University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
Michigan State
Bruins Suffer 4-2 Big Ten Tourney Loss to Top-Seed Michigan State
April 24, 2026 | Men's Tennis
Unlike the previous meeting between the two teams in East Lansing in March (also a 4-2 MSU win), UCLA (17-7) was able to grab the doubles point on Friday with wins at Courts 2 and 3. After Spencer Johnson and Bengt Reinhard took a 6-3 win at the No. 2 spot, the point was clinched at the No. 3 position, where Gianluca Ballotta and Emon van Loben Sels downed the Spartan duo of Danial Rakhmatullayev and Aristotelis Thanos, 6-4.
Unfortunately for the Bruins, Michigan State (17-8) recovered from the doubles setback and came out strong in singles action, taking first sets on four of six courts. In fact, the Spartans would quickly tie the match at 1-1 after 57th-ranked Ozan Baris posted a 6-2, 6-2 win over van Loben Sels at Court 3.
Another straight-set Michigan State win would soon follow at Court 2, where 15th-ranked Matthew Forbes downed No. 87 Rudy Quan, 6-3, 6-4.
Bruin senior Aadarsh Tripathi gave the Bruins some hope at Court 4, downing Rakhmatullayev, 6-3, 6-4.
At the point of Tripathi's victory, three matches remained and all were extremely close. The Spartans, however, would go ahead 3-2 in the match, when the 33rd-ranked Thanos edged No. 52 Johnson, 6-3, 7-5 at Court 1.
From there, all attention turned to the bottom two courts, where UCLA's Andy Nguyen and Cassius Chinlund were playing. Chinlund was early in a third set at Court 6, however Michigan State would get the clinching victory right next door, where Taym Alazmeh downed Nguyen, 6-3, 7-6(1) to send the Spartans into tomorrow's Big Ten Final.
April 24, 2026
Big Ten Tournament Semifinals
(5) UCLA vs. (1) Michigan State
Doubles
1. Nguyen/Tripathi (UCLA) vs. Baris/Forbes (MSU) - 4-5 Susp.
2. Johnson/Bengt Reinhard (UCLA) def. Alazmeh/Sheldon (MSU) - 6-3
3. Gianluca Ballotta/van Loben Sels (UCLA) def. Rakhmatullayev/Thanos (MSU) - 6-4
UCLA Wins Doubles Point | Order of Finish: 2, 3
Singles
1. (33) Aristotelis Thanos (MSU) def. (52) Spencer Johnson (UCLA) - 6-3, 7-5
2. (15) Matthew Forbes (MSU) def. (87) Rudy Quan (UCLA) - 6-3, 6-4
3. (57) Ozan Baris (MSU) def. (36) Emon van Loben Sels (UCLA) - 6-2, 6-2
4. Aadarsh Tripathi (UCLA) def. Danial Rakhmatullayev (MSU) - 6-3, 6-4
5. Taym Alazmeh (MSU) def. Andy Nguyen (UCLA) - 6-3, 7-6(1)
6. Cassius Chinlund (UCLA) vs. Mitchell Sheldon (MSU) - 6-3, 4-6, 1-1 Susp.
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 4, 1, 5
Players Mentioned
