The UCLA men’s tennis team, ranked 16th nationally, faced a close defeat against No. 3 Stanford with a final score of 4-2 at the Arrillaga Tennis Center – Taube Pavilion on Saturday. The match concluded with a tight second-set tiebreaker on Court 1.
Stanford’s Samir Banerjee secured the win for his team in the deciding match, finishing with a 15-13 tiebreaker in the second set. The Bruins managed to claim the doubles point after Gianluca Ballotta and Emon van Loben Sels won their match on Court 3, followed by Spencer Johnson and Aadarsh Tripathi winning a tiebreaker on Court 1.
In singles play, UCLA’s Cassius Chinlund added another point for the Bruins with a straight-set victory over Mark Krupkin on Court 6. After Stanford’s Alex Razeghi evened the overall score by defeating Aadarsh Tripathi on Court 5, Chinlund’s win put UCLA ahead briefly at 2-1.
Stanford responded with consecutive straight-set wins from Hudson Rivera and Jagger Leach to take its first lead of the day. On Court 2, Rudy Quan of UCLA was two games away from victory when play remained unfinished as Banerjee clinched the deciding point for Stanford against Johnson.
UCLA will next face No. 23 California at Hellman Tennis Complex on Sunday, with first serve scheduled for 1:30 p.m. PT.
Singles results included Samir Banerjee (Stanford) defeating Spencer Johnson (UCLA) in two sets and Cassius Chinlund (UCLA) overcoming Mark Krupkin (Stanford). In doubles competition, Johnson and Tripathi won their match for UCLA after Ballotta and van Loben Sels had given them an early advantage.
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