Yuta Kikuchi Opens NCAA Singles

BERKELEY – Yuta Kikuchi embarks on his final campaign as a member of the California men's tennis team this week, when the Golden Bear veteran competes in the NCAA Singles Championship at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida. Kikuchi – who's ranked 27th in the latest ITA poll – faces TCU's 21st-ranked Jake Fearnley in the opening round of 64 on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. EDT/1:30 p.m. PDT.

A PlaySight live stream for each individual match is available here. Cracked Rackets will broadcast a live stream that moves from match to match via its YouTube channel, with that page available here. Live scores are available by clicking here. Fans can also keep track of Kikuchi's matches through the team's Twitter account @CalMensTennis.

The Yahaba, Japan, product completed the team tennis portion of his career in the second round of the NCAA Championship on May 7, when 29th-ranked Cal fell to seventh-ranked Michigan, 4-0 (see below).

This marks the first appearance in the postseason singles tournament for Kikuchi (16-9), who played in the NCAA Doubles Championship in 2019, when he reached the round of 16 with Jacob Brumm, and 2022, when he advanced to the round of 16 with Carl Emil Overbeck.

Bears End Season In Second round
The 29th-ranked Cal Golden Bears defeated No. 34 LSU, 4-1, in the NCAA Championship opener May 6 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with Lucas Magnaudet clinching the victory. But the Bears' run in the team tournament came to an end in a 4-0 loss to seventh-ranked Michigan on May 7.

Against the Tigers, both of Kikuchi's matches – at court-one doubles with Carl Emil Overbeck and later at court-one singles – went unfinished. Magnaudet eventually beat George Stoupe, 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, to wrap up the Bears' win.

In the round of 32 vs. the Wolverines, Kikuchi and Overbeck's doubles match was abandoned. In his final singles match in a team event, Kikuchi fell to Michigan's eighth-ranked Ondrej Styler – who's the eighth seed in NCAA singles – 6-2, 6-1.

Kikuchi Named To All-Pac-12 First Team
Yuta Kikuchi was named to the All-Pac-12 First Team on May 4. This is his third All-Pac-12 honor, as he collected second-team recognition in 2022 and in 2019, when he was also named the Pac-12 Freshman/Newcomer of the Year and the ITA Northwest Region Rookie of the Year.

Kikuchi was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week on April 11, after he led the Bears to conference victories over No. 28 UCLA, 4-0, and No. 10 USC,4-3, in the last regular-season home matches of his career.

Scouting Yuta Kikuchi

The 5-9 Kikuchi clinched three of Cal's 13 victories this season, beating Stanford's Arthur Fery – who's seeded third in NCAA singles – 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 to clinch a 4-3 win over Stanford; defeating Peter Alam, 6-1, 6-4, in a 6-1 rout of Pacific; and besting Patrick Zahraj, 6-4, 6-2, in a 4-0 blanking of UCLA
Kikuchi posted a big win In the Hawaii Invitational on Jan. 9, defeating Duke's fourth-ranked Garrett Johns, 7-5, 4-6, 1-0(5)
In the fall, Kikuchi won his first professional singles title when he took the crown at the Norman Open in Oklahoma, beating Oklahoma's Alex Martinez, who's currently ranked 99th in the ITA poll, 7-5, 6-4, in the final
The 23-year-old Kikuchi was also the singles runner-up in the KPSF Open in San Francisco
He paired with Carl Emil Overbeck to repeat as doubles champs in the Battle in the Bay Classic in September
Kikuchi compiled a 16-7 doubles record in his final season as a Bear

Scouting Jake Fearnley

A junior from Edinburgh, Scotland, the Horned Frog has a singles record of 21-8
While Yuta Kikuchi won the doubles title at the Battle in the Bay Classic in the fall, Fearnley captured the singles title at the annual tournament in San Francisco
Reached the singles quarterfinals in the ITA National Fall Championships
A two-time doubles All-American, Fearnley will partner with TCU teammate Luc Fomba in the NCAA Doubles Championship in Orlando
His TCU team lost to third-ranked Ohio State, 4-0, in the semifinals of the NCAA Championship

Stay Posted
For further coverage of the Bears, follow them on Twitter (@CalMensTennis), Instagram (@CalMensTennis) and Facebook (@CalMensTennis).