Two Ex-Cal Players Reach Wimbledon Quarterfinals Before Losing

Tennis players with Cal connections went 1-for-3 in men’s doubles quarterfinal matches at Wimbledon on Wednesday, with Rajeev Ram, a Cal volunteer assistant coach this year, being the lone survivor.

Ben McLachlan and Andre Goransson were doubles partners when they were at Cal in 2013-14, but they were playing with different partners at Wimbledon this year.

If they had won their quarterfinal matches on Wednesday they would have faced each other in the semifinals.

However, both lost in straight sets. McLachlan, playing with Raven Klaasen of South Africa as the No. 14 seeds, lost in the quarterfinals to the unseeded pair of Simone Bolelli of Italy and Maximo Gonzalez of Mexico, 7-6 (0), 6-4, 6-3.

In the semifinals, Bolelli and Gonzalez will face the fourth-seeded team of Marcel Granollers of Spain and Argentina's Horacio Gonzalez, who eliminated Goransson and Casper Ruud of Norway, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

McLachlan, 29, is ranked 47th in the world in doubles, and this year’s quarterfinal appearance matched his best showing at Wimbledon as he also got to the quarterfinals in England in 2018. This is the fourth time he got as far as the quarterfinals in a Grand Slam doubles event, with his best performance being a semifinal appearance at the 2018 Australian Open.

McLachlan will compete in the Summer Olympics in doubles later this month. He will team with Kei Nishikori and represent Japan in Tokyo. McLachlan previously represented New Zealand, but in 2017 he switched to Japan, his mother’s home country.

The 27-year-old Goransson, ranked No. 80 in doubles, was playing in a Grand Slam event for the first time.

Ram is still alive at Wimbledon after he and partner Joe Salisbury of Great Britain, who are seeded sixth, knocked off the third-seeded duo of Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal, both of Colombia, by a score of 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (2).

The semifinal opponent for Ram and Salisbury will be the top-seeded team of Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic.

This is the second time Ram has reached the doubles semifinals at Wimbledon, also doing so in 2016.

Ram is seeking his second title in a Grand Slam event. He and Salisbury won the men’s doubles at the 2020 Australian Open, and they were runnersup at the Aussie Open this year.

The 37-year-old Ram has won nearly $6 million in prize money since turning pro in 2004. He is currently ranked 12th in the world in doubles.

Cover photo of Andre Goransson and Ben McLachlan courtesy of Cal Athletics

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