TCU
Abilene Christian
Preview: vs. ACU
1/10/2025 12:00:00 PM | Men's Tennis
No. 2 TCU opens up the 2025 season against the Wildcats
FORT WORTH - No. 2 TCU men's tennis makes their return to the purple courts to take on ACU on Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.
The Horned Frogs will play for the first time since winning the program's first outdoor national championship with a 4-3 win over Texas in May.
The Frogs are 33-5 on indoor courts since 2018 and 46-13 at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.
TCU returns seven players from the 2024 national championship team, including sophomores Julian Alonso, Duncan Chan and Kaj Quirijns.
Alonso debuted at No. 87 in the final fall ITA rankings. He produced a 11-9 combined record across five fall invitationals. He notched ranked wins over No. 19 Trevor Svajda (SMU) and No. 61 Joan Torres Espinsoa (Nebraska). Alonso concluded the 2024 outdoor season with a record of 5-1 with four wins coming in Big 12 play.
Chan qualified for the NCAA Individual Championships in singles. He finished as a singles finalist at the ITA Central Sectional Championships. He achieved his first ITA singles ranking at the conclusion of the fall season coming in at No. 74. Chan capped his freshman year with a combined record of 38-23 with 11 wins coming in singles and 27 wins in doubles.
Quirijns tallied the second most doubles victories of any Frog this fall with an 11-4 record. He went a combined 6-0 at the U.S. College Cup Invitational. He went 6-4 in doubles in 2024 with a 5-1 record in league play.
Lui Maxted, Jack Pinnington, Luke Swan, and Pedro Vives make up the veteran presence on the roster. They will not suit up vs. the Wildcats.
Maxted and Vives won the NCAA Doubles Championship as they took down Benjamin Kittay and Gavin Young of Michigan, 6-3, 6-7(6), 1–0 (10-2). The duo became the second NCAA Individual Champions in program history and first since 1981, when David Pate and Karl Richter claimed the doubles crown. Vives enters 2025 with 60 career singles wins and 85 career doubles wins while Maxted has obtained 57 career singles wins and 76 career singles wins.
Jack Pinnington, the 2024 NCAA Championships' Most Outstanding Player, announced his return this past week after a successful run in the ATP Challenger series as he made three quarter final appearances. He also played alongside former Frog great Jake Fearnley in the doubles main draw at Wimbledon and won the M25 Aldershot singles title in August and earned a memorable victory over fellow TCU All-American and world No. 49 Cameron Norrie at the Nottingham Challenger. Pinnington goes in 2025 with a career record of 43-12 in singles play and a record of 36-14 in doubles play.
The Frogs also welcome four newcomers as Filip Apltauer, Roger Pascual, Albert Pedrico Kravtsov and Cooper Woestendick all embark on their first year in purple and white.
Apltauer transferred from Tennessee after his first collegiate season in 2023-24. The Czech Republic native finished the year with a record of 29-19 combined overall record while going 15-7 in singles play. He played mostly on court six for the Volunteers. Apltauer defeated No. 56 Jonah Braswell of Texas in the Volunteers' run to the NCAA quarterfinals.
Pascual comes to Funky Town by the way of Vinaros, Spain. He achieved a career-best ITF world juniors ranking of No. 56 in January of 2024. He won seven combined junior titles, including five in 2022.
Pedrico Kravtsov is the third Spaniard on the roster joining Vives and Pascual. In 2024 he played a professional schedule and competed exclusively in ITF World Tennis Tour Events. He attained a career-high ATP singles rankings of No. 687 on Oct. 28, 2024.
Woestendick won the 2024 Australian Open boys doubles championship. He bears 13 ITF juniors titles to his name and arrived at TCU ranked 20th in the ITF world juniors rankings. Woestendick was one of three members of TCU's No. 1 ranked USA recruiting class for 2025 but elected to enroll early at TCU this spring.
Players Mentioned
