The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Tulsa
No. 3 Men’s Tennis defeats Tulsa, 6-1
03.08.2020 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns opened their doubleheader with a win over the Golden Hurricane prior to facing Rice.
Austin, Texas – The No. 3 Texas Men's Tennis team opened a doubleheader with a 6-1 win over Tulsa on Sunday at the Texas Tennis Center. The Longhorns will play the back half of it against Rice at 3:30 p.m. CT.
Texas took the doubles point with wins by the No. 32 duo of senior Christian Sigsgaard and freshman Siem Woldeab at No. 2, and sophomore Chih Chi Huang and senior Yuya Ito at No. 3. The Longhorns followed with singles wins by freshman Eliot Spizzirri at No. 3, No. 2 Ito at No. 1, No. 44 Woldeab at No. 4, No. 6 Sigsgaard at No. 2, and freshman Evin McDonald at No. 6.
After taking a 1-0 team lead in doubles, Spizzirri was first off the court in singles with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Jarod Hing. For Spizzirri, it was his second time playing at No. 3 this season and his second win. Hing opened the match with a deuce-point break and a hold for a 2-0 lead, but Spizzirri then held on a deuce and broke to get back on serve. The next three games stayed that way, including a deuce-point win for Hing, but Spizzirri then broke for a 5-3 lead and held to take the set. The first two games of the second were on serve starting with Hing, but the next two were breaks to even it at 2-2. The players then held in the next two games, but Spizzirri took it from there with a 3-0 run to close and give Texas a 2-0 lead.
Ito returned to the No. 1 line after playing No. 2 in the last match against Tulane, and he moved alone into fifth in career wins at Texas with his 110th by downing No. 61 Kody Pearson, 6-2, 6-4. It was also his 35th win in his last 40 singles matches, 22 of which have been over ranked opponents. Pearson won the first game on a deuce point on serve, but Ito responded with a 3-0 run, including a deuce-point break in the third game. Pearson claimed one more game on serve on a deuce point to pull within 3-2, but Ito added another 3-0 to win the set. The first three games of the second set followed the same scoring pattern as the first set, but this time Pearson broke in the fourth game to even it at 2-2. Ito answered with a deuce-point break and a hold to establish a 4-2 lead, but Pearson took the next two games to tie it again before Ito closed with the last two for the win and a 3-0 lead for Texas.
For the second straight match, Woldeab grabbed the clincher, this time over Connor Di Marco, 6-4, 7-5. After both players won on serve starting with Di Marco, Woldeab broke and then held on a deuce point for a 3-1 lead. The set stayed on serve up to a 4-3 lead for Woldeab when Di Marco took a deuce point for a break to tie it, 4-4. Woldeab answered the break and then held on a deuce point for the win. The second set stayed on serve up to a 3-2 lead for Di Marco, despite the last three games of that stretch being deuce points. The next game also went to deuce, but Di Marco got the break to go up 4-2 and then extended to 5-2 on serve. However, Woldeab turned it on from there with a 5-0 run for the victory and the 4-0 clinch.
Sigsgaard came off next with a 7-6 (5), 6-3 victory over Stefan Hampe that was the 104th singles win of his career at Texas, moving him into a tie for 10th all-time at UT. The entire first set stayed on serve even though there were deuce points in games four, five, seven and nine. That led to a tiebreaker that was Sigsgaard's third-straight in his last three sets. After coming up short in the two from his last match, Sigsgaard wouldn't be denied despite an early 3-1 lead turning into a 5-4 deficit. He closed on a 3-0 run to take the match and extend the Texas lead to 5-0.
Tulsa got on the board with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 win by Ezequiel Santalla over Huang at No. 5. After Huang used a 3-0 run to complete a win in the opening set, Santalla used wins in six out of eight deuce points in the last to sets to take the match. That left McDonald on the court in the other three-set match against Juan Pablo Cenoz where Cenoz took the first set, 6-4, on the strength of two deuce point wins on holds. McDonald turned it around quickly by going on a 5-0 run to begin the second set. Cenoz picked up one game on serve, but McDonald finished the frame with a deuce-point win. McDonald then captured an early break to open the third set, and it stayed on serve from there up to 4-3 when Cenoz got the break back on a deuce point to even it. However, McDonald immediately answered that break and then held to finish the 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory and move to 3-0 in dual match play this season.
Earlier in doubles, Sigsgaard and Woldeab finished first with a 6-1 win over Cenoz and Hampe at No. 2. The Longhorn duo got out to a 3-0 lead, which Tulsa cut to 3-1 on serve, but Texas took the next game on a deuce point as part of another 3-0 to close it out. After that, Ito and Huang secured the point with a 6-3 win over Santalla and Daniel Siddall at No. 3. The first three games stayed on serve starting with Texas with Tulsa winning its game on a deuce point. The Longhorns then broke and held to extend to 4-1 and the rest of the match stayed on serve to the final. In the third match, Spizzirri and freshman Jacob Bullard played at No. 1 for the first time this season and fell to No. 61 Di Marco and Pearson, 6-2, as that match ended almost simultaneously as the No. 3 match.
No. 3 Texas 6, Tulsa 1
Singles – Order of Finish (3,1,4,2,5,6)
1. No. 2 Yuya Ito (UT) def. No. 61 Kody Pearson (TLS), 6-2, 6-4
2. No. 6 Christian Sigsgaard (UT) def. Stefan Hampe (TLS), 7-6 (5), 6-3
3. Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Jarod Hing (TLS), 6-3, 6-3
4. No. 44 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Connor Di Marco (TLS), 6-4, 7-5
5. Ezequiel Santalla (TLS) def. Chih Chi Huang (UT), 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
6. Evin McDonald (UT) def. Juan Pablo Cenoz (TLS), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4
Doubles – Order of Finish (2,3,1)
1. No. 61 Connor Di Marco/Kody Pearson (TLS) def. Eliot Spizzirri/Jacob Bullard (UT), 6-2
2. No. 32 Christian Sigsgaard/Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Juan Pablo Cenoz/Stefan Hampe (TLS), 6-1
3. Yuya Ito/Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Daniel Siddall/Ezequiel Santalla (TLS), 6-3
(UT)
Players Mentioned
