SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Gaels' James Watt repeated as winner of the UCSB Classic on Sunday, defending his 2021 title with four-straight wins in the singles A-Flight bracket.
 
Watt started his run by defeating Ryoma Matsushita of New Mexico 7-6, 7-5 and Conrad Brown of host UCSB 6-1, 6-3 to advance to the final four of the tournament.
 
In the semifinals Watt was locked in a battle with Azuma Visaya of UCLA, coming back to win the final two sets of three in a 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 win.
 
In the finals, Watt won two tie breakers for a 7-6(4), 7-6(6) win over Pablo Masjuan of UC Santa Barbara to take the UCSB Classic.
 
Watt has gotten out to a hot start to the season, repeating as UCSB Classic Champion and qualifying for the Battle in the Bay, where he lost a close one to eventual champ No. 5 Jacob Fearnley of TCU.
 
Though the doubles combo of Watt and Thibaud Maxant lost a first-round doubles match to LMU 8-5, they would end up winning the consolation bracket. The SMC tandem beat Redd Owen and Wally Thayne of BYU 8-7(6) and topped Azuma Visaya and Stefan Luestian 8-7 to take the doubles consolation bracket.
 
UP NEXT:
The Gaels will participate in the ITA Super Regionals from October 21-23.