No. 8 Texas men’s tennis won its 26th straight season opener on Sunday, defeating No. 13 Florida 5-2 in a top-15 matchup in Gainesville, Florida.

The day started with junior Siem Woldeab leading off the singles portion of the match, defeating Lukas Greif in two straight sets, 6-1, 6-2. Redshirt junior Cleeve Harper also won in two straight sets, defeating Togan Tokac, 6-4, 6-2. 

Florida won its first points of the day in the third singles match of the day, as Will Grant defeated No. 30 Micah Braswell in a straight-set victory, 6-3, 7-6 (5). 

Senior Chih Chi Huang then defeated Tanapatt Nirundorn, sweeping the last two sets after losing the first, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Junior and No. 3 Eliot Spizzirri defeated Axel Nefve, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 6-2, leading Texas to a commanding 5-1 lead over the Gators. 

Florida’s No. 93 Jonah Braswell finished off singles play defeating sophomore Pierre-Yves Bailly, winning the first of two sets, before Bailey retired in the third set down 3-1 to Braswell, 6-2, 6-7 (4), 3-1.

The No. 7 ranked duo of Cleeve Harper and Eliot Spizzirri commenced doubles play for the day, defeating Will Grant and Axel Nefve, 6-1. Florida’s No. 10 national pair of Tanapatt Nirundorn and Togan Tokac defeated Chih Chi Huang and Eshan Talluri 5-4 due to a timed match procedure that prematurely ended the match. Texas’ Pierre-Yves Bailly and Siem Woldeab finished No. 3 in doubles on the day, defeating the No. 43 ranked team of Jonah Braswell and Lukas Greif, 6-1, and securing Texas its first win of the season.

Sunday’s victory marks Texas’ second straight against Florida and increases its record to 13-8 all-time vs. the Gators. The two teams have met at least once every season in the past seven years, with Texas posting a dominant 5-2 record in that span.

The Longhorns now turn their focus to the home opener vs. UTSA next Friday, before another top 10 showdown vs. No. 7 Georgia on January 22.