The UCLA men’s tennis team, ranked 15th nationally, achieved a 7-0 win over UNLV at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on Sunday. The match was scheduled last week and moved up by a day due to rain in the forecast.
UCLA improved its season record to 5-2, while UNLV dropped to 5-3. Key contributors for the Bruins included Gianluca Ballotta, Rudy Quan, and Emon van Loben Sels, each securing two victories. Van Loben Sels clinched the overall match for UCLA.
UNLV started strong in doubles as Arda Karakas and Illia Snitari defeated Spencer Johnson and Aadarsh Tripathi 6-1 on the top court. However, UCLA responded with wins from Rudy Quan and Bengt Reinhard (6-3) on Court 3, followed by Ballotta and van Loben Sels (6-4) on Court 2 to secure the doubles point.
In singles play, all six first sets went to UCLA. Andy Nguyen won his match against Michael Kouame decisively at 6-1, 6-0. No. 111-ranked Quan extended his personal winning streak with a straight-set victory over Marko Maksimovic (6-2, 6-2). No. 35 van Loben Sels delivered his seventh career clinching win by defeating Illia Maksymchuk (6-4, 6-1).
Ballotta needed a tiebreaker in his first set but overcame Taiyo Hirano with a final score of 7-6(5), 6-2. On Court 1, No.118 Spencer Johnson outlasted No.44 Ilia Snitari in a lengthy tiebreaker (6-3, 5-7, 1-0[13]), ending Snitari’s previous unbeaten run of fourteen dual singles matches.
Cassius Chinlund closed out the singles competition for UCLA with his fifth dual singles win of the season—a straight-set victory over Vitaliy Horovoy (6-4, 7-6[3]).
The Bruins’ next match is against USC at David X. Marks Tennis Stadium on Saturday, February 21 at 1 p.m.
Singles results:
1. #118 Spencer Johnson (UCLA) def. #44 Ilia Snitari (UNLV) – 6-3, 5-7, 1–0(15–13)
2. #111 Rudy Quan (UCLA) def. Marko Maksimovic (UNLV) – 6–2, 6–2
3. #35 Emon van Loben Sels (UCLA) def. Illia Maksymchuk (UNLV) – 6–4, 6–1
4. Andy Nguyen (UCLA) def. Michael Kouame (UNLV) – 6–1, 6–0
5. Cassius Chinlund (UCLA) def.Vitaliy Horovoy(UNLV)— 6–4; 7–6(7–3)
6.Gianluca Ballotta(UCLA)def.Taiyo Hirano(UNLV)— 7–6(7–5); 6–2
Doubles results:
1.Arda Karakas/Ilia Snitari(UNLV)def.Spencer Johnson/Aadarsh Tripathi(UCLA)— 6–1
2.Gianluca Ballotta/Emon van Loben Sels(UCLA)def.Marko Maksimovic/Illia Maksymchuk(UNLV)— 6–4
3.Rudy Quan/Bengt Reinhard(UCLA)def.Taiyo Hirano/Michael Kouame(UNLV)— 6–3
The order of finish was Doubles: courts one, three then two; Singles: courts four,two three,six one,five.
###
