UCLA
Stanford
Men's Tennis Falls To Stanford, 4-3
April 07, 2000 | Men's Tennis
April 7, 2000
STANFORD, Calif. --- Stanford freshman David Martin (Key Biscayne, FL/Boca Raton Prep HS) outlasted Lassi Ketola (Helsinki, Finland/Kappylan Iltaoppikoulu HS) 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 at No. 5 singles to clinch fourth-ranked Stanford's 4-3 upset over top-ranked UCLA on Friday afternoon at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium. The Cardinal is now 2-0 against the Bruins this season, including a 4-3 win in the finals of the National Team Indoor Championships on Feb. 27 in Louisville, Kentucky.
After losing the first set, Martin rebounded to win the first five games of the second set and then jumped out to a 4-2 lead in the third set before holding on for the win. The win not only clinched the team victory, but avenged Martin's 6-4, 7-5 defeat to Ketola at the National Team Indoors. The Cardinal also received straight set victories from third-ranked Alex Kim (Potomac, MD/Winston Churchill HS) at No. 1 singles and ninth-ranked Geoff Abrams (Newport Beach, CA/Newport Harbor HS) at No. 2.
UCLA received straight set wins from 78th-ranked Jean-Julien Rojer (Curacao, Netherlands-Antilles/All-Star Academy) at No. 4 singles and 94th-ranked Erfan Djahangiri (Pully, Switzerland/Gymnase Cantonal HS) at No. 6. And in a battle of players that were at the top of the ITA rankings before early season injuries, UCLA's Jean-Noel Grinda (Nice, France/Parc Imperial HS) defeated K.J. Hippensteel (Roanoke, VA/International Academy) 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 at No. 3. Hippensteel, who entered the winter ranked No. 1 in the nation, was playing his first singles match since rupturing his spleen during a second round contest at the National Collegiate Tennis Classic on Jan. 14. Grinda opened the year ranked third in the country in singles, but did not compete in the fall because of a shoulder injury.
Earlier in the day, Stanford clinched the doubles point thanks to a come-from-behind win from juniors Ali Ansari (Houston, TX/Second Baptist HS) and Scotty Scott (Belvedere, CA/Pinewood HS) at No. 3. Ansari and Scott trailed Ketola and Travis Rettenmaier (Camarillo, CA/Laurel Springs HS) 7-6, but came back to win the final three games, including a break at 7-7, to win 9-7. The Cardinal's other win came at No. 1 doubles where the ITA's top-ranked duo of Abrams and Kim won the final seven games to post an impressive 8-1 win over fourth-ranked Brandon Kramer (Reno, NV/Reno HS) and Jong-Min Lee (Melbourne, Australia/UC Santa Barbara).
#4 Stanford 4, #1 UCLA 3
Singles
No. 1 - #3 Alex Kim (S) d. #26 Jong-Min Lee 6-4, 7-6
No. 2 - #9 Geoff Abrams (S) d. #36 Brandon Kramer 6-1, 7-5
No. 3 - Jean-Noel Grinda (U) d. K.J. Hippensteel, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1
No. 4 - #78 Jean-Julien Rojer (U) d. #97 Scotty Scott, 6-2, 6-0
No. 5 - David Martin (S) d. Lassi Ketola 6-7, 6-3, 6-4
No. 6 - #94 Erfan Djahangiri (U) d. Ali Ansari, 6-4, 6-4
Doubles
No. 1 - #1 Geoff Abrams/Alex Kim (S) d. #4 Brandon Kramer/Jong-Min Lee, 8-1
No. 2 - Jean-Noel Grinda/Jean-Julien Rojer (U) d. K.J. Hippensteel/David Martin, 8-5
No. 3 - Ali Ansari/Scotty Scott (S) d. Lassi Ketola/Travis Rettenmaier, 9-7
(Stanford wins doubles point)
Records - #1 UCLA 16-3 overall (3-1 Pac-10), #4 Stanford 16-0 (4-0).
