UC San Diego men’s tennis opened the new year with a convincing road victory over UC Riverside. The matchup, which took place at UCR’s Student Recreation Center Tennis Courts was an exhibition game. The Tritons took it 5–2 and are now looking ahead to their regular season opener against another UC foe, UC Irvine.

UCSD was perfect in its doubles opener, winning all three to take a commanding lead in the matchup.

UCSD’s No. 1 pair, senior Alexandre Miaule and freshman Marc Isaia, was the first to finish, downing UCR’s pair of freshmen Nabil Abdallah and Olivier Kigotho 6–4. In the two spot, junior Eric Tseng and freshman Sreeganesh Manoharan scored a 6–3 victory over senior Cooper Bridge and redshirt senior Jack Felich of Riverside. Finally, junior Justin Zhang and senior Edvin Larsson concluded UCSD’s doubles dominance by taking a 7–6 win over sophomore Anderson Ju and freshman Gilbert Chung.

The Tritons suffered two defeats in their top three singles matchup. Tseng, UCSD’s No. 1, was taken down by Bridge in three tight sets (6–1, 6–7, 6–4). The Tritons’ only other defeat came at the No. 3 spot, when Abdallah took down Miaule in two sets (6–3, 6–4). Zhang got a two-set victory over UCR freshman Tadeas Lansky (6–4, 6–3). UCSD scored three more three-set victories: Isaia won at the four spot (3–6, 6–2, 6–4), freshman Marius Ruh defeated Ju (6–3, 3–6, 6–3) and at the six spot Larsson dominated Kigotho (6–0, 6–7, 6–2).

“It was a nice start to the season,” UCSD head coach Timmer Willing told UCSD Athletics. “Our young team played well against a Division I opponent, and it gives us a good perspective moving forward.”

UCSD will open up its regular season on the road at UC Irvine on Feb. 3 at 1 p.m.