Under the lights at the Alabama Tennis Stadium Friday, the Ole Miss men’s tennis team won a huge doubles point with two tiebreakers and then earned singles wins at four, five and six to defeat the Crimson Tide 4-3 in their Southeastern Conference opener.
The Rebels trailed early in doubles – with the home crowd into it for the Crimson Tide – but battled back. One break decided the No. 1 match, as the Alabama duo of Mazen Osama and Spencer Richey defeated 18th-ranked Fabian Fallert and Grey Hamilton 6-4.
Zvonimir Babic and Ricardo Jorge won a tiebreaker at No. 3, 7-6(2) against the Tide’s Zhe Zhou and Thibault Cancel to send everyone’s attention to court two, where Gustav Hansson and Tim Sandkaulen had battled back to get their match to a tiebreaker with Alabama’s Alexey Nesterov and Edson Ortiz.
Hansson and Sandkaulen led 3-0 in the tiebreak, before Bama tied it up. The two teams traded points to 6-6, before Hansson and Sandkaulen won the final two points to take it 7-6(6) and hand the Rebels the early 1-0 lead.
Ole Miss won four first sets in singles and then closed out three of those matches in straight sets to secure the victory. Filip Kraljevic defeated Richey 6-3, 6-4 at No. 4 singles to make it 2-0. Fallert followed with a 6-3, 6-4 win against Nesterov at No. 5 singles to put the Rebels within one.
Alabama got on the board when Osama beat Hansson 6-3, 7-5 at No. 1, but Babic stepped up and won a huge second set tiebreaker against Zhou at No. 6, to clinch the victory. Babic won the first set 6-4 and the tiebreaker 7-6(2).
At the Net…
• The Rebels are now 5-2 on the year overall and 1-0 in the SEC
• This marked the first win for the Rebels against Alabama during the regular season since 2013 and also their first win in Tuscaloosa since 2013
• The Rebels hold a narrow 35-33 lead in the series
• Filip Kraljevic improved to 11-5 overall, 3-1 in dual matches
• Fabian Fallert improved to 10-5 overall, 4-2 in dual matches
• Zvonimir Babic improved to 6-1 in SEC matches dating back to last year
• Gustav Hansson and Tim Sandkaulen improved to 10-4 in doubles
• Babic and Ricardo Jorge are now 6-1 in doubles, including 3-0 in dual matches
Complete Results
Doubles
1. Osama/Richey (AL) def. Fallert/Hamilton (OM) 6-4
2. Hansson/Sandkaulen (OM) def. Nesterov/Ortiz (AL) 7-6(6)
3. Jorge/Babic (OM) def. Zhou/Cancel (AL) 7-6(2)
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2
Singles
1. #62 Mazen Osama (AL) def. #17 Gustav Hansson (OM) 6-3, 7-5
2. Thibault Cancel (AL) def. #111 Tim Sandkaulen (OM) 6-4, 4-6, 6-0
3. Edson Ortiz (AL) def. Ricardo Jorge (OM) 4-6, 6-3, 7-5
4. Filip Kraljevic (OM) def. Spencer Richey (AL) 6-3, 6-4
5. Fabian Fallert (OM) def. Alexey Nesterov (AL) 6-3, 6-4
6. Zvonimir Babic (OM) def. Zhe Zhou (AL) 6-4, 7-6(2)
Order of Finish: 4, 5, 1, 6, 2, 3
Talking with head coach Toby Hansson…
“What a great college tennis match on the road in tough conditions. We got off to a slow start in doubles but the guys never gave up, they kept battling. We’ve been on the other side when teams have come back on us to take the point, so it was nice to be able to do that.
“In singles, we played well, winning the first sets on courts three, four, five and six. It was great to see Filip back in the lineup, and he played well to get us started in singles. Strong performance from Fabi and from Z, especially being able to close out the guy in the second set tiebreaker to clinch. He handled the pressure really well in the tiebreaker. We’ve had some tough matches in the past here, so it’s huge to get a win.”
Up next…
The Rebels face Jackson State Saturday at 11 a.m. in Jackson. The match was originally scheduled for Sunday, but due to the possibility of inclement weather, the teams decided to move it up to Saturday.
For more information on Ole Miss Men’s Tennis, follow the Rebels on Twitter @OleMissMTennis, on Facebook at OleMissMTennis and on Instagram at OleMissMTennis, follow Coach Hansson on Twitter at @TennisToby.
Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports
