Tripathi, Bruins Log Strong ITA Regionals Showings

MALIBU, Calif. – The UCLA men’s tennis team continued fall action at Pepperdine’s Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center, home of the ITA Southwest Regional Championships. Seven Bruins competed up the coast from their Los Angeles campus, with Aadarsh Tripathi posting the best individual performance.

Tripathi made the singles quarterfinal round, advancing past teammate Gianluca Ballotta in the fourth round by way of walkover. Five UCLA student-athletes in total made the singles third round, with Spencer Johnson, Jorge Plans Gonzalez and Emon van Loben Sels also reaching the stage. Azuma Visaya also picked up a singles win, while Timothy Li was victorious in doubles play.

Johnson played three three-set singles matches, downing Inaki Cabrera-Bello of Arizona and Robin Parts of San Diego State before bowing out against No. 63 Wojtek Marek of USC.

Also getting their starts in the Round of 128 were Visaya, who beat UC San Diego’s Tristan Taylor 6-1, 6-2, and Tripathi. Tripathi would collect each of his wins in straight sets, including a 6-3, 6-3 decision over USC’s Lodewijk Westrate to qualify for the fourth round and date with teammate Ballotta. Tripathi’s run ended at the hands of No. 61 Pablo Masjuan of UC Santa Barbara in a 6-4, 6-3 result.

Ballotta was not able to participate in the all-Bruin fourth-round showdown, but the sophomore from Lima, Peru still made his presence felt at the event. After downing UC San Diego’s Carson Lee in straight sets, Ballotta overcame No. 50 Gustaf Strom of Arizona 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Van Loben Sels knocked off SDSU’s Alexander Mandma 6-4, 6-1. Top-seeded Peter Makk of USC, ranked No. 22 in the nation, would advance past Loben Sels 6-4, 7-5. Plans Gonzalez, who also had a first-round bye, got past UCSD’s Liam Spiers 6-2, 6-1 before being stopped one round later.

In the doubles draw, the team of Johnson and Li triumphed over Aaron Eliscu and Wian Roothman of Cal Poly 8-2. The Bruins fell to Arizona State’s Constantinos Koshis and Daniel Phillips in an 8-7(8) thriller one round later. The tandems of Ballotta/Plans Gonzalez and van Loben Sels/Visaya were beaten in the first round.

 

ITA Southwest Regional Championships

10/19-10/23/2023 at Malibu, CA (Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center)