Jan. 30, 2002
FORT WORTH, Texas -- The No. 17 TCU men's tennis team lost its season opener on a cold, rainy Wednesday afternoon to their cross town rival, the eighth-ranked SMU Mustangs by a 4-3 count on the indoor courts at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center in Fort Worth. The Mustangs moved to 2-0 on the year with the win.
SMU swept the doubles with 8-5 and 8-3 wins at the two and three spots. At one doubles, the Horned Frogs' duo of freshmen Fabrizio Sestini and Daniel Scholten were up a break at 7-5, but SMU's No. 4-ranked doubles team of Johan Brunstrom and Eric Cohn proved true to their ranking as they broke Sestini's serve, and later won the match in a tiebreaker by a 7-3 score.
The Frogs rallied in singles with their first win coming at two singles when junior Toni Gordon picked up a straight set win over Brunstrom 6-4, 7-5. His win made the score 2-1 as SMU had already picked up a win at four singles with Lukasz Senczyszyn's 6-3, 6-4 victory over Horned Frog sophomore Alex Menichini.
TCU evened the match at 2-2 with freshman Jacob Martin's come-from-behind victory over Ryan Mauck at the five slot. Martin dropped the first set 6-2, but battled his way through a second set tiebreaker, and then made short work of Mauck in the third with a 6-1 victory.
The Mustangs responded with a win at three singles with Alexis Rudzinski's 7-6, 7-5 victory over TCU senior Daniel Wajnberg.
SMU clinched the match at No. 1 singles when Krystian Pfeiffer took a third set tiebreaker from Sestini. Sestini, a native of Italy, had two match points at 15-40 on Pfeiffer's serve in the 12th game of the third set, but the SMU senior came back to hold and then won the tiebreaker at 7-5.
The Frog's final victory came at six singles with freshman
Daniel Scholten's 7-6, 2-6, (10-6) win over Gwinyai Chingoka. Scholten remained perfect on the year at 6-0 with the win.
"I think we gained some experience from this today," said TCU head coach Joey Rivé after the match. "We have a few areas to iron out, but we showed some ability out there. These are the kinds of matches our guys need to get better."
The Frogs next match will be at home against No. 22 Alabama on Saturday, February 2, on the Bernard J. "Tut" Bartzen Varsity Tennis Courts at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center. Play will begin at noon.
Singles
No. 1 Krystian Pfeiffer (SMU) def. Fabrizio Sestini (TCU) 7-6, 2-6, 7-6
No. 2 #69 Toni Gordon (TCU) def. #97 Johan Brunstrom (SMU) 6-4, 7-5
No. 3 Alexis Rudzinski (SMU) def. #82 Daniel Wajnberg (TCU) 7-6, 7-5
No. 4 Lukasz Senczyszyn (SMU) def. Alex Menichini (TCU) 6-3, 6-4
No. 5 Jacob Martin (TCU) def. Ryan Mauck (SMU) 2-6, 7-6, 6-1
No. 6 Daniel Scholten (TCU) def. Gwinyai Chingoka (SMU) 7-6, 2-6, (10-6)
Doubles
No. 1 #4 Brunstrom/Cohn (SMU) def. Sestini/Scholten (TCU) 9-8
No. 2 Pfeiffer/Mauck (SMU) def. Martin/Wajnberg (TCU) 8-5
No. 3 Senczyszyn/Chingoka (SMU) def. Menichini/Gordon (TCU) 8-3
