No. 4 Men’s Tennis defeats No. 37 Florida, 5-2

Sunday, March 2

Gainesville, Fla.

12 p.m. ET/11 a.m. CT

University of Texas

Florida

No. 4 Men’s Tennis defeats No. 37 Florida, 5-2

03.02.2025 | Men's Tennis

The Longhorns collected a win in their first SEC road match to move to 3-0 in conference play.

Gainesville, Fla. – No. 4 Texas Men's Tennis defeated No. 37 Florida, 5-2, on Sunday at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville. The Longhorns earned their fourth-straight win over Florida and collected a victory in their first SEC road match to move to 3-0 in conference play.

Florida won the doubles point with wins at Nos. 3 and 1, but Texas responded with singles victories by sophomore Lucas Brown at No. 6, freshman Oliver Ojakaar at No. 5, senior No. 58 Pierre-Yves Bailly at No. 3, and freshman No. 7 Timo Legout at No. 1 to clinch, 4-1. The match was then played out with the Gators winning at No. 4, but the Longhorns closed with a victory by junior No. 15 Sebastian Gorzny at No. 2.

Following doubles, Brown evened the overall score, 1-1, by sweeping his match against Niels Villard, 6-0, 6-0. Only one game even reached deuce, which was the second game of the first set.

Ojakaar was next with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Tanapatt Nirundorn. In the first set, Ojakaar broke and held for a 2-0 lead. The next four games were then held until Ojakaar broke again for 5-2 and served out the set at deuce. The first six games of the second set followed the same scoring until Nirundorn held for 4-3. Ojakaar also held, and once again closed the set at deuce, this time for a break, to give Texas a 2-1 lead.

Bailly extended the lead with a 6-3, 6-0 win over JanMangus Johnson. Both players held their opening serves, starting with Bailly at deuce. Both then broke for 2-2 before Bailly went on a 3-0 run for 5-2. After Johnson held for 5-3, Bailly closed the match on an 8-0 streak that included only two deuce points for 1-0 and 4-0 in the second set. It completed a stretch of Bailly winning 13 of the final 14 games.

A short time later, Legout provided the clinch with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Adhithya Ganesan. Legout began the match with a deuce-point break and a hold for a 2-0 lead. After both players held for 3-1, Legout captured consecutive deuce-point wins for 5-1. Ganesan got one game back on serve, but Legout served out the set to start a 4-0 run that established a 3-0 lead in the second. That included two deuce-point breaks to begin that set. Ganesan got one of the breaks back and then held on a deuce point for 3-2, but the next three games were also held until Legout broke on a deuce point for the match.

The remaining matches were played out with junior No. 33 Jonah Braswell falling to Henry Jefferson, 6-3, 6-4, at No. 4. Jefferson held on a deuce point to start the match and later secured the only break of the set for a 3-1 lead, which he maintained for the 6-3 win. The first six games of the second set stayed on serve with Braswell having two deuce-point break opportunities in that span, but Jefferson managed to hold both for 2-2 and 3-3. Jefferson then broke at deuce, himself, for a 4-3 lead. Braswell answered the break, but Jefferson again broke on a deuce point for 5-4 before serving out the match.

That left the only three-set singles match of the day at No. 2 where Gorzny downed No. 61 Jeremy Lin in a tiebreaker in the third set, 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 (3). In the first set, Lin was the first to break for a 4-2 lead that he consolidated on a deuce point for 5-2. Gorzny then held and had a chance to keep the set going, but Lin held again broke at deuce to win. However, Gorzny set out on a 9-0 run to sweep the second set and post a 3-0 lead in the third. Four of those games reached deuce with Gorzny winning them all for 2-0 and 4-0 in the first, and 2-0 and 3-0 in the second. Lin rallied with a 3-0 run that included a break for 3-2 and a deuce-point hold to even the third set. The rest of the set then stayed on serve to the tiebreaker where Lin won the first two points on a mini-break and a hold. But Gorzny took it from there with a 6-0 run with Lin only picking up one more point before Gorzny finished it, 7-3.

Earlier in doubles, the No. 11 duo of Legout and Brown reunited, but at No. 2, for a 6-2 win over Jefferson and Jim to be first off the doubles court. The Longhorns opened on a 3-0 run that included a deuce-point break in the second game. The Gators were then able to hold their next serve at deuce, but the match was on serve until Texas broke again on a deuce point for the win.

Bailly and freshman Sebastian Eriksson were then paired for the first time this season but fell to Johnson and Kevin Edengren, 6-3, at No. 3. Florida gathered the only break of the match for a 5-3 lead on the way to the win.

The doubles point was then decided at No. 1 where Gorzny and Okajaar played together for the second time this season after doing so for a win at No. 2 against Rice, but dropped their match, 6-4, to Ganesan and Nirundorn. Both of the Longhorns' first two service games went to deuce, and although they won the first one, the Gators won the second for the only break of the match and a 2-1 lead. Three games later, Texas had a chance to get the break back on a deuce point, but Florida held for 4-2. The Longhorns then staved off a match point to hold on a deuce point for 5-4, but the Gators held in the next game for the win.

The Longhorns (12-2) will now return home to face No. 19 Mississippi State on Thursday, March 6, at 6 p.m. CT.

#4 Texas 5, #37 Florida 2

Singles – Order of Finish (6,5,3,1,4,2)
1. #7 Timo Legout (TEX) def. Adhithya Ganesan (UF) 6-2, 6-3
2. #15 Sebastian Gorzny (TEX) def. #61 Jeremy Jin (UF) 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 (3)
3. #58 Pierre-Yves Bailly (TEX) def. JanMagnus Johnson (UF) 6-3, 6-0
4. Henry Jefferson (UF) def. #33 Jonah Braswell (TEX) 6-3, 6-4
5. Oliver Ojakaar (TEX) def. Tanapatt Nirundorn (UF) 6-2, 6-3
6. Lucas Brown (TEX) def. Niels Villard (UF) 6-0, 6-0

Doubles – Order of Finish (2,3,1)
1. Tanapatt Nirundorn/Adhithya Ganesan (UF) def. Oliver Ojakaar/Sebastian Gorzny (TEX) 6-4
2. #11 Lucas Brown/Timo Legout (TEX) def. Henry Jefferson/Jeremy Jin (UF) 6-2
3. Kevin Edengren/JanMagnus Johnson (UF) def. Sebastian Eriksson/Pierre-Yves Bailly (TEX) 6-3