TCU Pitches Perfect Start to ITA National Fall Championships
11/1/2023 9:45:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Horned Frogs win all four opening round matches
SAN DIEGO – TCU was flawless on day one of the ITA National Fall Championships on Wednesday at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego.
The Horned Frogs won all four of their opening round matches to send a tournament-leading five athletes to the round of 16 of fall tennis' grand finale.
Pedro Vives accounted for two of TCU's quartet of victories. Vives, No. 82 nationally in singles, pummeled No. 23 Colton Smith of Arizona, 6-2, 6-2, to pocket TCU's first win. Smith, the No. 5 seed in the 32-player field, represented the sixth ITA top-40 foe Vives has defeated since September.
He got the better of Smith again in Wednesday's nightcap. His second win at the expense of TCU's soon-to-be Big 12 foe came in doubles, where he and Sebastian Gorzny defeated Smith and Jay Friend in straight sets. Vives and Gorzny, tabbed No. 13 in the preseason ITA doubles rankings, claimed the match via a 6-3, 7-6 [8-6] margin. The duo fell behind 3-1 in set two but broke at four games apiece to help push the match to a decisive tiebreaker. Vives and Gorzny scored what proved to be a match-ending break point tied 6-6 before Vives clinched the victory on serve.
Almost improbably, Vives and Gorzny, winners of six straight doubles tilts, were not the most impressive TCU doubles tandem on Wednesday. That distinction belonged to the newly-minted pairing of Duncan Chan and Lui Maxted.
Playing just their third tournament together, Chan and Maxted ousted No. 1 seed and sixth-ranked Hunter Heck and Karlis Ozolins of Illinois in a thrilling 7-6 [8-6], 6-7 [9-11], [10-8] battle. Chan and Maxted, ranked 38th entering the tournament, won five straight points to rally from a 3-6 deficit in the set one tiebreaker. They led 6-3 in the ensuing tiebreaker, only for the Illini pair to stave off five match points. Chan and Maxted, though, built an insurmountable 7-3 head start in the 10-point match tiebreak.
Jack Pinnington capped TCU's clean sheet with the Horned Frogs' most dominant effort. The nation's No. 26 singles player, Pinnington breezed past No. 96 Filippo Moroni (Wake Forest), 6-1, 6-2. He closed the match by winning six consecutive games on the strength of a trio of break points.
TCU is the only team with five total players and two doubles teams remaining in the ITA National Fall Championships main draw.
Vives meets No. 29 Samir Banerjee of Stanford at 11 a.m. CT on Thursday in the round of 16 in singles. Pinnington will follow suit with a 12:15 p.m. dual against Ohio State's 10th-ranked Alexander Bernard. TCU's afternoon doubles two-step begins with a Chan-Maxted showdown opposite Alejandro Gandini and Matthew Lanahan of Creighton at 5 p.m. Thursday's four-match lineup concludes at 7:30 p.m., with Gorzny and Vives tabbed to battle Memphis' Pablo Alemany and Charlie Berry
ITA National Fall Championships
Barnes Tennis Center | San Diego, Calif.
Nov. 1-5, 2023
Singles – Main Draw
RD32 – #26 Jack Pinnington (TCU) def. #96 Filippo Moroni (WFU): 6-1, 6-2
RD32 – #82 Pedro Vives (TCU) def. #23 Colton Smith (Arizona): 6-2, 6-2
Doubles – Main Draw
RD32 – #13 Sebastian Gorzny / Pedro Vives def. Jay Friend / Colton Smith (Arizona): 6-3, 7-6 [8-6]
RD32 – #38 Duncan Chan / Lui Maxted (TCU) def. #6 Hunter Heck / Karlis Ozolins (Illinois): 7-6 [8-6], 6-7 [9-11], [10-8]
The Horned Frogs won all four of their opening round matches to send a tournament-leading five athletes to the round of 16 of fall tennis' grand finale.
Pedro Vives accounted for two of TCU's quartet of victories. Vives, No. 82 nationally in singles, pummeled No. 23 Colton Smith of Arizona, 6-2, 6-2, to pocket TCU's first win. Smith, the No. 5 seed in the 32-player field, represented the sixth ITA top-40 foe Vives has defeated since September.
He got the better of Smith again in Wednesday's nightcap. His second win at the expense of TCU's soon-to-be Big 12 foe came in doubles, where he and Sebastian Gorzny defeated Smith and Jay Friend in straight sets. Vives and Gorzny, tabbed No. 13 in the preseason ITA doubles rankings, claimed the match via a 6-3, 7-6 [8-6] margin. The duo fell behind 3-1 in set two but broke at four games apiece to help push the match to a decisive tiebreaker. Vives and Gorzny scored what proved to be a match-ending break point tied 6-6 before Vives clinched the victory on serve.
Almost improbably, Vives and Gorzny, winners of six straight doubles tilts, were not the most impressive TCU doubles tandem on Wednesday. That distinction belonged to the newly-minted pairing of Duncan Chan and Lui Maxted.
Playing just their third tournament together, Chan and Maxted ousted No. 1 seed and sixth-ranked Hunter Heck and Karlis Ozolins of Illinois in a thrilling 7-6 [8-6], 6-7 [9-11], [10-8] battle. Chan and Maxted, ranked 38th entering the tournament, won five straight points to rally from a 3-6 deficit in the set one tiebreaker. They led 6-3 in the ensuing tiebreaker, only for the Illini pair to stave off five match points. Chan and Maxted, though, built an insurmountable 7-3 head start in the 10-point match tiebreak.
Jack Pinnington capped TCU's clean sheet with the Horned Frogs' most dominant effort. The nation's No. 26 singles player, Pinnington breezed past No. 96 Filippo Moroni (Wake Forest), 6-1, 6-2. He closed the match by winning six consecutive games on the strength of a trio of break points.
TCU is the only team with five total players and two doubles teams remaining in the ITA National Fall Championships main draw.
Vives meets No. 29 Samir Banerjee of Stanford at 11 a.m. CT on Thursday in the round of 16 in singles. Pinnington will follow suit with a 12:15 p.m. dual against Ohio State's 10th-ranked Alexander Bernard. TCU's afternoon doubles two-step begins with a Chan-Maxted showdown opposite Alejandro Gandini and Matthew Lanahan of Creighton at 5 p.m. Thursday's four-match lineup concludes at 7:30 p.m., with Gorzny and Vives tabbed to battle Memphis' Pablo Alemany and Charlie Berry
ITA National Fall Championships
Barnes Tennis Center | San Diego, Calif.
Nov. 1-5, 2023
Singles – Main Draw
RD32 – #26 Jack Pinnington (TCU) def. #96 Filippo Moroni (WFU): 6-1, 6-2
RD32 – #82 Pedro Vives (TCU) def. #23 Colton Smith (Arizona): 6-2, 6-2
Doubles – Main Draw
RD32 – #13 Sebastian Gorzny / Pedro Vives def. Jay Friend / Colton Smith (Arizona): 6-3, 7-6 [8-6]
RD32 – #38 Duncan Chan / Lui Maxted (TCU) def. #6 Hunter Heck / Karlis Ozolins (Illinois): 7-6 [8-6], 6-7 [9-11], [10-8]
Players Mentioned
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