Cal career with a loss in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Singles Championship
• During the 2022-23 regular season, Cal highlights included…