LOS ANGELES, California – The #19 Pepperdine men's tennis program opened its 2023 season on Saturday afternoon, narrowly falling to UCLA 4-3 at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
Doubles took nearly an hour and was neck-and-neck throughout. UCLA (2-0) claimed a quick victory on court one, but Pepperdine (0-1) would not go away.
Pietro Fellin (Milan, Italy) and
Eric Hadigian (Sacramento, Calif.) pulled away for a 6-3 win on court three to make court two the decider.
Maxi Homberg (Freising, Germany) and
Eero Vasa (Turku, Finland) fought off several match points, but fell in a tiebreak to give UCLA an early 1-0 lead heading into singles play.
In singles, UCLA took the ranked matchup on court one to open up a 2-0 lead, but Pepperdine countered after #94
Tim Zeitvogel (Baden-Baden, Germany) took down #89 Giacomo Revelli 6-3, 6-4 on court two. UCLA kept the pressure on, however, winning a straight-set match on court three.
Pepperdine kept battling down 3-1, as Homberg earned his first collegiate dual win with an impressive 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over Aadarsh Tripathi to keep the Waves in it. With two courts remaining, and Pepperdine needing a pair of wins,
Robert Shelton (Lancaster, Penn.) raced out to a lead in the third set on court six, but UCLA put the match away with a straight-set win on court five. Timothy Li subsequently retired on court six, giving Shelton a 6-7 (8), 7-5, 4-0 (ret.) victory.
RESULTS
DOUBLES
Revelli/Zahraj def. #34
De Jonge/Zeitvogel 6-1
Hoogmartens/Li def.
Homberg/Vasa 7-6 (8)
Fellin/Hadigian def. Fradkin/Tripathi 6-3
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
SINGLES
#83 Hoogmartens def. #31
De Jonge 6-1, 6-3
#94
Zeitvogel def. #89 Revelli 6-3, 6-4
Zahraj def.
Vasa 7-6 (2), 6-4
Homberg def. Tripathi 4-6, 6-4, 6-1
Visaya def.
Fellin 7-6, 6-2
Shelton def. Li 6-7 (8), 7-5, 4-0 (ret.)
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5*, 6
NEXT UP: Pepperdine will stay on the road, traveling to Palo Alto, California, for the ITA Kick-Off Weekend hosted by Stanford. The Waves will face Texas A&M on Sunday, January 29 at 10 a.m.
FOLLOW: Follow @PeppTennis on Facebook and Twitter for immediate updates, results and more. Go to pepperdinewaves.com for all information, releases and schedules.
