TCU Handles No. 8 Stanford, 4-1

Sunday, March 1

Fort Worth, Texas

2:00 PM

TCU

Stanford

TCU Handles No. 8 Stanford, 4-1

3/1/2020 7:48:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Horned Frogs Take Down Top-10 Opponent for third time in two weeks

FORT WORTH – TCU men's tennis (9-4) extended its win streak to six matches with a 4-1 win over No. 8 Stanford on Sunday afternoon at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center. It was the third Top-10 win of the season and sixth ranked-victory of the year for TCU.

"I'm all smiles today," head coach David Roditi said. "It's an incredible win over probably the most prestigious tennis program in the country. I thought it was a great match, regardless of who won, we were the lucky ones to get the win. Really good atmosphere, really clean match. Both teams fought really hard and I'm proud of our guys. We won some key first sets. No. 2 doubles had a great performance, then Fomba closes out the doubles point with some great serves. In singles, we were in every match. Our guys kept competing. If there is a game ball, I got to give it to Alastair Gray, getting a win like that against such a great player. I'm really happy for him and proud of him. Nobody works harder. Then, Sander got it done and Teddy [Paroulek] closed it out against a really good player. Something that goes unnoticed is Bertus coming back and getting his second set. That matters. That put a lot of pressure to their team. That allowed us to be able to close it out and be more relaxed about it. It was a great weekend for TCU. These are some of the days that make you really appreciative, as a coach, for the opportunity to be able to do what we do."

DOUBLES RECAP
TCU took the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and No. 3. It was the 10^th time this season to win the first point of the dual. TCU is now 22-11 in doubles matches this season.

At No. 2 doubles, the No. 57-ranked pairing of Sander Jong and Tadeas Paroulek faced an extremely talented Stanford pairing, proving their might with a quick, 6-1 dispatching. Both teams traded holds in the beginning of the match before Jong and Paroulek honed in and broke the rival pair twice to capture the win. The duo is now 8-3 this dual season.

After Stanford captured the match on court one, attention was turned to the No. 3 match, where Luc Fomba and Bertus Kruger. The pair won a break in their first return game to go ahead and endured a furious comeback effort to close out the match, 6-4. Fomba delivered the finishing blow with an ace to give TCU the doubles point and the momentum heading into singles play. Fomba and Kruger have now won six straight matches together, improving their record to a team-best 10-1 this season.

Doubles Results
1. Axel Geller/Neel Rajesh (STAN) def. #19 Jacob Fearnley/Alastair Gray (TCU) 6-4
2. #57 Sander Jong/Tadeas Paroulek (TCU) def. Alexandre Rotsaert/Sangheet Sridhar (STAN) 6-1
3. Luc Fomba/Bertus Kruger (TCU) def. Filip Kolasinski/Timothy Sah (STAN) 6-4
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3

SINGLES RECAP
Singles play was a stunning display of high-quality, competitive tennis. All six first sets were tied at 4-4 as both teams delivered blows to each other without gaining an advantage. Eventually, the teams split the first set, 3-3. In the second sets, TCU took control, going up a break on five of the six courts, at one point, and eventually winning the match, 4-1. Alastair Gray, Paroulek and Jong won the matches to give TCU the win.

Stanford won a point at No. 5 shortly before Gray put the Frogs back in front, for good with a win at No. 1. Gray, facing No. 29 Geller, brought the crowd to its feet with his remarkable shot making prowess. His aggressive defense wore down the opponent as Gray claimed eight of the final 10 games in the match for his best win of the season. The first set was tied, 4-4, before Gray won a late break with quick reflexes at the net to win the set, 6-4. In the second, Gray had won the mental game. With the score, 1-2, Gray held serve and won a break to take the lead and never allowed Geller to get back into the play. He sliced and diced his way to another break before holding serve for a 6-4, 6-2 victory. It was Gray's sixth win of the season and fifth over a ranked opponent. He has now won his last four completed matches.

Moving up to No. 4 for the first time in his career had no impact on Jong. It was the first of the month and the one they call "The Landlord" was ready to collect his check. Jong battled on serve throughout his first set, taking it to a tiebreak and claiming the set with a 7-3 score. In the second, he earned his break in his second return game and managed to nurse it to a 6-3 win. Jong has now won his last six completed singles matches and improves his record to 7-2 this season, 1-0 at No. 4.

Lastly, Paroulek clinched the match at No. 3 with a straight-sets win over No. 75 Sridhar. Paroulek seemed bound for a tiebreak in his opening set as both players held serve to a 5-5 deadlock. Paroulek held his serve and finally broke through with a heroic break in the clutch to win his first set and take the lead in the match, 7-5. In the second, Paroulek's court coverage was tested but his perseverance proved up to the task. He earned his break early and managed to walk away with his second ranked win of the season, clinching the dual for the Horned Frogs. It was his first clinching victory of the season in singles play and improves his singles record to 4-5 as a freshman playing in the top half of the lineup.

Singles Results
1. #50 Alastair Gray (TCU) def. #29 Axel Geller (STAN) 6-4, 6-2
2. #79 Luc Fomba (TCU) vs. #5 Alexandre Rotsaert (STAN) 5-7, 4-5, unfinished
3. Tadeas Paroulek (TCU) def. #75 Sangheet Sridhar (STAN) 7-5, 6-3
4. Sander Jong (TCU) def. Neel Rajesh (STAN) 7-6 (3), 6-3
5. Timothy Sah (STAN) def. #117 Jacob Fearnley (TCU) 6-4, 7-5
6. Bertus Kruger (TCU) vs. Filip Kolasinski (STAN) 4-6, 6-1, 1-2, unfinished
Order of finish – 5, 1, 4, 3

Up Next
TCU continues its homestand with another weekend of matches on the purple courts. The Horned Frogs will play Tulsa on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and Tulane on Sunday at 1 p.m.

For more information on TCU men's tennis, visit gofrogs.com and follow the team on social media: @TCUMensTennis on twitter, Facebook and the all new men's tennis Instagram.