Saturday, January 10
Dallas, Texas
10 a.m.
Mississippi State
at
SMU
Men’s Tennis Set to Open 2026 Season with Doubleheader In Dallas
January 09, 2026 | Men's Tennis
Saturday, Jan. 10 at 10 a.m. CT
Dallas, Texas | Styslinger / Altec Tennis Complex
Match 01
No. 7 Mississippi State at SMU
Watch Live | Live Stats | X/Twitter
Match 02
No. 7 Mississippi State vs. Lamar
Watch Live | Live Stats | X/Twitter
DALLAS – The seventh ranked Mississippi State men's tennis team will face off against the Southern Methodist Mustangs in their 2026 season opener in Dallas, followed by a test against Lamar University.
Saturday's contest will be State's first season opener on the road since 2017. The match also marks State's 10th consecutive season opener against a non-conference opponent.
Mississippi State Notes
• Under head coach Matt Roberts, Mississippi State is 10-1 in season openers.
• Both Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez enter the 2026 season as ITA Doubles All-Americans. Jovanovic claimed ITA Singles All-American status by advancing to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Individual Championships.
• Mississippi State reached 25 wins during their 2025 campaign tied with the 1979 team for the most single-season victories in program history.
• The Bulldogs enter the match ranked No. 7 in the ITA preseason rankings, marking their fourth straight season inside the ITA Top 25 to open the year.
• Last season, Sanchez Martinez set the single season record for the most dual match wins in both singles and doubles.
• As a tandem, Jovanovic and Sanchez Martinez hold the record for the most wins by a doubles pair in program history going eight wins clear of duo Nuno Borges and Strahinja Rakic.
• Mississippi has not lost to an unranked team in a season opener since their loss to Arkansas-Little Rock to open the 1986 season.
• Mississippi State returns eight letterwinners from last season's squad
• Last year the Bulldogs owned the doubles point in dual matches. State won the doubles point in 27 of their 30 matches and had a season-long streak of 17 straight doubles points won from Feb. 2 through April 11. . In SEC play, MSU won the doubles point in 13 of the 14 matches, and both doubles points in the SEC tournament. State opens the 2026 campaign having won five consecutive doubles points dating back to April 18, 2025.
• Sanchez Martinez set a program record last season for dual match doubles wins a single season with 23. Jovanovic finished second with 22.
• Mississippi State is entering its 102nd season as a program amassing 1,110 wins, 644 losses, and 8 draws.
Mississippi State Record Book Watch
• Head coach, Matt Roberts is four wins shy of tying Tom Sawyer (1949-68) for second-most career wins all time with 216 victories and nine wins shy of being the winningest head coach in program history surpassing Andy Jackson's (1989-2001) 220 win total.
• Petar Jovanovic sits at 177 career victories and is two wins away from taking sole possession of 2nd in career wins in program history behind Bulldog legend Nuno Borges' (2019) 189 wins.
• Jovanovic has 85 career doubles wins, ranking 4th all-time at State. He is one win away from moving into 3rd tied with Gregor Ramskogler (2018-2023).
• Jovanovic currently has 54 career dual match doubles wins. He is just 10 wins shy of tying Gregor Ramskogler (2018-2023) for the most all time.
• Sanchez Martinez sits 5th all time in career dual match doubles winning percentage with a winning percentage of .710.
Mississippi State In The ITA Rankings
Team Ranking – 7th
Singles
No. 13 – Petar Jovanovic
No. 34 – Bryan Hernandez Cortes
No. 37 – Mario Martinez Serrano
No. 54 – Benito Sanchez Martinez
No. 125 – Raphael Vaksmann
Doubles
No. 2 - Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez
Series History vs. SMU
• SMU leads the all-time series, 3-2. All five matches have taken place at a neutral site.
• Southern Methodist defeated the Bulldogs in 1980, 1999, and 2001 to capture the longest winning streak amongst the two sides.
• Two of the five meetings have been in the NCAA Tournament. In 2001, they met in the NCAA Round of 16; in 2017, they met in the first round.
• This will be the first meeting between the two programs since 2023, where State bested SMU 4-3 in Gainesville, Fla. at the ITA Kickoff Weekend.
• In his tenure as the Head Coach of the Bulldogs, Matt Roberts has never lost to the Mustangs in their two matchups.
Series History vs. Lamar
• Lamar won their only meeting against the Bulldogs in 1976 in Beaumont, Texas
• State was led by head coach Rodney Hartzog
For the most up-to-date information on the Bulldogs, follow MSU Men's Tennis on Twitter, like them on Facebook and join them on Instagram by searching for "HailStateMT"
– HailState.com –
Dallas, Texas | Styslinger / Altec Tennis Complex
Match 01
No. 7 Mississippi State at SMU
Watch Live | Live Stats | X/Twitter
Match 02
No. 7 Mississippi State vs. Lamar
Watch Live | Live Stats | X/Twitter
DALLAS – The seventh ranked Mississippi State men's tennis team will face off against the Southern Methodist Mustangs in their 2026 season opener in Dallas, followed by a test against Lamar University.
Saturday's contest will be State's first season opener on the road since 2017. The match also marks State's 10th consecutive season opener against a non-conference opponent.
Mississippi State Notes
• Under head coach Matt Roberts, Mississippi State is 10-1 in season openers.
• Both Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez enter the 2026 season as ITA Doubles All-Americans. Jovanovic claimed ITA Singles All-American status by advancing to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Individual Championships.
• Mississippi State reached 25 wins during their 2025 campaign tied with the 1979 team for the most single-season victories in program history.
• The Bulldogs enter the match ranked No. 7 in the ITA preseason rankings, marking their fourth straight season inside the ITA Top 25 to open the year.
• Last season, Sanchez Martinez set the single season record for the most dual match wins in both singles and doubles.
• As a tandem, Jovanovic and Sanchez Martinez hold the record for the most wins by a doubles pair in program history going eight wins clear of duo Nuno Borges and Strahinja Rakic.
• Mississippi has not lost to an unranked team in a season opener since their loss to Arkansas-Little Rock to open the 1986 season.
• Mississippi State returns eight letterwinners from last season's squad
• Last year the Bulldogs owned the doubles point in dual matches. State won the doubles point in 27 of their 30 matches and had a season-long streak of 17 straight doubles points won from Feb. 2 through April 11. . In SEC play, MSU won the doubles point in 13 of the 14 matches, and both doubles points in the SEC tournament. State opens the 2026 campaign having won five consecutive doubles points dating back to April 18, 2025.
• Sanchez Martinez set a program record last season for dual match doubles wins a single season with 23. Jovanovic finished second with 22.
• Mississippi State is entering its 102nd season as a program amassing 1,110 wins, 644 losses, and 8 draws.
Mississippi State Record Book Watch
• Head coach, Matt Roberts is four wins shy of tying Tom Sawyer (1949-68) for second-most career wins all time with 216 victories and nine wins shy of being the winningest head coach in program history surpassing Andy Jackson's (1989-2001) 220 win total.
• Petar Jovanovic sits at 177 career victories and is two wins away from taking sole possession of 2nd in career wins in program history behind Bulldog legend Nuno Borges' (2019) 189 wins.
• Jovanovic has 85 career doubles wins, ranking 4th all-time at State. He is one win away from moving into 3rd tied with Gregor Ramskogler (2018-2023).
• Jovanovic currently has 54 career dual match doubles wins. He is just 10 wins shy of tying Gregor Ramskogler (2018-2023) for the most all time.
• Sanchez Martinez sits 5th all time in career dual match doubles winning percentage with a winning percentage of .710.
Mississippi State In The ITA Rankings
Team Ranking – 7th
Singles
No. 13 – Petar Jovanovic
No. 34 – Bryan Hernandez Cortes
No. 37 – Mario Martinez Serrano
No. 54 – Benito Sanchez Martinez
No. 125 – Raphael Vaksmann
Doubles
No. 2 - Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez
Series History vs. SMU
• SMU leads the all-time series, 3-2. All five matches have taken place at a neutral site.
• Southern Methodist defeated the Bulldogs in 1980, 1999, and 2001 to capture the longest winning streak amongst the two sides.
• Two of the five meetings have been in the NCAA Tournament. In 2001, they met in the NCAA Round of 16; in 2017, they met in the first round.
• This will be the first meeting between the two programs since 2023, where State bested SMU 4-3 in Gainesville, Fla. at the ITA Kickoff Weekend.
• In his tenure as the Head Coach of the Bulldogs, Matt Roberts has never lost to the Mustangs in their two matchups.
Series History vs. Lamar
• Lamar won their only meeting against the Bulldogs in 1976 in Beaumont, Texas
• State was led by head coach Rodney Hartzog
For the most up-to-date information on the Bulldogs, follow MSU Men's Tennis on Twitter, like them on Facebook and join them on Instagram by searching for "HailStateMT"
– HailState.com –
Players Mentioned
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