EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University’s men’s tennis team achieved a significant victory by defeating the University of Kentucky, marking the highest-ranked win in the program’s history. The Spartans, ranked No. 23, overcame No. 7 Kentucky at their home court, MSU Indoor Tennis Center.
This match was not only MSU’s spring and home opener for 2025 but also the first-ever top-25 matchup hosted at their indoor facility. A crowd of 707 Spartan fans attended to witness this historic event.
Previously, MSU’s most notable win occurred in 2004 when they defeated No. 8 Vanderbilt under head coach Gene Orlando.
“I’m just happy for the guys,” said MSU head coach Harry Jadun. “College tennis is a lot of big points, moments, and deuce points… If that match is played on a neutral site, who knows what happens.”
The Spartans introduced a new doubles pairing with junior Ozan Baris and freshman Vuk Radjenovic against UK’s Martin Breysach and Jaden Weekes. They were joined by familiar pairs: senior Max Sheldon with freshman Matthew Forbes and sophomore Taym Alazmeh with freshman Danial Rakhmatullayev.
The duo of Alazmeh/Rakhmatullayev helped secure part of the doubles point for MSU. Baris/Radjenovic won their match 6-4, clinching the doubles point for the team while Forbes/Sheldon’s match remained unfinished.
“We already knew against this team we were going to need to have some things go in our favor,” Jadun noted about securing an early lead through doubles play.
Max Sheldon led in singles play by defeating UK’s Charlelie Cosnet with scores of 6-4, 6-4. On another court, Baris secured his victory over Antoine Ghibaudo after a tiebreaker set.
“I think more than anything it’s kind of a confirmation of what we’re going to be doing this year,” Baris remarked on their triumph.
Junior Aristotelis Thanos clinched another key point by overcoming UK’s Jaden Weekes after three sets.
Even after securing victory overall against Kentucky with five points compared to two from UK players like Jack Loutit who managed wins over individual matches such as those involving Matthew Forbes or Eli Stephenson versus Vuk Radjenovic; Taym Alazmeh added one more successful result facing Martin Breysach resulting ultimately into six-three-four respectively across all rounds completed throughout these competitions held between both universities’ respective teams today here locally within East Lansing itself specifically!
Following their impressive performance against Kentucky Wildcats (ranked seventh nationally), Michigan State will next face Vanderbilt alongside Western Michigan during upcoming doubleheader events scheduled Sunday morning followed shortly thereafter later same day afternoon timeslot too respectively back again once more indoors venue-wise situated right nearby campus grounds itself!
