Three straight years.
That’s how many times a UCLA Bruin and a USC Trojan have faced off in the men’s singles final of the ITA Southwest Regional Championship.
And for the third time in a row, the Bruin beat the Trojan.
Senior Gage Brymer defeated USC junior Thibault Forget 6-1, 7-6(3) Monday afternoon to clinch his spot in next month’s USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships.
Brymer – who won each of his six matches in straight sets – dominated the first set against Forget, breaking the Trojan twice en route to winning it in less than 40 minutes. The second set, on the other hand, was a back-and-forth affair. Both players held serve and traded a break before Forget was up 6-5 with three set points. Brymer then saved each of them to knot the set at six apiece, and he clinched the tiebreaker with a service winner.
In the semifinals, Brymer knocked off another Trojan, third-seeded sophomore Logan Smith, in straight sets. Junior Martin Redlicki and Forget comprised the other semifinal match – Redlicki won the first set 6-3 but dropped the next two, ending his chance at back-to-back titles .
[Related: Redlicki rallies from a set down to win the Southwest Regionals]
UCLA almost pulled off the singles and doubles sweep, but the fifth-seeded pair of senior Joe Di Giulio and junior Austin Rapp fell 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (11-9) to UCSB’s Simon Freund and Morgan Mays.
The Bruins will travel to USC for the Southern California Intercollegiate Championships starting Thursday.
UCLA women’s tennis finishes play in San Diego
In the women’s Southwest Regional Championship, three of four Bruins reached the round of 16 in singles and both doubles teams reached the round of 16 in doubles.
The crosstown rivalry reared its head again as redshirt freshman Jada Hart upset No. 88 Madison Westby of USC 6-2, 6-4. Hart’s run halted, however, in the quarterfinals as she fell to the Trojans’ No. 97 Jessica Failla in straight sets. Failla also defeated sophomore Alaina Miller in the round of 16.
Junior Terri Fleming lost in the same round by a score of 6-4, 7-5 to Pepperdine’s Ashley Lahey. Junior Kristin Wiley was the other Bruin competing in singles, but she bowed out in the round of 64 to Arizona senior and No. 37 Lauren Marker.
In doubles play, Hart and freshman Ena Shibahara – the 2016 U.S. Open Girls’ Doubles champions – fell in the quarterfinals to the No. 19 Pepperdine duo of Christine Maddox and Mayar Ahmed. Fleming and Miller lost in the round of 16 to USC’s Failla and Rianna Valdes.
[Related: Incoming freshmen rise to first place in Junior Grand Slam ]
Shibahara will be UCLA women’s tennis’ lone representative at the National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships beginning Nov. 3 in New York.