The Wisconsin Badgers scraped by with a 4-3 overall victory over the Western Michigan Broncos Friday at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium, earning their third overall win this season. Losing two out of three doubles matches and two singles matches, the Badgers’ very own Sachiv Kumar powered forward.
Wisconsin star freshman Patrik Meszaros from Budapest, Hungary continued his dominating win streak this weekend, adding a fourth singles win in four matches. Meszaros doubled down with his partner Michael Minasyan the junior from Stockholm, Sweden, earning him his fourth doubles win in four matches.
It all seemed too easy for the undefeated Badger and his teammate, reaching a 5-3 game lead with fast-paced serves, forced errors and clean shot coordination. But the duo had several serves broken and missed well-coordinated returns from their opponents. Broncos duo Alex Antonopoulos and Anton Arzhankin brought the match to a 5-5 game tie.
In the end, Meszaros and Minasyan played off the Broncos’ weaknesses — attacking back end corners and edges — to hand them the sixth game and the only doubles match win for the Badgers at 6-5. Despite this close-cut win, the two Badgers losses that followed awarded the overalls doubles point to Western Michigan.
In the other games, the sophomore duo Oliver Olsson from Germany and Tomas Zlatohlavek from the Czech Republic capitalized off Broncos Jack Davison and Brogan Pierce’s double faults and unforced errors early on but struggled to face quick drop shots and lobs to end up down 5-3 games.
Break points and the Badgers’ sloppy serves ended their doubles night with a match loss at 6-4, Wisconsin’s first doubles loss of the night.
Matthew Fullerton and Edouard Aubert played the third Wisconsin doubles game, finding the pace of the match difficult to start off but gradually bouncing back to defend quick returns and rally shots against their Western Michigan opponents.
Continuous ties at 3-3 games and 4-4 games showed the equal skills of both sides but close-to-net slices and serves brought the Broncos out on top, ending the doubles matches at 2-1. The Western Michigan Broncos earned their first point against Wisconsin.
The singles matches, however, were the most entertaining.
Four out of six singles matches emerged as straight set victories for their victors — three Badgers and one Bronco — while the remaining two that went on late into the night kept eyes glued to the courts.
Meszaros fought off Bronco Oscar Corwin 6-3, 6-0 in a match filled with blinding fast serves from both sides. Meszaros rose above with his random return pattern, confusing his opponent on several occasions.
Freshman Matthew Fullerton appeared at ease in holding his Western Michigan opponent, Jack Davison, to 6-2, 6-4 in the two sets. Fullerton forcing Davison to hit tough shots resulting in out-of-bounds balls paired with sloppy serving from the Bronco handed Fullerton the top step.
Swiss freshman Edouard Aubert earned the third effortless victory for the Badgers, winning against the Broncos’ Matej Kajzer in straight sets 6-2, 6-3. Although Kajzer appeared to excel in luring Aubert close to the net and lobbing for hard fought points, the Badger replied with tiring him out as the both sets came to a close.
Tomas Zlatohlavek, however, succumbed to his Western Michigan opponent Ashton Adesoro in the first set 6-0. Although the second set seemed to go in the right direction, Zlatohlavek fell 6-4 as the Western Michigan Broncos earned their first singles win of the night.
The first of two close matches of the Badger-Bronco matchup came from Wisconsin player Michael Minasyan and Western Michigan player Anton Arzhankin. Western Michigan won set one 6-2, but Arzhankin faced a scare after Minasyan won set two 6-4 and gained a 2-1 lead in set three. But one final push from Arzhankin tired Minasyan out with drops and lob shots, and he won the third set 6-4 for Western Michigan’s second doubles win.
Tied at 3-3 overall, Wisconsin freshman Sachiv Kumar’s match against Broncos’ Alex Antonopoulos would decide who won.
Falling 6-4 to Antonopoulos in the first set, it seemed as if the Badger would fall to yet another straight sets win. But as Kumar fought on, forcing Antonopoulos to hit shots out of bounds and winning long rallies, he won set two with a score of 6-4.
It was at this point that Antonopoulos seemed to be in immense pain due to a muscle in his upper left leg and struggled to play on. But Kumar capitalized against his tired Bronco opponent to win the third set 6-1, giving the Badgers that crucial fourth point and with itthe upper hand in the decider.
The Wisconsin Badgers look to better their record with emerging victories in both doubles and singles against Drake this coming Sunday.
