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No. 3 Men’s Tennis wins season opener against UTSA, 6-1
01.14.2022 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns took the doubles point and five singles matches to win their 25th-straight season opener.
Austin – No. 3 Texas Men's Tennis took their season opener over UTSA, 6-1, on Friday at the Texas Tennis Center. It marked the 25th-straight season-opening victory for the Longhorns dating back to 1998.
Texas used the doubles point and five singles wins from freshman Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 2, senior Richard Ciamarra at No. 3, sophomore No. 105 Siem Woldeab at No. 4, sophomore No. 73 Cleeve Harper at No. 5, and junior Chih Chi Huang at No. 6.
The wins for Bailly and Ciamarra came in their first singles dual matches as Longhorns. Bailly downed Javier Gonzalez, 6-1, 6-1, only dropping the second game of the first set on a deuce point. In the second, Gonzalez won the opening game on serve, but it was all Bailly from there, as he closed on a 6-0 run with the last three games decided on deuce points to give Texas a 2-0 lead.
Ciamarra, a graduate transfer from Notre Dame, went to a third-set superbreaker in his match against Sebastian Rodriguez and came away with a 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (9) win that came just after the Longhorns had clinched the overall match and provided the team a 5-0 lead. In the opening set, Rodriguez picked up a break for a 3-2 lead that he extended to 4-2 on serve on a deuce point. A second break then gave him the set on another deuce point. Ciamarra answered with a break of his own to begin the second and took a 2-0 lead on serve, but Rodriguez got the break back two games later to even it at 2-2 before taking the lead at 3-2. From there, Ciamarra closed on a 4-0 run that included two deuce points to send it to the superbreaker. In that frame, Rodriguez jumped out to a 2-0 lead that he extended to 6-2 when Ciamarra began a rally that would even it at 8-8. Ciamarra took his first lead at 9-8 and would not trail again on his way to an 11-9 win.
After Bailly, Woldeab was next off the court with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Tiago Torres. With Woldeab beginning on serve, each player grabbed a break in the third and fourth games to make it 2-2. They again traded breaks in the eighth and ninth games to put it at 5-4 for Woldeab before Torres evened it on serve in the next game. However Woldeab opened up a five-game run to take the first set and establish a 3-0 lead in the second. Torres pulled within 3-1 on a deuce point, but Woldeab got one of his own in the next game to start a 3-0 run to the final and a 3-0 Texas lead.
That left Harper with the clincher as he secured a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Danijal Muminovic. Harper broke serve in the opening game and held for a 2-0 lead, which he turned into a 5-1 advantage and a 6-2 win with Muminovic's two games coming on serve. In the second, Harper again broke Muminovic in the first game on his way to a 4-0 lead. The next three games stayed on serve before the last two resulted in breaks with Muminovic's coming on a deuce point at 5-3 and Harper's for the win at 6-3.
After Cimarra had given Texas a 5-0 lead with a superbreaker, sophomore No. 20 Micah Braswell was also involved in a third-set superbreaker, but came up short against Joao Ceolin at No. 1, 3-6, 7-5, 1-0 (5). After a solid first set in which Braswell earned two breaks, he led 5-4 in the second when Ceolin evened it on a deuce point to start a 3-0 run to the breaker. There, Braswell took a 3-2 lead, but Ceolin put together a 6-1 run for an 8-4 advantage that he maintained to a 10-5 final.
In the last match, Huang got off to 5-0 start against Maxim Groysman with three of those coming on deuce points. The final two games were also decided at deuce for Huang's win, as was the opening game of the second set, which went to Groysman on serve. Huang picked up a break on another deuce for a 2-1 lead that he consolidated at 3-1, but the deuce points began to go Groysman's way as he notched two during a 3-0 run for a 4-3 lead. Huang took the lead back with the next two games, but Groysman answered to regain it at 6-5 on another deuce point before Huang closed on serve to tie it. In the resulting tiebreaker, Huang took a 4-2 lead, but Groysman put together a 3-0 run for his own. Huang took it back with the next two points at 6-5, and the players exchanged points from there until Huang seized match point up 8-7 for the 6-1, 7-6 (7) decision.
In doubles, sophomore Eliot Spizzirri played with Woldeab at No. 1, and the No. 23-ranked pair got off the court first with a 6-3 win over Ceolin and Torres. Spizzirri and Woldeab took a 2-0 lead with an opening-game break, and the rest of the match stayed on serve until the final game when the Longhorns broke on a deuce point for the win.
Shortly after that, the No. 13 duo of Ciamarra and Harper clinched the point with a 6-2 win over Rodriguez and Muminovic at No. 2. Ciamarra and Harper also picked up an opening-game break on a deuce point on their way to a 5-0 run out of the gate. UTSA grabbed a break on a deuce point and then held to pull within 5-2, but the Longhorns closed on serve for the win.
In the third match, which played out to the finish, Bailly and Huang partnered for the second time in competition after doing so once at the Miami Spring Invite, but fell to Gonzalez and Garrett Skelly, 6-4. The first four games were on serve starting with Texas, but UTSA secured a break at 4-2 and maintained it to the win.
The Longhorns next welcome No. 1 Florida to the Texas Tennis Center on Sunday at 12 p.m. CT. It will be a rematch of last year's national semifinal, which the Gators won on their way to capturing the National Championship. There will be a pizza giveaway to the first 100 students and a T-shirt giveaway to the first 100 fans in attendance.
#3 Texas 6, UTSA 1
Singles – Order of Finish (2,4,5,3,1,6)
1. Joao Ceolin (UTSA) def. #20 Micah Braswell (UT) 3-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-5)
2. Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) def. Javier Gonzalez (UTSA) 6-1, 6-1
3. Richard Ciamarra (UT) def. Sebastian Rodriguez (UTSA) 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (11-9)
4. #105 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Tiago Torres (UTSA) 7-5, 6-1
5. #73 Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Danijal Muminovic (UTSA) 6-2, 6-3
6. Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Maxim Groysman (UTSA) 6-1, 7-6 (9-7)
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2,3)
1. #23 Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Joao Ceolin/Tiago Torres (UTSA) 6-3
2. #13 Richard Ciamarra/Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Sebastian Rodriguez/Danijal Muminovic (UTSA) 6-2
3. Javier Gonzalez/Garrett Skelly (UTSA) def. Chih Chi Huang/Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 6-4
Players Mentioned
