Alabama
Charlotte
No. 22 Men’s Tennis Bests Charlotte and North Alabama on Monday
1/21/2019 8:08:00 PM | Men's Tennis
The Crimson Tide defeated the 49ers, 4-2 and blanked the Lions, 7-0
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 22-ranked Alabama men's tennis eased its way past Charlotte, 4-2, and North Alabama, 7-0, on Monday inside the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Indoor Facility.
"It was a very exciting weekend, and I'm very grateful for the community that came out to support us on Saturday and today," said head coach George Husack. "It was a challenging weekend mentally, emotionally, and physically for the guys. Mentally they were dead focused. Physically, they were very strong down the stretch, thanks to our fitness coach. We had a superb finish tonight."
The Crimson Tide (4-0) began the day in doubles against Charlotte by winning on courts one and two after senior Mazen Osama and sophomore Patrick Kaukovalta won 6-1, and juniors Edson Ortiz and Zhe Zhou took care of business, 6-3, to give the Tide the 1-0 advantage.
The 49ers (2-3) battled back in singles play by tying the score at 1-1 after picking up a win on court five. Charlotte took the brief 2-1 lead on court one, before Zhou won his match, 6-2, 6-2, on court six to knot the score at 2-2. Moments later, Ortiz clinched his match on court three, 6-4, 6-2, to put the Tide on top 3-2.
The match came down to courts two and four as both Kaukovalta and junior Thibault Cancel found themselves in a third-set battle. Kaukovalta dominated the final set against Ignasi de Rueda, 6-1, to clinch the 4-2 victory.
The Tide ran away with the second match of the day against the Lions (0-3), winning the doubles point with ease on courts one and three.
In singles, junior Alexey Nesterov put the Crimson Tide up 2-0 after breezing past Oscar Meslin, 6-0, 6-3. Sophomore Jeremy Gschwendtner earned his second-career win after defeating Cade Reasons, 6-0, 6-2 and sophomore Riccardo Roberto clinched the victory with a 6-3, 6-1 result against Tim Heslin.
Alabama won its final three matches to push the final score to 7-0, including getting a win for the first time this season from sophomore Sam Fischer.
Next up for Alabama is a matchup against Northwestern on Friday, Jan. 25 at 6 p.m. inside the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Indoor Facility. The match streamed live on the UA Athletics YouTube page.
Alabama Results
(vs. Charlotte)
Doubles
- Osama/Kaukovalta def. Keist/Chirstoforou, 6-1
- M. Siimar/Brown vs. Cancel/Nesterov, 5-4, unf.
- Zhou/Ortiz def. Sec/Lieberman, 6-2
Order of Finish: 1, 3
Singles
- Luca Keist def. No. 24 Mazen Osama, 6-4, 6-4
- No. 41 Patrick Kaukovalta def. Ignasi de Rueda, 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-1
- Edson Ortiz def. Benjamin Wayand, 6-4, 6-2
- Thibault Cancel vs. Constandinos Christoforou, 6-4, 6-7(3), 4-3, unf.
- Oliver Sec def. Alexey Nesterov, 6-0, 6-4
- Zhe Zhou def. Henry Lieberman, 6-2, 6-2
Order of Finish: 5, 1, 6, 3, 2
(vs. North Alabama)
Doubles
- Cancel/Kaukovalta def. Pimenta/Girao, 6-1
- Roberto/Nesterov vs. Meslin/Heslin, 4-3, unf.
- Fischer/Gschwendtner def. Hansen/Markos, 6-1
Order of Finish: 3, 1
Singles
- Edson Ortiz def. Jason Pimenta, 6-2, 6-3
- Alexey Nesterov def. Oscar Meslin, 6-0, 6-3
- Zhe Zhou def. Gustavo Girao, 6-1, 6-1
- Jeremy Gschwendtner def. 6-0, 6-2
- Riccardo Roberto def. 6-3, 6-1
- Sam Fischer def. Andreas Hansen, 6-1, 6-0
Order of Finish: 2, 4, 5, 3, 1, 6
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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:
5,1,6,3,2
Players Mentioned
