Top-Seeded Spartan Men’s Tennis Advances to Big Ten Semifinals With Win Over No. 9 Seed Indiana Thursday

Thursday, April 23

Libbey Park || Ojai, Calif.

12 PM ET / 9 AM PT

Michigan State University

(9) Indiana

Top-Seeded Spartan Men’s Tennis Advances to Big Ten Semifinals With Win Over No. 9 Seed Indiana Thursday

4/23/2026 5:32:00 PM | Men's Tennis

No. 1 seed Michigan State earns a 4-1 victory over Indiana

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Top-seeded Michigan State opened Big Ten Tournament play with a 4-1 victory over the 9th-seeded Indiana Hoosiers in Thursday's first quarterfinal match at Libbey Park in Ojai, Calif.

With the win, the Spartans not only advance to Friday's semifinals, but also improve to 16-8 overall. Indiana slides to 11-13 with the loss.

Thursday was the second match-up between the Spartans and Hoosiers in a span of a week, as last Friday, 23rd-ranked MSU beat No. 55 IU, 4-1, in the penultimate regular-season match at the MSU Outdoor Tennis Courts.

The Green & White secured an early lead over the Hoosiers on Thursday by claiming the doubles point. MSU's duo of sophomore Matthew Forbes and senior Ozan Baris set the tone with a 6-3 win in the No. 1 doubles slot over IU's No. 33 Michael Andre and Matteo Antonescu. Shortly after, senior Aristotelis Thanos and sophomore Danial Rakhmatullayev earned a dominant 6-1 victory at No. 3 doubles over Hoosiers Aidan Atwood and Sam Landau to claim the 1-0 lead.

MSU sophomore Mitchell Sheldon and junior Taym Alazmeh put up a good fight, but fell to IU's Facundo Yunis and Jip van Assendelfdt, 6-4.

In singles action, the Spartans controlled the courts, earning three more victories to secure the win. At No. 3 singles, Baris took down Michael Andre in a quick 6-3, 6-2 match. Sheldon strengthened the Spartan score yet again by taking down his opponent, Atwood, 7-5, 6-0, at No. 6 singles.

At No. 2 singles, Forbes delivered a hard-fought, second-set tiebreak win over Jip Van Assesdelft to clinch the match for the Spartans.

At No. 4 singles, Rakhmaatullayev fell 6-3, 6-3, after a long battle.

Two matches went unfinished. At the top of the lineup, Thanos battled Sam Landau and was down 4-6, 3-5 before the match went unfinished. At No. 5 singles, Alazmeh was head-to-head with Braeden Gelletich. Alazmeh lost the first set 4-6 and was tied 6-6 (5-5) before the match went unfinished.

Michigan State is back in action on Friday, April 24 at 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT against the No. 5 seed UCLA.

The entire Big Ten Tournament will be streamed on BTN+.

Fans can follow MSU's matches with "Watch Live" and "Live Stats" links at MSUSpartans.com.

No. 1 Michigan State vs No. 9 Indiana
Ojai, Calif.
April 23, 2026
MSU 4, IU 1

Singles:
1. No. 33 Aristotelis Thanos (MSU) vs. No. 78 Sam Landau (IND) 4-6, 3-5 (UF)
2. No. 15 Matthew Forbes (MSU) def. Jip van Assendelft (IND) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
3. No. 57 Ozan Baris (MSU) def. Michael Andre (IND) 6-3, 6-2
4. Facundo Yunis (IND) def. Danial Rakhmatullayev (MSU) 6-3, 6-3
5. Taym Alazmeh (MSU) vs. Braeden Gelletich (IND) 4-6, 6-6 (UF)
6. Mitchell Sheldon (MSU) def. Aidan Atwood (IND) 7-5, 6-0

Doubles:
1. Matthew Forbes/Ozan Baris (MSU) def. No. 33 Michael Andre/Matteo Antonescu (IND) 6-3
2. Facundo Yunis/Jip van Assendelfdt (IND) def. Taym Alazmeh/Mitchell Sheldon (MSU) 6-4
3. Aristotelis Thanos/Danial Rakhmatullayev (MSU) def. Aidan Atwood/Sam Landau (IND) 6-1