LOS ANGELES — Persevering through seven tiebreak singles sets and three three-set matches, the #25 Pepperdine men's tennis team outlasted UCLA 4-2 for the program's first win at the Los Angeles Tennis Center since 2006 on Sunday afternoon.

This time, the moment belonged to Linus Carlsson Halldin. Playing against UCLA's #63 Emon van Loben Sels, the #25 Waves' senior captain battled back from trailing 4-1 in the second set to eventually clinch the win with his 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (3) victory on court three. After winning the doubles point, the Waves (6-4, 1-0 West Coast Conference) got straight-set wins from Edward Winter and Lasse Poertner to set up Carlsson Halldin's heroics.

Calling Sunday's match close would be an understatement. Seven singles sets were decided in tiebreaks and three matches went to third sets.

In fact, the only one-sided result happened in doubles play. The Waves set the tone early with a quick 6-1 win from Carlsson Halldin and Maxi Homberg at the second position to give Pepperdine an early advantage.

One court over, Pepperdine's freshman duo of Aleksa Pisaric and Poertner came through once again to clinch the doubles point. Their match was played on serve until the Waves won a late break point in the ninth game. Up 5-4, Poertner served out the match in the final game to cap off the Waves' 6-4 victory over Gianluca Ballotta and Giacomo Revelli.

UCLA, however, woke up to start singles play. The Bruins won four first sets in singles and tied the score with a straight-set win on court two. The hosts continued to make a push on the back courts, where they picked up another straight-set win on court four.

Trailing 2-1, Pepperdine countered by tacking on two singles wins in the span of 10 minutes to tie the score. On court one, Winter battled back in the second set with a big 6-0 win to push his match to a third set. The third set was all Winter, who went up a break early and didn't look back in his 4-6, 6-0, 6-2 win over #49 Rudy Quan.

Shortly thereafter, Poertner held off  Aadarsh Tripathi in not one, but two tiebreak sets in his straight-set 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) victory. After Tripathi held serve in the final game to send the second set to a tiebreak, Poertner eventually prevailed and won the match when Tripathi couldn't handle a backhand return from the Pepperdine freshman.

Leading 3-2, Pepperdine nearly had a chance to clinch on court six, where David Fix and Gianluca Ballotta battled in not one, but two tiebreak sets. Ballotta ended up winning the second set 7-6 (3), which bought the Bruins more time as the teams fought through third sets on both remaining matches.

Carlsson Halldin and van Loben Sels didn't give each other an inch in the third set. Fending off Carlsson Halldin in the sixth game, the UCLA redshirt sophomore held on deuce point to keep the match on serve, then van Loben Sels eventually went up a break midway through the third set. But Carlsson Halldin didn't waver, breaking back to put the match on serve and eventually force another tiebreak set.

In the tiebreak, Carlsson Halldin took an early 2-0 lead, but van Loben Sels won three straight points to take a lead. His lead was short-lived. Clutch serving from Carlsson Halldin and a forehand winner at 4-3 gave the Pepperdine captain the lead at the changeover. 

From that point forward, Carlsson Halldin controlled the match. He rattled off two more points off long rallies to go up 5-3, then he used two forehands to set up a backhand winner at 6-3.

Match point ended up being the longest point of the tiebreaker. Carlsson Halldin used a pair of forehands to set up a backhand before hitting one more forehand to van Loben Sels. When van Loben Sels' return went wide, Carlsson Halldin fell to the court and the celebration commenced.

RESULTS

Singles 

1. Edward Winter (PEPP) def. #49 Rudy Quan (UCLA) 4-6, 6-0, 6-2
2. Kaylan Bigun (UCLA) def. #32 Maxi Homberg (PEPP) 6-2, 6-3
3. Linus Carlsson Halldin (PEPP) def. #63 Emon van Loben Sels (UCLA) 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (3)
4. Alexander Hoogmartens (UCLA) def. Aleksa Pisaric (PEPP) 7-6 (3), 6-4
5. Lasse Poertner (PEPP) def. Aadarsh Tripathi (UCLA) 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5)
6. Gianluca Ballotta (UCLA) vs. David Fix (PEPP) 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3), 5-4, unfinished

Order of finish: 2,4,1,5,3

Doubles
1. Alexander Hoogmartens/Emon van Loben Sels (UCLA) vs. Edward Winter/Hugh Winter (PEPP) 4-4, unfinished
2. #51 Linus Carlsson Halldin/Maxi Homberg (PEPP) def. Rudy Quan/Aadarsh Tripathi (UCLA) 6-1
3. Aleksa Pisaric/Lasse Poertner (PEPP) def. Gianluca Ballotta/Giacomo Revelli (UCLA) 6-4

Order of finish: 2,3*