With a three-set singles win from freshman Constantin Frantzen, the 21st-ranked Baylor men’s tennis team captured a 4-3 victory over No. 15 Texas A&M Saturday to open the ITA Kick-Off Weekend at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
With the match tied at three points apiece, Frantzen clinched a 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-3 triumph over Valentin Vacherot at the No. 6 spot to give the Bears the winning point.
To open the contest in doubles, the Bears raced out to a lead as Jimmy Bendeck and Johannes Schretter downed Jordi Arconada and James Martell, 6-1, at the No. 3 spot.
With Baylor leading 4-1 in both matches on courts 1 and 2, the doubles point looked all but claimed. However, the Aggies tied things up on court 1 at 5-5, but Juan Benitez and Constantin Frantzen closed out the match at the No. 2 spot against Aleksandre Bakshi and AJ Catanzariti, 7-5, to give the opening point to the Bears.
In singles play, the Bears and Aggies split the first sets on the six courts.
Schretter was the lone Bear to convert his opening-set win into a straight-set victory as he powered past Max Lunkin, 6-3, 6-4, on court 3.
With the Bears leading 2-0 in the match, all three Bears, who lost their opening set, had rebounded to take the second set in each to force a third and deciding set.
Next, the Aggies stormed back to tie the match at two points apiece. First, the 81st-ranked Bendeck suffered a 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 setback to Bakshi at the No. 4 position. Following that match, Benitez dropped a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 decision to the 16th-ranked Arthur Rinderknech at the top of the lineup.
The 44th-ranked Max Tchoutakian then gave the Bears the lead back as he downed Catanzariti, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, on court 2 to put BU up 3-2. However less than 15 minutes later, Texas A&M tied the match up again as Bjoern Petersen suffered a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 loss to Arconada at the No. 5 spot.
That set the stage for Frantzen’s clutch performance.
