Yuta Kikuchi Opens NCAA Singles

MTEN5/21/2023 2:23 PM | By: Cal Athletics

BERKELEY – Yuta Kikuchi embarks on his final campaign as a member of the California men’s tennis team this week, when the Golden Bear veteran competes in the NCAA Singles Championship at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida. Kikuchi – who’s ranked 27th in the latest ITA poll – faces TCU’s 21st-ranked Jake Fearnley in the opening round of 64 on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. EDT/1:30 p.m. PDT.
 
Live scores are available by clicking here. Cracked Rackets will broadcast matches via its YouTube channel, which can be accessed here. Fans can also keep track of Kikuchi through the team’s Twitter account @CalMensTennis.
 
The Yahaba, Japan, product completed the team tennis portion of his career in the second round of the NCAA Championship on May 7, when 29th-ranked Cal fell to seventh-ranked Michigan, 4-0 (see below).
 
This marks the first appearance in the postseason singles tournament for Kikuchi (16-9), who played in the NCAA Doubles Championship in 2019, when he reached the round of 16 with Jacob Brumm, and 2022, when he advanced to the round of 16 with Carl Emil Overbeck.
 
Bears End Season In Second round
The 29th-ranked Cal Golden Bears defeated No. 34 LSU, 4-1, in the NCAA Championship opener May 6 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with Lucas Magnaudet clinching the victory. But the Bears’ run in the team tournament came to an end in a 4-0 loss to seventh-ranked Michigan on May 7.
 
Against the Tigers, both of Kikuchi’s matches – at court-one doubles with Carl Emil Overbeck and later at court-one singles – went unfinished. Magnaudet eventually beat George Stoupe, 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, to wrap up the Bears’ win.
 
In the round of 32 vs. the Wolverines, Kikuchi and Overbeck’s doubles match was abandoned. In his final singles match in a team event, Kikuchi fell to Michigan’s eighth-ranked Ondrej Styler – who’s the eighth seed in NCAA singles – 6-2, 6-1.
 
Kikuchi Named To All-Pac-12 First Team
Yuta Kikuchi was named to the All-Pac-12 First Team on May 4. This is his third All-Pac-12 honor, as he collected second-team recognition in 2022 and in 2019, when he was also named the Pac-12 Freshman/Newcomer of the Year and the ITA Northwest Region Rookie of the Year.
 
Kikuchi was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week on April 11, after he led the Bears to conference victories over No. 28 UCLA, 4-0, and No. 10 USC,4-3, in the last regular-season home matches of his career.
 
Scouting…