Chicago – No. 7 Texas Men's Tennis swept ninth-seeded No. 9 Wake Forest, 4-0, to advance to the quarterfinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships on Friday at XS Tennis Village in Chicago.
It marks the fourth time in the last five years Texas has reached the quarterfinals after making the semifinals in 2019 and the quarterfinals in 2020. It also sets up a rematch with Ohio State, who defeated the Longhorns, 4-0, earlier this season on Feb. 5. That match will be on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT.
The eighth-seeded Longhorns won the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 2 and recorded singles victories by juniors No. 65 Micah Braswell at No. 3, and No. 112 Cleeve Harper at No. 112, and senior Nevin Arimilli at No. 6 for the clinch.
After the doubles point, Braswell was first off the singles court with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Luciano Tacchi. It was Tacchi who would break first and then held for a 2-0 lead to start. The next three games were then on serve with the last being a deuce-point hold by Braswell to trail 3-2. He got the break back in the next game for 3-3 and then held for the lead at 4-3. The next two games were both deuce-point holds to leave Braswell with a 5-4 edge, but he then broke again for the set. In the second, Braswell was the first to break at 3-1 and then consolidated to 4-1 on serve. Tacchi got the break back to pull within 4-3, but Braswell broke again and served out the match for the 2-0 Texas lead.
Harper would be next as he extended the UT lead to 3-0 with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Matthew Thomson. The whole first set stayed on serve all the way to a 5-4 advantage for Harper when he got the break he needed to take the set. Thomson then used a deuce-point break to open the second set, but Harper answered it immediately and then held on a deuce point for the lead. Thomson also held his serve in the following game, but Harper went on a 4-0 run from there to his win, including a deuce-point break at 4-2.
A few other courts had the potential to clinch, but it would be Arimilli to get home first with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Bozo Barun. In the first set, Arimilli broke at 4-2 and then extended his lead at 5-2. The next two games both went to deuce with Barun winning the first, and Arimilli closing out the set with the second. Arimilli then broke in the first game of the second set and held for 2-0. The next break would also belong to Arimilli at 5-2 and he clinched the overall match from there at 6-2, and a 4-0 lead for the Longhorns.
That left both junior No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri and sophomore No. 33 Pierre-Yves Bailly both up a set and leading in the second having won five games. Spizzirri was leading, 6-4, 5-2, over Melios Efsatathiou at No. 1, while Bailly had a 6-4, 5-3 edge over Flippo Moroni at No. 2. Spizzirri found himself down 2-0 and 4-2 in the first when he went on a 4-0 run for the set, capping the last game with a deuce point. In the second, both players held their opening serve starting with Spizzirri when he was able to put together another 4-0 run, again finished by a deuce point. Efsatathiou had gotten one game back at 5-2 when play stopped.
Bailly took a 3-0 lead in his match on a break in the second game. The rest of the set stayed on serve up to a 5-3 lead for Bailly when Moroni broke on a deuce point to get within 5-4, however Bailly broke back for the set. In the second, Moroni broke first at 2-1 and upped the lead to 3-1 on serve, but Bailly took it from there with a 4-0 run that included a deuce point at 3-3.
Junior No. 25 Siem Woldeab had just gone to a third set after splitting the first two against Jurabek Karimov, 6-1, 3-6, at No. 4. Woldeab had actually been the first singles player to win his first set, using a pair of 3-0 runs to start and finish it. Karimov then put together a 3-0 run of his own to begin the second set and maintained that lead to go to a third. Woldeab lead 1-0 in that frame when play concluded.
Earlier in doubles, the No. 4 pair of Spizzirri and Harper rallied from a 3-0 deficit against Moroni and Juan Lopez de Azcona at No. 1. The Longhorns tied it at 3-3, and although the Demon Deacons briefly took the lead back at 4-3, Spizzirri and Harper closed it from there with another 3-0 run.
That left it to No. 2 where Woldeab and Bailly downed Karimov and Tacchi, 6-3, to clinch. The Longhorns held in their opening service game, as did the Demon Deacons, who then followed with a break for a 2-1 lead. Texas answered that break on a deuce point to start a 4-0 run to put Woldeab and Bailly in command. Wake Forest got one game back on serve, but the Longhorns were able to serve out after that to clinch the point.
The remaining match with Braswell and senior Chih Chi Huang against Efsatathiou and Thomson was 4-4 when play stopped and stayed on serve the whole way despite four deuce points, three of which were won by Texas.
#7 Texas 4, #9 Wake Forest 0
Singles – Order of Finish (3,5,6)
1. #1 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) vs. Melios Efstathiou (WF) 6-4, 5-2, unf.
2. #33 Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) vs. Filippo Moroni (WF) 6-4, 5-3, unf.
3. #65 Micah Braswell (UT) def. Luciano Tacchi (WF) 6-4, 6-3
4. #25 Siem Woldeab (UT) vs. Jurabek Karimov (WF) 6-1, 3-6, 1-0, unf.
5. #112 Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Matthew Thomson (WF) 6-4, 6-2
6. Nevin Arimilli (UT) def. Bozo Barun (WF) 6-3, 6-2
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2)
1. #4 Cleeve Harper/Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Juan Lopez de Azcona/Filippo Moroni (WF) 6-4
2. Siem Woldeab/Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) def. Jurabek Karimov/Luciano Tacchi (WF) 6-3
3. Micah Braswell/Chih Chi Huang (UT) vs. Melios Efstathiou/Matthew Thomson (WF) 4-4, unf.
(UT)
