WACO, Texas – University of Denver men's tennis player Raffaello Papajcik advanced to the round of 32 at the 2024 NCAA Division I Singles & Doubles Championships, hosted by Baylor, in a comeback first-round win on Tuesday night.
 
Papajcik upset No. 29-ranked Jonah Braswell from Texas in a three-set battle that took more than three and a half hours to finish, saving six match points on his way to a 5-7 7-6(3) 7-5 win in the final match of the day.
 
The first set went back and forth with the returner breaking in more than half of the games. Papajcik jumped out to a multi-break lead at 3-0 before his opponent answered with his own three-game win streak. After holds in the next two games, the Denver junior broke again for a 5-4 lead but was unable to serve it out in the following game. The set came down to a deuce-point break for Braswell in the 12^th game.
 
Every game in the second set went to the server but was not without tension. Five games went to deuce including Papajcik's final two on serve. In each of those final two service games, Papajcik faced a 15-40 deficit but fought back to save all six combined match points to get to the tiebreak. That momentum carried into the breaker where he captured a quick minibreak that turned into a 4-2 lead at the changeover and set points at 6-2. Braswell kept the set alive for 6-3 before Papajcik won it, 7-3, at just past the 2:30 mark on the clock.
 
For the first time since the opening set, one of the players successfully earned a break when Papajcik did so in the sixth game for a 4-2 lead. He backed it up with a hold after saving two break chances on his own serve to move within a game of the victory, but Braswell successfully got back on serve after Papajcik had the chance to serve it out. The match remained tight in the penultimate game with Papajcik fighting off two more break points to go ahead, 6-5, putting the pressure back on the Texas player's serve. Papajcik earned two match points – his first of the match – and converted the deuce point to finally secure the win.
 
With the win, Papajcik became the first player in Denver men's tennis history to win a singles match at the NCAA Championships.
 
Next up for Papajcik will be a round of 32 meeting against No. 103-ranked Maxi Homberg from Pepperdine on Wednesday at approximately 1 p.m. CT/12 p.m. MT.
 
Teammate and senior Daniel Sancho Arbizu also opened play in the round of 64 on Tuesday and found himself in a fight earlier in the day but ultimately fell in two tiebreak sets, 7-6(4) 7-6(6), to No. 20-ranked Dylan Dietrich from Virginia.
 
Sancho Arbizu held leads in both sets, starting with a break in his second return game in the first set. He maintained that lead all the way until he served for it up 5-4 but was broken at 30-40. He then faced a set point at deuce in his next service game but was able to hold on to force the tiebreak. Dietrich jumped out to a 3-0 lead with a single minibreak in hand before Sancho Arbizu got back on even terms to hit 3-3 at the changeover. The next three points all went in the server's favor until Deitrich claimed back-to-back return points for a 7-4 win.
 
The second set found Sancho Arbizu trailing 1-3 before he broke in consecutive return games to go ahead 5-3. With Sancho Arbizu serving to force a third set, Dietrich again broke back. The final three games of the set were battles for the server with two games being decided a deuce, though the set went on to be determined in another tiebreak. Both players held minibreak leads at points during the breaker, and Sancho Arbizu saved two match points before Dietrich closed it out, 8-6.
 
TUESDAY'S RESULTS
Round of 64: Raffaello Papajcik def. No. 29 Jonah Braswell (Texas): 5-7 7-6(3) 7-5
Round of 64: No. 20 Dylan Dietrich (Virginia) def. No. 94 Daniel Sancho Arbizu: 7-6(4) 7-6(5)
 
WEDNESDAY'S SCHEDULE
Round of 32: Raffaello Papajcik vs. No. 103 Maxi Homberg (Pepperdine)
 
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