ST. HELENA, Calif. – Yuta Kikuchi's title at the Audi Napa Valley Tennis Classic highlighted a strong opening week for the California men's tennis team. The 2018 Pac-12 Freshman/Newcomer of the Year shook off a slow preseason start to go 2-1 in singles at the Meadowood Napa Valley Resort and then win three times in the Solinco Wild Card Shootout to capture a wild card entry in a future pro circuit tournament.
 
The Japan native bageled Michigan's Mattias Siimar, 6-0, 6-0, to finish group play on Sunday, won the first two rounds of the shootout and then edged Harvard's Ronan Jachuck, 10-8, in the final to win the wild card.
 
Cal senior Bjorn Hoffmann likewise displayed good form in Napa, beating Pacific's Philip Hjorth, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, on Sunday to go 3-0 in group play and advance to the shootout. He was eliminated by the USTA Juniors' Stefan Leustian, 10-5, but Hoffmann still walked away with hardware of his own.
 
"Our team had another outstanding weekend at Meadowood in the Audi Napa Valley Tennis Classic," said Peter Wright, Cal's Director of Men's Tennis. "Having Yuta win the tournament was icing on the cake because we had eight of our guys playing well in singles and doubles over the three days.
 
"Yuta was a little rusty when he showed up for school this fall, but he quickly found his game, and it certainly showed as he improved with every match in the tournament.
 
"Bjorn Hoffmann was undefeated in singles this weekend, and although he lost in the quarterfinals of the Solinco Shootout, he was selected as the recipient of the Norma Miner Outstanding Player Award for his sportsmanship and high-quality play."
 
Some Bears spent part of the opening week closer to campus when they competed in the Kunal Patel San Francisco Championships presented by UTA powered by Oracle. Sophomore Kent Hunter, the newest Golden Bear, had the longest run of any collegian in the main draw, as the Los Angeles product reached the quarterfinals.
 
"With Kent Hunter claiming the top collegiate spot in the KPSF Championship at the Berkeley Tennis Club over Jack Molloy, 6-1, 6-3, made it an especially positive start for our Cal Bears tennis team. Jack did double duty this weekend, winning two singles matches in Napa and then traveling back to Berkeley for the UTR playoff. In total, four Bears tennis team members (Hunter, Molloy, Jacob Brumm and Mert Zincirli) reached the final 16 in the $120,000 event."
 
The Bears return to action later this week when one group heads to the Midwest to play in the Milwaukee Tennis Classic, while another Cal squad plays in the Battle in the Bay Classic in San Francisco.