Over the weekend, No. 22 USC men’s tennis headed out to the Midwest to commence Big Ten play, with the Trojans hoping to leave their mark on their opening weekend against two conference opponents. 

The Trojans (10-3, 2-0 Big Ten) quickly gained momentum with an electric 6-1 performance over Purdue (4-7, 0-2) on Friday and never looked back, duplicating that energy with their 4-3 edge against No. 46 Indiana (6-5, 0-2) on Sunday. 

Trojans silence the Boilermakers 

On Friday, USC’s sophomore Andrin Casanova and graduate student Jack McCarthy teamed up for an impressive 6-2 victory at No. 1 doubles against sophomore Maj Premzl and junior Stefan Simeunovic, attacking with high energy and coordinated team plays. 

At No. 2 doubles, freshmen Branko Djuric and Max Exsted varied up their shots with aggressive overheads and slices to clinch the doubles point with a 6-4 defeat of junior Henrik Villanger and sophomore Nour Fathalla. Freshman Pablo Robledo Hoyos and sophomore Nathan Trouve’s close 5-5 match at No. 3 doubles went unfinished since USC already claimed its first point. 

After an exciting doubles lead, USC jumped out of the gate in singles. Exsted finished first with a swift 6-2, 6-4 win over Simeunovic at No. 3 singles. Exsted’s net attacks and strategic use of open court made him stand out early, extending the Trojans’ lead to 2-0. Meanwhile, Trouve’s strong defensive play at No. 2 singles aided his 6-4, 6-2 command over Villanger, putting USC just a point away from securing the victory.

Although Purdue’s players did all they could to stay in the game, sophomore Connor Church clinched the 4-0 decision at No. 6 singles with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over freshman Jacob Lee. 

With the win already in their back pocket, Casanova pushed through to add to the score in his 6-4, 7-6 (8) fight with Premzl at No. 4 singles. However, Trojan sophomore Niels Hoffmann came up short in a hard-fought 3-6, 7-5, 12-10 tiebreaker to junior Juan David Velasquez as singles five, permitting the Boilermakers their first and only win of the evening. 

Exsted caps comeback against the Hoosiers

Two days later at IU Tennis Center in Bloomington, Exsted and Trouve’s quick 6-3 defeat of sophomore Braeden Gelletich and redshirt junior Facundo Yunis at No. 3 doubles showed promise for another easy USC victory. 

However, momentum quickly reversed after Djuric and Church were defeated by the No. 57-ranked pair of graduate student Michael Andre and sophomore Matteo Antonescu in a 6-4 decision. Following their match, Indiana clinched the doubles point in Casanova and McCarthy’s standoff against No. 33 senior Jip van Assendelft and redshirt junior Sam Landau, where they fell just short at 7-6 (10-8). 

In singles, redshirt freshman Aidan Atwood bested Hoffmann early on in a 7-5, 6-0 matchup, marking Hoffmann’s second singles loss this weekend. However, the Trojans stayed alive in their following matches. Casanova had long rallies with Andre at No. 4 singles, running his opponent around by taking advantage of the open court, resulting in a 6-3, 6-3 Trojan win. Djuric made his comeback at No. 1 singles versus Landau in a 6-2, 7-5 defeat, tying the match at 2-2. 

With USC’s momentum trickling back on course, the Trojans tried to keep their energy high after Trouve narrowly defeated Assendelft in a lengthy 7-6 (11-9), 4-6, 6-1 decision. But after Gelletich responded with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Church, all eyes were on Exsted to bring USC home. 

In his second singles match win of the weekend and third consecutive tiebreaker match of the day, Exsted came back from an early deficit to steal the match 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-1 over Yunis, finally cementing the 4-3 win the Trojans had spent hours fighting for. 

After starting the season 4-3, USC has won six matches in a row — including its first pair of Big Ten bouts — and looks to keep that streak going as it passes the midpoint of the spring season.

Continuing conference play, the Trojans will battle it out on the road against crosstown rival No. 26 UCLA (8-3, 2-0) on Friday at 3 p.m. at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.