Maxime Cressy took out the No. 1 seed, but he wasn’t able to take out USC’s top returning player.
In the semifinals of the Southern California Intercollegiate Championships, the sophomore fell 6-3, 6-4 to senior Nick Crystal who split time at No. 1 and No. 2 singles for USC last year.
Cressy got a signature win, however, when he defeated USC’s Logan Smith – the top seed – in straight sets in the second round.
[Related: UCLA faces off versus USC for the third straight year in ITA Southwest Regionals]
“For me, tennis is 80 percent mental, and you gotta keep having faith and having confidence in your game,” Cressy said. “You have to prepared for anything and I prepared so well for this tournament and every single day I did the same thing. I did the same routine even if I lost or if I won. What made me successful last week was I just kept believing in my game and the results started showing up.”
The Frenchman played singles in only one dual match last season, but coach Billy Martin has already seen a significant difference in his approach.
“He had a very impressive win over Logan Smith earlier in the week and he played a good match against Crystal, who played No. 1 and No. 2 singles for USC last year,” Martin said. “But really, the whole fall that he’s been back, I’ve seen great improvement from last year. He worked very hard this summer and he’s worked hard on a few of his weaknesses and I can see they’ve really improved.”
Another Bruin who made a run in singles was freshman Ben Goldberg. Although he lost in his first round main draw match to UCSB’s Chase Masciorini in straight sets, Goldberg rebounded to defeat UCSD’s Justin Zhang in straights and USC’s Jake DeVine in three sets.
“I’ve always been good at bouncing back,” Goldberg said. “I really used the first-round loss as a good fuel for the consolation and that helped me play a lot better. I don’t want to say I played angry out there but I played with a chip on my shoulder.”
Sixth-seeded junior Austin Rapp fell in the second round to USC’s Riley Smith in three sets, while sophomore Daniel Gealer won two qualifying matches and then lost in the first rounds of the main draw and the consolation bracket.
On the doubles side, both Bruin teams’ runs stopped in the quarterfinals. The fourth-seeded duo of Cressy and Rapp were upset by Loyola Marymount’s Luke Bohuslav and Ryan Brown 8-5. Gealer and Goldberg, on the other hand, lost to Texas Tech’s top-seeded pair of Alex Sendegeya and Bjorn Thomson 8-4.
Although then-senior Karue Sell’s championship run last year wasn’t replicated, Martin said he gained confidence in his younger players, especially Gealer.
“If and when I need them to step in and play for us, I’m gonna be a lot more confident and I think they will too,” Martin said. “I feel that they are getting to that point where they can compete against not just schools, but some of the better schools. Danny, being one of our harder workers, he’s always so physically fit. He’s lacked a little bit of confidence after last year with the injuries he’s had, but I think he’s starting to get that back.”
The Bruins will continue play with senior Gage Brymer heading to New York for the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships starting Thursday, while the next tournament on UCLA’s schedule is the Jack Kramer Club Invitational starting Thursday, Nov. 10.