It’s that time of year again! College tennis is back and this weekend definitely did not disappoint. There were several extremely high-level tournaments throughout the nation. Let’s recap some of the action.

Battle in the Bay Classic

The premier tournament of the weekend was the Battle in the Bay Classic in San Francisco. With main draw wildcards into the Tiburon and Stockton Challengers on the line, some of the biggest names in college tennis brought their skills to the Bay. Those players included Wake Forest’s defending NCAA Champion Petros Chrysochos, USC’s Brandon Holt, TCU’s Alex Rybakov, Stanford’s Axel Geller, Texas’ Harrison Scott, and Georgia’s Jan Zielinski and Emil Reinberg.

Holt captured the main draw wildcard to Tiburon via a 10-point tiebreak shootout amongst the main draw semifinalists on Saturday night. Because the Tiburon main draw was being made on Saturday night, they decide to have the semi-finalists play 10-point tiebreakers in tournament format with the last one standing earning the wildcard. More tennis, more fun am I right?

Holt was not as fortunate on Sunday. Rybakov came back from a set down to take out Holt by a score of 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. The TCU Senior then went on to defeat Zielinski in the final 6-3, 6-4 to earn the Stockton wildcard.

#TCUTennis is continuing to hoist those 🏆! Senior Alex Rybakov went 5-0 over the weekend & claimed the singles crown at the Battle in the Bay Classic!#GoFrogs pic.twitter.com/t0f7d8QIfB — TCU Men’s Tennis (@TCUMensTennis) September 24, 2018

Zielinski definitely did not leave the Bay without making a name for himself, though. The Dawg upset the defending NCAA champion in the semifinal via a 7-5, 6-4 battle. He also teamed up with teammate Robert Loeb to win the doubles title by defeating Texas’ Harrison Scott and Colin Markes 8-6. Not a bad week for Georgia.

What a week for the Bulldogs! Georgia brings home multiple titles in San Francisco and South Carolina. Read more ➡️ https://t.co/X0dMccYgow pic.twitter.com/uTDBwGTaLX — Georgia Tennis 🎾 (@UGAtennis) September 23, 2018

Oracle ITA Masters in Malibu

The USC Trojans fared a bit better in their native part of California, playing at the Oracle ITA Masters in Malibu. Laurens Verboven earned the title and along with it a main draw berth into the ITA Fall Nationals. The USC senior definitely earned this trophy. He had to battle through 3-setters all week including a grueling 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 triumph in the final over UCSB’s Nicolas Moreno de Alboran. While Verboven earned the trophy, Alboran and the rest of his Gaucho squad earned some big wins on the weekend. I would keep my eye on the Gauchos come this spring.

👏👏👏👏 Men’s Champion!!!! Laurens Verboven (@USCMensTennis) claims the title with a fierce battle again Moreno de Alboran of UCSB. #OracleITAMasters pic.twitter.com/NOKyuJxFya — ITA Tennis (@ITA_Tennis) September 23, 2018

UVA Masters (Charlottesville, VA)

The 1st annual UVA Masters also brought some top talent to Charlottesville over the weekend. The pull factor for these top players? A qualifying wildcard into the Charlottesville Challenger. The draw featured some of the nation’s top freshmen, including Florida’s Sam Riffice and Lukas Grief, Wake’s Melios Efstathiou, Notre Dame’s Axel Nefve, and Virginia’s Ryan Goetz.

Some of college tennis’ experienced veterans also made the trip to Charlottesville including Missippi State’s Gio Oradini, Florida’s Oliver Crawford and Johannes Ingildsen, and Notre Dame’s Alex Lebedev. UVA’s own Gianni Ross had a nice run on home soil, making it to the semifinals before falling to the eventual champion, Oliver Crawford. Crawford only dropped one set all week and defeated Ingildsen in the final by a score of 6-4, 6-1.

WATCH OUT CHARLOTTESVILLE, CRAW WILL BE BACK! 🏆🏆 Your UVA Masters Singles Draw 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻…from Spartanburg, South Carolina…sophomore 𝘖𝘓𝘐𝘝𝘌𝘙. 𝘊𝘙𝘈𝘞𝘍𝘖𝘙𝘋!!! #GatorWayBestWay 🐊🎾 pic.twitter.com/32qjqmKRoG — Gators Men’s Tennis (@GatorsMTN) September 23, 2018

Notre Dame’s Richard Ciamarra had a notable weekend. He took out Florida’s Sam Riffice and Wake’s Efstathiou en route to a semifinal showing. Look for Ciamarra, Lebedev, and Nefve to anchor the Fighting Irish’s singles lineup come the dual match season.

The Milwaukee Tennis Classic

The Milwaukee Tennis Classic also featured a main draw wildcard into the ITA Fall Nationals on the line. Many of the top singles seeds fell early. Alabama’s Patrick Kaukovalta earned the singles title, defeating Virginia Tech’s Henrik Korsgaard 7-6, 6-1 in the final.

Last but not least, shout out to Cal’s Can Kaya and Paul Barretto for earning the doubles title in Milwaukee via an 8-3 defeat of Tennessee’s Luca Wiedenmann and Preston Touliatos.

🏆🏆🏆

Congrats to Can and Paul for winning the @MilwaukeeTC over Tennessee 8-3 in the final!#GoBears #TitleTown pic.twitter.com/3VSRcbqBX2 — Cal Men’s Tennis (@CalMensTennis) September 23, 2018

College tennis will be back in action next weekend, highlighted by the All-American tournament in Tulsa.