MALIBU, California – The Pepperdine men's tennis program played and won a pair of matches on Saturday, beginning West Coast Conference action with a 4-0 sweep of LMU before
Eero Vasa clinched the Waves' 4-3 win over #28 California to wrap up non-conference play.
In the night cap, Vasa (Turku, Finland) took down Derrick Chen 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 on court three to claim a critical ranked victory for Pepperdine.
To open against Cal (9-5), Pepperdine (8-7) took a close doubles point. #58 De Jonge and Zeitvogel earned a 6-3 win on the top court, and after a Cal victory on court two, the court three duo of
Linus Carlsson Halldin (Stockholm, Sweden) and
Pietro Fellin (Milan, Italy) won a 7-6 (1) decision to send Pepperdine into singles with a 1-0 lead.
In singles, Pepperdine won four first sets. #62 De Jonge dominated #120 Ryder Jackson on court two, doubling the lead with a 6-4, 6-1 win. Cal then responded with a pair of straight-set wins on courts one and six to tie the match up at two.
After Cal took a three-set bout on court four, Pepperdine needed a pair of wins on courts three and five to win the match. Homberg won a pair of tiebreaks to earn a hard-fought 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) win on court five over Phillip Hjorth, setting the stage for Vasa to clinch Pepperdine's win.
Against LMU (7-6, 0-1 WCC), Pepperdine (7-7, 1-0 WCC) once again took the doubles point with wins on court one by #58
Daniel De Jonge (Vlissingen, Netherlands) and
Tim Zeitvogel (Baden-Baden, Germany) and on court two by
Maxi Homberg (Freising, Germany) and
Eero Vasa (Turku, Finland).
The Waves continued to blitz LMU in singles, winning five first sets – three in shutout fashion. #79 Zeitvogel was the first winner in singles, defeating Arthur Pantino 6-0, 6-2 on the top court. #62 De Jonge followed suit, winning his 50th career singles match with a 6-0, 6-1 defeat of Yassine Smiej on court two. To finish off the sweep, Vasa took down Emin Torlic 6-3, 6-1 on court three.
LMU RESULTS
DOUBLES
#58
De Jonge/Zeitvogel def. Di Giulio/Otico 6-3
Homberg/Vasa def. Pantino/Torlic 6-4
Ranaivo/Smiej def.
Carlsson Halldin/Fellin 6-3
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
SINGLES
#79
Zeitvogel def. Pantino 6-0, 6-2
#62
De Jonge def. Smiej 6-0, 6-1
Vasa def. Torlic 6-3, 6-1
Fellin vs. Otico 7-5, unfinished
Homberg vs. Ranaivo 5-7, 2-0 unfinished
Shelton vs. Parra 6-0, 4-2 unfinished
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3*
CAL RESULTS
DOUBLES
#58
De Jonge/Zeitvogel def. Banthia/Overbeck 6-3
#64 Jackson/Magnaudet def.
Homberg/Vasa 7-5
Carlsson Halldin/Fellin def. Hjorth/Kikuchi 7-6 (1)
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3
SINGLES
#46 Kikuchi def. #79
Zeitvogel 6-4, 6-2
#62
De Jonge def. #120 Jackson 6-4, 6-1
Vasa def. Chen 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
Overbeck def.
Fellin 2-6, 6-0, 6-3
Homberg def. Hjorth 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5)
Magnaudet def.
Carlsson Halldin 6-4, 6-3
Order of finish: 2, 1, 6, 4, 5, 3*
NEXT UP: Pepperdine stays home next weekend, continuing WCC play against Pacific on Friday, March 31 at 2 p.m.
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