The University of Wisconsin Badgers men’s tennis team (6-4, 0-2 Big Ten) played the No. 20 Illinois Fighting Illini (8-4, 2-0) on the road and lost 0-7 Sunday, March 9.
Illinois, currently tied with USC for first place in the Big Ten, proved to be a dominant opponent. Despite substantial efforts and multiple close matches from Wisconsin, the Fighting Illini controlled nearly all singles and doubles matches against the Badgers.
As for the No. 1 doubles flight, Badgers sophomores Oliver Olsson and Tomas Zlatohlavek faced a grueling match against Fighting Illini Tyler Bowers and No. 12-ranked Kenta Miyoshi. The match was back-and-forth and resulted in a tiebreak at 6-6. Olsson and Zlatohlavek pulled out the win after winning the tiebreak 7-5. This Badger pairing is 7-3 overall and 1-0 in conference play.
In another close match, junior Michael Minasyan and freshman Patrik Meszaros fell short against William Mroz and Zach Viiala. Minasyan and Meszaros fought hard to stay in the competition, forcing a tiebreak at 6-6; however, they couldn’t finish off and lost the tiebreak 5-7.
Despite Minasyan and Meszaros having a close doubles match, they struggled in their singles competition. Minasyan faced No. 12-ranked Miyoshi at the No. 1 slot and lost 6-3, 6-0.
Meszaros had to play against his doubles competition No. 48-ranked Mroz, but this time in singles. The first set was a tough battle between the two, with the first set going to a tiebreaker, but Mroz ended up winning 7-1 in the tiebreak. However, Mroz dominated the second set and won 6-1.
At the No. 3 singles slot, Zlatohlavek faced his previous doubles opponent, Bowers, who was looking for redemption. These two had another tight match; Bowers took the first set 7-5, but the second set went into a tiebreak. After putting up a battle, Zlatohlavek lost in the tiebreak 2-7.
Sophomore Matthew Fullerton had an extremely close match at the No. 4 singles spot where he played against Jeremy Zhang. Zhang edged out a tough first set that resulted in winning a tiebreak 7-3. The second set was very cutthroat and Zhang won 6-4.
After losing in a No. 3 doubles match with Fullerton as his partner 6-2, freshman Edouard Aubert could not catch a break in his No. 5 singles match against Viiala. Aubert lost in straight sets 6-3, 6-4. Freshman Sachiv Kumar lost at the No. 6 singles spot 6-4, 6-2 to Illinois’s Mathis Debru.
The Badgers will look to rebound their recent losses in two upcoming home matches. They will face Michigan State on Friday, March 14, with play beginning at 4:30 p.m. Then, Wisconsin will take on Michigan on Sunday, March 16, at noon.
Both matches will be held at Nielsen Tennis Stadium which offers free admission, providing fans with a chance to support the Badgers as they look to bounce back from their road defeat against the Fighting Illini.