The No. 58 Wisconsin Badgers men’s tennis team fell short to the Northwestern Wildcats 5-2 in their third away game in a row this season at the Combe Tennis Center in Evanston, Illinois.
This result seems to be one of concern as the Badgers fall for the second time to a Big Ten conference rival.
Wisconsin freshman Patrik Meszaros and junior Michael Minasyan partnered up to face Wildcats duo Chad Miller and Felix Nordby in the only close-cut match. A steady exchange of winning serves and breaks brought them within one game of the Wildcats duo, but a 5-5 tie only ended with Northwestern winning two games in a row–much to Wisconsin’s disappointment.
The 7-5 loss marks only Meszaros’s second doubles loss this season.
The Wisconsin duo of Matthew Fullerton and Edouard Aubert faced an even tougher opponent in their doubles matchup of the day. A crushing 6-3 game defeat saw them unable to break serves and coordinate like in previous games, giving Northwestern’s Jackson Caldwell and Vincent Yang a textbook victory.
Both these Badgers losses gave Northwestern the doubles point in the overall matchup, but one duo rose above the rest, fighting to emerge as the overpowered victor of the third doubles match.
The sophomore duo Oliver Olsson from Germany and Tomas Zlatohlavek from the Czech Republic utilized excellent shot combinations, teamwork and skills to break their opponent’s serves to win 6-2. This win gives them their sixth this season, looking to have gained the confidence to continue adding to that number.
The second singles matchup to come to an end featured Wisconsin’s Sachiv Kumar against Yang. The first set saw close games and long rallies between the two, but Yang proved to be the better player winning 6-4. Yang continued to dominate, increasing his shot power and ability to get points with his blinding serves–ending a straight-set win 6-1.
Both of the two points the Badgers earned came from phenomenal singles match victories.
Contrary to their doubles matches, straight-set wins for Minasyan and Eduoard gave Wisconsin some hope midway through the singles matches as it was all tied 2-2 overall. Minasyan’s statement win over his Wildcat opponent ended 6-2, 6-1 in his favor, awarding the Swedish native his sixth win of the season.
Wisconsin freshman Edouard faced somewhat of a closer game against his doubles opponent Caldwell, proving that singles matches were his forte. This revenge matchup resulted in 6-3, 6-3 win for the Badger, now having the highest win-loss ratio of his teammates at 6-1.
Close losses seemed to haunt Wisconsin’s singles matchups against Northwestern as Fullerton and Meszaros were inches away from clinching crucial points.
Meszaros ended his first set against his doubles opponent Nordby 7-6, with the Wildcat coming out on top in the tiebreaker 7-0. The second set, however, saw the Hungarian lose the second set 6-3.
Fullerton seemed to struggle with replying to Miller's powerful serves in the first set, running back and forth to protect the point but remained unsuccessful as the Badger fell short 6-4. The second set turned out to be this evening’s source of entertainment as both players were tied 6-6. A 7-4 tiebreaker win for Wisconsin sophomore gave him the second set 7-6.
Due to a lack of time, the third set was reduced to a first-to-10 tiebreaker for the match point. Miller took the opportunity in his hands to put on a fantastic display of skill and domination to win 10-0, earning a 1-0 third-set win and the match point.
Troubles for Wisconsin sophomore Tomas Zlatohlavek continued as he lost his singles match to Wildcat opponent Greyson Casey in straight sets 6-4, 7-5, marking his fifth loss this season.
The Wisconsin Badgers seem to have a confident lineup until it comes to playing other Big Ten opponents. The current record of a 0-2 win-to-loss ratio in the conference is cause for concern for this men’s tennis team and must improve if they aim to stand atop the table by the time the Big Ten Tournament comes around.
The Badgers will face No. 20 Illinois Fighting Illini in their first home game after a road trip season on Sunday, and for their sake, they will have no choice but to figure out how to emerge victorious against powerful opponents like these.
