Bellamy claims title in Battle in the Bay


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Senior men’s tennis player Rob Bellamy grinded his way to a title at the Battle in the Bay singles competition on Sunday in San Francisco.

Bellamy, who earned a bye in the Round of 64, defeated Pepperdine’s Gabriel Sidney in the Round of 32 on Friday and Portland’s Mathieu Garcia in the Round of 16 on Saturday. His quarterfinal opponent, top-ranked Florian Lakat of Cal, withdrew from the match, giving Bellamy a spot in the semifinals on Sunday, where he defeated San Diego State’s Marko Goles Babic 2-0 with a tiebreak win in the second set.

In the title match against Cal Poly’s Ben Donovan, Bellamy pulled out a three-set win, claiming the first set in a tiebreaker and the decisive third set, 6-4.

Bellamy entered the season with a 40-17 overall record in singles play. He also won the Aztec Invitational Championships in both singles and doubles during the 2013-2014 season.

He was one of four players that USC sent to San Francisco over the weekend, while four others participated in the John Breaux Tennis Classic.

Brandon Holt and Riley Smith, both freshmen, advanced to the doubles final in the Battle in the Bay, but fell 8-6 to Cal Poly’s Donovan and Corey Pang. Holt also advanced to the semifinals in singles play, where Donovan defeated him in three sets.

The Trojans’ deepest run in Louisiana was a trip to the doubles semifinal by sophomore Jack Jaede and junior Thibault Forget, but they were upended by the top-seeded duo Jordan Daigle and Justin Butsch of LSU.

It’s still early in USC’s fall slate of tournaments, as the team’s only other competition was the Napa Challenge last weekend. Next up for the Trojans is ITA All-American Championships; the prequalifying events begin on Saturday.