SAN DIEGO - The 49th-ranked and second-seeded UC Irvine men's tennis team opened the 2025 Big West Championships with a 4-0 win over No. 7 seed UC Riverside in Friday's quarterfinal round at Barnes Tennis Center.
 
UCI (16-5) got out to a strong start in doubles. Max Fardanesh and Rithvik Krishna held a slight edge over Alexey Efremov/Lucas Mszyca at No. 3 before winning three-straight games to close out the 6-3 victory.
 
On court two, Sohrob Amiryavari and Ruining Huang raced out to a 3-0 lead. The Highlanders' Lucas Ibarrondo Suarez/Aarav Sane quickly cut the deficit to one, but the Anteaters would not relinquish the lead as they came away with the 6-4 triumph to secure the doubles point.
 
The 'Eaters continued to roll in singles where they did not drop a set. Rithvik Krishna was the first off the court as he dispatched Lucas Ibarrando Suarez, 6-3, 6-1, at the third position.
 
Noah Zamora then gave UC Irvine a 2-1 advantage with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Justin Lamy at the top of the lineup. Zamora cruised in the first set and came back from a 4-3 deficit in the second to seal his fifth consecutive win.
 
At No. 5, Max Fardanesh dug deep for a 6-4 victory in the opening set. After trailing 4-1, Fardanesh won the next five games and kept the momentum on his side to deliver the decisive 6-4, 6-2 triumph over Alexey Efremov. Fardanesh, who extended his singles win streak to six matches, improved to 10-3 with his team-leading seventh match-clincher this season.
 
Andy Nguyen (7-6, 3-2), Ruining Huang (6-4, 5-3) and Sohrob Amiryavari (6-4, 4-2) were also up when their respective matches were abandoned.

UC Riverside ends its season with a 2-18 overall record.
 
The Anteaters advance to the semifinals on Saturday, April 26, where they will face No. 3 seed UC Davis at 10 a.m.