Men’s tennis sweeps weekend play

The No. 4 UCLA men’s tennis team is off to a blazing start to begin 2009, having won their first four dual matches of the season.

They finished off the weekend with an impressive sweep of two tough squads, South Alabama and Fresno State, on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

The Bruins are now 4-0 on the season, and coach Billy Martin is optimistic about the way his team is playing as of late.

“I really feel that we looked a lot better this week than we did last week,” Martin said after Saturday’s win over the 40th-ranked Fresno State team. “I’m hoping the same for the following week and the week after.”

Martin is equally thrilled that his team is getting a chance to play against some stiff competition early in the season considering the Bruins have a difficult week ahead of them.

UCLA will play host to San Diego State this Wednesday and then travel to face No. 23 ranked Pepperdine next Saturday, which will be the Bruins’ first away match of the young season.

“(Fresno State) is a really good team and pretty physical,” Martin said.

“This is really what we need to get ready for some tough matches coming up this week.”

The Bruins coasted to a relatively easy victory over South Alabama on Friday, clinching the 4-0 victory and automatically suspending play on the three remaining courts.

In one doubles match, the team of junior Matt Brooklyn and sophomore Holden Seguso defeated freshmen Hanno Bartsch and Romain Bocaert, 8-0.

In singles play, sophomores Amit Inbar and Nick Meister posted impressive victories, winning their respective matches, 6-1, 6-0, and 6-0, 6-0.

Because they brought only five eligible players, the Jaguars started the day with a severe disadvantage. They were forced to default one singles and one doubles match, which did not help their cause, as the Bruins went on to secure the win.

On Saturday, against Fresno State, for the first time this season, UCLA dropped the doubles point. After the Bruins and Bulldogs each won one doubles match, it came down to a nail-biting finish between Brooklyn and Seguso and Fresno State’s freshman Remi Boutillier and sophomore Rikus de Villiers, in which the Bruins came up short.

But behind strong play from the entire Bruins squad, UCLA swept the Bulldogs off the court in singles action and won the dual-match, 4-1.

Inbar and Meister once again posted strong straight-set victories, along with junior Haythem Abid and senior Harel Srugo both posting 6-2, 6-3, straight-set victories in their respective matches.

“I thought the guys did a great job fighting for every match,” Abid said. “The good thing is some of us didn’t have a good day (Friday), and the other guys picked it up. It was the same thing today. We have a good team spirit and that helps us.”

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