No. 26 Cal Blanks No. 29 Miami In Latest ACC Win
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Derrick Chen improved his singles record to 14-7 when he clinched Cal’s win over 29th-ranked Miami.
BERKELEY – The 26th-ranked California men’s tennis team quickly dispatched 29th-ranked Miami in a 4-0 ACC victory Sunday afternoon to improve its record to 9-2 (2-2 ACC). Derrick Chen clinched the result with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Mehdi Sadaoui at a sunny Hellman Tennis Complex.
Miami has a record of 8-4 (2-2).
The Golden Bears quickly took charge of the match in doubles. Cal’s first-time doubles pair of Chen and Theo Dean claimed the first win of the day, beating Martin Katz and Antonio Prat 6-2 on court one. The Bears clinched the doubles point on court three, where Mikey Wright and Fryderyk Lechno-Wasiutynski topped Sadaoui and Jules Garot 6-1 to improve their record to 3-0.
Dean, ranked 36th, doubled the lead when he bested Prat 6-4, 6-3 at court-two singles, and sophomore Alex Aney made his season debut when he bested Garot 6-4, 6-2 on court six to give the Bears a 3-0 advantage. Chen soon completed his court-four match to improve his record to 14-7 and hand Cal the win.
The Bears have now captured two straight conference wins at home, including Friday’s 4-3 victory over No. 25 Florida State. Against Miami, Cal was without senior Carl Emil Overbeck – who is ranked sixth in the nation in singles and forms the 32nd-ranked doubles team with Dean – and without freshman Bernardo Munk Mesa.
“We were without Carlo and Berni was injured, and it was a chance for Alex Aney to step up in his first big match,” said Kris Kwinta, Cal’s Peter Wright Director of Men’s Tennis. “Missing Carlo is not easy, but we have a deep team, we have an experienced team, so I knew that we were going to be tough to beat regardless. The guys really stepped up. I was impressed. That was probably the most impressive match we’ve played all year to me – even in comparison to the UCLA and USC wins – in how we stepped up without our No. 1 guy, our leader.
“In doubles we took our shots, had great energy. In singles we established early leads and established control of the match. Maybe we had some shaky starts at courts five and six, but once the guys got going it was hard to stop us, and you could feel the momentum was on our side. Once we grasped that, we didn’t let go. We were in the lead or we controlled the lead. You love to see that.”
Cal continues its homestand Thursday when it hosts Louisville and ends the homestand Saturday when it hosts Notre Dame.
No. 26 California (9-2, 2-2 ACC) defeated No. 29 Miami 8-4 (2-2 ACC), 4-0
March 9, 2025, in Berkeley, Calif.
Hellman Tennis Complex
Doubles
1. Derrick Chen/Theo Dean (Cal) def. Martin Katz/Antonio Prat (Miami), 6-2
2. Alex Chang/Timofey Stepanov (Cal) vs. Nacho Serra Sanchez/Leonardo Dal Boni (Miami), 5-3 Unfinished
3. Fryderyk Lechno-Wasiutynski/Mikey Wright (Cal) def. Mehdi Sadaoui/Jules Garot (Miami), 6-1*
Order of Finish – 1, 3*
*Clinched the doubles point for Cal
Singles
1. No. 49 Alex Chang (Cal) vs. No. 42 Martin Katz (Miami), 7-5, 2-5 Unfinished
2. No. 36 Theo Dean (Cal) def. Antonio Prat (Miami), 6-4, 6-3
3. Nacho Serra Sanchez (Miami) vs. Timofey Stepanov (Cal), 6-2, 5-5 Unfinished
4. Derrick Chen (Cal) def. Mehdi Sadaoui (Miami), 6-3, 6-3^
5. Fryderyk Lechno-Wasiutynski (Cal) vs. Leonardo Dal Boni (Miami), 7-6(3), 5-0 Unfinished
6. Alex Aney (Cal) def. Jules Garot (Miami), 6-4, 6-2
Order of Finish – 2, 6, 4^
^Clinched the overall win for Cal
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