
ATHENS, Ga. -- UCLA's Marcos Giron became the 11th NCAA singles champion in school history on Monday, posting a straight-set victory against Pepperdine's Alex Sarkissian in the men's final at Georgia's Dan Magill Tennis Complex. Giron, a junior from Thousand Oaks, California, is UCLA's first NCAA singles winner since Benjamin Kohlloeffel in 2006.
"This means so much to me," said Giron, who with the win earns one of the USTA's wild cards to the U.S. Open in August. "This has to be the biggest tournament win of my career. I'd like to thank Billy Martin and the entire UCLA program for everything they have done for me."Giron, who lost just one set in six matches during the tournament, broke Sarkissian in the fifth game of the first set to take a 3-2 lead. He then went on to hold serve for the remainder of the set to take it 6-4. Giron continued his hot play to start the second set, breaking Sarkissian twice to eventually take a 4-0 lead. Sarkissian was able to stop the bleeding and hold serve for 4-1, however Giron took the next two games for a 6-4, 6-1 victory.
Monday marked the second meeting of the season between Giron and Sarkissian, with Giron also winning in straight sets on Feb. 22 at UCLA.
Only a junior, Giron still has one season of eligibility remaining. He mentioned in his on-court interview following the match that he is keeping his options open.
"I'm going to play a lot this summer and see where I'm at," Giron said. "I'll take the fall season off but after that I might come back to school."
Giron ends the season with a 30-5 overall record, marking this second consecutive 30-win season. His victory against Sarkissian is also his team-leading 18th of the year versus a ranked player.