BERKELEY – Jack Molloy held off Alejandro Reguant, 7-6, 7-6, to lead California to a 4-2 upset of 21st-ranked Arizona in its Pac-12 and home opener on Friday night at the Hellman Tennis Complex.
 
Cal improved to 3-5 (1-0 Pac-12), while the Wildcats (11-2, 0-1 Pac-12) suffered just their second loss of the season.
 
The Golden Bears won the doubles point when the 33rd-ranked pair of Paul Barretto and Can Kaya beat Reguant and Filip Malbasic, 6-3, on court two. Earlier, Arizona's Jonas Ziverts and Igor Karpovets upset Cal's 11th-ranked pair of Jacob Brumm and Yuta Kikuchi, 6-1, on court one. But Molloy and Mert Zincirli won on court three for Cal, beating Stewart Block and Jonas Maier, 6-2, to set up court one as the deciding match.
 
Arizona knotted the match at 1-1 when Malbasic defeated Brumm, 6-2, 6-2, at court-two singles. But Cal surged to a 3-1 lead thanks to wins by Barretto (6-3, 6-3 over Karpovets on court three) and Bjorn Hoffmann (6-2, 7-5 over Carlos Hassey on five.
 
The score was stuck on 3-1 for a while, with Molloy taking a 5-4, second-set lead over Reguant. But before that court-four match ended, Kikuchi fell to Ziverts, 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-4, on court one to make the score 3-2. The Molloy-Reguant battle went to a tiebreaker, with Molloy eventually prevailing to decide the match.
 
"It was great to play at home for the first time this year," said Director of Cal Men's Tennis Peter Wright. "We've been on the road for the first seven matches, and it was a wonderful feeling to win our first Pac-12 match of the season in front of our home crowd.
 
"Arizona is a strong team, and they gave us a battle. We played with better composure today, and that helped us carry momentum from the doubles into the singles. It's a long season, and I know this team is starting to click, so we're looking at each match as an opportunity to grow, and we're not trying to get too far ahead of ourselves."
 
Cal continues Pac-12 play when it hosts Arizona State at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Hellman.
 
California (3-5, 1-0 Pac-12) defeated No. 21 Arizona (11-2, 0-1 Pac-12), 4-2
March 8, 2019, in Berkeley, Calif.
Hellman Tennis Complex
 
Doubles
1. Jonas Ziverts/Igor Karpovets (Arizona) def. No. 11 Jacob Brumm/Yuta Kikuchi (Cal), 6-1 
2. No. 33 Paul Barretto/Can Kaya (Cal) def. Filip Malbasic/Alejandro Reguant (Arizona), 6-3*
3. Jack Molloy/Mert Zincirli (Cal) def. Stewart Block/Jonas Maier (Arizona) 6-2
 
Cal won the doubles point
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2*
*Clinched the doubles point
 
Singles: 
1. Jonas Ziverts (Arizona) def. Yuta Kikuchi (Cal), 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-4  
2. Filip Malbasic (Arizona) def. Jacob Brumm (Cal), 6-2, 6-3
3. Paul Barretto (Cal) def. Igor Karpovets (Arizona), 6-3, 6-3
4. Jack Molloy (Cal) def. Alejandro Reguant (Arizona), 7-6, 7-6^
5. Bjorn Hoffmann (Cal) def. Carlos Hassey (Arizona), 6-2, 7-5
6. Ben Draper (Cal) vs. Jonas Maier (Arizona), 7-6, 6-7, 5-3 Unfinished
 
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 5, 1 4^
^Clinched the overall match