Baylor Men's Tennis to Face Top-Seeded TCU in ITA Indoor Opener

WACO, Texas -- Baylor men’s tennis has earned the No. 8 seed and will host No. 1 seed TCU, the nation’s top-ranked team and defending NCAA Champion, in the first round of the ITA Indoor Nationals, hosted by Baylor at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Facility.

Baylor and SMU are serving as the co-hosts of the 16-team event, with SMU hosting eight teams and Baylor hosting the other eight. The final four teams remaining will advance to play for an ITA Championship on Tuesday and Wednesday at SMU.

Baylor and SMU both earned No. 8 seeds by virtue of their host bid and earned automatic qualifiers to the event. 

The Bears (6-4) are 1-4 against the field in 2025, besting SMU and falling vs. No. 4 Wake Forest, No. 2 TCU, No. 9 San Diego and No. 4 Ohio State as part of a grueling early season schedule. The Bears fell to then No. 2 ranked TCU in the meeting at Hawkins on Jan. 20, 4-1, which featured a point from senior Marko Miladinovic on court 6 in singles. The Bears continued a dominating run over SMU in its win on Jan. 26 in Dallas, claiming their 26th straight win over the ‘Stangs, a stretch that dates back to 2001.

The winner of the TCU-Baylor clash will advance to face the winner of fourth-seeded and No. 7 ranked Duke or fifth-seeded and No. 9 ranked San Diego on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Hawkins. The Bears just faced San Diego, with the then-ranked No. 10 USD – who eliminated the Bears in the 2024 NCAA Tournament in College Station, Texas, last year, outlasting BU 4-3 in a thrilling college tennis match that saw Baylor leading 3-1 with a 4-0 lead in third set on court 6 but couldn’t finish off the win.

Since that match, Baylor has won three of its last four, with the lone loss coming to then No. 4 ranked Ohio State, who is the No. 2 seed in the Waco bracket and faces UCF, in the first round. Also in the Waco bracket are six-seeded Stanford and three-seeded Columbia, featuring the NCAA Individual Champion, Michael Zheng, who claimed the title in Waco in November at the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Individual Championships and is the current nation’s No. 1 ranked singles player. The Waco bracket will also feature Oliver Tarvet, the nation’s No. 2 player, No. 6 Pedro Vives (TCU), No. 9 Lui Maxted, No. 18 Jack Pinnington Jones and No. 22 Aidan Kim among top-25 players.

SMU’s bracket features top-seeded Wake Forest, who will face SMU in the opener. No. 4 seeded Kentucky faces No. 5 seed NC State, No. 3 seeded Texas faces No. 6 seeded Texas A&M and No. 2 seeded Virginia faces No. 7 seeded Michigan.

There is a consolation bracket element to the tournament, allowing each team to play three matches with the consolation bracket concluding on Saturday and Sunday.

Baylor owns a 33-18 record in singles, including a 7-0 mark in the spring on court 2, including a 6-0 mark from senior Oskar Brostrom Poulsen. Newcomer Alexandru Chirita is a team-high 7-1 in singles, while Miladinovic is 6-2.

In doubles, Baylor is 14-10 as a team, including a 5-1 mark on court 2, led by a 4-0 stretch from Devin Badenhorst and Luc Koenig.

Badenhorst leads the Bears in the single ranks at No. 37, Zsombor Velcz ranks No. 64 and Brostrom Poulsen is No. 85. In doubles, Miladinovic and Brostrom Poulsen rank No. 9, Velcz and Badenhorst at No. 19, Velcz and Brostrom Poulsen are No. 44, and Koenig and Imran Daniel Abdul Bazli rank No. 64.