Big 12 Tennis Championships: Arizona men advance to final, women lose in semis

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The Arizona men’s and women’s tennis teams both competed in semifinals play against UCF at the Big 12 Tournament on Friday, with the Wildcats men advancing to the finals the women falling in a tight match.

Based on the seeding of the tournaments, both Arizona programs took on host UCF in Orlando, Fla.

The Arizona men, No. 1 seed in the tournament, eked out a 4-3 win over the Knights and will face No. 2 seed TCU tomorrow in the championship match.

Arizona jumped out to a 1-0 start by winning the doubles point. Jay Friend added to Arizona’s lead with a 6-3, 6-1 win on the top singles court.

UCF rallied with wins at No. 2, No. 4, and No. 6 singles to take a 3-2 lead. UCF’s lead would last only a few minutes, however, as Arizona tied the match when Glib Sekachov took down his opponent 6-7 (2-7), 6-1, 6-2 at No. 5 singles.

The decisive point came down to No. 3 singles, where Sasha Rozin outlasted UCF’s Pedro Rodrigues in the third set to win 7-6 (9-7), 4-6, 6-4.

Arizona faces TCU at 11 a.m. PST on Saturday (streaming on ESPN+) in a battle of the Big 12’s top two programs. The Wildcats defeated the Horned Frogs 4-0 in Tucson last month.

Arizona (21-3) enters Saturday on a 16-match winning streak. The Wildcats are seeking to sweep the Big 12 regular season and conference tournament titles after winning the league tournament last season.

On the women’s side, No. 4 seed Arizona fell to top seed UCF 4-2.

Arizona took the doubles point convincingly, but the Knights responded in single action.

The UA’s lone singles point came from Maria Garcia, who defeated her opponent 6-4, 6-2. Arizona’s Tanvi Narendran was leading her match 5-7, 6-2, 5-2 when UCF clinched the winning point.

Arizona (20-9) had won 10 straight matches before Friday’s result.