The UCLA women’s tennis team, ranked sixth nationally, lost its Big Ten Conference opener to Wisconsin in a close 4-3 match at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison. The Bruins came into the contest on a four-match winning streak.
The deciding point came from Court 6, where Kaede Usui of Wisconsin defeated Olivia Center in three sets. UCLA had dropped the doubles point early but managed to take a 2-1 lead during singles play. Wisconsin responded with two singles wins before Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer of UCLA beat the nation’s 17th-ranked player, Maria Sholokhova, forcing the match to come down to the final court.
Wisconsin secured the doubles point by winning two matches with identical 6-1 scores. On Court 3, Rangan and Kája Jacobson defeated Kayla Chung and Mayu Crossley. Usui and Maria Sholokhova clinched the point for Wisconsin by overcoming Lutkemeyer and Ahmani Guichard on Court 2.
UCLA started strong in singles by winning four first sets. Ahmani Guichard was first off the court with her team-high eleventh singles win since tournament play began, beating Kája Jacobson 6-1, 6-3 on Court 5. Shortly after, Bianca Fernandez improved her dual singles record to 6-1 by defeating Ellison Reynoldson with an identical scoreline on Court 4.
Wisconsin then regained momentum as Tianna Rangan beat Kate Fakih (6-3, 6-2) on Court 3 and Ekaterina Ivanova ended Mayu Crossley’s five-match winning streak (6-2, 6-4) in a matchup between top-60 players on Court 2.
Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer continued her run at the top of UCLA’s lineup with a straight-set victory over No.17 Sholokhova (6-4, 7-6(4)), extending her own winning streak against ranked opponents to four matches.
On Court 6, after three consecutive service breaks at the start of the third set, Usui held serve and maintained her advantage for a comeback win over Center (1-6, 6-3, 6-3), securing Wisconsin’s overall victory.
UCLA will look to even its conference record when it faces Minnesota this Sunday at Baseline Tennis Center. The match is scheduled for a morning start at 10 a.m. PT.
