STANFORD, Calif. — No. 3 Stanford continued its perfect start to the season, earning four singles wins to dispel the No. 14 UCLA Bruins at Arrillaga Tennis Center-Taube Pavilion on Saturday afternoon, 4-2.
With the win, the Cardinal has won 29 consecutive matchups on The Farm heading into tomorrow’s weekend finale.
Stanford (5-0, 0-0 ACC) started the duel on the backfoot with the visiting Bruins having taken the doubles point. Stanford’s pairing of Nico Godsick and Alex Razeghi made quick work of the opposition at the No. 2 doubles slot, taking a 6-1 win. However, UCLA punched back with a 6-4 win over Mark Krupkin and Jagger Leach at No. 3 doubles before taking the one-point advantage in a tiebreaker as Stanford’s Alex Chang and Hudson Rivera fell to UCLA’s Spencer Johnson and Aadarsh Tripathi 7-6 (4).
Needing four singles points to win the Saturday duel, the Cardinal earned wins up and down the lineup starting with Jagger Leach’s fourth win of the season at the No. 5 slot. Leach was clinical in his second set to nab a 6-4, 6-1 win over Tripathi to level the scoreline and remain a perfect 4-0 to start the spring.
UCLA, however, rattled back with a win on court six as Mark Krupkin fell to UCLA’s Cassius Chinland 7-5, 6-4. However, the Cardinal stormed back with multiple wins in the middle courts with Hudson Rivera and Alex Razeghi leading the charge. Razeghi snatched a 6-4, 6-3 win over UCLA’s Andy Nguyen just before Rivera put Stanford on the brink of victory with a 6-3, 6-4 decision over UCLA’s Emon van Loben Sels.
Looking to secure the win, Stanford found it at the top of the order with Samir Banerjee earning his second win at the No. 1 slot this season in a thriller on court one over UCLA’s Spencer Johnson. Banerjee, who won the first set 6-3, went the distance in the second set, clinching the win for Stanford with a 15-13 tiebreak win to continue the perfect start for the Cardinal this spring.
Elsewhere, Stanford’s No. 67 Alex Chang was battling a tough match on court two against Rudy Quan that the visitor was leading 7-6 (6), 5-5, in a match that went unfinished.
Stanford is back in action to wrap up the weekend on Sunday, February 1, welcoming No. 22 USC to The Farm for a duel slated for noon as the Cardinal looks to complete a weekend sweep for the second-consecutive year over its foes from Southern California.
No. 4 Stanford def. No. 13 UCLA, 4-2
DOUBLES
1) Johnson /Tripathi (UCLA) def. Rivera/Chang (STAN) 7-6 (4)
2) Godsick/Razeghi (STAN) def. Nguyen/Quan (UCLA) 6-1
3) Ballotta/van Loben Sels (UCLA) def. Krupkin/Leach (STAN) 6-4
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1
SINGLES
1) Samir Banerjee (STAN) def. Spencer Johnson (UCLA) 6-3, 7-6 (13)
2) No. 67 Alex Chang (STAN) vs. Rudy Quan (UCLA) 6-7 (6), 5-5
3) Hudson Rivera (STAN) def. Emon van Loben Sels (UCLA) 6-3, 6-4
4) Jagger Leach (STAN) def. Andy Nguyen (UCLA) 6-4, 6-3
5) Alex Razeghi (STAN) def. Aadarsh Tripathi (UCLA) 6-4, 6-1
6) Cassius Chinland (UCLA) def. Mark Krupkin (STAN) 7-5, 6-4
Order of Finish: 5, 6, 4, 3, 1