DENVER – The UTSA men’s tennis team (3-2) rallied from a doubles-point deficit to put away the Utah Utes (1-4) in singles play, marking the second victory for UTSA in the series inside of the last week. The Roadrunners swept through singles play to secure the 4-1 victory on Saturday at the Denver Tennis Park.
Coming off UTSA’s 4-1 triumph over Utah at the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Austin, Utah again claimed the doubles point to notch the first score on the board.
However, in singles play the Roadrunners took off, getting a jumpstart with victories in four of the six first sets. After a sound 6-2 victory in the opening set, Tiago Torres saw opponent Bruno Krenn forced to retire on the second court, evening the match score at 1-1. Over on court five, Garrett Skelly quickly pushed the Roadrunners in front, downing Dylan Applegate, 6-1, 6-2. Danijal Muminovic followed with a 6-2, 6-2, fourth-court victory over Gianluca Citadini and then Miguel Alonso finished the job with a match-clinching 6-2, 7-5 besting of Michael Blando for the 4-1 UTSA win.
Quoting Coach Sergey Avdeyev
"It's never easy to win. It was an emotional match for us. We beat them last week and had to play them again just six days later. Utah fought very hard. It’s very disappointing we did not get the doubles point; we had such a big lead but let the emotion hit to us. Some of our singles lines were rock solid. It really helped that we got four first sets quick and felt that we were control of the match from then on.
Doubles Results (UTSA 0, Utah 1)
Order of Finish: 2, 3
1. Geronimo Busleiman/Bruno Krenn vs. Alan Magadan/Tiago Torres: (UF) 6-6 (2-3)
2. Jayson Blando/Michael Blando def. Tomas Pinho/Danijal Muminovic: 6-1
3. Dylan Applegate/Geremia Rossi def. Garrett Skelly/Miguel Alonso: 7-6 (4)
Singles Results (UTSA 4, Utah 0)
Order of Finish: 2, 5, 4, 6
1. Geronimo Busleiman vs. Alan Magadan: (UF) 7-5, 4-3
2. Tiago Torres def. Bruno Krenn: 6-2, RET
3. Jayson Blando vs. Tomás Pinho: (UF) 6-4, 1-6, 0-2
4. Danijal Muminovic def. Gianluca Citadini: 6-2, 6-2
5. Garrett Skelly def. Dylan Applegate: 6-1, 6-2
6. Miguel Alonso def. Michael Blando: 6-2, 7-5
Up Next
The Roadrunners return to action on Sunday at 3 p.m. CST back at Denver Tennis Park against the hosting Denver Pioneers, who are 3-0 after downing Utah, 4-0, at the conclusion of UTSA’s match with the Utes. The Pioneers finished 59th last year as Summit League regular season champions. Denver fell to UTSA last year at the UTSA Tennis Center, 5-2, on March 22, 2023.
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