Wisconsin Badgers
Clemson
Wisconsin drops its first match of the season
February 10, 2013 | Men's Tennis
Feb. 10, 2013
MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin’s five-match win streak came to an end Sunday when No. 57 Clemson defeated the Badgers 5-2 at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
For the first time this season Wisconsin (5-1) dropped its doubles point, giving Clemson (6-1) a 1-0 advantage to start the day. The first to finish, the No. 3 group of Jakhongir Jalalov and Alexander Kokorev were never able to gain momentum and lost their match, 8-2.
The Badgers did not give up, fighting to keep their doubles streak alive. The No. 2 pairing of Petr Satral and Alexander Kostanov fought through a close match, taking it to a tiebreak, but they were unable to hold the lead falling 8-7 (6) to Clemson’s Austin Ansari and Ayrton Wibowo.
With the point clinched for Clemson, the No. 1 pairing of Billy Bertha and Oskar Wikberg took it as motivation to avoid a doubles sweep. The duo spent most of the match tied up against Yannick Maden and Zachary Rigsby, but came away with an 8-6 victory, narrowly avoiding the tiebreaker.
The Badgers gave up their second point of the day in a 6-2, 6-0 defeat of Kokorev at the No. 6 spot. Clemson’s third point came from a narrow loss by Wikberg at the No. 2 spot. Wikberg dropped the first set 1-6, but rallied back taking the second set to an 8-6 tiebreak.
The Tigers clinched their win with a victory at the No. 5 spot. Jalalov battled, but couldn’t hold off Clemson’s Zachary Rigsby in the 6-4, 6-4 match. At the No. 1 spot, Bertha tried to give the Badgers, a win taking the match to three sets. After a tough 0-6 first set, Bertha grabbed momentum with a 6-4 second set win before falling 2-6 in the third set.
The shining moments in singles play for the Badgers came from late back-to-back wins by Kostanov and Satral to end the day. Kostanov started his match strong with a 6-3 first set before falling in the second set during a 6-4 tiebreak. After dropping the set, Kostanov came back fighting in a dominating 6-0 third set, giving Wisconsin its first point of the day.
Satral followed Kostanov’s lead with a tight win over Hunter Harrington. The match started out with Satral taking the first set in a 10-8 tiebreaker. Satral went on to narrowly avoid a second set tiebreaker in a 7-5 victory.
The Badgers have next weekend off before returning to Nielsen Tennis Stadium on Wednesday, Feb. 20, to face in-state rival Marquette at 6 p.m. The two teams met in the fall at the Milwaukee Tennis Classic with Wisconsin coming out ahead, 9-1.
FINAL RESULTS
CLEMSON 5 WISCONSIN 2
DOUBLES
1) Billy Bertha/Oskar Wikberg (WIS) def. Yannick Maden/Zachary Rigsby (CLEMSON): 8-6
2) Austin Ansari/Ayrton Wibowo (CLEMSON) def. Petr Satral/Alexander Kostanov (WIS): 8-7 (6)
3) Hunter Harrington/Gerardo Meza (CLEMSON) def. Jakhongir Jalalov/Alexander Kokorev (WIS): 8-2
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1
SINGLES
1) Yannick Maden (CLEMSON) def. Billy Bertha (WIS): 6-0, 4-6, 6-2
2) Hunter Harrington (CLEMSON) def. Oskar Wikberg (WIS): 6-1, 7-6 (6)
3) Petr Satral (WIS) vs. Gerardo Meza (CLEMSON): 7-6 (8), 7-5
4) Alexander Kostanov (WIS) def. Ayrton Wibowo (CLEMSON): 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-0
5) Zachary Rigsby (CLEMSON) def. Jakhongir Jalalov (WIS): 6-4, 6-4
6) Austin Ansari (CLEMSON) def. Alexander Kokorev (WIS): 6-2, 6-0
Order of Finish: 6, 2, 5, 1, 4, 3
Players Mentioned
