Comeback Bid Falls Short to No. 10 Tennessee

Saturday, February 13

Champaign, Ill

9 AM

TCU

Tennessee

Comeback Bid Falls Short to No. 10 Tennessee

2/13/2021 12:55:00 PM | Men's Tennis

The Horned Frogs will take on either No. 1 USC or No. 5 Texas tomorrow at 9 a.m.

FORT WORTH – No. 3 TCU men's tennis (6-2) fought back to tie the score, 3-3, but couldn't complete the comeback, falling to No. 10 Tennessee, 4-3, in the second round of the ITA Indoor National Championships inside the Atkins Tennis Center in Champaign, Ill.

TCU split singles competition with wins at the top three positions, but dropped the doubles point for their second loss of the season.

"Another battle that we finished on the wrong side of," Head Coach David Roditi said. "I thought our guys battled and competed with a lot of heart after a very costly doubles point. We had match points in doubles but couldn't finish the job. It turned out to be the difference in the match. If we win the two first sets we had set points on in singles, then it would have been a different scenario. Bottom line we gave it our all and they were too good. We will learn again from it and comeback to battle tomorrow. Go Frogs!"

SINGLES QUICK HITS

TCU collected wins from Alastair Gray (No. 1), Luc Fomba (No. 2) and Sander Jong (No. 3)
Jong worked quickly to tie the dual, 1-1, with a win at No. 3 singles.
It was his sixth win of the season and his fourth straight sets win of 2021.
Jong only dropped three games throughout the match, his most dominant victory of the season and his best win since April, 2019.
Jong improves to 6-1 over his career at Indoor Nationals, the best record on the team.
Fomba brought TCU within one point, 2-3, with a straight set win at No. 2.
This was his fourth win of the season at No. 2 singles, boosting his overall singles record to 6-1.
Fomba won his second set via tiebreak (7-2). He improves to 2-1 in tiebreakers this season and 10-4 over his career.
Jong (6-1) and Fomba (6-2) lead the Horned Frogs with six career singles wins at ITA Indoor Nationals.
Alastair Gray tied the dual, 3-3, after securing a three-set victory over No. 24 Walton at the No. 1 position.
He is now 7-1 in singles matches this season and 5-1 against ranked opponents. The win improves his career record against ranked opponents to 24-18.
This was his second three-set win of the year. Gray is now 2-1 in matches that go the distance.
Alastair continues to lead the Frogs in overall wins. He is now 15-3 in all competitions.
TCU earned set points in the opening sets on court four and six.
TCU is now 26-10 in singles matches this dual season.

Singles Results
1. No. 21 Alastair Gray (TCU) def. No. 24 Adam Walton (TENN) 1-6, 6-1, 6-4
2. No. 47 Luc Fomba (TCU) def. Johannus Monday (TENN) 6-4, 7-6 (2)
3. No. 113 Sander Jong (TCU) def. Martim Prata (TENN) 6-1, 6-2
4. Giles Hussey (TENN) def. Tomas Jirousek (TCU) 7-6, 6-3
5. Luca Wiedenmann (TENN) def. Juan Martin (TCU) 6-3, 6-2
6. No. 124 Pat Harper (TENN) def. Max Kurzban (TCU) 7-6 (10), 6-3
Order of finish – 3, 5, 6, 2, 1, 4

DOUBLES QUICK HITS

TCU lost the doubles point, despite a win from Jake Fearnley and Bertus Kruger at No. 3.
Kruger/Fearnley delivered their first win as a doubles pairing this season, in their first completed match together.
Kruger improves to 3-2 in doubles matches this season and 45-17 over his career.
This was the first win of the season for Fearnley, playing in his first competitions after recovering from an injury.
This was the eighth doubles win of Fearnley's career. He is now 1-0 overall in 2021.
TCU is now 18-10 in doubles matches this season and 7-3 in the last four matches.
This is the first match that TCU has lost when also losing the doubles point.

Doubles Results
1. Adam Walton/Pat Harper (TENN) def. Luc Fomba/Alastair Gray (TCU) 7-5
2. Johannus Monday/Martim Prata (TENN) def. Sander Jong/Tadeas Paroulek (TCU) 6-4
3. Bertus Kruger/Jake Fearnley (TCU) def. Giles Hussey/Mark Wallner (TENN) 6-4
Order of finish: 2, 3, 1

Up Next
The Horned Frogs return for the third match of the ITA Indoor National Championships tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. TCU will be playing either No. 1 USC or No. 5 Texas.

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.