The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
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Baylor
No. 1 Men’s Tennis advances to NCAA Final Four
05.14.2026 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns defeated 10 seed No. 11 Baylor, 4-1, on Thursday to move on to the semifinals for the fourth-straight year and sixth time in the last seven.
Athens, Ga. – No. 1 Texas Men's Tennis advanced to the NCAA Tournament Final Four with a 4-1 win over 10 seed No. 11 Baylor on Thursday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga. It marks the fourth-straight year the Longhorns have reached at least the semifinals and the sixth time in the last seven.
Texas will next face the winner of 3 seed No. 3 Ohio State and 6 seed No. 2 TCU on Saturday, May 16, at a 10 a.m. ET/9 a.m. CT.
Baylor claimed the doubles point in an extended set of matches that the Bears emerged from with a 6-3 win at No. 1 and a 7-5 win at No. 3. Texas was sitting on a match point in a tiebreaker at No. 2, 6-6 (8-7), when play stopped. However, the Longhorns followed with singles victories by freshman No. 41 Kalin Ivanovski at No. 2, sophomore No. 35 Sebastian Eriksson at No. 3, sophomore No. 89 Oliver Ojakaar at No. 4, and freshman Lucas Marionneau at No. 6 with the clinch.
"I'm really proud of our team," head coach Bruce Berque said. "It was a pretty typical match in some ways, I was just thinking about it. We had a couple guys play great, we had a couple guys play not so great, and we had a couple guys do some of both. That's the most common thing you see in a tennis match. It's not about always playing our best tennis, but it's about being composed, about being coachable, about staying connected with each other, showing great enthusiasm and playing hard. I was proud of our team for being able to do that against a very good team today."
Following doubles, Texas earned three singles wins with efficient straight-sets efforts that all ended close to each other in timing. Ivanovski started it with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over No. 51 Zsombor Velcz at No. 2. Then seconds later on the next court over, Eriksson finished his 6-2, 6-2 win over No. 53 Connor Van Schalkwyk at No. 3. A few minutes after that, Ojakaar gave the Longhorns a 3-1 overall lead with his 6-3, 6-3 victory over Alexandru Chirita at No. 4.
That left three matches on the court, two of which were in third sets, and all of which had a chance to be the clincher. However, it was Marionneau who got home first with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 over Calvin Baierl at No. 6.
In the other two matches, freshman No. 102 Abel Forger was three points away from a possible win, leading, 6-2, 3-6, 5-4, against Luc Koenig at No. 5. Meanwhile, senior No. 3 Sebastian Gorzny was up a set and on serve trailing, 5-6, in the second set, having just had a deuce-point break chance against No. 10 Devin Badenhorst on the point before play halted.
Earlier in doubles, Ivanovski and Forger fell by a break to No. 69 Chirita and Velcz, 6-3, at No. 1, but the other two matches were extended and almost had a simultaneous finish. The No. 46 pair of Ojakaar and Eriksson came up just short against Baierl and Badenhorst, 7-5, at No. 3 to clinch just moments before the Longhorns could get an opportunity on match point at No. 2. There, the No. 21 duo of Gorzny and Marionneau led a tiebreaker, 6-6 (8-7), against No. 89 Koenig and Van Schalkwyk.
#2 Texas 4, #10 Baylor 1
Singles – Order of Finish (2,3,4,6)
1. #3 Sebastian Gorzny (TEX) vs. #10 Devin Badenhorst (BU) 7-6 (7), 5-6, unf.
2. #41 Kalin Ivanovski (TEX) def. #51 Zsombor Velcz (BU) 6-3, 6-1
3. #35 Sebastian Eriksson (TEX) def. #53 Connor Van Schalkwyk (BU) 6-2, 6-2
4. #89 Oliver Ojakaar (TEX) def. Alexandru Chirita (BU) 6-3, 6-3
5. #102 Abel Forger (TEX) vs. Luc Koenig (BU) 6-2, 3-6, 5-4, unf.
6. Lucas Marionneau (TEX) def. Calvin Baierl (BU) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,3)
1. #69 Alexandru Chirita/Zsombor Velcz (BU) def. Kalin Ivanovski/Abel Forger (TEX) 6-3
2. #21 Sebastian Gorzny/Lucas Marionneau (TEX) vs. #89 Luc Koenig/Connor Van Schalkwyk (BU) 6-6 (8-7), unf.
3. Calvin Baierl/Devin Badenhorst (BU) def. #46 Oliver Ojakaar/Sebastian Eriksson (TEX) 7-5
Individual Match Key Moments
(by order of finish)
Doubles No. 1: Chirita/Velcz (BU) def. Ivanovski/Forger (TEX) 6-3
Match: Baylor broke first for a 3-1 lead, but Texas broke back and held at deuce for 3-3. The Bears later broke at deuce for a 5-3 lead before serving out the match.
Doubles No. 3: Baierl/Badenhorst (BU) def. Ojakaar/Eriksson (TEX) 7-5
Match: Both teams had a deuce point hold with Baylor's for 1-1 and Texas' for a 5-4 lead, but the Bears picked up the only break of the match on a deuce point after the Longhorns had led, 40-15.
Doubles No. 2: Gorzny/Marionneau (TEX) vs. Koenig/Van Schalkwyk (BU) 6-6 (8-7), unf
Match: Baylor won consecutive deuce points to hold for a 2-1 lead and break for 3-1. Texas got the break back to pull within 5-4 before holding for 5-5 on the way to a tiebreaker.
Tiebreaker: Texas grabbed a mini-break on the first point to start a 3-0 run. Baylor then won five of the next six points to lead, 5-4. The teams alternated points until the Longhorns won two-straight for an 8-7 lead and had a match point when play stopped.
Singles No. 2: Ivanovski (TEX) def. Velcz (BU) 6-3, 6-1
Set One: Ivanovski bookended the set with breaks in the first and last games.
Set Two: After both players held, Ivanovski held at deuce to start a 5-0 run that he capped with another deuce-point hold.
Singles No. 3: Eriksson (TEX) def. Van Schalkwyk (BU) 6-2, 6-2
Set One: Van Schalkwyk broke to open the match, but Eriksson broke back to start a 3-0 run. After Van Schalkwyk broke again to trail 3-2, Eriksson closed on another 30 run capped by a deuce-point break.
Set Two: Eriksson held at deuce to start the set, and after Van Schalkwyk also held, Eriksson produced another 3-0 run for 4-1. Van Schalkwyk held one more time, but Eriksson held and broke for the match.
Singles No. 4: Ojakaar (TEX) def. Chirita (BU) 6-3, 6-3
Set One: After holding at deuce for 1-1, Chirita broke first for 2-1. However, Ojakaar broke back and later broke again for 5-3 before serving out the set.
Set Two: Chirita held at deuce to start the set, but Ojakaar broke two games later for 2-1 and broke again for 6-3 and the match.
Singles No. 6: Marionneau (TEX) def. Baierl (BU) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
Set One: After Marionneau held at deuce for 3-3, Baierl ended the set on a 3-0 run.
Set Two: Baierl opened the set with a break, but Marionneau broke back. After Baierl held at deuce for 2-2, Marionneau closed on a 4-0 run winning the last two games at deuce.
Set Thee: The first five games were on serve despite Baierl holding at deuce in the second game. Marionneau once again finished on a 4-0 run with the last two games at deuce.
Singles No. 1: Gorzny (TEX) vs. Badenhorst (BU) 7-6 (7), 5-6, unf.
Set One: Badenhorst broke first for 2-1 and consolidated at deuce for 3-1, however Gorzny answered with a 3-0 run, including a deuce-point break that made it 3-3. The set then stayed on serve to a tiebreaker.
Set One Tiebreaker: Gorzny started up, 2-1, then trailed, 4-2, but regained the lead, 5-4. The players then alternated points until Gorzny claimed the last two for a 9-7 win.
Set Two: Badenhorst broke for a 3-1 lead, but Gorzny broke back. The set was then on serve to a 6-5 lead for Badenhorst when play stopped, although Gorzny fended off a deuce-point break chance for Badenhorst to make it 4-4, while Bandehorst did the same for a 6-5 lead before play stopped.
Singles No. 5: Forger (TEX) vs. Koenig (BU) 6-2, 3-6, 5-4, unf.
Set One: Forger jumped out to a 4-0 lead with two deuce-point breaks for 1-0 and 3-0, and a deuce-point hold for 4-0. The last four games were then held.
Set Two: Koenig collected the only break, doing so on a deuce point for a 4-2 lead.
Set Three: Koenig broke in the first game, but Forger got it back for 3-3. Forger later led, 5-4, when play halted.
