The University of Wisconsin Badgers men’s tennis team (6-4, 0-2 Big Ten) played the No. 20 Illinois Fighting Illini (8-4, 2-0) on the road and lost 0-7 Sunday, March 9.
Illinois, currently tied with USC for first place in the Big Ten, proved to be a dominant opponent. Despite substantial efforts and multiple close matches from Wisconsin, the Fighting Illini controlled nearly all singles and doubles matches against the Badgers.
As for the No. 1 doubles flight, Badgers sophomores Oliver Olsson and Tomas Zlatohlavek faced a grueling match against Fighting Illini Tyler Bowers and No. 12-ranked Kenta Miyoshi. The match was back-and-forth and resulted in a tiebreak at 6-6. Olsson and Zlatohlavek pulled out the win after winning the tiebreak 7-5. This Badger pairing is 7-3 overall and 1-0 in conference play.
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In another close match, junior Michael Minasyan and freshman Patrik Meszaros fell short against William Mroz and Zach Viiala. Minasyan and Meszaros fought hard to stay in the competition, forcing a tiebreak at 6-6; however, they couldn’t finish off and lost the tiebreak 5-7.
Despite Minasyan and Meszaros having a close doubles match, they struggled in their singles competition. Minasyan faced No. 12-ranked Miyoshi at the No. 1 slot and lost 6-3, 6-0.
Meszaros had to play against his doubles competition No. 48-ranked Mroz, but this time in singles. The first set was a tough battle between the two, with the first set going to a tiebreaker, but Mroz ended up winning 7-1 in the tiebreak. However, Mroz dominated the second set and won 6-1.
At the No. 3 singles slot, Zlatohlavek faced his previous doubles opponent, Bowers, who was looking for redemption. These two had another tight match; Bowers took the first set 7-5, but the second set went into a tiebreak. After putting up a battle, Zlatohlavek lost in the tiebreak 2-7.
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Sophomore Matthew Fullerton had an extremely close match at the No. 4 singles spot where he played against Jeremy Zhang. Zhang edged out a tough first set that resulted in winning a tiebreak 7-3. The second set was very cutthroat and Zhang won 6-4.
After losing in a No. 3 doubles match with Fullerton as his partner 6-2, freshman Edouard Aubert could not catch a break in his No. 5 singles match against Viiala. Aubert lost in straight sets 6-3, 6-4. Freshman Sachiv Kumar lost at the No. 6 singles spot 6-4, 6-2 to Illinois’s Mathis Debru.
The Badgers will look to rebound their recent losses in two upcoming home matches. They will face Michigan State on Friday, March 14, with play beginning at 4:30 p.m. Then, Wisconsin will take on Michigan on Sunday, March 16, at noon.
Both matches will be held at Nielsen Tennis Stadium which offers free admission, providing fans with a chance to support the Badgers as they look to bounce back from their road defeat against the Fighting Illini.