WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Sophomore Nour Fathalla picked up the highest-ranked win of his career, downing No. 57 Spencer Johnson 7-6(6), 2-6, 6-3. Overall, the Purdue Boilermakers (4-7) suffered a 1-6 defeat to the No. 26 UCLA Bruins (8-3).
The hard-fought dual included four tiebreakers in the first frame (three of which went to 8-6 scores), with the Bruins taking the edge in three.
In singles, Fathalla picked up his first win of Big Ten play as the league’s opening-weekend wrapped up, improving his record to 5-5. Fathalla, coming off a pair of tiebreak heartbreakers against USC on Friday (6-7[4], 6-7[6]), restored his momentum with a win to open his match against No. 57 Spencer Johnson.
During Set 1 of singles play, three courts were decided in tiebreak fashion, including Fatalla’s comeback to win the opening frame vs. UCLA’s Johnson. Down 3-4, he went on to take the next three straight points for the 6-4 lead. Johnson returned the favor, tying it 6-6 before Fathalla took the next two points for the 8-6 win.
A true battle for the doubles point saw the entirety of the first and second position courts with either tied, or within one set score for the majority of the matches. The tandem of Fathalla and Villanger came back from 0-15 to win the set equalizer, 4-4. From there, the Bruins came back to take the 4-5 lead, then Purdue responded with a set point of their own. In the end, the match went abandoned as UCLA pulled ahead at the end for a 4-6 win vs. Jovic and Premzl.
It was the first time the two programs have met in West Lafayette, and the second time overall.
On deck, the Boilermakers will make their west coast trip, competing at Washington on Friday at 8 p.m. ET and Sunday at #58 Oregon beginning at 3 p.m. ET.
Doubles
- Spencer Johnson / Aadarsh Tripathi (UCLA) vs. Henrik Villanger / Nour Fathalla (PUR): 6-5 UNF
- Emon van Loben Sels / Gianluca Ballotta (ULCA) def. Nikola Jovic / Maj Premzl (PUR): 6-4
- Rudy Quan / Bengt Reinhardt (UCLA) def. Juan David Velasquez / Jacob Lee (PUR): 6-0
Singles
- Nour Fathalla (PUR) def. #57 Spencer Johnson (UCLA): 7-6(6), 2-6, 6-3
- #104 Rudy Quan (UCLA) def. Henrik Villanger (PUR): 7-6(6), 6-3
- #35 Emon van Loben Sels (UCLA) def. Stefan Simeunovic (PUR): 6-2, 6-2
- Andy Nguyen (UCLA) def. Maj Premzl (PUR): 6-4, 6-2
- Aadarsh Tripathi (UCLA) def. Juan David Velasquez (PUR): 6-4, 7-6(6)
- Jacob Lee (PUR) vs. Cassius Chinlund (UCLA): 2-6, 7-6(2), 7-5
Order of Finish
Doubles: 3, 2
Singles: 3, 4, 5, 2, 1, 6