Men's Tennis Advances to National Semifinals for Third Consecutive Year

If the TCU Horned Frogs are to defend last year's national championship, they will have to defeat a familiar foe in Texas

TCU Men's Tennis celebrates after beating Virginia in the national quarterfinals on Friday. They will play Texas in the semifinals on Saturday. / TCU Athletics

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The No. 2 TCU Horned Frogs (26-3) survived a scare in Friday night's national quarterfinals thanks to a comeback match by Duncan Chan after defeating No. 7 Virginia (23-8).

With the win, the Frogs advanced to the national semifinals, which will be played on Saturday night in Waco. TCU will face a very familiar foe if they wish to defend their national championship. They will face No. 3 Texas (29-4) at 7 pm CT.

TCU Defeats Virginia 4-3 in National Quarterfinals

It looked bleak going into the last match on Friday night. TCU won the doubles point to start the dual. TCU and Virginia each won three first sets in singles play. The duel was tied at 1-1, 2-2, and 3-3. It came down to the last court.

Once again, TCU's Duncan Chan was the Comeback Hero for the team. He was down a 2-4 third-set deficit in No. 2 TCU's quarterfinal bout vs. No. 7 seed Virginia with the match level at three courts apiece. Chan, though, rallied to win four straight games against UVA's Jangjun Kim. This gave TCU the clinching point and gave the Frogs a berth in the semifinals.

The doubles courts proved how tight this dual would play out. TCU won the doubles point, but it was not easy. Virginia's pair of Rafael Jodar and Roy Horovitz defeated TCU's Chan and Albert Pedrico on Court Three 6-4.

The No. 2 doubles pair in the nation, and the defending NCAA Doubles champions, of Lui Maxted and Pedro Vives evened the doubles match, winning on Court One 6-4. The point was clinched on Court Two thanks to a tiebreaker win by Jack Pinnington and Cooper Woestendick. They won 7-6 (4) to give the Frogs the first dual point.

The Horned Frogs claimed their 11th consecutive doubles point and are now 25-4 in doubles play. 

In singles play, it was a back-and-forth affair. Maxted, Pedrico, and Chan all won their first sets. But Pinnington, Vives, and Woestendick all lost their first sets.

Vives lost in straight sets on Court Two, 3-6, 3-6, making the score 1-1. The Cavaliers would take the lead at 2-1 after Pinnington lost in straight sets on Court One, 4-6, 3-6. Pedrico evened the score at 2-2 with a straight set win on Court Five, 6-3, 6-4. Maxted won in straight sets on Court Three, 6-4, 7-5. This gave the Frogs the 3-2 edge. Woestendick then lost in three sets on Court Four, 3-6, 6-3, 1-6.

With the dual tied at 3-3, it came down to Court Six, where Duncan Chan was battling cramps throughout a sweltering evening and was forced to call two medical timeouts in set two. He immediately fell behind 1-3 in the third set. He would rally back to win that third set and give the Frogs the victory.

For Chan, the heroics marked the third time in his career that he had clinched a match on court six with TCU tied 3-3. He picked up match-clinchers in identical situations twice in 2024 at USC and vs. UCF.

TCU to Face Texas in National Semifinals

Call it destiny. Call it fate. Over the last few seasons, when it matters the most, it seems that it's TCU and Texas, either for a championship, or in this case, the right to make it to a championship.

Texas defeated UCLA late on Friday, 4-1, to give the Longhorns the fourth berth in the semifinals. The other semifinal match will be No. 1 Wake Forest vs. No. 4 Stanford, meaning that all four top national seeds advanced to the semifinals.

TCU defeated Texas last year in the National Championship. The two played a home-and-home series this year, with each team winning 4-1 on their home courts.

Saturday's semifinal will mark the 11th dual between the two teams in the last three seasons. And to make it more fitting, the match will be played in Waco, a site approximately halfway between Fort Worth and Austin.

In 2023, the two split their meetings 2-2. This included TCU defeating Texas to win the ITA Indoor National Championship, Texas winning a nonconference dual in Fort Worth and the Big 12 regular season dual in Austin, and then TCU winning the Big 12 Tournament in Lawrence.

In 2024, the two also split their meetings 2-2. This included TCU winning a nonconference dual in Fort Worth, Texas, winning the Big 12 regular season dual in Austin, and the Big 12 Tournament in Stillwater, and then TCU winning the National Championship, also in Stillwater.

In 2025, with Texas now playing in the SEC, the two teams continued their rivalry with home-and-home nonconference duals. Texas won in Austin on February 7. TCU won in Fort Worth on March 11.

The 2025 national semifinal will be played in Waco on Saturday, May 17 at 7 pm CT.

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