The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
South Florida
No. 7 Men’s Tennis earns 6-1 win over No. 29 USF
03.27.2021 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns won their sixth-straight match, including four over ranked opponents with a victory over the Bulls on Saturday.
Austin – No. 7 Men's Tennis earned a 6-1 win over No. 29 South Florida on Saturday at the Texas Tennis Center. It was the Longhorns' sixth-straight win with four of those coming against ranked opponents.
Texas used the doubles point and straight-set singles wins by junior Chih Chi Huang at No. 5, freshman No. 18 Micah Braswell at No. 3, and sophomores Cleeve Harper at No. 4, No. 32 Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1 and Evin McDonald at No. 6 for the victory.
Having already taken a 1-0 lead from doubles, the Longhorns opened singles in efficient fashion with Huang registering a 6-2, 6-1 win over Sergio Gomez Montesa. Huang grabbed a break in the opening game and the set stayed on serve up to a 4-2 lead for him when he then broke again and held for the win. It was the start of a 7-0 run that staked him to a 4-0 lead in the second before he won the last two games on deuce points for a 2-0 overall lead for Texas.
Braswell was next off the court with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Ivan Yatsuk for his 10th-straight singles win. The first set stayed on serve to a 3-2 lead for Yatsuk when he broke to extend to 4-2, however Braswell broke back on a deuce point in the next game to start a 4-0 run to the win. After Yatsuk held to open the second, Braswell again used a pair of deuce point wins to propel a run, this time 5-0. Yatsuk picked up one more game on serve, but Braswell finished it from there to take the Texas lead to 3-0.
Up next was Harper who clinched the overall match with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Pierre Luquet. Harper jumped out to a 3-0 lead with a break in the second game and the rest of the set stayed on serve from there. The second set followed the exact same scoring pattern as Braswell's with Luquet holding in the opening game before Harper put together a 5-0 run that he closed on serve at 6-2.
With the match clinched, Spizzirri captured a solid 6-3, 6-2 win over a top-50 opponent in No. 45 Chase Ferguson. Ferguson was able to secure a break in the opening game, but Spizzirri got that one back plus another on a deuce point as part of a 3-0 run. The players traded breaks in the next two games when Spizzirri put together a 6-0 run that finished the first set and established a 3-0 lead in the second. Four out of the first five games of that set resulted in breaks before Spizzirri held again to extend to 5-1 with the final three games staying on serve to the final and a 5-0 lead for the Longhorns.
The last two matches both went to third-set superbreakers with McDonald completing a 7-5, 3-6, 1-0 (7) win over Antonio Muniz, and sophomore Siem Woldeab coming up just short against No. 69 Jakub Wojcik, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 1-0 (7). McDonald earned an opening break in his match when the players alternated 3-0 runs starting with Muniz, leaving McDonald with a 4-3 lead. Muniz took the next two games for a 5-4 edge, but McDonald posted another 3-0 run starting with a deuce point to the win. The first three games of the second set were all decided at deuce with McDonald breaking in the first game, but Muniz getting the next two. McDonald evened in the following game before Muniz went on a 3-0 run to a 5-2 advantage and then closed at 6-3 to send it to a third. McDonald established a 6-3 lead in the superbreaker, which got as close again as 7-6, but he won the next two points for 9-6 and ended it at 10-7 for a 6-0 Texas lead.
Woldeab returned to the singles lineup for the first time since March 5 after missing three matches with an injury. Although Woldeab got up a break at 2-1, Wojcik went on a 4-0 run on the strength of two deuce point holds and the last two games stayed on serve to a 6-3 win for Wojcik. In the second set, Wojcik once again put together a run after a 2-1 deficit. This time was 3-0, however Woldeab had an answer and used a 3-0 run of his own for a 5-4 lead. That put the set back on serve where it stayed until a tiebreaker, which remained close until he captured the final three points for a 7-4 win. The third-set superbreaker was also close with Woldeab even holding a 7-6 lead before Wojcik finished on a 4-0 run for the Bulls' lone point.
Earlier in doubles, Harper and Huang combined for a 6-3 win over Ferguson and Manuel Goncalves at No. 2 to get off the court first. The first two games stayed on serve with USF holding in the second on a deuce point before the next two games were both breaks. The Longhorns followed with wins in three out of the next four games on deuce points for leads of 3-2, 4-3 and 5-3 before holding in the final game for the match.
The No. 18 pair of Spizzirri and Woldeab then posted their fourth top-15 win this season to clinch the point by downing No. 14 Rithvik Bollipari and Jakub Wojcik, 7-5, at No. 1. For the second straight doubles match, Spizzirri and Woldeab found themselves down 3-0 early and rallied for a 7-5 win. This time they used a 5-0 run to take the lead before the Bulls held and then broke to even it. However, the Longhorns got that break right back and then held for the win.
The match at No. 3 with Braswell and sophomore Jacob Bullard facing Yatsuk and Alvin Tudorica stayed on serve the entire way starting with USF and was even at 5-5 when doubles play finished.
The Longhorns next have a top-10 showdown against No. 8 Texas A&M at the Texas Tennis Center on Wednesday, March 31 at 6 p.m. CT in a match that will air on Longhorn Network.
#7 Texas 6, #29 South Florida 1
Singles – Order of Finish (5,3,4,1,6,2)
1. #32 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. #45 Chase Ferguson (USF) 6-3, 6-2
2. #69 Jakub Wojcik (USF) def. #85 Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-3, 6-7 (4), 1-0 (7)
3. #18 Micah Braswell (UT) def. Ivan Yatsuk (USF) 6-4, 6-2
4. Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Pierre Luquet (USF) 6-3, 6-2
5. Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Sergio Gomez Montesa (USF) 6-2, 6-1
6. Evin McDonald (UT) def. Antonio Muniz (USF) 7-5, 3-6, 1-0 (7)
Doubles – Order of Finish (2,1)
1. #18 Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) def. #14 Rithvik Bollipalli/Jakub Wojcik (USF) 7-5
2. Cleeve Harper/Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Chase Ferguson/Manuel Goncalves (USF) 6-3
3. Micah Braswell/Jacob Bullard (UT) vs. Alvin Tudorica/Ivan Yatsuk (USF) 5-5, unf.
Players Mentioned
