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No. 2 TCU Outlasts No. 10 Texas, 4-3 - TCU Athletics
FORT WORTH – To beat Texas, Jake Fearnley needed to break through against the nation's top-ranked singles player.
GoFrogs: No. 2 TCU Outlasts No. 10 Texas, 4-3
FORT WORTH – To beat Texas, Jake Fearnley needed to break through against the nation's top-ranked singles player.
With No. 2 TCU tied 3-3 against the 10th-ranked Longhorns, the fifth-year senior did exactly.
Gridlocked at four games all in a winner-take-all third set, Fearnley broke No. 1 Elliot Spizziri, then finished him off on serve to lift the Horned Frogs to a 4-3 victory over their archrival on Saturday at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.
"Obviously an unbelievable college tennis match," Fearnley said. "I've been here for five years, and don't think I have experienced anything like that. Thank you very much to the Frog fans that came today and supported, you got me over the line there. And a special shoutout to Lui Maxted, he played unbelievably. Go Frogs!"
Fearnley, No. 14 in the ITA singles rankings, exorcised some demons vs. Spizziri. He entered Saturday's tilt winless in five matches vs. the Longhorns' bell cow player.
The Edinburgh, Scotland native is looking the part of the nation's top player. He moved to 9-1 in singles play in 2024. Fearnley has now defeated the top-two players in the final 2023 ITA singles rankings with Saturday's match-clincher over Spizziri. He staved off Tennessee's Johannus Monday, No. 2 throughout last season, on Feb. 4 in the Horned Frogs' comeback win over the fifth-ranked Volunteers.
TCU moved to 10-1, with five of its victories coming over top-10 teams. The Longhorns fell to 9-3. Saturday's match counted as a nonconference affair. The teams meet under the Big 12 umbrella at 3 p.m. on March 24 in Austin.
The Horned Frogs won the doubles points with wins on courts one and three. TCU then raced out to a 3-1 lead in singles play, sandwiching victories on courts four and five. Texas evened the score on two and three before Fearnley's heroics.
Doubles Rundown
No. 5 Sebastian Gorzny and Pedro Vives made quick work of the sixth-ranked pairing of Cleeve Harper and Spizzirri, 6-1, on court one to give TCU a head start to the doubles point. The duo
The Longhorns answered back by winning on court two. Jack Pinnington and Jake Fearnley battled but fell short to Pierre-Yves Bailly and Eshan Talluri, 6-3.
With the doubles point coming down to the final flight, Ducan Chan and Lui Maxted answered the bell. Chan and Maxted, No. 31 in the ITA doubles rankings, broke at five games all to defeat Gilles Arnaud Bailly and Micah Braswell, 7-5
Double Results
- No. 5 Sebastian Gorzny / Pedro Vives (TCU) def. No. 6 Cleeve Harper / Eliot Spizzirri (Texas): 6-1
- Pierre-Yves Bailly / Eshan Talluri (Texas) def. Jake Fearnley / Jack Pinnington (TCU): 6-3
- No. 31 Duncan Chan / Lui Maxted (TCU) def. Gilles-Arnaud Bailly / Micah Braswell (TCU): 7-5
Singles Rundown
A matchup between two of the best lineups in the country more than delivered on Saturday when these two storied programs hit the courts.
Austin native Sebastian Gorzny was the first to finish. The sophomore took down No. 95 Pierre-Yves Bailly in two sets on court four, staking TCU to a 2-0 lead in the process. Gorzny won the first set 7-6 (8-6) before walloping Yves-Bailly 6-1 in the second frame.
No. 68 Lui Maxted was the next Horned Frog to garner a victory when he defeated Harper on five. Maxted rallied from a 1-6 defeat in the opening frame with respective 6-3, 6-2 victories in sets two and three.
Maxted's win put TCU within a point of the clinch. Texas got on the board after No. 48 Jonah Braswell downed Tomas Jirousek in straight sets, 6-4, 6-0, on court six.
Texas evened the score with consecutive wins on two and three to set up Fearnley's epic clinch. No. 2 Micah Braswell defeated Pinnington, eighth in the latest ITA singles rankings, 6-3, 7-6 [8-6], in a rematch of the ITA National Fall Championships singles final. Gilles-Arnaud Bailly then squeaked past No. 14 Pedro Vives, 7-5, 7-5.
Fearnley promptly came through for the Frogs with the match on the line. After dropping the first set 6-4 to Spizziri, Fearnley evened the score and saved the match with a 7-6 [8-6] tiebreaker win in set two to force a decisive third. The third set was what college tennis is all about. Two of the best players in the country playing in front of a raucous crowd, and it delivered. It was a back-and-forth battle, but Fearnley's break at 4-4 was the turning point. Fearnley aced his longstanding rival to clinch his match and the dual.
Singles Results
1. No. 14 Jake Fearnley (TCU) def. No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri (Texas): 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4
2. No. 2 Micah Braswell (Texas) def. No. 8 Jack Pinnington (TCU): 6-3, 7-6 [7-5]
3. Gilles-Arnaud Bailly (Texas) def. No. 21 Pedro Viveds (TCU): 7-6 [7-2], 7-5
4. No. 38 Sebastian Gorzny (TCU) def. No. 95 Pierre-Yves Bailly (Texas): 7-6 [8-6], 6-1
5. No. 68 Lui Maxted def. Cleeve Harper (Texas): 1-6, 6-3, 6-2
6. No. 48 Jonas Braswell (Texas) def. Tomas Jirousek (TCU): 6-4, 6-0
Order of finish: 4, 6, 5, 2, 3, 1
Up Next
TCU hosts No. 14 Baylor on Sunday, March 10 in a nonconference dual. First serve is at 2 p.m.
