By Greg Schain
Daily Bruin Reporter
Despite early round losses, the team is not too down on
itself.
Good news and bad news came out of the preseason ITA
All-American Championship for the UCLA men’s tennis team.
The good news is that they currently field one of the strongest
doubles teams in college tennis. The tandem of junior
Jean-Julien Rojer and sophomore Marcin Matkowski stormed through
the 16-team main draw, which consisted of top teams from all around
the country. They beat juniors Scott Lipsky and David Martin of
Stanford, 8-5, to claim the title on Sunday. Also, sophomore Tobias
Clemens and junior Lassi Ketola reached the quarterfinals of the
main draw before being ousted by the Stanford team.
“It might make them the No. 1 team in the country in the
doubles ranking,” head coach Billy Martin said. “And it
establishes them as one of the premiere teams in the
country.”
The bad news is that the singles players flopped in the main
draw. The fifth-seeded Rojer was upset by South Alabama senior
Kosta Zonchanka, 6-2, 6-2. Zonchanka would eventually advance
to the finals before losing.
Also getting knocked out early were Clemens and Ketola. The two
roommates were forced to face each other in the first round.
Clemens won the match, 6-3, 7-6 (4), before falling to Daniel
Klementz of Middle Tennessee in the second round.
Despite the early round losses, the team is not too down on
itself.
“We’re not disappointed in the singles
results,” said junior Erfan Djahangiri, a projected singles
and doubles starter on this year’s squad.
 “We’ve only practiced for 10 days, and the other
schools started a month ago.”
One reason for the unexpected losses is that a lot of the
players played on clay courts this summer and are still trying to
get used to the feel of the hard courts.
“It takes time to adjust,” Djahangiri said.
“But slowly, it’s coming.”
Martin isn’t too worried either.
“Losses never bother me this time of year,” he
said. “I think it’s a good kick in the pants to
let the players know we have to start working and raise our level
of play.”