DALLAS – SMU men's tennis put together a strong performance today, taking down Purdue 4-3. Sophomore tandem of
Liam Krall and
Julian Steinhausen boosted the Mustangs to victory with their electric play. SMU improves to 3-0 with their first Power Five win of the season.
Krall and Steinhausen got off to a hot start in doubles, breaking Purdue's first serve and going on to win the match 6-3. This win would not be enough for the doubles point, as the Boilermakers took No. 1 and No. 2 doubles.
The Mustangs tied the overall match at 1-1 following an unfortunate injury which led to
Pranav Kumar winning No. 6 singles by retirement. Sophomore
Adam Neff would give SMU their first lead of the day, winning his singles match 6-3, 6-3. Neff dazzled the crowd with a number of spectacular shots including a powerful backhand down the line on match point.
In his first action of the season,
Caleb Chakravarthi nearly pulled off a big comeback in No. 1 singles, falling 6-1, 6-4. Three matches remained with the score tied 2-2.
Krall took the first set of his No. 2 singles match, breaking his opponent to go up 5-3, and winning on his serve with a huge match point ace. After dropping the second set, Krall bounced back with a pivotal 6-0 win in the final set.
With SMU winning 3-2 overall, all eyes turned to Steinhausen's match on court No. 4. After splitting the first two sets, Steinhausen and his opponent faced an all-important third. The SMU sophomore displayed poise and confidence, breaking serve twice in three games to go up 5-2. Serving to win the overall match, Steinhausen would hold for victory, bombing an ace by his opponent on match point.
With the Mustangs having already secured the victory,
Ivan Thamma fell in another exciting three-set match. SMU would win 4-3 overall, having taken four of the six singles matches.
SMU Head Coach
Grant Chen praised his team's composure stating, "This was a very good test to see where we stand to start off the season. Purdue is a good team and well coached. I was curious to see how the team would respond after dropping the doubles point. We have a lot of veterans on this year's roster and they responded with composure. Credit to Julian and Liam for coming up with a doubles win and three set singles wins to help anchor the team. Very unfortunate at No. 6 singles to endure an injury, and we wish him a speedy recovery. Adam got a huge singles win and happy to see how he has put it all together. We have some things to work on and will focus on those this week as we prepare for another test next week."
The Mustangs are back in action next Saturday as they host Texas Tech at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex at 2 p.m.
