Men’s tennis starts new year with Pac-10 rivals in Westlake

After a break from match play for nearly two months, the No. 4 UCLA men’s tennis team showed signs of rust in its first trip back to the court.

The Bruins got their 2009 season underway this past weekend, competing in the ninth annual Sherwood Collegiate Cup, an individual event held in Westlake Village.

This weekend’s competition, in addition to being the first tournament since November for the Bruins, also served as something of a Pac-10 preview. Competing against UCLA in the Sherwood Cup were Pac-10 rivals California, Stanford and USC, who are ranked No. 25, No. 12 and No. 6 respectively in the preseason top 25.

The Bruins, despite a shaky beginning to their fall season, had been able to gain some momentum toward the end of the calendar year. Coach Billy Martin, although not entirely pleased with the results from this past weekend, said he is optimistic about his team being able to get back on track.

“I thought we had some good results and some ones that I really wasn’t too pleased about, but I somewhat expected that,” said Martin. “That’s why we try to get this tournament in before our first dual match. We try to get a little match-play experience.”

UCLA competed in both singles and doubles events over the weekend, with junior Matt Brooklyn serving as the standout performer for the highly-ranked Bruins.

“Matt definitely had the best tournament for us,” said Coach Martin. “He had three really good wins and looked very sharp, and I was very encouraged by that.”

In singles action, Brooklyn advanced to Sunday’s semifinals before being defeated by USC’s No. 1 player, Robert Farah, 7-5, 6-2. On the doubles side, Brooklyn, along with sophomore Holden Seguso, once again advanced to the tournament’s semifinal rounds, but the duo was ousted by USC’s Farah and Steve Johnson, 8-5.

“I felt that I didn’t play too well in the fall, so for me to get a few good wins right before the season started, I felt good about that,” said Brooklyn. “But at the same time I’m still disappointed about the loss in the (semifinals) considering I beat the guy last year.”

Also representing the Bruins in the Sherwood Cup were senior Michael Look, junior Haythem Abid, and sophomore Amit Inbar.

Abid was narrowly defeated in his three-set first round match by Stanford’s Greg Hirshman. Both Look and Inbar advanced past the first round, but were defeated in their second round contests.

Consequently, both of Monday’s finals, singles and doubles, pit Stanford against USC, leaving the Bruins on the outside looking in at their Pac-10 foes.

The Bruins will have a chance to bounce back when they host Brigham Young this Thursday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. This will be the first dual-match of the season, kicking off at 1:30 p.m.

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