The Wisconsin Badgers men’s tennis team (6-5, 0-3 Big Ten) hosted the Michigan State Spartans at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison Friday and were met with a not-so-warm welcome home after their strenuous road trip, falling short by just one point in a 4-3 loss to their next-door rivals.
The doubles matchups jump started the clash between the two Big Ten titans with close rallies, professional plays and powerful shots on both sides.
Wisconsin freshman Patrik Meszaros and junior Michael Minasyan had a rollercoaster of a match against their Spartan opponents, alternating between games won. Minasyan seemed to enjoy using the drop shot, bringing the Spartans close to the net and forcing errors. Meszaros saw fit to continuously lob his shots, confusing the Michigan State duo to gain easy points.
Michigan State did not leave without giving a scare as they climbed up to lead after a two-game deficit.
The tough battle between the two finally ended 6-6, leading to a tiebreaker. Although the Badgers did not finish their doubles match as they had already clinched the doubles point away from the Spartans, their final match remained unfinished at 6-6 (6-3) in favor of Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin duo of Matthew Fullerton and Edouard Aubert found themselves on the opposite end of what they faced in their last matchup against Illinois, dominating the match from start to finish. Unnecessary shots from the Spartans played into the equation for victory for the Badgers as they took the win by force, ending 6-4 games.
The sophomore duo Oliver Olsson from Germany and Tomas Zlatohlavek from the Czech Republic are on a four-game game win streak despite Wisconsin’s 7-0 loss against the Fighting Illini in their previous matchup.
Friday’s match was another close one filled with excellent plays from the Badger duo that ultimately earned a victory. Zlatohlavek seemed to be in form with his serves getting three aces in a row at one point to give his team the upper hand in a close-cut game.
Wisconsin’s powerful shots and hard-fought rallies staggered the Spartans, and the Badgers duo took a close game and turned into a 7-5 game win that awarded the doubles point to the Badgers.
The singles matches came down to the wire with one game left to decide who took the win home.
Zlatohlavek’s ability to maintain or gain the lead during the middle of the sets in singles matches has continued to diminish as the season progresses. He fell 6-4, 6-4 in a mildly close straight-set loss to his Spartan opponent Max Sheldon.
Minasyan faced a similar issue against his opponent, struggling to maintain a one game or more lead and lost in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 to his opponent Ozan Baris. Baris had Minasyan running all over the court to earn that crucial singles point for the Spartans.
Meszaros unexpectedly lost his singles matchup today against Spartan Aristotelis Thanos, marking his third consecutive loss in a singles matchup this season. A player with the most number of wins of anyone else in his team except Aubert losing a hat-trick of matches seems most surprising and could be a concern for the rest of the season.
On Friday, he lost in straight sets of 6-1, 6-3.
Edouard Aubert excelled in his singles match, getting the hard-fought point for the Badgers making the overall score 2-2 at the time his match ended. Yet another straight-set victor amid the competitors, winning over Spartan Dani Rakhmatullayev 6-3, 6-2.
Another entertaining game filled with shots you would see in an international open between Aubert’s doubles partner Fullerton and Michigan State opponent Matthew Forbes was the spotlight of the Big Ten matchup. Twenty-plus-shot rallies filled with drops, aces, lobs and sideline slices could not have gotten better. A close first set ended 6-6 with Fullerton taking the tiebreaker 7-6. The second set was more straightforward for the Badger as he took the victory 6-3 in another straight-set win.
Wisconsin’s Collin BeDuhn played only his second singles match of the season so far, and it just so happened to be the decider of the Big Ten matchup. He began to show certain promise after his crushing first set defeat 6-2. The sophomore from Minnesota attempted a comeback and got halfway there, winning set number two with a statement reply of 6-3, but could not hold his luck and succumbed 6-2 in the final set — giving his point and the win to Michigan State.
The storm does not seem to stop Wisconsin as they head to face their highest-ranked opponent so far. The No. 17 Michigan Wolverines will face the Wisconsin Badgers on Sunday, March 16 at home in Madison for the fifth Big Ten matchup this season.
