Continued unseasonably warm temperatures on Wednesday will carry the Greenview Development & Majestic Realty Men’s Pro Tennis Open into the second round of the singles’ main draw, intensifying the stakes.
Players will face the brunt of the 85-degree weather in hopes of advancing as Round 1 matches conclude, and lineups for Round 2 are announced. This includes Austin local Marko Mesarovic, seeded 16th in qualifying, who defeated injured Longhorn Rahul Sachdev, 4-6, 6-0, 10-7.
Top-seed Federico Agustin Gomez, pictured above, beat Sebastian Gornzy in three sets, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2, and emphasized mental strength and endurance as keys to his win. “I knew I had to make my game strong, serving, attacking, being aggressive all the time,” the 26-year-old Argentine said. “I stayed mentally and tried to fight every point.”
Additionally, Longhorn seniors Cleeve Harper and Eliot Spizzirri advance to Round 2 matches on Thursday against 17-year-old Trevor Svajda and 28-year-old Stefan Menichella, respectively.
Micah Braswell, another Longhorn and the defending champion, will play against qualifying player Tadeas Paroulek. Second-seed Blaise Bicknell, a 21-year-old from Jamaica, will play against 20-year-old Lorenzo Esquici of Brazil. Fifth-seed Edward Winter won 6-2, 3-1 when Jonah Braswell, Micah’s younger brother and Longhorn teammate, retired. Winter next faces South African Luc Koenig, a sophomore Baylor Bear.
Article and photograph by Bevo Video Productions, a division of Texas Student Media at UT-Austin.