Alabama
UAB
Alabama Men’s Tennis Off to Best Start Since 2008 With Pair of Wins Monday
1/15/2018 2:40:00 PM | Men's Tennis
The Crimson Tide defeated UAB and The Citadel to improve to 4-0 on the season
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama men's tennis team shutout UAB, 4-0 and then defeated The Citadel 6-1 on Monday inside the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility. With the two wins the Crimson Tide (4-0) is off to its best start since the 2008 season.
"I saw focus across the board from our team," said head coach George Husack. "We talked about being focused and harp on being disciplined with our shot-making, there were some things tactically that we stress a lot and I think our guys were playing very well overall."
Alabama began the day by winning the doubles point against UAB, with junior Mazen Osama and Edson Ortiz cruising past Dollman/Gonzalez, 6-1, while freshman Riccardo Roberto and Zhe Zhou made their season debuts by defeating Parton/Pasini, 6-3.
In singles play, sophomore Alexey Nesterov won his first match of the season, defeating Anru Fourie, 6-0, 6-2, while Zhou finished his match over Giovani Pasini just seconds later, winning 6-1, 6-2. Roberto earned his first collegiate singles victory and clinched the Crimson Tide's victory by pushing past Nikolai Manchev in straight sets, 6-2, 6-0.
In the second match of the day against The Citadel, once again the Tide was took the doubles point with Cancel/Nesterov besting van Zyl/Stewart, 6-1, while freshmen Grant Stuckey and Sam Fischer moved past Hobson/Pryitz, 6-3 and Roberto/Zhou completed the sweep with a 6-2 decision over Henson/Graham.
Alabama continued to maintain control of the match in singles play with Ortiz getting the first singles point of the match, defeating Jack Roy Hobson, 6-2, 6-0. After Ortiz, Nesterov took care of Jack Pyritz, 6-3, 6-1, while Stuckey finished just moments later defeating Will Graham, 6-3, 6-1.
With the match already clinched at 4-0, Roberto picked up another win for the Tide after besting Gavin Stewart, 6-1, 7-6 (3). Zhou also earned his second singles win of the day with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Willem van Zyl. Fischer was tabbed with the lone loss after falling to Matt Henson, 6-2, 4-6, 0-1 (10-8).
Alabama men's tennis will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 20 with another doubleheader, when they take on Samford at 1 p.m. CT and then Chattanooga at 6 p.m. CT inside the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility.
Alabama Results:
Singles: (Match 1 vs. UAB)
1. Mazen Osama vs. Tim Dollman, 6-3, 4-2, unf.
2. Thibault Cancel vs. Stefan Gonzalez, 6-3, 2-1, unf.
3. Edson Ortiz vs. Kenton Parton, 7-5, unf.
4. Zhe Zhou def. Giovani Pasini, 6-1, 6-2
5. Alexey Nesterov def. Anru Fourie, 6-0, 6-2
6. Riccardo Roberto def. Nikola Manchev, 6-2, 6-0
Order of Finish: 4, 5, 6
Singles: (Match 2 vs. The Citadel)
1. Zhe Zhou def. Willem van Zyl, 6-4, 7-5
2. Edson Ortiz def. Roy Hobson, 6-2, 6-0
3. Alexey Nesterov def. Jack Pryitz, 6-3, 6-1
4. Riccardo Roberto def. Gavin Stewart, 6-1, 7-6 (3)
5. Matthew Henson def. Sam Fischer, 2-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-8)
6. Grant Stuckey def. Will Graham, 6-3, 6-1
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 6, 4, 5, 1
Doubles: (Match 1 vs. UAB)
1. Ortiz/Osama def. Dollman/Gonzalez, 6-1
2. Cancel/Nesterov vs. Paiste/Manchev, 4-4, unf.
3. Roberto/Zhou def. Parton/Fourie, 6-3
Order of Finish: 1, 3
Doubles: (Match 2 vs. The Citadel)
1. Cancel/Nesterov def. van Zyl/Stewart, 6-1
2. Roberto/Zhou def. Henson/Graham, 6-2
3. Fischer/Stuckey def. Hobson/Pryitz, 6-3
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2
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Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
1,3
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
4,5,6
Players Mentioned
