The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Men’s Tennis’ Gorzny, Legout advance to NCAA Singles Round of 32
11.19.2024 | Men's Tennis
Junior Sebastian Gorzny and freshman Timo Legout won their opening round matches in Waco on Tuesday.
Waco, Texas – Texas Men's Tennis junior Sebastian Gorzny and freshman Timo Legout advanced the singles round of 32 at the 2024-25 NCAA Men's Tennis Singles and Doubles Championships on Tuesday in Waco.
The top-seeded Gorzny defeated No. 7 Gavin Young of Michigan, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, to move on, while Legout topped Timofey Stepanov of Cal in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. Junior Jonah Braswell also competed in the first round, but came up just short to Raffaello Papajcik of Denver, 5-7, 7-6 (3), 7-5.
The first set of Gorzny's match stayed on serve all the way to the final game when Young picked up the lone break for a 7-5 win. In that stretch, Gorzny had a deuce-point break chance with the score even, 3-3, but Young was able to hold for a 4-3 lead. In the second set, Gorzny collected his first break of the match in the opening game, and despite two deuce points along the way, that break held up as the rest of the set stayed on serve. Gorzny then pushed out to a 3-0 lead in the third set on the strength of two deuce-point breaks. Young responded and got one of the breaks back for 3-1, but once again, the rest of the set stayed on serve even though the last three games all went to deuce. That delivered the victory to Gorzny, who will next face No. 11 Paul Inchauspe of Princeton on Wednesday at 9 a.m. CT.
Legout made his NCAA tournament debut and was the first to break in his match against Stepanov. That came on a deuce point for a 3-1 lead, but Stepanov answered the break for 3-2. The next break came for Legout on another deuce point to provide him a 5-3 lead before he served out the set. The second stayed on serve to 4-4 even though there were four deuce points in that span. However, from there, Legout swept the final eight points of the match for a break and a hold to win. Next up for Legout will be No. 4 Cooper Williams of Duke at 11:30 a.m. CT.
Texas was extremely close to having three players in the round of 32 as Braswell had six match points in the second set of his contest, but Papajcik was able to fend them off to eventually force a tiebreaker in that set and win in a third. In the first set, Papajcik moved out to a 3-0 lead after sweeping Braswell's first two service games. However, Braswell came back with a 4-0 run of his own that included two deuce-point breaks. Papajcik then claimed back-to-back deuce points to regain a 5-4 lead, but Braswell took it from there with the last three games capped by a deuce-point break to win. Braswell opened the second with a deuce-point hold as the set stayed on serve the entire way to a tiebreaker, however there were four more deuce points along the way. In two of those, Braswell held a 15-40 edge on Papajcik's serve while leading 5-4 and 6-5, but Papajcik came away with holds to keep the match going. In the tiebreaker, Papajcik grabbed a mini-break and held his first serve for 2-0. Braswell took the next point, and again got within one at 3-2, but Papajcik went on a 3-0 run for 6-2 before winning, 7-3, forcing a third set. There, Papajcik secured the first break for a 4-2 lead, although there had been two deuce points in the process. He consolidated for 5-2, but Braswell got the break back when he needed it to pull within 5-4 before evening the set, 5-5, on serve. The next two games both went to deuce, however Papajcik was able to claim both for the win.
In doubles, Legout and sophomore Lucas Brown will open play on Wednesday against Wally Thayne and Zach Fuchs of BYU at 5 p.m. CT.
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2024-25 NCAA Men's Tennis Singles and Doubles Championships
Singles Round of 64 – November 19
1 seed #30 Sebastian Gorzny (UT) def. #7 Gavin Young (MICH), 5-7, 6-4, 6-4
9-16 seed Timo Legout (UT) def. Timofey Stepanov (CAL), 6-3, 6-4
Raffaello Papajcik (DEN) def. 9-16 seed #29 Jonah Braswell (UT), 5-7, 7-6 (3), 7-5
Singles Round of 32 – November 20
1 seed #30 Sebastian Gorzny (UT) vs. #11 Paul Inchauspe (PRIN), 9 a.m. CT
9-16 seed Timo Legout (UT) vs. #4 Cooper Williams (DUKE), 11:30 a.m. CT
Doubles Round of 32 – November 20
Timo Legout/Lucas Brown (UT) vs. #11 Wally Thayne/Zach Fuchs (BYU), 5 p.m. CT
Note: The most recent ITA rankings were released in August prior to fall play.
Players Mentioned
