Despite lingering injuries and 80-degree heat, the Wisconsin men’s tennis team managed to sweep both Wisconsin-Whitewater and Illinois at Chicago in a double-header Sunday.
After a 7-0 victory over the Warhawks from Whitewater, the Badgers began what would be their second sweep of the day against the UIC Flames. Wisconsin started off strong in doubles play, winning all three matches and clinching the point. The No. 1 team of Alexander Kostanov and Petr Satral set the pace early by getting a break in the first game and after holding serve to get to 6-3, the duo never looked back and secured the first doubles win at 8-3.
Alex Robles and Rod Carey in the two spot, playing in their third match of the day, also broke early and held a consistent lead all the way to an 8-4 victory. Despite falling behind a break at 2-3, Fredrik Ask and freshman Jack Larsen fought back with strong serving to round out doubles play at 8-4.
Slight adjustments to the singles lineup from the first match to the second did not appear to phase the Badgers as almost the entire singles lineup held each UIC opponent to two games or less in the first set. The exception was Kostanov in the No. 2 singles position as his first set went to a tiebreaker. The junior transfer faced a resilient James Li from UIC and despite good ball movement by Kostanov, Li would not go away and neither player broke the other, forcing the first set into a seven-point tiebreak.
Behind his powerful serve, Kostanov claimed the win at 7-5 and wrapping up the long day for the Badgers with a 6-3 win. This completed the flawless day in which no Wisconsin player dropped a set.
“Billy [Bertha] was injured, we had [Quinton Vega] injured, so we probably had three new guys playing, but I thought that they all came out really well and responded to the quick lineup changes and they all got their wins so we are happy with that,” assistant coach Joe Bates said.
Ask was one player who experienced the lineup change, as he only appeared on the No. 1 singles court in the second match against the Flames. The sophomore from Norway breezed through his first set after breaking his opponent, Alexander Raa in the opening game. He ended with a statement-making service game to go up a set at 6-2. The second set proved to be more challenging as Raa came out strong in the opening games and Ask fell behind 1-3.
“I was pretty comfortable in the first set, so maybe I took it a little too easy in the second,” Ask said. “He’s a good player, and I let down my game a little bit.”
Ask got his game back quickly when he broke at 2-3 then held serve to bring it back to even. Raa did not win another game, and Ask was the fourth Badger singles player off the court with a 6-2, 6-3 victory.
Wisconsin began the day just as strongly as they had finished it, shutting out the 8-4 Warhawks. Led off by Robles and Carey, the Badgers had no problem securing the doubles point. The No. 2 doubles partners were broken only once at 5-3, but did not lose another game until winning with a break of their own at 8-3. Satral and Kostanov quickly followed up with another victory of the same score.
Completing the doubles sweep with the closest match at 8-5 was the pairing of Ask and freshman Quinton Vega.
In an effort to preserve certain players for the second match of the day, the singles lineup included Kostanov in the first spot and brought sophomore Alexander Teppert in at the No. 6 singles position.
However, it was Satral in the third spot that was the first off the court with two seemingly effortless 6-1 wins over Andy McGlashen. Pushing the Badger’s match score lead to 3-0 with 6-3, 6-2 victory was Larsen at five singles. Carey in the two singles position sealed the win with a grueling second set against Andrew Bayliss.
Bayliss was unable to keep up with Carey’s deep corner groundstrokes in the first set, and the Badger won 6-2. However, a strong serve from Bayliss in the second set kept him in the game, and Carey was unable to pull away until a much need break at 5-3. He eventually won 6-4.
“I think I might have lost a little bit of focus because it was kind of an easy match which made it a little tougher but I felt in control the whole match,” Carey said.
Kostanov’s match went to what would turn out to be the first of two tiebreakers he would play that day. The junior Badger ran away with the first set 6-0 but, backed by a rowdy Warhawk crowd, Byron Balkin forced the second to a tiebreak. Balkin placed several in the net and Kostanov pulled away to a 7-3 victory.
“I think the best part was that we won every match,” Bates said. “That’s the biggest positive, no matter if it was a little bit close here or there in some matches. I think just taking the wins into this weekend with Michigan and Michigan State is what we need.”
