For the second straight year, UCLA men’s tennis claimed the singles crown at the USTA/ITA Southwest Regional Championship.
Sophomore Martin Redlicki, the No. 4 seed, downed unseeded Logan Smith of USC 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the championship round Monday afternoon to defend a tournament title earned by junior Mackie McDonald in 2014.
“I’m really proud with the way I competed every match,” Redlicki said. “I stepped up my game when I had to and mentally getting over some obstacles that – I mean, in the semis was probably the hardest mental test of my life.”
In that semifinal match, Redlicki faced No. 2 seed Nick Crystal, also of USC.
It was a three-set ordeal in which Crystal fought off three second-set match points to force a third set. Crystal, however wasn’t able to keep up the momentum, allowing Redlicki to cruise in the third set and finish off a 7-6 (5), 6-7(6), 6-1 victory.
“He is looking very sharp even though we are only two or three weeks into our season,” said coach Billy Martin.
Just a day after his three-set semifinal match, Redlicki was once again pushed to three sets in the final. Smith broke Redlicki multiple times to win the first set 6-3.
“In the first set, I realized and the coaches helped me realize that he was feeding off my pace – a lot. So in the second set, I slowed it down and I started mixing up the rhythm – like some slices, some high balls and then some fast ones too,” Redlicki said. “Just keeping him on his toes with the rhythm of the play and that really seemed to get under his skin. He started making a lot more mistakes and I also started playing better.”
Redlicki took the second set 6-2 and closed out the match with a 6-4 win in the third for his first singles title as a Bruin.
With the win, Redlicki earned a spot in the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship, the second-most prestigious tournament of the school year, behind only the NCAA Tournament in May.
Redlicki said the wins over Crystal and Smith, two of USC’s top players, improved his confidence heading into the dual-match season.
“Both Logan and Nick are guys that are probably going to play top (spots) in the lineup,” Redlicki said. “So having two wins over those guys this week really tells me I can – I mean ‘SC is one of the best tennis programs in the country, so it just gives me the confidence that I can compete and play with anybody in college tennis.”
Last Saturday, the No. 4-seeded doubles team of senior Karue Sell and junior Joe Di Giulio advanced all the way to the semifinals of the tournament, only to be upset by unseeded Pedro Iamachkine and Lautaro Pane of Pepperdine.
“I am really disappointed with our finish. I really wanted to win this tournament,” Sell said. “We had set points to win the first set and I think if we win that first set then we win the match.”
Sell and Di Giulio lost the first set in a close tie-breaker and could not maintain the same level of play in the second, losing the match 7-6(5), 6-0.
The Bruins will host the Southern California Intercollegiate Championship beginning Oct. 28.