Jan. 19, 2013

Thousand Oaks, Calif. - The UCLA men's tennis team is guaranteed to have at least one representitive in Monday's singles final at the Sherwood Collegiate Cup, as the Bruins sent three players to the semifinals on Saturday at the beautiful Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Saturday's quarterfinals featured four players from UCLA and four from USC, all facing off against each other. UCLA's Marcos Giron, the tournament's No. 2 seed, booked his spot in the semifinals with a 6-2, 7-6(1) win over USC's Eric Johnson. Also victorious on Saturday were Dennis Novikov, a 6-4, 6-4 winner over USC's Roberto Quiroz, and Adrien Puget, who beat USC's Yannick Hanfmann, 6-1, 6-2. The only USC victory was posted by top-seeded Ray Sarmiento, who was a 7-5, 6-4 winner over Bruin sophomore Dennis Mkrtichian.

Giron faces Puget in the bottom half of the draw, while Novikov and Sarmiento square off in the top half of the draw. Both matches are at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday.

In doubles, Giron and Novikov won a pair of matches to reach Sunday's semifinals, where three other USC teams are still alive in that draw. Giron and Novikov are in action against USC's Max De Vroome and Quiroz tomorrow at 10:30 a.m.

Complete results from Saturday's action are below.

Singles Main Draw Quarterfinals (Saturday, Jan. 19)
Ray Sarmiento (USC) def. Dennis Mkrtchian (UCLA) 7-5, 6-4
Dennis Novikov (UCLA) def. Roberto Quiroz (USC) 6-4, 6-4
Adrien Puget (UCLA) def. Yannick Hanfmann (USC) 6-1, 6-2
Marcos Giron (UCLA) def. Eric Johnson (USC) 6-2, 7-6(1)

Singles Consolation (Saturday, Jan. 19)
Mate Zsiga (Baylor) def. Ryoto Tachi (UCLA) 6-1, 6-3 (Quarterfinals)
Dennis Lin (Stanford) def. Seth Stolar (UCLA) 6-3, 6-3
Mads Engsted (California) def. Karue Sell (UCLA) 6-1, 6-4
Wyatt Houghton (California) def. Alex Brigham (UCLA) 6-3, 7-5

Doubles Main Draw Rd. of 16 (Saturday, Jan. 19)
Alex Brigham/Dennis Mkrtchian (UCLA) def. Marko Krickovic/Tony Lupieri (Baylor) 8-7(5)
Adrien Puget/Karue Sell (UCLA) def. Matt Kandath/John Morrissey (Stanford) 8-7(5)
Marcos Giron/Dennis Novikov (UCLA) def. Daniel Ho/Dennis Lin (Stanford) 8-2
Max De Vroome/Roberto Quiroz (USC) def. Seth Stolar/Ryoto Tachi (UCLA) 8-1

Doubles Main Draw Quarterfinals (Saturday, Jan. 19)
Yannick Hanfmann/Ray Sarmiento (USC) def. Alex Brigham/Dennis Mkrtchian (UCLA) 8-3
Marcos Giron/Dennis Novikov (UCLA) def. Michael Grant/Jonny Wang (USC) 8-4

Doubles Consolation (Saturday, Jan. 19)
Nikhil Jayashankar/Jack Sanford (California) def. Seth Stolar/Ryoto Tachi (UCLA) 8-4