ITF Futures Tournaments

As we start to move closer and closer to the school year the ITF Circuit makes its usual stop in Southern California. The Claremont Futures tournament was a good showing from the Bruins with Senior Warren Hardie going a round in qualifying, Sophomore Dennis Mkrtchian lost in the first round of qualifying, Sophomore Marcos Giron defeated teammate Clay Thompson in the final round of qualifying, RS Senior Alex Brigham earned a wildcard into the main draw, and fresh off his US Open run Sophomore Dennis Novikov earned a Wildcard but, fell to former Michigan Wolverine Jason Jung. The Claremont tournament currently has two former Bruin standouts still in the running for the championship, and it is only fitting that their two opponents are both former USC Trojans. Tomorrow’s semifinal matches will be Bruins Mohamed Abid and Daniel Kosakowski squaring off against Prakash Amritraj and Daniel Nguyen, respectively. 

The Costa Mesa Futures is also underway as of Friday. Marcos defeated Kyle Tucker 6-0, 6-0, as he only dropped one point the entire match due to a double fault. Dennis Novikov, who is seeded one in qualifying, defeated Brendan Mcclain 6-3, 6-1, Dennis Mkrtchian defeated Michael Grant 7-5, 5-7, 6-1. Sophomore Ryoto Tachi defeated Dimitry Mamedov 6-4, 7-6. Clay defeated Sunil Sipaeya 7-6, 7-5. The Bruins come out of the first rounds of qualifying in Costa Mesa without any losses. 

Good Luck to all bruins competing on Saturday (Including our football team against Houston)! 

GO BRUINS!

 

Novikov serves his way through to the second round!

Sophomore Dennis Novikov recorded his first grand slam main draw win today as he served up 25 aces to battle past Jerzy Janowicz of Poland. Novikov took control of the match early in the first set. In the second set the two dueled it out in a tiebreaker and Dennis needed a handful of set points, but eventually got the second set under his belt. As the second set began, Novikov seemed to find his rhythm on his service recording 11 aces to ease past many of his service games. He saw just a slight dip in the third set but eventually in the fourth set Novi was able to serve out the match with an ace. 6-2 7-6 3-6 6-3. A great performance backed by many bruin proud out there in Flushing Meadows! Novikov will play world number 35 Julien Benneteau, a veteran frenchman, in the second round. Benneteau defeated Oliver Rochus in straight sets earlier today to etch his name next to Novikov’s. In last year’s US Open Benneteau made it to the third round before eventually losing to American Andy Roddick. Looking for a good match between a young-gun in Novikov and a tour veteran in Benneteau!

Novikov will be teaming up with Blue Devil, Michael Redlicki on Wednesday in doubles against two former NCAA All-Americans. This team is as American and as experienced as it gets…Bobby Reynolds who played for Vanderbilt and Michael Russell who played for The University of Miami. This all American match also looks to have that similar veteran versus young-gun feel.  Together Reynolds and Russell have over 20 years of tour experience whereas Redlicki and Novikov are two collegiate players who are just getting a taste of what the pro tour is like.

Go Bruins!!

Check out the video of matchpoint on the UCLA twitter page!

Photo and video courtesy of our east coast voice Barry Goldenberg!!

DK moves on to the final round of qualifying at the open!

Nothing short of an epic match for DK yesterday. A saved match point and almost three hours later DK prevailed 9-7 in the third set tie breaker. The commentators said it very well,”the biggest tiebreaker of Daniel Kosakowski’s young career.” The commentators did call him “Danny” though…I feel that DK just sticks better! On a serious note,  today DK will take on Hiroki Moriya of Japan who is currently ranked 229 in the world. Moriya defeated American Wayne Odesnik and the US Open National Playoff Winner, Clement Reix, who recently defeated former bruin Nick Meister in the finals of the National Playoffs. Looking forward to seeing this match, two solid players who battled past seeded players only to meet today for one spot in the US Open main draw. We all know who I’m cheering on though!

If you don’t have CBS Sports to watch Daniel live make sure to follow score updates and possibly photos (from Barry!) on twitter @uclatennis. Below are some photos from yesterday found all over Facebook and Twitter.

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The cinderella story continues today on court 4!

BEST OF LUCK TO DK TODAY!

GO BRUINS!

It looks like full third set and pro set doubles is here to stay!

The NCAA comittee released a statement yesterday, August 22 that due to the concerns of many, they will not proceed on recommendations of playing a tiebreaker in lieu of a thrid set in singles and changing the doubles pro set to a normal 6 game set. The link can be found below.

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/NCAA/Resources/Latest+News/2012/August/DI+Tennis+Committee+reconsiders+tiebreaker+proposals

Great to see that the NCAA is listening to the voices of coaches, student athletes, and fans of college tennis. A great effort from Evan King, Bob van Overbeek, and all the student atheltes who participated in #savecollegetennis!

Draws are Out!

Dennis Novikov will be playing his first round match at the US Open against Jerzy Janowicz of Poland. Janowicz is also in his inagural apperance at the open. He did make a run to the third round at Wilmbledon this year and is currently ranked 87 in the world. He is also the second highest ranked Polish player behind Kubot.

Yesterday Daniel Kosakowski defeated Jesse Huta Galung of the Netherlands to claim his spot in the second round of qualifying. Despite a rain delay DK prevailed 6-4 6-2.

Daniel Kosakowski will be playing his 2nd round qualifying match later today at 5 PM (Eastern) against the number two seed Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia. Bedene is currently ranked 82 in the world. Bedene does very well on the clay courts with notable wins over big names such as Grigor Dimitrov and Michael Russell on clay. He also has notable wins on the hard courts, incluidng a tournament win in Wuhan, China last month. With a win today Daniel will only be one match away from joining Dennis Novikov in the Main Draw of singles at the US Open.

Wishing DK good luck today in his match!!

GO BRUINS!

Update:
DK advanced to the third round of qualifying after taking out the second seed Aljaz Bedene 6-3 3-6 7-6 in a thrilling tiebreak set!! Close match and great tennis throughout the entire match. Great to see former managers Barry Goldenberg and Daniel Vu in DK’s box! This puts DK only one match away from his first main draw appearance in a grand slam!

Meanwhile…Back In Westwood…

As summer camp inches closer and closer to an end, it can only mean one thing!

You guessed it! Uniform distribution day for the managers and new assistant coach Grant Chen! Unfortunately all the humidity in the cage just ruined the picture…

 

 

Here is a quick look at some of the practice shirts, running shoes, and new feathers that the guys will be wearing this season!  Many thanks to our apparel sponsor Adidas for always hooking up the clothing!

US Open Playoffs Update

Former captain Nick Meister fell just short in his journey to the US Open today. Nick was seeded second in the tournament and lost in the finals to Clement Reix of France 6-2 6-3. Reix was the number one seed for this tournament. 

Shout out to former manager Barry Goldenberg for this picture of Nick right before his match!  

Welcome!

Welcome to the blog for the UCLA Men’s Tennis Team! If you don’t know me my name is Raymond Ajoc and I am one of the team managers for the Bruins who runs around during matches with Grant, David, and Monica. With my feet finally wet and into the college tennis scene I wanted to continue the legacy of the blog left by former manager Barry Goldenberg. This blog, like Barry’s, will give an inside look at the UCLA Men’s Tennis squad. You will get an inside look as we practice, travel, compete, and all the things in-between. As a first time blogger I will assure you that the blogging will get better! I promise! Please “bear” with me! (Pun Intended)

Thank you, don’t forget to subscribe, and GO BRUINS!