Men’s tennis concluded the fall tournament season last weekend. Here are updates on all three Bruin competitors:
Next Challenger
Mackie McDonald didn’t take any downtime after the Knoxville Challenger Nov. 11.
Instead, the junior headed to Champaign, Illinois, for another event on the ATP World Tour.
McDonald had to go through three rounds of the qualifying draw before reaching the main bracket, defeating No. 359 Joshua Milton of Great Britain 6-4, 6-4 to push him into the main draw.
On Tuesday, McDonald beat wild card entry Jared Hiltzik 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 in the first round and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Challenger set to take place Wednesday.
Hiltzik is on the NCAA team for University of Illinois and is the No. 12 college singles player in the nation. McDonald is currently ranked No. 3. This is his fourth Challenger of the fall season.
Back from New York
Sophomore Martin Redlicki had a short run during the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship in New York, losing in the first round to No. 17 Austin Smith of Georgia 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-2, and then losing in the opening round of the consolation draw to No. 23 Dovydas Sakinis of Dartmouth 6-1, 6-4.
Although his tournament run had a quick ending, making the tournament remains important for his rankings. He is No. 57 in the nation, and the National Indoors is generally considered the top 32 college singles players in the country, so his ranking could jump in January.
Redlicki is expected to play either No. 2 or No. 3 singles for the Bruins when the dual-match season starts.
Kramer Classic
In Palos Verdes, the rest of the Bruins were competing in the Jack Kramer Classic.
Junior Gage Brymer made his first tournament appearance of the fall, reaching the quarterfinals of the tournament before falling to Thibault Forget of USC 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
Redshirt senior Ryoto Tachi, junior Joe Di Giulio and freshman Maxime Cressy were only able to make it through the second round of the tournament.
In doubles, UCLA’s new pairing of Cressy and Brymer made it to the round of eight but fell to USC pair of Jake DeVine and Forget. The doubles team of senior Karue Sell and Di Giulio fell in the semifinals to Hunter Johnson and Yates Johnson of SMU.
Compiled by Korbin Placet, Bruin Sports senior staff.