Players Mentioned
Daniel Cukierman Starts Spring As Pac-12 Player of the Week
January 21, 2020 | Men's Tennis, Features
Top-ranked Trojan won singles and doubles titles at the Sherwood Collegiate Cup.
USC junior Daniel Cukierman busted out of the gates of the 2020 spring season with winning run at the Sherwood Collegiate Cup, claiming the singles title and the doubles championship alongside teammate Riley Smith. For his victorious start to the year, Cukierman has been selected the Pac-12 Player of the Week for the first time in his USC career.
Top-ranked in the nation and the top seed in the singles draw, Cukierman had a bye in the opening round and would advance by walkover into the quarterfinals. There, he'd have to contend with his freshman teammates #37 Stefan Dostanic, and it was a battle. After three sets of work, Cukierman had bested his fellow Trojan 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 to take a spot in the semifinals and put an end to Dostanic's two-win start to the spring. In the semis, Cukierman was up against Stanford's Axel Geller, and the USC captain rolled to a straight-set victory that sent him into today's title match. Again, Cukierman would gut out a three-set decision, topping Stanford's #18 Alex Rotsaert 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 to claim the Sherwood Collegiate Cup singles championship.
As he lifted the singles trophy in Thousand Oaks, Cukierman was not even 24 hours removed from the doubles championship that he had claimed alongside Riley Smith on the same court. Paired up for just the second time in their careers, Cukierman and Smith were the top-seeded pair in the doubles draw, earning a first-round bye before launching into their winning run. The two Trojans dispatched Texas A&M's Kumar/Schachter 6-3 in the quarterfinals and Stanford's Geller/Rajesh 7-5 in the semis before mirroring that score and edging out UCLA's Nanda/K. Smith in the title match.Â
The Sherwood sweep gives Cukierman his second and third individual titles of this 2019-20 season. In the fall, he won the Oracle ITA Masters championship.
Cukierman and the Trojans now set up to play their first dual matches of the year as hosts of ITA Kick-Off Weekend. On Saturday (Jan. 25), USC plays UNCW at 1 p.m. at Marks Stadium. A win there would put the Trojans into Sunday's 1 p.m. championship match, in which the winner secures a place at next month's ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Wisconsin.
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Top-ranked in the nation and the top seed in the singles draw, Cukierman had a bye in the opening round and would advance by walkover into the quarterfinals. There, he'd have to contend with his freshman teammates #37 Stefan Dostanic, and it was a battle. After three sets of work, Cukierman had bested his fellow Trojan 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 to take a spot in the semifinals and put an end to Dostanic's two-win start to the spring. In the semis, Cukierman was up against Stanford's Axel Geller, and the USC captain rolled to a straight-set victory that sent him into today's title match. Again, Cukierman would gut out a three-set decision, topping Stanford's #18 Alex Rotsaert 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 to claim the Sherwood Collegiate Cup singles championship.
As he lifted the singles trophy in Thousand Oaks, Cukierman was not even 24 hours removed from the doubles championship that he had claimed alongside Riley Smith on the same court. Paired up for just the second time in their careers, Cukierman and Smith were the top-seeded pair in the doubles draw, earning a first-round bye before launching into their winning run. The two Trojans dispatched Texas A&M's Kumar/Schachter 6-3 in the quarterfinals and Stanford's Geller/Rajesh 7-5 in the semis before mirroring that score and edging out UCLA's Nanda/K. Smith in the title match.Â
The Sherwood sweep gives Cukierman his second and third individual titles of this 2019-20 season. In the fall, he won the Oracle ITA Masters championship.
Cukierman and the Trojans now set up to play their first dual matches of the year as hosts of ITA Kick-Off Weekend. On Saturday (Jan. 25), USC plays UNCW at 1 p.m. at Marks Stadium. A win there would put the Trojans into Sunday's 1 p.m. championship match, in which the winner secures a place at next month's ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Wisconsin.
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