No. 4 Men’s Tennis sweeps No. 26 South Carolina, 4-0

Austin – No. 4 Texas Men's Tennis closed out the regular season home schedule with a 4-0 sweep over No. 26 South Carolina on Sunday at the Texas Tennis Center. The Longhorns also celebrated Senior Day by honoring their lone senior, Pierre-Yves Bailly , after the match.

The Gamecocks picked up the first doubles match at No. 2, however Texas cliched the point with wins at Nos. 1 and 3. The clinch at No. 3 included a pairing with Bailly, who factored significantly in his Senior Day match by then being the first off the singles court with a decisive win at No. 3. The Longhorns then followed with additional singles victories by freshman No. 3 Timo Legout at No. 1, and sophomore Lucas Brown at No. 6 for the overall clinch.

After doubles, No. 46 Bailly produced an efficient 6-1, 6-2 win over No. 82 Sean Daryabeigi for a 2-0 overall lead for Texas. Daryabeigi held his opening serve, but Bailly set out on a 6-0 run, including deuce-point holds for 1-1 and a 3-1 lead. Daryabeigi also won the first game of the second set, this time a break, however Bailly broke back on a deuce point to start a 4-0 run. Daryabeigi got one game back on a hold, but Bailly closed from there with a hold and a break for the win to move to 14-1 in his dual match singles contests in his senior season.

A short time later, Legout extended the lead to 3-0 with a 6-3, 6-3 win over No. 54 Connor Thomson at No. 1. Legout secured the only break of the first set in the second game as part of a 3-0 opening run. The rest of the set was then on serve despite deuce-point holds by Thomson to trail, 3-1 and 5-3. Thomspon then also held his first serve of the second set as the first six games were stayed on serve. Those were capped by a deuce-point hold for Legout for 3-3 that started a 4-0 run to his win. Legout is now 14-2 in dual matches and 27-3 overall this season.

That left the clinch to Brown, who defeated Gabe Avram, 6-1, 7-5, at No. 6. Similar to Bailly's first set, Brown bookended a pair of 3-0 runs for his win. Avram had earned his lone game on a deuce-point hold for 3-1, and later in the set, Brown grabbed consecutive deuce-point wins for a break and a hold to complete it. Brown also won the first two games of the second set for a total run of 5-0. Two games after that, Brown held at deuce for a 3-1 lead, but Avram held and got the break back for 3-3. Brown again broke and held for 5-3 and had a match-point at deuce in the next game, but Avram kept it alive with a hold and then broke for 5-5. However, just like the first set, Brown claimed the last two games on back-to-back deuce points for a break and hold to clinch the overall sweep. The win moved Brown to 11-3 in dual matches and 21-5 overall.

Three singles matches were left unfinished with the Longhorns leading in two of them. At No. 2, junior No. 19 Sebastian Gorzny was in a second-set tiebreaker and down a set against Lucas Andrade da Silva, 5-7, 6-6 (3-4). Almost the entire first set stayed on serve until da Silva broke for a 6-5 lead and consolidated on a deuce point to win. In the second set, both players held their opening serves at deuce, and later da Silva was the first to break for a 3-2 lead. Once again, he was able to follow his break with a deuce-point hold for 4-2. Gorzny later got the break back for 5-5, and the last two games were held, leading to the tiebreaker. There, da Silva got out to a 3-0 lead, but Gorzny won three of the final four points before play stopped.

At No. 4, junior No. 53 Jonah Braswell had gone to a third set against Atakan Karahan with Braswell leading, 2-6, 6-3, 3-0. Karahan began the match with a hold and a break for a 2-0 lead, and that break began a string of five straight, resulting in a 4-2 lead for Karahan, who had broken Braswell's last two serves of that stretch at deuce. Karahan then held and made it three-straight deuce-point breaks for the win. Karahan started the third set with a deuce-point hold, but Braswell finally had a deuce point go his way in the next game for 1-1. Braswell then broke for the lead, and the set stayed on serve all the way to the final game where he broke again on a deuce point for the win. He collected his third deuce point with a hold to begin the third set and then broke and held for a 3-0 lead when play halted.

In the last singles match at No. 5, freshman Sebastian Eriksson was also in a second-set tiebreaker, however he had won his first set and was leading No. 106 Jelani Sarr, 6-4, 6-6 (6-7). Eriksson had a match point during the tiebreaker and had also denied three set points in the second set. The first set, however, stayed on serve most of the way until Erkisson broke for a 5-4 lead and served it out in the next game. He had also held at deuce for both 1-1 and 3-3 in that stretch. Sarr held the opening game of the second set on a deuce point, and two games later, Eriksson broke for a 2-1 lead that he consolidated for 3-1. Sarr got the break back for 3-3, and the rest of the set was on serve despite the last three games all reaching deuce, which also represented two set points for Sarr while leading, 5-4 and 6-5. Once in the breaker, Eriksson won the first and third points for a 2-1 lead, but Sarr went on a 4-0 run for 5-2. However, Eriksson answered the run to retake a 6-5 lead and set up a match point, but Sarr claimed the final two points, giving him another set-point opportunity. However, that was when the match was clinched and play stopped.

Earlier in doubles, South Carolina was first off the court as Gorzny and Braswell fell to the No. 87 pair of Sarr and Karahan, 6-3, at No. 2. The Gamecocks captured all three deuce points in the match with the first two being holds for leads of 1-0 and 3-2, while the last one was the only break of the match for a 5-3 lead before they served it out.

Texas then rallied for a pair of 6-4 wins, first by the No. 8 duo of Legout and Brown for a top-15 victory over No. 15 Thomson and da Silva at No. 1. That match stayed on serve all the way to a 5-4 lead for the Longhorns before they secured the only break of the contest for the win. The two games prior to that had both reached deuce, but both were held.

That left it to No. 3, where the Senior Day honoree Bailly combined with Eriksson to clinch the point over Daryabeigi and Max Stenzer. Once again, there was only one break to be had, which the Longhorns claimed on a deuce point for a 4-3 lead. That had been the last of three-straight deuce points, and South Carolina had also held on one to begin the match. Texas consolidated its break for 5-3, and after the Gamecocks deflected a match point at deuce to hold in the next game, the Longhorns served it out to clinch the point.

Texas (19-3, 10-0 SEC) will now play its last four regular season matches on the road, starting with a pair of rivalry matches this week at No. 21 Oklahoma on Thursday, April 3, at 6 p.m. CT, followed by the Cotton Holdings Lone Star Showdown at No. 12 Texas A&M on Saturday, April 5, at 2 p.m. CT.

#4 Texas 4, #26 South Carolina 0

Singles – Order of Finish (3,1,6)

1. #3 Timo Legout (TEX) def. #54 Connor Thomson (SC) 6-3, 6-3

2. #19 Sebastian Gorzny (TEX) vs. Lucas da Silva (SC) 5-7, 6-6 (3-4), unf.

3. #46 Pierre-Yves Bailly (TEX) def. #82 Sean Daryabeigi (SC) 6-1, 6-2

4. #53 Jonah Braswell (TEX) vs. Atakan Karahan (SC) 2-6, 6-3, 3-0, unf.

5. Sebastian Eriksson (TEX) vs. #106 Jelani Sarr (SC) 6-4, 6-6 (6-7), unf.

6. Lucas Brown (TEX) def. Gabe Avram (SC) 6-1, 7-5

Doubles – Order of Finish (2,1,3)

1. #8 Timo Legout / Lucas Brown (TEX) def. #15 Connor Thomson/Lucas da Silva (SC) 6-4

2. #87 Jelani Sarr/Atakan Karahan (SC) def. Sebastian Gorzny / Jonah Braswell (TEX) 6-3

3. Pierre-Yves Bailly / Sebastian Eriksson (TEX) def. Max Stenzer/Sean Daryabeigi (SC) 6-4

(UT)

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