HONOLULU--The University of Hawai'i men's tennis team (0-1) opened its 2023 season with a loss to 16th-ranked Florida State (0-1), 7-0 on Friday afternoon at the UH Tennis Complex.

In doubles, Hawai'i's No. 1 duo of Andre Ilagan held off Florida State's Antoine Cornut-Charuvinc and Barnaby Smith by a break, 6-4. But UH's No. 3 pairing of Kilian Maitre and Andy Hernandez fell to the Seminoles' Andreja Petrovic and Loris Pourroy. The No. 2 match was won by FSU by default.

Florida State took control of the match in singles. They jumped out to a 4-0 lead to capture the match with three straight-set victories on the No. 5, 6, and 3 courts. Playing at No. 2, UH's Axel Labrunie fought hard and almost forced a third set, but falling in a third set tie-breaker, 6-2, 7-6 (5). UH's No. 4 Hernandez gave Joshua Dous-Karpenschi all he could handle, winning the first set but eventually losing via a third set super tie-breaker, 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (4). UH's 41st-ranked Andre Ilagan was locked in a battle with 12th-ranked Antoine Cornut-Charuvinc. Ilagan won the first set  and was leading in the second 5-4 but Cornut-Charuvinc rallied to win the next three games to steal Set 2. Cornut-Charuvinc then took his momentum to hold off Ilagan in the super tie-breaker, 3-6, 7-5, 1-0 (6).

The Rainbow Warriors will have two days off before hosting the Hawai'i Invitational on Mon. Jan. 9 beginning at 10:00 a.m. HT. No. 12 Duke and California will join Hawai'i in the one-day, three team tournament at the UH Tennis Complex.