ATHENS, Ga. “”mdash; Tobias Clemens did it again.
This time he sent the No. 5 UCLA men’s tennis team (24-3)
to the semifinals of the NCAA tournament, winning the clinching
match over Hamid Mirzadeh of No. 3 Florida to give his team a 4-1
victory at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex at the University of
Georgia.
The victory, however, was much closer than the final score
indicated, and to appreciate the magnitude of Clemens’ win,
one must go back to the match’s beginning.
UCLA came out and won the doubles point with solid wins from
Marcin Matkowski and Rodrigo Grilli at No. 1 and Clemens and Lassi
Ketola at No. 2.
Matkowski and Grilli beat Mirzadeh and Chris McDonald, the No.
16 doubles team in the country, 8-4, while Clemens and Ketola
downed Eleazar Magallan and Olivier Levant, ranked No. 35, 8-2.
“I was really, really happy with No. 1 and No. 2
doubles,” head coach Billy Martin said. “No. 2 probably
played their best match of the year.”
Singles proved to be a battle from start to finish. Grilli was
the first Bruin done, but his result wasn’t what the team had
envisioned. He lost to Troy Hahn, 6-2, 6-2.
Senior co-captain Erfan Djahangiri was the first Bruin to win,
as he defeated Matt Behrmann 6-1, 7-5 at the No. 5 position.
“I can’t dream of doing better,” Djahangiri
said. “We’re in the semis, playing great. I’m
just very happy.”
Chris Lam finished next for the Bruins, defeating Olivier Levant
6-4, 6-4 at the No. 4 position. Lam’s win gave the Bruins a
3-1 lead, putting the team one win away from a spot in the
semifinals.
But that final point proved quite elusive.
At No. 6 singles, Matkowski was deadlocked with Janne Holmia,
forcing two match points in a second-set tiebreaker, but he
couldn’t close the door.
It was déjà vu all over again at No. 6 singles, as
Ketola couldn’t capitalize on either of his match points in
his second-set tiebreaker with Eleazar Magallan.
Unthinkably, the attention of everyone shifted to Clemens on
court No. 1, as he was pulling off the unthinkable.
Clemens, ranked No. 5 in the nation, played a terrible first set
and lost, 6-3. As the rest of the match progressed, the
Clemens-Mirzadeh game was the last one to capture the crowd’s
attention.
“I was 100 percent sure that I would not be the one who
clinches the match,” Clemens said. “I thought I would
either go down because I was playing so terrible, or one of the
other guys would clinch it before I started my third
set.”
Well, he didn’t go down because he was playing so
terrible, and no one else was able to clinch the match.
After losing his serve twice, Clemens won the second set, 7-5,
and moved to the third set with momentum.
“After playing terrible, I was very comfortable in the
third set,” he said.
He broke No. 15 Mirzadeh early, and was serving for the match at
5-3. It was 15-15 in the game when something strange happened.
Mother Nature stopped cooperating.
After threatening to open throughout the course of the entire
match, the skies finally burst at its most crucial point. The three
matches that were still on the courts had to pack it in and head to
the indoor courts.
“I wasn’t worried about moving indoors,”
Clemens said. “I’m undefeated indoors in my college
career.”
If there ever were a moment to worry, it came when Mirzadeh
ripped a forehand winner on the first indoor point to go up
30-15.
“I don’t know,” Clemens said. “The guy
hit an unbelievable shot, and then the next point we had to play a
rally. I was lucky that the guy missed, and then I came up with two
very good points and finished off the match.”
The Bruin faithful erupted, and UCLA moved on to the semifinals
for the second straight year.
Last year the Bruins were defeated by Georgia, 4-2.
They will take on No. 6 Vanderbilt (26-3) at 12 p.m. ET today.
Vanderbilt upset No. 3 Baylor in another quarterfinal match.
“They’ve certainly been playing strong toward the
end of the year,” Martin said of the Commodores.
Perhaps Vanderbilt’s greatest asset is its fantastic play
at the top of the lineup. Chad Harris, No. 16 in the country, will
take on No. 24 Matkowski at No. 2, and in one of the most highly
anticipated matches of the season, Clemens will battle Bobby
Reynolds, the country’s No. 1 player.
“I’m excited,” Clemens said.
“You’re always looking to play against the best, and
I’m playing against the best player in college tennis. Maybe
I can surprise him.”
UCLA beat Oklahoma State 4-0 on Saturday to move to the
quarterfinals. Now UCLA moves one step closer to the national
championship that has eluded the team since 1984.
“Two down, two to go,” Clemens said.