The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
SMU
01.18.2020 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns swept the singles matches against the Mustangs to open the season 2-0.
Dallas – The No. 2 Texas Men's Tennis team finished their road trip with a 6-1 win at SMU on Saturday to move to 2-0 to start the 2020 season. The Longhorns swept the singles matches over the Mustangs without dropping a set in a match played indoors at the SMU Tennis Center in Dallas.
After dropping the doubles point on a tiebreaker, the Texas singles lineup rebounded with wins from senior No. 13 Christian Sigsgaard, and freshmen Jacob Bullard, No. 53 Siem Woldeab and Cleeve Harper to clinch the match, followed by freshman Eliot Spizzirri and senior No. 2 Yuya Ito to close for the 6-1 final.
"I was once again proud of our team for bouncing back after losing a very close doubles point to play some good singles and pick up wins on all six courts," head coach Bruce Berque said. "Overall, we have had a terrific trip and will now look forward to getting home, regrouping and beginning to prepare for the ITA Kickoff, and our first home matches of the season next weekend."
Sigsgaard was first off the court with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Tomas Vaise at No. 2 singles to even the overall match, 1-1. Both sets followed a similar script as Sigsgaard established early leads and held for 6-3 wins.
Bullard made his dual match singles debut for the Longhorns at No. 5 singles against Huntley Allen and also earned his first win, 7-5, 6-2. After falling behind early in the first set, 3-0 and 5-2, Bullard rallied for the 7-5 win. He was able to control the second set by getting out to a 4-1 lead en route to the 6-2 victory and a 2-1 lead for Texas.
Woldeab also fell behind early in his match against Carles Sarrio at No. 3 singles, 2-0, but answered with two games of his own to even it. After the tie extended to 4-4, Woldeab captured the last two games to take the first set, 6-4. The second set was also tied, 1-1, but Woldeab took control with there, finishing on a 5-1 run for a 6-2 win.
The clincher then came from Harper, who downed Jordi Redelijk, 6-2, 6-4, at No. 6 singles for his first dual match singles win as a Longhorn. Harper took a 3-0 lead in the first set, and after Redelijk cut it to 3-2, Harper closed the frame on a 4-0 run. The second set was back and forth to begin, but Harper used another 3-0 run to turn a 4-3 deficit into a 6-4 win.
For the second-straight match, Spizzirri posted a win just after the clinch at No. 4 singles. Like Harper, he jumped out to an early lead at 4-0 over Ethan Leon and maintained for a 6-3 win in the first set. Also like Harper, Spizzirri finished the second set on a 3-0 run, breaking a 3-3 tie for a 6-3 win and putting Texas up, 5-1.
That left Ito to close it out against Caleb Chakravarthi at No. 1 singles. In the first set, Ito bounced back from trailing 3-1 to run off five-straight games for a 6-3 win. The second set went to a tiebreaker that was controlled by Ito, as he shut out Chakravarthi, 7-0, for the 6-1 final score.
Earlier in doubles, SMU had taken the point after Allen and Jan-Simon Vrbsky won a tiebreaker of their own against Harper and sophomore Chih Chi Huang at No. 3 doubles to decide it. The match was tight the entire way, as was the tiebreaker, which SMU finally captured, 8-6. Prior to that, Ito and Sigsgaard were downed by Chakravarthi and Vaise at No. 1 doubles, 6-3, while Spizzirri and Woldeab won by the same score against Sarrio and Juan Jose Bianchi at No. 2 doubles.
The Longhorns next return to Austin to open their home season with the ITA Kickoff Weekend where they will first face Indiana on Saturday, Jan. 25, at 11 a.m. at the Texas Tennis Center.
No. 2 Texas 6, SMU 1
Singles – Order of Finish (2,5,3,6,4,1)
1. No. 2 Yuya Ito (Texas) def. Caleb Chakravarthi (SMU), 6-3, 7-6 (0)
2. No. 13 Christian Sigsgaard (Texas) def. Tomas Vaise (SMU), 6-3, 6-3
3. No. 53 Siem Woldeab (Texas) def. Carles Sarrio (SMU), 6-4, 6-2
4. Eliot Spizzirri (Texas) def. Ethan Leon (SMU), 6-3, 6-3
5. Jacob Bullard (Texas) def. Huntley Allen (SMU), 7-5, 6-2
6. Cleeve Harper (Texas) def. Jordi Redelijk (SMU), 6-2, 6-4
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2,3)
1. Caleb Chakravarthi/Tomas Vaise (SMU) def. No. 4 Yuya Ito/Christian Sigsgaard (Texas), 6-3
2. Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (Texas) def. Juan Jose Bianchi/Carles Sarrio (SMU), 6-3
3. Huntley Allen/Jan-Simon Vrbsky (SMU) def. Cleeve Harper/Chih Chi Huang (Texas), 7-6 (6)
