LOS ANGELES – Graduate student Eric Fomba provided his second clincher in Stanford's four Pac-12 matches, as the Cardinal rebounded from a doubles defeat with four wins in singles to down No. 14 USC, 4-2, Saturday afternoon at Marks Stadium.
Stanford erased a 2-0 deficit with four consecutive wins and was on the doorstep of a fifth as David Wilczynski had match point when Fomba clinched it.
Eric Fomba with the clincher as No. 3 Stanford downs No. 14 USC in LA. #GoStanford
A post shared by StanfordMensTennis (@stanfordmenstennis) on Mar 31, 2018 at 4:30pm PDT
Fomba, who also clinched a 4-3 victory at No. 20 Arizona State earlier this month, recorded his third clincher of the season All three have come against top-20 opponents as the graduate student also lifted the Cardinal to the win over No. 12 Baylor in the ITA National Indoor Championships.
The win improved the Cardinal to 16-2 overall, matching its best start in 16 seasons. It's Stanford's first win in Los Angeles against either USC or UCLA since 2010 and the Cardinal's first win against the Trojans in Los Angeles since 2009. Stanford is now 3-1 in Pac-12. USC moves to 12-6 overall and 3-1 in the conference.
The Trojans struck first, securing the doubles point in a battle that went to a tiebreaker. Stanford and USC traded wins at No. 1 and No. 2, with Tom Fawcett and Axel Geller getting the win for the Cardinal. USC's Daniel Cukierman and Tanner Smith sealed the point at No. 3, with a 10-8 win in the tiebreaker.
A win at No. 6 singles put the Trojans up, 2-0, before Stanford seized momentum in the match.
Geller got it started with a straight-set win at No. 2 and Sameer Kumar followed moments later with a straight-set victory at No. 3.
In a top-10 matchup, Fawcett, ranked No. 10, and No. 9 Brandon Holt of USC staged a three-set battle. The Cardinal senior rebounded from an opening-set defeat with a pair of 6-3 frames to win it and push Stanford ahead for the first time in the match.
All eyes went to the No. 4 and No. 5 matches. Fomba (No. 4) and Wilczynski (No. 5) both dropped the first set of their matches, but each stormed back with second-set wins. They continued their momentum with multiple-game leads in the third set. Fomba sealed it first with the 6-2 victory in the third set. Wilczynski was up 5-1 in the third set with match point coming up when Fomba clinched it.
The win for the Cardinal was its second over USC this season. Stanford defeated the Trojans, 6-1, in February on The Farm.
Stanford returns to action next Saturday (April 7), hosting No. 39 Utah at 1 p.m. PT at Taube Tennis Stadium.
No. 3 Stanford 4, No. 14 USC 2
Doubles
1. No. 23 Jack Jaede/Laurens Verboven (USC) d. No. 75 Sameer Kumar/Michael Genender (STAN) 6-1
2. No. 25 Tom Fawcett/Axel Geller (STAN) d. Riley Smith/Mateusz Smolicki (USC) 6-1
3. Daniel Cukierman/Tanner Smith (USC) d. Timothy Sah/David Wilczynski (STAN) 7-6 (8)
Order of Finish: 2,1,3
Singles
1. No. 10 Tom Fawcett (STAN) d. No. 9 Brandon Holt (USC) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
2. No. 50 Axel Geller (STAN) d. No. 67 Daniel Cukierman (USC) 6-2, 6-4
3. No. 71 Sameer Kumar (STAN) d. Jack Jaede (USC) 7-5, 6-3
4. Eric Fomba (STAN) d. Laurens Verboven (USC) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
5. David Wilczynski (STAN) led Jake DeVine (USC) 2-6, 6-4, 5-1 unfinished
6. Thibault Forget (USC) d. William Genesen (STAN) 6-2, 6-1
Order of Finish: 6,2,3,1,4