The Bruins are still in the fight for the Pac-12 title.
No. 1 seed UCLA men’s tennis (24-2, 8-0 Pac-12) and No. 2 seed UCLA women’s tennis (19-4, 9-1) both began play in the Pac-12 championships Thursday after earning byes in the opening round. The men’s team swept No. 9 seed Arizona (16-15, 0-8) and the women defeated No. 7 seed Oregon (15-9, 5-5) 4-3.
The Bruin men quickly took the doubles point to open their quarterfinal match against the Wildcats. Senior Martin Redlicki and sophomore Evan Zhu won 6-1 on court one and junior Maxime Cressy and freshman Bryce Pereira followed with another 6-1 victory on court three to clinch the point.
In singles, UCLA won all its first sets over Arizona.
Freshman Keegan Smith put the Bruins up 2-0 with a win on court two over Arizona’s Aaro Pollanen, dropping only one game in his 6-0, 6-1 victory.
Redlicki followed with a 6-2, 6-2 straight-set win over the Wildcats’ Igor Karpovets on court one and senior Logan Staggs completed the sweep with a fourth straight-set victory against Alejandro Reguant on court two.
The women also started their match with a doubles win over the Ducks. Junior Gabby Andrews and junior Ayan Broomfield grabbed a quick 6-1 victory on court two. Junior Alaina Miller and sophomore Ena Shibahara clinched the point with a win on court three.
UCLA had a slower start in singles, winning only half of its first sets.
After taking the opening set 6-4, Shibahara gave the Bruins a 2-0 lead with a straight-set win on court one over Oregon’s Alyssa Tobita.
But the Ducks didn’t let down.
Shweta Sangwan defeated redshirt sophomore Jada Hart 6-3, 6-1 on court two and Julia Lilien took down senior Terri Fleming 6-4, 7-5 on court three to even the match at 2-2.
After a 6-2 win in the first set, Miller narrowly defeated Paiton Wagner 7-5 in the second set on court six to regain the lead for UCLA – but it didn’t last long.
Daniela Nasser defeated freshman Abi Altick on court four, leaving the match up to Broomfield on court five.
Broomfield secured a close first set 7-5 over Julia Eshet and took the second 6-4 to clinch the win for the Bruins.
UCLA men’s and women’s tennis will both advance to the semifinals on Friday. The men will face No. 4 seed Oregon as the women take on No. 3 seed Arizona State.