Men’s Tennis: TCU shines during ITA Texas Regional

TCU hosted the 2023 ITA Texas Regional this past week, with the best collegiate players in the state traveling to the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center in Fort Worth for singles and doubles-bracket action. The Horned Frogs saw several players bring home victories during the tournament, with four players including Duncan Chan, Lui Maxted, Sebastian Gorzny and Pedro Vives clinching berths in the ITA Fall National Championships in November.

Vives battled through a tough singles main draw to advance all the way to the finals. Vives went 5-1 over six matches, beginning the regional tournament with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Incarnate Word’s Emilio Vila. Vives then downed SMU’s Jerry Barton 6-2, 6-3 before besting Baylor’s Louis Bowden 6-4, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals. One of three Horned Frog netters to make the quarterfinal round, Vives was the only TCU netter to emerge victorious, scoring a 7-5, 6-3 win over Texas standout Pierre Yves-Bailly. Vives then outlasted another Baylor opponent in the semifinals, edging Tadeas Paroulek 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 to earn his finals berth.

Sebastian Gorzny and Jack Pinnington each advanced to the quarterfinal round of the main draw singles competition. Gorzny went 3-1 over four matches, defeating Incarnate Word’s Antoine Martin-Thiriat 6-1, 6-0 before taking down Texas Tech’s Tyler Stewart 6-3, 6-3 and Baylor’s Zsombor Velcz 7-5, 5-7, 7-5. Pinnington also compiled a 3-1 record over his four matches, besting Abilene Christian’s Cesar Barranquero 6-2, 6-3 before downing Incarnate Word’s Joao Sasso 6-4, 6-2 and UT-Arlington’s Joan Torres Espinosa 6-1, 6-2. Lui Maxted went 2-1 over three matches in the main draw singles competition, scoring a 6-1, 6-1 win over Texas Tech’s Jonas Gundaker and a 6-7, 6-1, 6-4 win over Baylor’s Brayden Michna.

Freshman newcomer Julian Alonso won consecutive matches in the qualifying draw to earn his place in the main draw, where he went 1-1 over two matches with a 6-4, 6-3 win against Lamar’s Max Amling. Another freshman, Duncan Chan, scored back-to-back wins during the qualifying draw to reach the main draw, where he fell in the opening round to Rice netter Trinity Grear. Finally, freshman Kaj Quirjins recorded consecutive wins in the qualifying draw before conceding a 5-7, 3-6 loss against UTSA’s Tomas Pinho in the main draw. 4-0

TCU will sent two doubles duos to the ITA Fall National Championships. Pedro Vives and Sebastian Gorzny claimed the regional championship with a 5-0 record, while Duncan Chan and Lui Maxted went 4-1 and finished as regional runner-ups. Vives and Gorzny’s regional title run included victories over Texas A&M Corpus-Christi’s Iannis Fernandez and Nicolas Trebuchet (8-2), Texas A&M’s J.C. Roddick and Luke Casper (8-2), Texas netters Evin McDonald and Cleeve Harper (8-4) and UTSA’s Tomas Pinho and Alan Magadan (6-1, 6-4).

Chan and Maxted earned victories over Abilene Christian’s Benjamin McDonald and Mihaly Deli (8-3), UT-Rio Grande Valley’s Sam Whitehead and Emilien Burnel (8-3), TCU’s Tomas Jirousek and Julian Alonso (8-4) and UTSA’s Jackson Ross and Garrett Skelly (6-4, 7-5). Alonso and Jirousek reached the quarterfinal round of the doubles main draw, going 2-1 with wins over Baylor’s Louis Bowden and Christopher Frantzen (8-7) as well as Texas A&M’s Togan Tokac and Guilio Perego (8-4). Luke Swan and Kaj Quirjins went 0-2 in their matches.