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Chan's Heroics Lift No. 2 TCU Over 25th-Ranked Baylor - TCU Athletics
FORT WORTH – With a surefire win suddenly in doubt, Duncan Chan delivered.
GoFrogs: Chan's Heroics Lift No. 2 TCU Over 25th-Ranked Baylor
Box Score
FORT WORTH – With a surefire win suddenly in doubt, Duncan Chan delivered.
The freshman won the doubles point and earned the match-clincher to lift No. 2 TCU to a 4-2 win against 25th-ranked Baylor on Sunday at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.
Chan clinched doubles alongside Lui Maxted on court two. The Horned Frogs raced out to a 3-0 lead via straight set singles victories from Jack Pinnington and Maxted at one and four. But TCU subsequently dropped the middle courts and saw the bottom flights extend to set three tiebreakers, shifting all the momentum in favor of Baylor.
Leading 3-2 but in need of a court to clinch, Chan came through once more. He fell behind 3-5 to Baylor's Marko Miladinovic on six. The Markham, Ontario native then fought off match point with a crucial break and won three straight games to send the match – his first vs. a ranked team – to a winner-take-all tiebreak. Chan, the superior server throughout the afternoon, secured a double break to assume a commanding 5-2 lead and finished off Miladinovic four points later for a 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 [7-4] win.
The match was contested as a nonconference dual. TCU opens Big 12 play on March 22 with a return trip to Waco.
TCU improved to 11-1 with the win while Baylor dropped to 14-4.
The Horned Frogs have claimed four straight matches and five of their last seven vs. the Bears. TCU improved to 40-26 all-time and 20-10 at home opposite its Interstate-35 rival.
TCU has won eight of its last nine matches, all of which have been against opponents featured in the top-25 of the ITA team rankings.
Doubles Rundown
It took mere minutes for TCU to clinch the doubles point, its ninth in 12 tries this season.
Sebastian Gorzny and Pedro Vives achieved a career-high No. 2 ITA doubles ranking on Tuesday and lived up to their billing. The duo walloped Baylor's Devin Badenhorst and Luc Koenig, 6-1, on court one.
Chan and Maxted hung an identical score on Oskar Brostrom Poulsen and Christopher Frantzen at two to end doubles in short order.
Tomas Jirousek and Pinnington led Ethan Muza and Arman Zamani 5-1 at the time of the clinch.
Gorzny and Vives improved to 35-12 all-time when paired together. They are 15-5 this year and have played exclusively on the top court in duals.
Chan and Mazted boosted their record to 17-7 as partners and continue to lead TCU in doubles wins.
TCU played the match without three-time All-American Jake Fearnley, Pinnington's most common doubles partner.
Doubles Results
- #2 Sebastian Gorzny / Pedro Vives (TCU) def. Devin Badenhorst / Luc Koenig (BU): 6-1
- #40 Duncan / Chan / Lui Maxted (TCU) def. Oskar Brostrom Poulsen / Christopher Frantzen (BU): 6-1
- Tomas Jirousek / Jack Pinnington (TCU) vs. Ethan Muza / Arman Zamani (BU); 5-1, unfinished
Singles Rundown
Pinnington earned his second career start on court one in place of Fearnley. He made the most of it. Pinnington, 10th in the ITA singles rankings, outclassed No. 84 Zsombor Velcz, 6-1, 6-2, and widened TCU's lead to 2-0.
The 87th-ranked Maxted was too much for Baylor's Louis Bowden on four, walloping his green and gold foe with consecutive 6-2 sets.
Vives and Chan both took the opening frame in their matches. But Baylor mounted its comeback bid from there.
Badenhorst downed Gorzny, the ITA No. 53 singles player, 6-4, 6-4, to get the Bears on the board.
Vives took set one from No. 59 Tadeas Paroulek, 6-3, but was unable to close out the former Horned Frog. Paroulek broke the 35th-ranked Vives at 5-5 in set two and took the third frame via a 6-1 margin, pulling the Bears within a point.
The battle on two was a rematch of the ITA Texas Regional semifinals, which Vives won, 6-7[ 3-7], 6-4, 6-3, on Oct. 23 on the purple courts.
Chan eased by Miladinovic, 6-3, in the first frame but fell short in the second set, 4-6, to set the stage for his match-clincher.
Jirousek dropped his first set to Brostrom Poulsen, 4-6, and rallied with a 6-2 double break in the second frame. He led 6-4 in the set three tiebreaker and was serving for the match when Chan clinched.
Pinnington is now 19-5 in singles play this season, with 13 of his wins coming against ranked opponents.
Maxted has been a near-lock at four and five in 2023-24 and throughout his career. He sports an 18-7 combined overall record on the courts, including a 7-1 mark on four.
Chan garnered his second career win in duals and is 6-3 overall in his first season in Fort Worth.
Singles Results
- #10 Jack Pinnington (TCU) def. #84 Zsombor Velcz (BU): 6-1, 6-2
- #59 Tadeas Paroulek (BU) def. #35 Pedro Vives (TCU): 3-6, 7-5, 6-1
- #123 Devin Badenhorst (BU) def. #53 Sebastian Gorzny (TCU): 6-4, 6-4
- #87 Lui Maxted (TCU) def. Louis Bowden (BU): 6-2, 6-2
- Tomas Jirousek (TCU) vs. Oskar Brostrom Poulsen (BU): 4-6, 6-2, 6-6 [6-4], unfinished
- Duncan Chan (TCU) def. Marko Miladinovic (BU): 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 [7-4]
Up Next
TCU closes out nonconference play with three road matches in a five-day span. The Horned Frogs face No. 31 UCLA at 4 p.m. on Wednesday in Pasadena. TCU then continues its stay in southern California with duals at No. 32 USC and No. 51 Pepperdine on Friday and Sunday.
