Virginia and TCU Survive To Fight Another Day

It was definitely a day of thrillers as both Virginia and TCU each won 4-3 matches that came down to a close third set to decide the match.

Virginia came into its match against ACC foe Wake Forest riding an incredible 139-match conference winning streak but the streak would come oh so close to ending.

Wake Forest came out and claimed the doubles point by winning both #1 and #3 doubles in a tiebreak. Skander Mansouri and Christian Seraphim posted a 7-0 shutout in the tiebreak at #1 while Romain Bogaerts and Dennis Uspensky won the deciding tiebreak at #3 by taking it 7-3. Both Bogaerts and Uspensky really went after JC Aragone in the tiebreak as the Virginia junior dropped four straight points to put UVA in a 5-2 hole.

Virginia turned up the heat in singles and took first sets at 1, 3, 5, and 6 courtesy of Ryan Shane, Collin Altamirano, J.C. Aragone, and Henrik Wiersholm while Wake Forest’s Petros Chrysochos and Romain Bogaerts took opening sets at 2 and 4.

Ryan Shane put Virginia on the board with a quick 6-3, 6-1 win over Skander Mansouri at #1 singles in a match that lasted just 52 minutes.

J.C. Aragone would make it 2-1 Virginia as he rocked Dennis Uspensky 6-1, 6-2 at #5 singles in match that took 54 minutes.

Collin Altamirano stretched the lead to 3-1 as he rollover Jon Ho 6-2, 6-3 at #3 singles in one hour and sixteen minutes. Altamirano broke Ho’s 1-1 service game in the opening set then broke him again to go up 4-1. Altamirano held two more times to take the opening set 6-2. Altamirano broke Ho to start the second set and would then go up 3-1 before Ho came back to even it at 3-3. Altamirano took the final three games to close it out 6-2, 6-3.

Wake Forest’s Petros Chrysochos put Wake’s second point on the board with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 win over Thai-Son Kwaitkowski at #2.

Romain Bogaerts would tie the match up at 3-3 with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Mac Styslinger at #4. Bogarets had a chance to close out the match earlier but he couldn’t convert match points on Styslinger’s 2-5 service game and then he squandered two more match points on his own 5-3 service game. After a Styslinger hold made it 5-5, Bogarets held service then broke Styslinger from 30-40 to finally close it out.

The match came down to a third set at #6 singles between Virginia sophomore Henrik Wiersholm and Wake Forest sophomore Christian Seraphim. Wiersholm took the opening set 6-4 after getting the only break of the set to go up 4-3. Seraphim would get his first break of the match when he broke Wiersholm’s 3-4 service game in the second set and then Seraphim would hold from 40-30 take the set 6-3.

Wiersholm held at love to start the third set and then Seraphim held from 40-15 to even it at 1-1. Wiersholm held at love again to go up 2-1 but Seraphim kept pace (barely) by holding on the deciding point to make it 2-2. Wiersholm held from 40-15 to go up 3-2 and then he broke Seraphim’s serve on the deciding point when Seraphim dumped a forehand into the net. Seraphim would break right back from 30-40 to make it 3-4 but Wiersholm would return the favor and break at love to go up 5-3. Seraphim pushed Wiersholm to the deciding point when Wiersholm got a net cord ace to close it out. Below is a video clip of match point via KW Tennis Nation’s Twitter

Post Match Quotes from Virginia’s recap

“The doubles point got away from us after we had match points to clinch the doubles point at No. 3 and we dropped a breaker when we had a chance to close out the match at No. 1,” Boland said. “It was a heartbreaker to lose the doubles point, but I was impressed with how we continued to compete, particularly with Ryan Shane, Collin Altamirano and J.C. Aragone. They were locked in and played every point and really played within themselves and played tremendous tennis. It was fantastic to see Henrik Wiersholm, who has really developed his game, to be put in the opportunity he was. He embraced the pressure and the environment and played his best tennis toward the end of the match when it mattered most.”
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In the final match of the day it looked like #6 USC was going to pull the upset over #2 TCU but the Horned Frogs hung around and ended up outlasting USC 4-3.

USC took the doubles point with a 6-4 win from Max de Vroome and Jack Jaede at #2 and a 6-3 win from Rob Bellamy and Jake DeVine at #3 while TCU’s Cameron Norrie and Trevor Johnson won 6-3 at #1.

Half of the singles matches would finish quickly while the other half would go on into the night. TCU’s Cameron Norrie made quick work of Nick Crystal at #1 singles taking it 6-1 6-2 and Eduardo Nava pushed TCU ahead 2-1 with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Logan Smith at #4. USC’s Thibault Forget tied it up at 2-2 with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Jerry Lopez at #5.

USC’s Jack Jaede would put the Trojans within a point of clinching after he came from behind to beat TCU’s Trevor Johnson 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 at #6. Jaede broke Johnson on the deciding point to take the second set and then he went up 2-0 in the third before Johnson evened it at 3-3. Jaede would break one last time to close out Johnson 6-4 in the 3rd.

Before Jaede got to the finish line it looked like Max de Vroome had a chance to get USC’s third point. De Vroome led Alex Rybakov 6-4, 5-4 at #2 and was looking at a deciding point which also doubled as match point but Rybakov managed to hold to extend the match. Rybakov would then break de Vroome and hold to take the second set 7-5.

USC freshman Jake DeVine won a tough first set at #3 over Guillermo Nunez 7-6 but Nunez quickly jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the second. Nunez served for the second set up 5-3 but DeVine broke on the deciding point to put it back on serve. However Nunez would break right back on the next game to take the set 6-4. Nunez went up 2-0 in the third but DeVine broke back and then held on the deciding point to make it 2-2. It stayed on serve until Nunez broke DeVine from 15-40 to go up 5-3 but DeVine wouldn’t go down without a fight. DeVine went up 15-40 on the Nunez serve but Nunez hit a backhand winner to make it 30-40. Nunez then ripped a forehand that DeVine called out but when Nunez appealed the call the chair quickly overturned it to bring up the deciding point which was now also a match point and a break point. Nunez hit a well placed serve down the T in the deuce court and all DeVine could do was deflect it back in play and watch as Nunez closed in on the net and put it away into the open court to close the match out.

TCU had evened the match at 3-3 but there was still work left to be done on the remaining court at #2 singles. USC’s Max de Vroome held to start the third set and then had two break points on the Rybakov serve but the TCU freshman came back to hold for 1-all. Rybakov broke de Vroome to go up 2-1 and then held on the deciding point to make it 3-1. Rybakov went up 30-40 on de Vroome 1-3 service game but de Vroome held on the deciding point when his forehand hit the net cord and dribbled over for a winner. Rybakov then hit a service winner on the deciding point to go up 4-2. De Vroome held and then broke Rybakov on the deciding point to even it at 4-all. De Vroome went up 40-30 on his next service game but dumped a pretty routine volley into the net to bring up yet another deciding point. This time de Vroome didn’t mess around and hit a clean volley winner to go up 5-4. Rybakov would hold from 40-15 to make it 5-all but de Vroome held right back from 40-15 to go up 6-5. Rybakov would hit a service winner from 40-30 to send the match to a deciding tiebreak.

De Vroome served first and hit an overhead smash to go up 1-0 but Rybakov got a service winner and a backhand winner to go up 2-1. De Vroome double faulted to go down 1-3 but he followed that up with an ace to make it 2-3*. De Vroome pushed a backhand long to make it 4-2 Rybakov at the changeover. Rybakov hit a service winner to go up 5-2* but de Vroome answered with a hard forehand that skidded off the line to make it 5-3*. De Vroome then sailed a forehand long to make it *6-3 and then Rybakov closed it out on the next point to clinch the win.