UCLA
Baylor
No. 6 UCLA Edges No. 9 Baylor, 4-3 in Thrilling Encounter
February 06, 2011 | Men's Tennis
Feb. 6, 2011
Waco, Texas - In one of the best rivalries in all of college tennis, UCLA and Baylor played yet another epic match on Sunday, with the Bruins pulling out a thrilling 4-3 victory over the Bears at the Baylor Tennis Center.
With the score tied at 3-3, Sunday's match came down to court No. 4, where Clay Thompson defeated Baylor's Sergio Ramirez, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(8) to give UCLA the win. Thompson fought off a match point in that final tiebreaker to keep the Bruins undefeated on the season.
UCLA got off to a slow start in Sunday's match, as Baylor cruised to wins at all three doubles courts to take a 1-0 lead into singles play.
The Bruins, however, didn't let the setback in doubles affect them, as UCLA would go on to take the first set on five of six courts in singles play. Seniors Holden Seguso and Amit Inbar would actually give UCLA a 2-1 advantage following straight-set wins at court Nos. 6 and 2, respectively.
Although Baylor's Robert Maytin would tie things up following a three-set win over Maxime Tabatruong at court No. 3, things still looked good for the Bruins, who took a 3-2 lead when freshman Adrien Puget downed Kiki Grangeiro, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 at court No. 5. Puget was the only UCLA player to drop a first set on Sunday.
With UCLA now leading 3-2, Baylor's John Peers made things interesting, as he fought back for a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 victory over Daniel Kosakowski at court No. 1 to tie things up at 3-3.
All eyes then turned to court No. 4, where Thompson was up a break in the third set against Ramirez. After Ramirez tied the final set at 4-4, Thompson responded by breaking back to open up a 5-4 lead to serve for the match. Ramirez proceeded to break Thompson again to push it to five games apiece. The next two games resulted in another break for each player to force the match into a third-set tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, Ramirez had a match point up 6-5, however Thompson fought it off, eventually taking the tiebreaker 10-8 to give UCLA the 4-3 win.
Visit team manager Barry Goldenberg's blog for more information. It is located HERE
Next up for UCLA is a home match against Boise State on Feb. 13 at 1:00 p.m.
#6 UCLA 4, #9 Baylor 3
Feb 06, 2011 at Waco, TX (Baylor Tennis Center)
Baylor Wins Doubles Point
Doubles
1. #4 Maytin/Peers (Baylor) def. Inbar/Puget (UCLA) 8-3 2. Ramirez/Rux (Baylor) def. Alex Brigham/Seguso (UCLA) 8-5 3. Bley/Grangeiro (Baylor) def. Kosakowski/Thompson (UCLA) 8-6
Singles
1. #22 John Peers (Baylor) def. Daniel Kosakowski (UCLA) 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 2. #86 Amit Inbar (UCLA) def. Jordan Rux (Baylor) 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 3. Roberto Maytin (Baylor) def. #64 Maxime Tabatruong (UCLA) 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 4. Clay Thompson (UCLA) def. Sergio Ramirez (Baylor) 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(8) 5. Adrien Puget (UCLA) def. Kiki Grangeiro (Baylor) 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 6. Holden Seguso (UCLA) def. Julian Bley (Baylor) 6-3, 6-3
Match Notes
UCLA 6-0; National ranking #5 Baylor 2-2; National ranking #9 Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (6,2,3,5,1,4)
Players Mentioned
