The Wisconsin Badgers men’s tennis team headed to the West for their last road trip of the regular season to face the Oregon Ducks Friday at the Student Tennis Center, falling short 4-2.
This matchup marked their eighth loss of the season and their fourth loss out of the six games so far in the second half of their 21-game season.
The Badger duo of Wisconsin freshman Patrik Meszaros and junior Michael Minasyan fought to tie their match 5-5, but their opponent’s tiebreaker to win two games straight and emerge on top 7-5 left them shocked.
Wisconsin’s Oliver Olsson and Tomas Zlatohlavek could not match Oregon’s relentless array of powerful sideline shots. The Badgers struggled to keep up with the energy the Ducks brought, and the game ended 7-5 in favor of the green.
These two doubles match victories gave the singular doubles point to the Ducks, pushing them into the lead 1-0 overall.
Since the doubles matches are counted as part of a best-of-three scenario, the Wisconsin duo of Matthew Fullerton and Edouard Aubert were tied with their opponents 6-6, but could not finish their match.
In singles play, Sachiv Kumar carried his win streak from his previous two battles against his Oregon opponent, Cooper Errey. Kumar left no room for error as he came out on top with a straight set victory 6-3, 6-0.
An excellent display of breaking serves and forcing his opponent close to the net gave him a hard-fought upper hand and the rightful title of winner.
Aubert continued his dominance as the Badger with the best singles record at 11-3 after his game against Oregon’s Lachlan Robertson. Yet another straight set victory saw the Badger lead all the way through till he won 6-4, 6-2.
Despite both these singles matches resulting in two overall points for the Badgers, they would be the only points Wisconsin won in the end.
Zlatohlavek found himself facing his 11th consecutive loss of the season. Oregon opponent Matthew Burton proved to be the more experienced player in their matchup with clever shots out of Zlatohlavek’s long reach. A straight set 6-3, 6-3 determined the victor by the end of the match.
Fullerton kept his singles match tight, as he fought till the end of the first set, winning 7-3 by the skin of his teeth in a tiebreaker to determine the final score at 7-6.
The second and third sets saw an overturn of results as his opponent, Lachlan Robertson, completely dominated the court by beating the Badger 6-3, 6-2 to win a singles point for the Oregon Ducks.
Meszaros seems to be facing a string of inconsistencies in his singles matches recently.
The Badger traded two sets with his opponent, winning both 6-2 to put themselves on the board. A final set tiebreaker resulted in Meszaros falling short 7-3 points, giving the match away.
A first set win 7-5 for Minasyan gave him the early upper hand, but the Badger seemed to struggle with fast-paced serves and drop shots in the second set saw him fall 6-4.
Since Meszaros’s loss was the fourth and final point the Oregon Ducks needed to win the overall matchup, Minasyan’s match was omitted during his third set.
