DALLAS (SMU) – SMU Men's Tennis is set to host No. 43 Duke for its home ACC opener at Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex on Friday before hosting a doubleheader against No. 57 UNC and Cleveland State on Sunday.

Friday's match will begin at 5pm CT and will be broadcast on ACCNX. The doubleheader on Sunday will begin at noon.

Onto Week Two of ACC Play

• The Mustangs are coming off a 1-1 ACC opener weekend on the road.
• SMU opened ACC play with a 4-0 sweep win at Virginia Tech.
• They fell 4-2 at No. 2 Virginia on Sunday.

Servin' Svajda

• Trevor Svajda is ranked No. 2 in the ITA singles rankings as of March 3.
• He is 10-1 in singles play this spring and have only dropped two sets.
• Svajda earned a wild card qualifiers invite to the ATP1000 Indian Wells Open earlier this week.
• He became the first Mustang to win an ATP 1000-level match since Richey Reneberg in 1999.
• He has four singles wins against ranked opponents. He defeated Ohio State's No. 13 Aidan Kim and Florida's No. 54 Adhitya Ganesan this past weekend.
• Svajda has been named Player of the Week twice this season (Feb. 3 and Feb. 17).
• In the fall, Svajda defeated seven players ranked players ranked in the final ITA Fall Singles rankings.
• He has wins over Texas A&M's No. 112 Khololwam Montsi, Baylor's No. 17 Connor Henry Van Scharlkwyk, Florida's No. 31 Jeremy Jin, Auburn's No. 40 Amirkhamza Nasridinov, Illlinois's No. 10 Kenta Miyoshi, Mississippi State's No. 13 Petar Jovanovic and NC State's No. 9 Martin Borisiouk.
• Became the first Mustang to reach the championship match since Richey Reneberg in 1986. He fell in the final match 4-6, 6-1, 2-6 to defending champion Michael Zheng after defeating NC State's Martin Borisiouk 6-2, 6-0 in the semifinal round of the tournament. Svajda defeated Mississippi State's Petar Johanovic 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals to become the first Mustang to reach the semifinals—also the first Mustang since Reneberg in 1986.

Matchups History

• SMU is 0-2 all-time against Duke and UNC. The team is 1-0 against Cleveland State.
• The Mustangs visited No. 13 Duke and No. 56 North Carolina last season. when They lost 4-0 in both matches.
• The last time SMU played Cleveland State was in 2014 when the Mustangs won 6-1 in Dallas.

Ranked Players this Weekend

• Trevor Svajda is the current second-ranked singles player in the nation. Alex Finkelstein is the other ranked SMU singles player at No. 107.
• Duke has three players ranked in the singles rankings. Cooper Williams is ranked No. 62, Pedro Rodenas is No. 103 and Gerard Ripoll is ranked No. 123.
• In doubles, Duke's Pedro Rodenas and Cooper Williams is ranked No. 11.
• UNC also has three players ranked in the singles ranking. Roan Jones was ranked No. 42, Ian Mayew is at No. 82 and Niels Ratiu is ranked No. 96.
• Two doubles pairs are ranked in the UNC team. Logan Zapp and Roan Jones are ranked No. 31 and Niels Ratiu and Chris Xu are ranked 34th.

SMU at the ITA Indoors

• The Mustangs came out of their 2026 ITA National Team Indoor Championship campaign with a 1-2 record.
• SMU earned a win over No. 22 Arizona State last weekend. The win was SMU's first ITA National Team Indoor Championship match win since 2000 and its highest ranked win since 2023.
• They fell short to No. 2 Ohio State 4-3 in a tiebreaker on the deciding singles match.
• Trevor Svajda was 3-0 in singles play during the tournament without dropping a single set. He defeated two ranked opponents.
• Svajda and Alex Finkelstein earned their first ranked win as a doubles pair.

New Faces

• SMU welcomed three transfers prior to the fall season.
• Krish Arora came to the Hilltop after spending two years at Georgia Tech. The incoming junior posted a 29-24 singles record as a Yellow Jacket. Arora was ranked as high as No. 19 in the ITA doubles rankings with Clement. Notably, he competed in the 2024 US Junior US Open. 
• Matthew Faraci hails from Manakin Sabot, Virginia. Faraci is a two-time VISAA Player of the Year and was named All-Metro Richmond Player of the Year this past season. He was undefeated in his two final high school seasons. 
• Alex Finkelstein joined the Mustangs after three years at Brown. Prior to Brown, the Raynham, Massachusetts, native played his freshman year at Columbia. Played as Brown's No. 1 singles player, posting an overall record of 17-10 and a 15-8 record in dual match play. He is ranked No. 123 in the final ITA singles rankings and was ranked as high as No. 115 on April 15. Ended the season as the No. 6 Singles performer in the New England Region by the ITA.

First Wins at SMU

• Krish Arora won his first doubles match for SMU over Mississippi State's Niccolo Baroni / Ma Martinez Serran (6-3). Arora was paired with Georgi Georgiev for the first time.
• Arora won his first dual match singles match with SMU against Lamar (7(8)-6, 2-6, 10-3).
• Alex Finkelstein won his first singles match in a dual setting against Lamar's Fabian Anthin.
• Meethre Barot grabbed his first win in doubles play against Lamar (6-3).

Parking Information

• Spectator parking is available at Meadows Garage.