The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Florida
No. 4 Men’s Tennis preview: at No. 37 Florida
03.01.2025 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns play their first SEC road match when the visit Gainesville on Sunday.
No. 4 Men's Tennis preview: at No. 37 Florida
Team Records: Texas (11-2, 2-0 SEC), Florida (8-4, 3-0 SEC)
When: Sunday, March 2, 2025, 12 p.m. ET/11 a.m. CT
Where: Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex, Gainesville, Fla.
Live Stats: https://hookem.at/MTN-Stats
Live Video: https://hookem.at/MTN-Watch
Updated Statistics
Notes
-Florida Series: Texas leads, 15-8
Texas leads the all-time series with Florida, 15-8, including a 4-3 win at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center in Austin last year that was clinched at 4-1. That was the third-straight win in the series for the Longhorns after a 5-2 win in Gainesville 2023, and a 4-3 win at the ITA Indoors in Seattle in 2022, which came on the heels of Florida winning 4-3 in Austin earlier that year. That's part of the Longhorns winning six of the past eight meetings over the last six years. In 2021, the teams also met twice with each winning once. Texas took a 4-3 decision in Austin during the ITA Kickoff Weekend that sent the Longhorns to the ITA National Indoors, while Florida won 4-0 in the NCAA Semifinals on the USTA National Campus in Orlando before going on to win the 2021 National Championship. Five seasons ago, the No. 2 Longhorns opened their dual match season at No. 1 Florida and came away with another 5-2 win, using five singles victories, all against ranked opponents. Prior to that, the teams met in the semifinals of the 2019 NCAA Championship as No. 2 Texas defeated No. 4 Florida, 4-2, also on the USTA National Campus in Orlando, on their way to winning the 2019 National Championship.
-Last Eight Meetings
2024: No. 3 Texas 4, Florida 3 – Austin, Texas (Weller Indoor Tennis Center)
2023: No. 8 Texas 5, No. 13 Florida 2 – Gainesville, Fla.
2022: No. 14 Texas 4, No. 5 Florida 3 – ITA National Indoors first round, Seattle, Wash.
2022: No. 1 Florida 4, No. 3 Texas 3 – Austin, Texas (Texas Tennis Center)
2021: No. 1 Florida 4, No. 4 Texas 0 – NCAA Championship semifinals, Orlando, Fla.
2021: No. 6 Texas 4, No. 9 Florida 3 – ITA Kickoff, Austin, Texas (Texas Tennis Center)
2020: No. 2 Texas 5, No. 1 Florida 2 – Gainesville, Fla.
2019: No. 2 Texas 4, No. 4 Florida 2 – NCAA Championship semifinals, Orlando, Fla.
-Last Two Box Scores
No. 3 Texas 4, Florida 3
Saturday, February 10, 2024
Austin, Texas • Weller Indoor Tennis Center
Singles – Order of Finish (5,1,2,6,4,3)
1. #1 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Adhithya Ganesan (UF) 6-2, 6-2
2. Gilles-Arnaud Bailly (UT) def. Aidan Kim (UF) 6-2, 6-3
3. #89 Jeremy Jin (UF) def. #53 Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 6-7 (3), 6-2, 1-0 (11)
4. Nate Bonetto (UF) def. Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 1-0 (8)
5. Cleeve Harper (UT) def. #82 Tanapatt Nirundorn (UF) 6-1, 6-2
6. #37 Jonah Braswell (UT) def. Kevin Edengren (UF) 6-3, 6-3
Doubles – Order of Finish (2,1)
1. Adhithya Ganesan/Tanapatt Nirundorn (UF) def. #5 Eliot Spizzirri/Cleeve Harper (UT) 7-6 (0)
2. #58 Aidan Kim/Nate Bonetto (UF) def. Siem Woldeab/Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 6-4
3. Micah Braswell/Gilles-Arnaud Bailly (UT) vs. Henry Jefferson/Jeremy Jin (UF) 6-6 (1-0), unf.
No. 8 Texas 5, No. 13 Florida 2
Sunday, January 15, 2023
Gainesville, Fla. • Ring Tennis Complex
Singles – Order of Finish (4,5,2,6,1,3)
1. #3 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Axel Nefve (UF) 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2
2. Will Grant (UF) def. #30 Micah Braswell (UT) 6-3, 7-6 (5)
3. #93 Jonah Braswell (UF) def. Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 6-2, 6-7 (4), 3-1, ret.
4. #13 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Lukas Greif (UF) 6-1, 6-2
5. Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Togan Tokac (UF) 6-4, 6-2
6. Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Tanapatt Nirundorn (UF) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,3)
1. #7 Cleeve Harper/Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Will Grant/Axel Nefve (UF) 6-1
2. #10 Tanapatt Nirundorn/Togan Tokac (UF) vs. Chih Chi Huang/Eshan Talluri (UT) 5-4, unf.
3. Pierre-Yves Bailly/Siem Woldeab (UT) def. #43 Jonah Braswell/Lukas Greif (UF) 6-1
-ITA Team Rankings
Texas was tabbed No. 1 in the preseason coaches poll released January 6 by the ITA, held that through the first two weeks, moved to No. 3 on February 5 and are currently No. 4, which is the 99th-straight week in the top 15 dating back to April 2018. Meanwhile, Florida is No. 37.
-ITA Individual National Rankings
Texas had five listings in the ITA individual in the most recent rankings that were released February 20 with four in the singles top-60 and one doubles pair. Texas claimed both the No. 7 and No. 15 players in Timo Legout and Sebastian Gorzny, while Jonah Braswell was also in the top-40 at No. 33, and Pierre-Yves Bailly was No. 58. In doubles, Legout and Brown were in the top-15 at No. 11.
Texas
Singles
No. 7 Timo Legout
No. 15 Sebastian Gorzny
No. 33 Jonah Braswell
No. 58 Pierre-Yves Bailly
Doubles
No. 11 Timo Legout/Lucas Brown
Florida
Singles
No. 61 Jeremy Jin
Doubles
No. 14 Henry Jefferson/Tanapatt Nirundorn
-SEC weekend sweep
Texas completed a sweep of its opening SEC homestand with a 6-1 win over No. 51 Ole Miss on February 24. The Longhorns took the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 1, and after Ole Miss earned its lone point with a singles win at No. 4, Texas collected victories from Timo Legout at No. 1, Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 3, Sebastian Gorzny at No. 2 for the clinch, Lucas Brown at No. 5, and Evan Burnett at No. 6. The win for Burnett was the first of his UT career in a dual match.
-Victorious over Vandy in SEC opener
The Longhorns swept No. 34 Vanderbilt, 7-0, in the program's first-ever conference match as a member of the SEC on February 22 at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center. After Texas took the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 3, the Longhorns received singles wins from Sebastian Eriksson at No. 5, Sebastian Gorzny at No. 2, Oliver Ojakaar at No. 4 for the clinch, Lucas Brown at No. 6, Timo Legout at No.1, and Jonah Braswell at No. 3.
-Legout picks up another SEC honor
Timo Legout was named the SEC Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week for the week ending February 18. It marked the third weekly conference honor of the season for Legout who had twice been named Freshman of the Week, but it was his first as Athlete of the Week. It was also the second consecutive time a Longhorn earned the Athlete of the Week honor after Pierre-Yves Bailly did so the week before. Legout led Texas to the semifinals of the ITA National Indoor Championships, which is the furthest any team from the SEC advanced. The Longhorns only fell to eventual champion Wake Forest, 4-3, with two singles matches that both went against them in third sets. Legout went 2-0 in singles with an unfinished match he was leading in a third-set tiebreaker, all against top-60 opponents at No. 1. He won his last match by a decisive 6-4, 6-2 score against No. 17 Stefan Dostanic of No. 2 Wake Forest, who clinched the championship for the Demon Deacons in the next round over Jack Pinnington of TCU.
-ITA Indoors semifinalists
In winning the 2025 ITA Kickoff Weekend Texas Regional, the Longhorns advanced to the ITA National Indoor Championships for the seventh-straight year and has now reached the quarterfinals in all seven of those. The Longhorns advanced to the semifinals this year for the second time in the last three by defeating No. 14 Texas A&M (4-1) and No. 5 Virginia (4-1) before falling to No. 2 Wake Forest (4-2). Against the Aggies, Texas rallied in doubles to take the point with wins at Nos. 2 and 3 and then followed with singles victories by Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 3, Timo Legout at No. 1, and Lucas Brown at No. 6. The Longhorns avenged what been their only loss of the season against the Cavaliers. After Virginia took the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 1, Texas rebounded for singles victories from Sebastian Eriksson at No. 6, Oliver Ojakaar at No. 5, Bailly at No. 3, and Jonah Braswell at No. 4. The match against Wake Forest came down to the third set of the final singles match. After the Demon Deacons took the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 3, the Longhorns collected the first two singles points from Legout at No. 1 and Ojakaar at No. 5. Wake Forest then won the next two singles matches at Nos. 6 and 2, and while Bailly evened the score with a win at No. 3, WFU secured the final match at No. 4.
-Sweeping the SEC weekly awards
Texas swept the two SEC weekly awards for the week ending Feb. 11. Pierre-Yves Bailly was named the Athlete of the Week, while Timo Legout was Freshman of the Week after both helped the Longhorns to a 4-1 win over No. 1 TCU. For Bailly, it marked his first career conference weekly award, while for Legout it was his second after being Co-Freshman of the Week two weeks earlier. Bailly won both his singles and doubles matches, registering a decisive 6-3, 6-3 top-10 win over No. 9 Lui Maxted at No. 3, and partnering with Sebastian Gorzny for a 7-6 (3) victory over Jack Pinnington and Cooper Woestendick at No. 2. Legout posted an impressive 6-1, 6-1 win over No. 18 Jack Pinnington at No. 1 and paired with Lucas Brown in coming up just short in doubles against the No. 2 pair of Maxted and Pedro Vives, 7-5, at No. 1 after TCU broke in the last game to win.
-Not so fast, No. 1
After being ranked No. 1 themselves the week before, No. 3 Texas hosted No. 1 TCU in the Weller Indoor Tennis Center and came away with a 4-1 win over the Horned Frogs. It marked the fifth win for the Longhorns over a No. 1-ranked team in the last five years. That includes victories over Ohio State in 2024, Ohio State and TCU in 2023, and USC in 2021. Texas captured a dramatic doubles point with two tiebreaker wins at Nos. 2 and 3, and followed with singles victories by Timo Legout at No. 1, Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 3, and Jonah Braswell at No. 4.
-Just short in Charlottesville
Texas came up just short on the road at No. 5 Virginia, 4-3, at the Boar's Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Va., on Jan. 2. The Longhorns had match points that would have secured the overall win before the Cavaliers rallied. Texas took the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 1, and after Virginia won at No. 5 singles, the Longhorns reclaimed the lead with wins by Jonah Braswell at No. 4, and Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 3. However, the Cavaliers responded with three-straight three-set wins in matches at Nos. 2, 1 and 6 after Texas had won the first set in each of them. The Longhorns also had three match points in a second-set tiebreaker at No. 1.
-Ojakaar representing Estonia in Davis Cup
Freshman Oliver Ojakaar is representing his home country of Estonia in Davis Cup play and will miss the match against Virginia. Ojakaar won his singles match against Ignacio Parisca, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4.
-Legout named SEC Co-Freshman of the Week
Timo Legout was named the SEC Co-Freshman of the Week on Jan. 29. It was his first career conference award and also the first SEC award ever for the program. Legout went a combined 4-0, all at No. 1 singles and doubles, including three ranked wins, and only dropped a total of nine games in leading Texas to wins over Rice and Georgia Tech to claim the ITA Kickoff Weekend regional title. It also advanced the Longhorns to the ITA National Indoor Championships for the seventh-straight year.
-Texas sweeps its way to the ITA Indoors and regional title
Texas won the championship of the ITA Kickoff Weekend Austin Regional with a 4-0 sweep of Georgia Tech at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center on Jan. 26. With the win, the Longhorns advanced to the ITA National Indoor Championships for the seventh-straight year with this year's tournament taking place from February 14-17 in Dallas and Waco, Texas. Texas took the doubles point with wins at Nos. 3 and 1 and continued with singles victories from Timo Legout at No. 1, Sebastian Gorzny at No. 2, and Sebastian Eriksson at No. 5, who clinched the sweep of the overall match. The day before, the Longhorns had swept Rice, 4-0, with double point wins at Nos. 1 and 2 and victories by the same players at the same positions in the same order.
-Horns cool the Sun Devils
Texas topped No. 18 Arizona State, 6-1, at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center on January 19. Although the Sun Devils took the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 1, the Longhorns responded with victories from Timo Legout at No. 1, Lucas Brown at No. 6, Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 3, Jonah Braswell at No. 4 for the clinch, Oliver Ojakaar at No. 5, and Sebastian Gorzny at No. 2.
-UT system win
The Longhorns produced their second-straight 7-0 sweep with win over UTRGV on January 15 at the Texas Tennis Center. After sweeping the doubles point, the Longhorns received victories from Sebastian Gorzny at No. 1, Oliver Ojakaar at No. 4, Jonah Braswell at No. 3 for the clinch, Sebastian Eriksson at No. 5, Rahul Sachdev at No. 6, and Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 2.
-Two for two on opening weekend
Texas opened the 2025 dual match season with a pair of home wins at the TTC on Jan. 11 and 12 over Lamar (6-1) and ACU (7-0). The wins marked the dual match debuts of several player, including freshmen Sebastian Gorzny, Oliver Ojakaar and Rahul Sachdev, and junior transfer Sebastian Gorzny. Against Lamar, the Longhorns swept the doubles matches and earned singles victories from Eriksson at No. 5, Lucas Brown at No. 3, Gorzny at No. 1 for the clinch, Jonah Braswell at No. 2, and Ojakaar at No. 4. UT again swept three doubles matches against ACU and earned singles victories from Brown at No. 4, Gorzny at No. 1, Eriksson at No. 6, Braswell at No. 3, Ojakaar at No. 5, and Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 2.
-Berque at the Helm
An accomplished coaching veteran with three decades of experience with some of the nation's top tennis programs, Bruce Berque was named the fifth head coach of The University of Texas Men's Tennis program on May 23, 2019. Berque has now completed six seasons as head coach in Austin and has led the Longhorns to a 134-32 overall record (.807) that includes 11-2 this season, 27-4 last season, 26-4 in 2023, 18-11 in 2022, 24-6 in 2021, 13-3 in a 2020 season that was shortened by the pandemic, and 15-2 in 2019 en route to the guiding Texas to its first team National Championship. During Berque's six seasons at the helm, Texas is the only program in the nation to finish in the top four in five of those six seasons, and it is the only program nationally to make four NCAA Final Fours in that span. It is also one of just two programs to reach the NCAA championship match twice (2019, 2024), along with Virginia. The Longhorns are additionally one of five teams to have been ranked No. 1 at some point during the regular season or post-season in at least three of those years (Ohio State, Virginia, Florida, TCU). Adding in the recent preseason ranking of No. 1, Texas is the only program to be No. 1 in four of those years. During his career, Berque has helped produce four national team champions, seven national individual champions and 12 conference team titles. He has coached 28 All-Americans who collectively have amassed 58 All-America honors, along with two more players who have already qualified for three All-America honors in the upcoming year. Additionally, he has guided seven singles players and three doubles teams to a No. 1 national ranking. Texas came within a point of its second national title before coming up just short by a 4-3 score to TCU to finish as NCAA runners-up and with a No. 2 final ranking. As part of a 27-4 overall record, it had been the fourth time the teams had met during the season, resulting in a 2-2 split that also saw the Longhorns claim the Big 12 tournament championship over the Horned Frogs. Meanwhile, UT also secured an outright Big 12 regular season title with a perfect 7-0 record. That marked the fourth time in the five years under Berque where a conference slate was played that Texas took home at least a share of the regular season championship (2019, '21, '23, '24), including three outright (2019, '23, '24). The 2020 season was halted due to the pandemic prior to conference play. The 27 wins was second-most for the program since 2010, trailing only the 29 from the 2019 National Championship season. Berque has additionally guided Texas to the semifinals of the ITA National Indoor Championships in two of the last three years (2023, 2025), including the program's first finals appearance in 2023.
-Back from 2024
In the seventh season under head coach Bruce Berque, Texas will have a different look from 2024, but at the same time return a number of familiar faces. Returning with match experience will be a trio of players including senior Pierre-Yves Bailly, junior Jonah Braswell and sophomore Lucas Brown. In addition, three players were on the team last season and redshirted, including Timo Legout, who had a sensational fall season and moved all the way up to No. 3 and No. 7, respectively, in the preseason singles and doubles rankings, along with Evan Burnett and Rahul Sachdev.
-Three newcomers arrive for their first dual match season on the 40
The Longhorns add three new faces for 2025, all who are expected to be impact players, starting with Sebastian Gorzny, who transferred from TCU in the summer and is a junior. Two other players just arrived on the 40 Acres this month in Oliver Ojakaar from Estonia, and Sebastian Eriksson from Sweden.
-Fall/Summer Wrap-up
In the first year of the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships being moved to the fall, Timo Legout reached the semifinals of both this past November, combining with Lucas Brown in doubles to qualify as All-Americans. Earlier, Legout and the combination of Legout and Brown won both titles at the ITA Texas Regionals, and junior Jonah Braswell also made the singles final. Sebastian Gorzny additionally finished as the singles runner-up at the ITA All-American Championships.
-Year eight at the Texas Tennis Center
Texas is in its eighth year at the Texas Tennis Center with an 87-9 (.906) overall record in its history. Already 5-0 this season, the Longhorns were 10-1 last season, including wins over both No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 TCU with the only loss being a 4-3 decision to No. 1 Virginia. In 2023, Texas was 13-0, and additionally, set an all-time Texas Tennis attendance record of 1,332 against TCU in a match that saw them clinch the Big 12 regular season title. The season before, the Longhorns posted a 10-3 record with the only losses coming to top-five teams by 4-3 scores against No. 1 Florida and No. 2 Ohio State, and 6-0 to No. 4 Baylor. Texas posted a 14-2 mark in 2021, which included wins over No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 9 Florida and No. 15 Arizona. In a shortened season in 2020, UT recorded a 9-0 record with wins against No. 8 Stanford, No. 18 Georgia and No. 21 Florida State. The Longhorns finished 2019 at 15-1, including wins over No. 1 Ohio State, No. 6 Baylor and No. 12 Columbia, along with three NCAA Tournament victories. The lone loss that year came to No. 15 USC. During its inaugural season, Texas posted a 10-2 record, including winning the 2018 Big 12 Tournament.
Players Mentioned
