MELBOURNE, Australia – Azusa Pacific alum Jakob Schnaitter (class of 2021) became the first Cougar ever to win a Grand Slam tennis match on Thursday evening when he won his doubles match with Mark Wallner 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (10-6) at the Australian Open against the Brazilian duo of Fernando Rompoli and Marcelo Zormann.
 
After collecting four ATP Tour-level wins and four ATP Challenger Tour titles last season, Schnaitter moved up to No. 80 in the world rankings with his partner Wallner, which was good enough for the duo to earn their first acceptance into a Grand Slam event.
 
Schnaitter's debut at the highest level of professional tennis got off to a slow start, but the German pairing recovered to win the first-round encounter in a third-set supertiebreaker. With the win, Schnaitter advances to the second round, securing at least AU$53,000 in prize money per team and 90 ranking points. He will play again on Saturday in the round of 32.

"Playing in one of the four majors is the dream of every tennis player," men's tennis head coach Mark Bohren said. "For Jakob to reach this level and win his debut is a huge accomplishment. I'm more than proud to see one of our graduates continuing in tennis and having success as a professional."
 
Both teams earned break-point opportunities in the opening set, but it was the Brazilian duo that got the first break on a forehand volley winner on the second break point on Schnaitter's serve. They consolidated the break for a 4-1 lead and held onto that lead to win the opening set 6-3.
 
The Australian Open's AI-generated win predictor gave the German duo just a 9% chance of victory at that point, but Schnaitter and Wallner began to hold their serve with more ease in the second set.
 
Schnaitter got a critical hold at 5-all in the second set, and the Brazilian team broke down under the pressure of serving to stay in the set. After an unforced error and double fault, Schnaitter ripped a forehand return winner from the ad-court to set up two set points. They only needed one as Wallner drew an error with a deep forehand crosscourt to break for the second set.
 
Neither team earned a break in the deciding set, but both teams had opportunities. Schnaitter and Wallner earned three break points on Rompoli's serve in the fourth game of the deciding set, but couldn't convert either. Then at 3-all, Schnaitter faced two break points against him, and the German pair responded with two forehand winners to stay on serve.
 
Schnaitter and Wallner continued to put pressure on Rompoli's serve, but the Brazilian held on to force a deciding 10-point tiebreaker. The Brazilians earned the first lead, going ahead 3-1, but Schnaitter and Wallner won both points on Rompoli's serve to earn a mini-break lead of their own.
 
The Brazilian team got the mini-break back and Zormann served at 5-5. After Wallner's return, Rompoli hit a volley right at the feet of Schnaitter, who scooped it up with a two-handed reflex volley for a winner. Then Schnaitter fired a second-serve ace as he held both points on his serve to give the German team a commanding 8-5 lead. On match point, Wallner hit an unreturned serve to win 10-6.
 
The next opponents will be China's Zhizhen Zhang (No. 50 in the world) and Czech Republic's Tomas Machac (ranked No. 49 in the world). The order of play will be announced on Friday. Machac last season reached the Paris Olympics semifinals in doubles, and the duo of Machac and Zhang reached the Australian Open semifinals last season. Both players were also in the singles draw and Machac will face 24-time Grand Slam Champion Novak Djokovic on Rod Laver Arena on Friday.
 
During his time at Azusa Pacific, Schnaitter was a two-time PacWest Player of the Year and helped the Cougars win their first PacWest title in 2018, playing doubles with Oliver Frank (class of 2018). He had 125 career wins in singles and doubles, including 86 at the No. 1 position, which ranks fifth in program history. Schnaitter's 83.3 win percentage between singles and doubles in his four years as a Cougar also ranks third all-time.
 
Schnaitter has achieved the most success of any Cougar alum in professional tennis, surpassing Boris Bakalov (class of 2006), who reached career-high world rankings of 621 in singles and 457 in doubles in 2011.