Baylor men's tennis sophomore Juan Benitez was named the Big 12 Player of the Week Tuesday, after going a combined 9-0 in singles and doubles play at the Sherwood Collegiate Cup.
Benitez claimed both the tournament’s singles title with five wins in four days at the Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif., as well as the doubles crown by tallying a 4-0 mark with teammate Max Tchoutakian.
Benitez won all of his singles matches in straight sets, including two wins over ranked foes UCLA’s Joseph DiGuilio (No. 90) and the 44th-ranked Tchoutakian.
In the last match of the tournament, Benitez posted a 6-0, 6-4 victory against Tchoutakian to win the singles crown. Baylor players have now won four Sherwood singles titles overall and two straight with Benitez joining Matija Zgaga (2006), Lars Poerschke (2008) and Julian Lenz (2016).
Prior to their singles match, Benitez and Tchoutakian teamed together for a 7-5 victory in the doubles title match over USC’s Robbie Bellamy and Jake DeVine. The duo is the first BU tandem to win the doubles crown at the event since 2008 when Attila Bucko and Denes Lukacs took home the trophy.
As a doubles duo, Benitez and Tchoutakian are now 5-0, after a 4-0 performance in California. The BU pairing had previously played together once in 2014-15 - another win.
It is Baylor's 41st Big 12 weekly honor since 2000. Benitez is one of 17 different Bears to be recognized in that stretch.
BU will open the 2017 dual-match season with a doubleheader. BU will host Incarnate Word and Grand Canyon Saturday, Jan. 21, at 1 and 6 p.m., respectively, at the Hurd Tennis Center.
