Gainesville, Fla. – No. 8 Texas Men's Tennis opened the 2023 season with a 5-2 win at No. 13 Florida at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville, Fla., on Sunday. It marked the 26th-straight year the Longhorns have started the season with a victory, dating back to 1998.
Texas put together two solid doubles wins at Nos. 1 and 3 before taking singles matches by junior No. 13 Siem Woldeab at No. 4, junior Cleeve Harper at No. 5, senior Chih Chi Huang at No. 6 to clinch it, and junior No. 3 Eliot Spizzirri at No. 1.
Both doubles victories were secured with a 6-1 score, first by the No. 7 pair of Harper and Spizzirri over Will Grant and Axel Nefve at No. 1, then by Woldeab and sophomore Pierre-Yves Bailly against the No. 43 duo of Jonah Braswell and Lukas Greif at No. 3.
Harper and Spizzirri jumped out to a 4-0 lead on the strength of three-straight deuce-point wins in games two through four. The Gators picked up one game on serve at 4-1, but the Longhorns closed out the last two games for the win.
At No. 3, each team held its opening serve starting with Woldeab and Bailly, but after that the Longhorns used a 5-0 run, including deuce-point wins at 4-1 and 5-1, to take the match and the doubles point. The remaining match at No. 2 went unfinished with Huang and junior Eshan Talluri trailing, 5-4, to the No. 10 pair of Tanapatt Nirundorn and Togan Tokac. That match stayed on serve starting with Texas until Florida grabbed the first break just prior to play stopping.
With the Longhorns leading, 1-0, Woldeab was the first off the court in singles with an efficient, 6-1, 6-2 win over Greif at No. 4. Woldeab broke in the first game and held for a 2-0 lead, and after Greif held on his second serve, Woldeab set out on a 6-0 run starting with a deuce-point win to take the set and establish a 2-0 lead in the second. Greif broke to pull within 2-1, but Woldeab broke right back and held to extend to 4-1. Greif held one more time in the next game, but Woldeab finished with a hold and a break for the match and a 2-0 lead for Texas.
Harper wasn't far behind that with his 6-4, 6-2 win over Togan Tokac to extend the UT lead to 3-0. Tokac broke for a 4-3 lead midway through the first set, but Harper rattled off three straight games to rally for the set. The second frame then stayed on serve up to a 3-2 lead for Harper when he broke on a deuce point for 4-2 as part of a 4-0 run to finish the match.
Florida picked up its first point as junior No. 30 Micah Braswell fell to Will Grant, 6-3, 7-6 (5) at No. 2. Grant broke for 3-1 in the first set and held at 4-1 before Braswell held and got the break back to cut it to 4-3. However, Grant was able to break again and hold in the next game to take the set. The second set stayed on serve all the way to 4-4 with each player winning a deuce point at 3-2 for Braswell and 3-3 for Grant. The next deuce would result in a break for Grant at 5-4, but Braswell answered the break to put it back on course for the tiebreaker. In that frame, the first three points stayed on serve for a 2-1 lead for Grant, and although Braswell put together a 4-0 run that seemed to have him in good position to force a third set, Grant then collected a 5-0 run to win the match.
That left two matches that were close to being a potential clincher for Texas with the first to finish being Huang's 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 decision over Nirundorn. Even though Huang had been broken on his opening serve, he responded with two breaks of his own for a 3-0 run. However, Nirundorn put together a 5-0 run after that on the strength of two deuce-point wins, first to make it 3-3, then to close the set at 6-3. Huang once again found himself with a 3-1 lead in the second set after a break and a deuce-point hold had given him a 2-0 lead. This time, though, he would maintain that lead as the set stayed on serve to 5-3 before Huang broke again to send it to a third. That frame would start out similarly to the previous one, but in reverse with Nirundorn pushing to leads of 2-0 and 3-1. However, Huang came back with a 3-0 run that included a break at 3-3, regaining the lead at 4-3. The next two games were also on serve until Huang broke again to win and clinch the overall match for the Longhorns.
Shortly after Huang's win, Spizzirri completed a three-set comeback of his own against Nefve, 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2. In the first set, Spizzirri used deuce-point breaks for leads of 2-0 and 4-2, but each time, Nefve was able to answer the breaks. Nefve then broke for the lead at 5-4, but Spizzirri was also able to answer to even it back up on the way to a tiebreaker. There, Nefve jumped out to a 5-0 lead, which Spizzirri could not overcome, but Spizzirri turned it on in the second set with a 3-0 run out of the gate that was only slowed by a deuce-point break by Nefve in the following game. Spizzirri kept going by getting that break right back and holding for 5-1 with the last two games staying on serve to head to a third set. Nefve would pick up holds on his opening serve and to trail at 3-2, but Spizzirri would amass 3-0 runs after each of those on his way to the victory and a 5-1 lead for Texas.
The final match was between Bailly and Jonah Braswell, who is the younger brother of Micah. After Braswell put together a strong first set, Bailly responded by taking the second in a tiebreaker before eventually retiring in the third, leading to the 6-2, 6-7 (4), 3-1 decision for Braswell. Bailly had led 4-1 in the second set before Braswell rallied to force a tiebreaker, where Braswell then led 4-1, but Bailly finished it on a 6-0 run to stay alive until retiring in the following set for the 5-2 overall final.
Texas will next open its home season with a pair of matches next weekend at the Texas Tennis Center. The Longhorns will face UTSA on Friday, Jan. 20, at 4 p.m. CT before squaring off with No. 7 Georgia on Sunday, Jan. 22, at 2 p.m. CT.
#8 Texas 5, #13 Florida 2
Singles – Order of Finish (4,5,2,6,1,3)
1. #3 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Axel Nefve (UF) 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2
2. Will Grant (UF) def. #30 Micah Braswell (UT) 6-3, 7-6 (5)
3. #93 Jonah Braswell (UF) def. Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 6-2, 6-7 (4), 3-1, ret.
4. #13 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. Lukas Greif (UF) 6-1, 6-2
5. Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Togan Tokac (UF) 6-4, 6-2
6. Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Tanapatt Nirundorn (UF) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,3)
1. #7 Cleeve Harper/Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. Will Grant/Axel Nefve (UF) 6-1
2. #10 Tanapatt Nirundorn/Togan Tokac (UF) vs. Chih Chi Huang/Eshan Talluri (UT) 5-4, unf.
3. Pierre-Yves Bailly/Siem Woldeab (UT) def. #43 Jonah Braswell/Lukas Greif (UF) 6-1