Wednesday’s matches at the Greenview Development & Majestic Realty Men’s Pro Tennis Open 2023 were flavored with Longhorns and talented greenhorns as the first round at the Texas Tennis Center was completed.
The day started with a battle of Longhorns past and present on Court 5, as University of Texas senior Siem Woldeab defeated alum Christian Sigsgaard, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-3.
In a matchup of 17-year-old Americans starting play on Court 3, fourth-seeded Learner Tien defeated Evan Burnett, 6-4, 6-2. Next up for Tien is Trevor Svajda, the 17-year-old he defeated in the U.S. Boys’ 18 championship in Kalamazoo in August. Svajda, a wild card here, defeated University of Texas senior Cleeve Harper, 6-4, 7-6 (5). Svajda fought back from being down 2-5 in the second set.
“I just stayed calm,” said Svadja, whose brother Zachary won this title in 2021. “In the first set I went up 3-0 and then it went 3-all and then 4-3 him.I just stayed as calm as I could and got through that set and then the same thing happened in the second.”
Micah Braswell, the defending champion in Austin and yet another Longhorn, defeated Baylor’s Tadeas Paroulek, 6-2, 4-6, 6-0. Pierre Yves Bailly, a junior at Texas by way of Belgium, shook off his nerves to streak past Lorenzo Esquici of Brazil, 1-6, 6-3, 6-0.
Eighth-seeded Joshua Sheehy, pictured above, fended off a strong upset effort from wild card Lleyton Cronje by winning 5-7, 6-4, 7-5. Sheehy, a former Abilene Christian University player, found his footing and held strong to pull off the win against the South African now playing for University of Central Florida.
“I’m relieved to get that one done,” Sheehy said. “I was down for most of the match. (Cronje) was playing really well, hitting big balls and big first serves. I just had to stay mentally tough the entire match.”
Third-seeded Yassine Dlimi of Morocco, a sophomore at the University of Central Florida, defeated Stefan Menichella, 6-1, 7-5. Seventh-seeded Mark Whitehouse won a close one over Austin local Marko Mesarovic (now at Clemson), 5-7, 7-5, 6-3. Colin Markes, the 26-year-old former Longhorn, rallied past Tiago Torres of UT-San Antonio, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0. Baylor sophomore Luc Koenig defeated Jake Van Emburgh, 7-6, 6-4.
Sebastian Grozny, a TCU sophomore, joined forces with Brayden Michna, a Texas A&M freshman, to defeat Alfredo Casso and Fredrico Agustin Gomez, 6-1, 6-3, in an early doubles result.
Article and photograph by Bevo Video Productions, a division of Texas Student Media in UT-Austin’s Moody College of Communication.