LOS ANGELES – The UCLA men’s tennis team began its three-match week with a 4-3 victory against Yale Monday afternoon at Los Angeles Tennis Center.
Gianluca Ballotta earned his third clinching win of the season for the Bruins (7-3), securing the deciding point for a 4-2 advantage before the remaining contest was completed. Also victorious for UCLA were Stefan Leustian, Aadarsh Tripathi and Patrick Zahraj. The Bulldogs (7-4) picked up the doubles point and got singles wins from Vignesh Gogineni and Michael Sun.
Theo Dean and Aidan Reilly prevailed in a 6-1 result versus Tripathi and Giacomo Revelli on the second doubles court, giving Yale the advantage in doubles play. Zahraj and Timothy Li held a match point on Court 1, but were unable to finish after Sun and Eric Li dispatched of Jeffrey Fradkin and Stefan Leustian by a 6-3 margin on Court 3.
Four first sets went the way of the Bruins in singles play, including a 6-0 showing by Leustian on Court 6. He tacked on a 7-5 second after seizing the final three games from Walker Oberg, winning his first singles decision of the dual-match campaign. Tripathi followed with a 7-5, 6-4 defeat of Luke Neal on Court 3, giving UCLA its first lead of the day.
Gogineni outlasted Revelli on Court 2, logging a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 decision that knotted the score at 2-2. Zahraj answered emphatically for the Bruins, though, taking six of seven third-set games opposite Dean on the top court. Zahraj’s 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 victory improved his 2023 dual-match singles record to 7-1.
Ballotta was pushed to the edge by Reilly in both sets on Court 5, but fended off the Bulldog for a 7-6(3), 7-5 sealing win. Three of Ballotta’s four victories have come in clinching fashion. He is 4-1 in dual matches.
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His 7-6(3), 7-5 win makes it 4-2, with Court 4 still to finish.#GoBruins pic.twitter.com/7hqgyOYSPs
— UCLA Men’s Tennis (@uclatennis) March 13, 2023
A marathon final contest between Sun and UCLA’s Azuma Visaya went to a 10-point, third-set tiebreaker. Visaya recovered from a lost first set to take the second by way of tiebreaker, but Sun ultimately edged him out in a 7-5, 6-7(7), 1-0(12) result.
The Bruins continue their homestand Thursday at 2 p.m. PT, when they welcome No. 11 Columbia to LATC. A home meeting with Oklahoma State follows…
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