Despite warmer temperatures for his semifinal, sixth-seeded Andres Andrade, above, kept the long sleeves for his victory over Christian Sigsgaard. Photo by Kayla Thompson
Following Friday’s rain, an early Saturday morning brought cold temperatures and a day of upsets on the sixth day of the Greenview Development & Majestic Realty Men’s Pro Tennis Open. Away from the craziness of ESPN’s College GameDay across the highway, the singles quarterfinals resumed at 9 a.m. before moving onto the originally scheduled singles semifinals.
But the play concluded with warm sunshine and an unexpected final – at least according to the seedings.
In a semifinal matchup of Longhorns current and former, junior Micah Braswell defeated alum Christian Sigsgaard, 6-4, 6-4. Braswell, who has made the most of his wild card into the main draw, was able to win a very tightly contested match full of long rallies with his aggressive shots.
He will face sixth-seeded Andres Andrade, who advanced to the final with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over No. 5 Colin Markes, the former Longhorn champion who is based in Austin. Andrade is the 2021 NCAA singles champion from University of Florida, while Markes had led UT-Austin to its 2019 NCAA team title.
The first singles semifinals match started around 1 p.m., with Andrade facing Markes, who had upset No. 1 Bernard Tomic that morning. The first set was tight, with the players winning games neck and neck. As the Ecuadorian started to pull away, Markes became frustrated with his game. Andrade dominated the second set, and Markes had to take a break to receive medical attention from tournament staff for an unknown injury.
In the early morning quarterfinals, Markes finished his upset over No. 1 Bernard Tomic, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. After being suspended because of rain on Friday, the match resumed with Markes leading by 6-3, 1-3. Tomic took the second set, continuing his momentum from the day before, but Markes used his serve to record multiple aces and get the advantage in rallies. Markes took a 3-0 lead in the final set before advancing to the semifinals.
In his quarterfinal, Andrade upset No. 3 Alexander Cozbinov, 6-3, 6-3, after being suspended at 6-3, 2-2. Andrade, continued his style of play from Friday, defeating Cozbinov with a mix of drop shots and sharply angled groundstrokes. He will face Markes in the semifinals.
Braswell had defeated Pepperdine senior Eric Hadigian, 6-2, 6-3. In the second set, Braswell used Hadigian’s frustration to his advantage to advance to the semifinals. Sigsgaard upset No. 2 Jack Pinnington Jones of Great Britain, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, in their quarterfinal. Jones played aggressively, often sneaking into the forecourt to volley, but it wasn’t enough to consistently break Sigsgaard’s serves.
In the doubles semifinals, the unseeded team of Philip Henning and Tyler Stewart defeated Tadeas Paroulek and Zsombor Velcz, 6-3, 6-1. Henning and Stewart used lots of volleys from quick and aggressive net approaches to frustrate Paroulek and Velcz. In Sunday’s championship, Henning and Stewart will play third-seeded Demetris Azoides and Martin Breysach, who won their second straight match by walkover.
By Lindsey Plotkin and Aaron Sullivan