The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
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SMU
No. 1 Men’s Tennis advances to NCAA Sweet 16
05.02.2026 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns swept No. 32 SMU, 4-0, on Saturday to move on to the round of 16 for the 12th-straight year.
Austin – No. 1 Texas Men's Tennis advanced to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 with a 4-0 sweep over No. 32 SMU on Saturday at the Texas Tennis Center. It marks the 12th-straight year the Longhorns have reached at least the round of 16. There they will face 15 seed No. 17 San Diego on Friday, May 8, in Austin at the Texas Tennis Center with the start time to be confirmed later by the NCAA.
Texas secured the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 2, and followed with singles victories by freshmen Lucas Marionneau at No. 6, No. 102 Abel Forger at No. 4, and No. 41 Kalin Ivanovski at No. 2.
The pair of Ivanovski and Forger opened doubles with a 6-4 top-60 win over No. 54 Trevor Svajda and Jerry Barton at No. 1. The clinch then came from the No. 21 duo of Marionneau and senior Sebastian Gorzny, who earlier had a match point at deuce while leading, 5-3, against Alex Finkelstein and Krish Arora at No. 2. The Mustangs were able to break to keep the contest going, but the Longhorns later broke again at deuce for the 7-5 victory.
That left the match at No. 3 unfinished, which was in a tiebreaker where sophomores Oliver Ojakaar and Evan Burnett trailed Georgi Georgiev and Vikas Deo by a point, 3-4, when play stopped.
In singles, Marionneau was first off the court with an efficient 6-4, 6-1 win over Noah McDonald at No. 2 for a 2-0 overall lead for Texas. Moments later, Forger extended the lead with an equally efficient 6-2, 6-2 victory over Arora at No. 4. Two matches were then getting close to a finish for the Longhorns, but it was Ivanovski who got home first for the clinch, 6-3, 6-2, over Georgiev at No. 2.
That left three matches unfinished with No. 89 Ojakaar leading Finkelstein, 6-2, 4-3, at No. 3, as the other match that had been close, as Ojakaar had been five points away at one point. Meanwhile, No. 3 Gorzny trailed No. 2 Svajda, 4-6, 3-2, at No. 1 where Gorzny came up just short in the first set on a potential deuce-point break, and senior Jonah Braswell also played a close first set, but was behind to Barton, 5-7, 0-1, when play concluded.
#1 Texas 4, #32 SMU 0
Singles – Order of Finish (6,4,2)
1. #3 Sebastian Gorzny (TEX) vs. #2 Trevor Svajda (SMU) 4-6, 3-2, unf.
2. #41 Kalin Ivanovski (TEX) def. Georgi Georgiev (SMU) 6-3, 6-2
3. #89 Oliver Ojakaar (TEX) vs. Alex Finkelstein (SMU) 6-2, 4-3, unf.
4. #102 Abel Forger (TEX) def. Krish Arora (SMU) 6-2, 6-2
5. Jonah Braswell (TEX) vs. Jerry Barton (SMU) 5-7, 0-1, unf.
6. Lucas Marionneau (TEX) def. Noah McDonald (SMU) 6-4, 6-1
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2)
1. Kalin Ivanovski/Abel Forger (TEX) def. #54 Trevor Svajda/Jerry Barton (SMU) 6-4
2. #21 Sebastian Gorzny/Lucas Marionneau (TEX) def. Alex Finkelstein/Krish Arora (SMU) 7-5
3. Oliver Ojakaar/Evan Burnett (TEX) vs. Georgi Georgiev/Vikas Deo (SMU) 6-6 (3-4), unf.
Individual Match Key Moments
(by order of finish)
Doubles No. 1: Ivanovski/Forger (TEX) def. Svajda/Barton (SMU) 6-4
Match: Texas opened with the only break of the match on the way to the 6-4 win.
Doubles No. 2: Gorzny/Marionneau (TEX) def. Finkelstein/Arora (SMU) 7-5
Match: SMU broke in the opening game, but Texas later got the break back for 2-2. The Longhorns broke again at deuce for a 5-3 lead, and although the Mustangs answered it, Texas broke again at deuce for 7-5 and the match.
Doubles No. 3: Ojakaar/Burnett (TEX) vs. Georgiev/Deo (SMU) 6-6 (3-4), unf.
Match: The match was on serve all the way to a tiebreaker with only one game reaching deuce that was won by Texas for a 4-3 lead.
Tiebreaker: SMU took the first four points, but Texas responded with the next three before play stopped.
Singles No. 6: Marionneau (TEX) def. McDonald (SMU) 6-4, 6-1
Set One: Marionneau broke in the opening game, and although McDonald got it back for 3-3, Marionneau broke again for a 5-4 lead and served out the set.
Set Two: McDonald held in the first game, but Marionneau swept the rest of the set, including a deuce-point break for 2-1.
Singles No. 4: Forger (TEX) def. Arora (SMU) 6-2, 6-2
Set One: Forger broke at deuce in the first game to start a 3-0 run, and although Arora broke at deuce for 3-1, Forger broke back for 4-1 and the last three games were held.
Set Two: Forger collected the only breaks for a 2-1 lead and for 5-2.
Singles No. 2: Ivanovski (TEX) def. Georgiev (SMU) 6-3, 6-2
Set One: Ivanovski secured the only breaks, both at deuce, for a 2-1 lead and for 6-3 and the set.
Set Two: Ivanovski held at deuce to start the set and later closed on a 4-0 run, capped by a deuce-point break for 6-2 and the set.
Singles No. 1: Gorzny (TEX) vs. Svajda (SMU) 4-6, 3-2, unf.
Set One: Svajda picked up the only break of the set in the opening game. Gorzny had deuce-point holds to trail, 1-2 and 3-4, but Svajda held at deuce for 6-4 and the set.
Set Two: Gorzny held his first two service games at deuce and the set was on serve for a 3-2 lead for him when play stopped.
Singles No. 3: Ojakaar (TEX) vs. Finkelstein (SMU) 6-2, 4-3, unf.
Set One: Ojakaar had almost identical first-set scoring as Forger, breaking at deuce in the first game to start a 3-0 run, and although Finkelstein broke for 3-1, Ojakaar broke back for 4-1 and the last three games were held.
Set Two: Ojakaar again broke at deuce to start and the rest of the set was held, including on a deuce point by Finkelstein to stay within 4-3 when play halted.
Singles No. 5: Braswell (TEX) vs. Barton (SMU) 5-7, 0-1, unf.
Set One: Braswell broke at deuce in the first game, but Barton got it back on deuce point for 2-2 and then held at deuce for a 3-2 lead. The next six games were then on serve, including a deuce-point hold for Barton for 5-4, but Barton later break at deuce for 7-5 and the set.
Set Two: Barton held the only game played before play stopped.
Players Mentioned
