The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Tennessee
No. 4 Men’s Tennis advances to SEC Championship final
04.19.2025 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns used four singles victories to defeat No. 14 Tennessee, 4-2, on Saturday.
Columbia, S.C. – No. 4 Texas Men's Tennis advanced to the SEC Championship final with a 4-2 victory over 5 seed No. 14 Tennessee on Saturday at the Carolina Tennis Center in Columbia, S.C. The Longhorns will next face the host 3 seed No. 13 South Carolina on Sunday at 4 p.m. ET/3 p.m. CT. Additionally, the win over the Volunteers avenged the team's only SEC loss of the season.
Much like Texas' quarterfinals match against Auburn, the Longhorns were again first off the doubles court with a win by the No. 78 duo of senior Pierre-Yves Bailly and freshman Sebastian Eriksson. However, Tennessee came back with two wins at Nos. 2 and 1 to secure the doubles point. The Volunteers also picked up the first singles win at No. 6 for a 2-0 lead, but it was all Longhorns from there, as they rallied for four singles victories by No. 46 Bailly at No. 3, Eriksson at No. 5, junior No. 72 Jonah Braswell at No. 4, and freshman No. 2 Timo Legout at No. 1.
The match was clinched by Legout, who faced a match point against him in his second set but fought that off to go on to a three-set win over No. 31 Alex Kotzen, 5-7, 7-5, 6-3. That match was one of two still on the court with Texas holding a 3-2 overall lead, however in the other match at No. 2, junior No. 22 Sebastian Gorzny was down a game but on serve in his third set while fighting through an injury.
LETS GOOO…. on to the Finals! 🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/wMnDM2YzlF
— Texas Men's Tennis (@TexasMTN) April 19, 2025
Legout opened his match with a deuce-point break, but Kotzen broke back in the next game. Kotzen later held at deuce for a 3-2 lead, broke again and consolidated his break for a 3-0 run and 5-2 advantage. Legout responded with a 3-0 run of his own and had a break point at deuce in the next game, but Kotzen was able to hold for 6-5 and then break for the set. Kotzen began the second set on a 3-0 run and had two break chances to make it 4-0, but Legout won both points for 3-1 instead. Kotzen held the next game at love for 4-1, and although Legout held and got back on serve with a break for 4-3, Kotzen broke again for 5-3 to put himself position to serve for the match. That game reached deuce to give Kotzen a match point, but Legout would not be denied, collecting the break he needed to spark a 4-0 run for his 7-5 win. In the third set, the first seven games were remarkably all breaks, giving Legout a 4-3 lead even though his second and third service games had gone to deuce. That's when Legout finally snapped the string of breaks for a 5-3 lead, and then tallied his fifth break of the set to clinch the victory, sending his teammates streaming onto his court.
Not long before that, Braswell had given the Longhorns their 3-2 overall lead by putting together an impressive comeback of his own in a different style, topping Jose Garcia, 4-6, 6-0, 6-0 at No. 4. The first six games of the match stayed on serve starting with Braswell, despite the last three of those all reaching deuce. Garcia then claimed the only break of the set for a 4-3 lead on the way to his 6-4 win. However, it was all Braswell from there, as he swept the 12 games the rest of the way, winning three deuce points in the second set and two in the third.
The two singles victories for Texas leading up to that point were almost as decisive as the last two sets for Braswell. Eriksson had tied the match, 2-2, with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Jan Kobierski at No. 5. It was Kobierski who got out to a 2-0 lead with a hold and deuce-point break, but Eriksson responded by setting out on an 8-0 run to capture the first set and establish a 2-0 lead in the second. Eriksson won two deuce points in that stretch, which he used for a hold for 2-2 and a break for 5-2 in the first set. In the second, Kobierski won his only game on the only deuce point, holding for a 2-1 deficit. However, Eriksson would surrender only four more points the rest of the match as he closed on a 4-0 run to win 12 of the last 13 games.
Bailly had gotten the Longhorns on the board with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Alejandro Moreno at No. 3. Bailly swept the first set as part of a 7-0 run to begin the match, as all three of Moreno's service games in the first set reached deuce. Bailly then held to start the second set just before Moreno held for his only game of the match. Bailly took it from there, limiting Moreno to only five points the rest of the way with three of those coming on a deuce-point hold for Bailly for 4-1.
With sophomore Lucas Brown and freshman Oliver Ojakaar still out of the singles lineup, freshman Evan Burnett stepped in again, but fell, 6-1, 6-1, to Ian Cruz at No. 6. Burnett won the second game of the match at love, and in the second set broke for 3-1, but Moreno won all three deuce-points of that frame to prevent a rally by Burnett.
The only match that went unfinished was No. 2 where Gorzny battled a first set injury to trail by one in the third set, but he was on serve against No. 27 Shunsuke Mitsui, 7-6 (2), 3-6, 2-3. Prior to the injury, Gorzny had mostly controlled the first set with a 5-2 after getting out to a 3-0 advantage. Mitsui got back within 3-2 with a break and a deuce-point hold, but Gorzny held and broke again. Mitsui then won the next three games, capped by a deuce-point break for 5-5, and after Gorzny answered the deuce-point break to regain a 6-5 lead, Mitsui forced a tiebreaker at love. In the breaker, Mitsui grabbed the first two points with a hold and a mini-break, but Gorzny ran the table after that to win the set. Mitsui broke first in the second set for a 2-1 lead, but Gorzny broke back on a deuce point. Mitsui then broke again and consolidated for a 4-2 lead, and after Gorzny held for 4-3, Mitsui captured the last two games with a deuce-point hold and a break. Gorzny opened the third set with a break and a hold for a 2-0 lead, but Mitsui went on a 3-0 run before play stopped.
Earlier in doubles, the No. 78 pair of Bailly and Eriksson were first of the court with a 6-0 sweep of Lance Nisbet and James Newton at No. 3. Three games reached deuce in the match with a hold for 2-0 and breaks for 3-0 and 5-0.
Tennessee then evened doubles as Gorzny returned to doubles play and paired with Braswell, but the duo fell to Mitsui and Alan Jesudason, 6-3, at No. 2. The Volunteers picked up the only break in the match in the second game on the way to their win. Only one game reached deuce, which the Longhorns held for a 5-3 deficit.
The point was then clinched at No. 1 as the No. 11 duo of Legout and sophomore Lucas Brown were downed by No. 9 Kotzen and Moreno, 6-4. The Volunteers broke in the opening game and held for a 2-0 lead. The teams then exchanged deuce-point holds as the next four games were on serve for a 4-2 lead for Tennessee. The Volunteers broke again in the next game for 5-2, but the Longhorns broke back on a deuce point for 5-3 and held for 5-4. Texas then had a 15-30 lead in the next game in their attempt to get back on serve, but Tennessee claimed the next three points for the win.
With the victory, Texas is now 24-4 this season.
#4 Texas 4, #14 Tennessee 2
Singles – Order of Finish (6,3,5,4,1)
1. #2 Timo Legout (TEX) def. #31 Alex Kotzen (TENN) 5-7, 7-5, 6-3
2. #27 Shunsuke Mitsui (TENN) vs. #22 Sebastian Gorzny (TEX) 6-7 (2), 6-3, 3-2, unf.
3. #46 Pierre-Yves Bailly (TEX) def. Alejandro Moreno (TENN) 6-0, 6-1
4. Jonah Braswell (TEX) def. Jose Garcia (TENN) 4-6, 6-0, 6-0
5. Sebastian Eriksson (TEX) def. Jan Kobierski (TENN) 6-2, 6-1
6. Ian Cruz (TENN) def. Evan Burnett (TEX) 6-1, 6-1
Doubles – Order of Finish (3,2,1)
1. #11 Alex Kotzen/Alejandro Moreno (TENN) def. #9 Lucas Brown/Timo Legout (TEX) 6-4
2. Shunsuke Mitsui/Alan Jesudason (TENN) def. Sebastian Gorzny/Jonah Braswell (TEX) 6-3
3. #78 Pierre-Yves Bailly/Sebastian Eriksson (TEX) def. James Newton/Lance Nisbet (TENN) 6-0
Players Mentioned
