Mustangs Defeat No. 2 Seed Tulane, Face USF In Friday Semifinal

Thursday, April 22

Orlando, Fla.

11:30 AM CT

SMU

#19 Tulane

Mustangs Defeat No. 2 Seed Tulane, Face USF In Friday Semifinal

Apr 22 | Men's Tennis

BOX SCORE GRANT CHEN POSTGAME INTERVIEW

ORLANDO, Fla. (SMU) – SMU men's tennis knocked off No. 2 seed and 19^th-ranked Tulane, 4-1, in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference Tennis Championships on Thursday. The Mustangs advance to Friday's semifinal where they face No. 3 seed South Florida at 3 p.m. ET.

Seeded seventh in the tournament, the Mustangs opened up play with a Tulane team that defeated the Mustangs 4-2 earlier in the season.

SMU started the match strong with a doubles point victory. Julian Steinhausen and Jan-Simon Vrbsky were the first winners with a 6-4 victory on two. Huntley Allen and Clarke Wilson closed the point with their 7-5 win on line three. Caleb Chakravarthi and Tomas Vaise were all square at 5-5 with the nation's 29^th-ranked team at the time of clinch.

The momentum carried over into singles as the Mustangs won four first sets. Steinhausen gave SMU a 2-0 edge after he won, 6-1, 6-4 on court six. Tulane took court five in straight sets over Wilson.

With SMU up 2-1, each of the four remaining courts were pushed to a third set. Liam Krall dominated his third set on line and moved the Mustangs to within one point of clinch with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 victory.

After falling in set one to No. 23 Hamish Stewart on line two, Tomas Vaise won a tight second set, 7-5, and earned a third-set break to take an edge in the match. The senior capped the Mustang upset of Tulane by winning his final set, 6-2. Both Chakravarthi and Vrbsky were leading late in the third when the victory was sealed.

The win gives the Mustangs four ranked wins on the season and their first top-20 win since January of 2017. The Mustangs are in the AAC Semifinals for the first time since 2016. A win would send SMU to its first AAC Final.