EAST LANSING — The No. 23 Michigan State men’s tennis team defeated No. 7 Kentucky to earn the Spartans’ highest-ranked victory in program history Friday night at a raucous indoor tennis center in MSU.
A crowd of 707 Spartans fans, mostly dressed in green and white, had a memorable night at MSU’s 2025 spring opener and home game.
MSU’s previous highest-ranked win came in 2004, when the Spartans topped No. 8 Vanderbilt 4-3.
“I’m just happy for the guys, but also, I think it starts and ends with the facility being full of fans today,” MSU coach Harry Jadun said. “College tennis is a lot of big points and moments and draws, and I feel like the crowd really tipped the scales in our favor tonight. If this match is played at a venue neutral, who knows what’s going on, but it’s great to see the place was packed.”
A new doubles duo was scheduled to take the court with junior Ozan Baris and freshman Vuk Radjenovic, who faced Kentucky’s Martin Breysach and Jaden Weekes. The Spartans had two familiar double pairs with the No. 107 ranked tandem of senior Max Sheldon and freshman Matthew Forbes and the No. 66 duo of sophomore Taym Alazmeh and freshman Danial Rakhmatullayev.
The Spartans quickly took control with Alazmeh and Rakhmatullayev helping earn part of the Spartans’ double point and bringing energy to their teammates and the crowd.
Baris and Radjenovic used the momentum to finish their match with a 6-4 victory, earning the team the doubles point. With the doubles point assured, the Forbes/Sheldon match remained unfinished (5-4).
“We already knew that against this team we had to have certain things work in our favor, and if you’re up 1-0 it makes the singles a lot more manageable,” Jadun said. “Just splitting the singles rather than going 4-2. So the fact that we’re up 1-0 gives the guys a little bit of energy and it also keeps the crowd in it.”
That energy helped Max Sheldon win her singles match against Charlelie Cosnet, No. 79 of Kentucky, 6-4, 6-4, adding another point to the board for the home team. On the next court, Baris fought until the last decisive point to win against Antoine Ghibaudo 6-1, 7-6 (8-6).
“I think more than anything, it’s kind of a confirmation of what we’re going to do this year,” Baris said of the win’s impact for the program. “You go into this game with certain expectations, certainly, the belief that we can win, but just seeing our level as the game played out, it really gave us the support that we are in the top 10, top five, and I want to be a No. 1 team.”
Junior Aristotelis Thanos won the first set against British No. 39 Jaden Weekes, but fell in his second set to send the pair to the tiebreaker. Pushing all the way, Thanos landed the fifth point, securing victory for the Spartans.
In other matches after the victory, Kentucky’s Jack Loutit dominated Forbes 6-3, 7-6 (12-10). Alazmeh was the last Spartan to put another point on the board for the team. He beat Martin Breysach in a back-and-forth match, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
In his first match as a Spartan, Radjenovic lost a close match to Eli Stephenson 6-2, 7-6 (10-7), 4-6.
This article was originally published in the Lansing State Journal: Michigan State men’s tennis upsets No. 7 Kentucky 5-2
