Pro Bears Keep Busy In 2023

Cal alum Ben McLachlan played in the Australian Open in January and in a Davis Cup playoff in February.

MTEN2/15/2023 3:08 PM | By: Cal Athletics

BERKELEY – Andre Goransson and Ben McLachlan are among several former members of the California men’s tennis program who have played at the highest levels of the professional ranks – including in the Australian Open and Davis Cup – in recent weeks.
 
Former Golden Bear teammates and occasional doubles partners McLachlan and Goransson teamed with other players in the Australian Open in January. Goransson, a Swede ranked 63rd in the ATP doubles poll, partnered with Denmark’s Marc-Andrea Huesler to beat France’s Quentin Halys and Adrian Mannarino, 6-4, 6-4, in the first round. The Scandinavians lost to John Peers (Australia) and Andreas Mies (Germany), 6-4, 7-6(5), in the second round.
 
McLachlan – coached by his brother and fellow Cal alum Riki McLachlan and by former Cal assistant coach Lan Bale – played alongside Yoshihito Nishioka in Melbourne. The Japanese duo beat Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Bernabe Zapata Miralles, 6-4, 6-1, in the first round, before falling to Marcelo Arevalo (El Salvador) and Jean Julien-Rojer (the Netherlands), 7-6(3), 6-4, in the second round.
 
More recently, McLachlan – ranked 79th in doubles – and Goransson teamed up in the Dallas Open, an ATP 250 tournament. The fourth-seeded duo defeated Radu Albot and Jordan Thompson, 6-3, 4-6, 10-4, in the round of 16 and then beat William Blumberg and Miomir Kecmanovic, 3-6, 6-3, 10-4, in the quarterfinal round. But the Cal alumni lost to eventual champions Jaime Murry and Michael Venus, 6-3, 6-2, in the Feb. 11 semifinals.
 
Most recently – on Wednesday – Goransson teamed with Portugal’s Nuno Borges to beat third-seeded Americans Jackson Withrow and Nathaniel Lammons, 6-3, 3-6, 10-6, in the round of 16 of the Delray Beach Open in Florida.
 
From Feb. 3-4 in Stockholm, Goransson joined Filip Bergevi, another former Cal teammate, for Sweden’s Davis Cup qualifier vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina. Goransson and Elias Ymer fell in doubles to Mirza Basic and Tomislav Brkic, 6-4, 6-2, but the Swedes won the overall contest, 3-1, to advance to the Davis Cup finals in November.
 
Also in early February, McLachlan led Japan to a 4-0…