Alvarez Makes History in Leap Day Sweep of Memphis

¹⁷Memphis

¹⁰Oklahoma

Results

2015 Stats

Photos

NORMAN – The 10th-ranked Oklahoma men's tennis team grabbed its third top-25 win of the year Monday afternoon, topping No. 17 Memphis 4-0 at the Headington Family Tennis Center. The match also saw senior Axel Alvarez record his 200^th and 201^st career wins, making him just the second Sooner in history to top the 200-win mark.

“We did better today,” Oklahoma head coach John Roddick said. “Our focus, energy and intensity were better. We competed better and our attitude was better. I wouldn't say it was a great day, but it was definitely a step in the right direction.”

Oklahoma (7-4) jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with a pair of wins in doubles. The Sooners' top duo of juniors Alex Ghilea and Andrew Harris, ranked 35^th nationally, broke Memphis twice early to lead 4-0 and then finished the match with a break at 5-3. After a Memphis win at the three spot, the opening point came down to court two where the match was on serve.

In the deciding match, Alvarez and sophomore Spencer Papa gave up a break early but took one of their own to level the match at 4-all. After holding for 5-4, the Sooner duo would push Memphis to triple break point in the next game before ultimately taking the clinching break at 6-5 to win the match. With that win, Alvarez joined 2015 graduate Dane Webb as the only two Sooners to reach the 200-win mark for a career.

The Sooners rolled their momentum into singles, winning five of the six first sets, two of which came in tiebreakers.

Andre Biro delivered OU's second point of the match. The freshman improved to 7-3 in dual play with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Shakeel Manji in the number six spot. Biro's win put OU up 2-0.

It was another freshman that secured OU's second singles win. Maxime Mora, playing at number five singles, traded breaks with Felix Rauch in the first before heading to a first set breaker. Rauch quickly jumped out to 4-1, and then 5-2 leads before Mora settled in. The Narbonne, France, native would take the next five points to win the breaker 7-5 and the first set 7-6. Mora used that momentum to dominate the second set, blanking Rauch to take the match 7-6(5), 6-0.

On an historic day for OU's top man and the reigning national and Big 12 player of the year, it was only fitting that Alvarez delivered the winning point. The senior broke the serve of 57^th-ranked Ryan Peniston at 6-5 to clinch the first set and, like Mora, cruised to a dominant 6-0 win in the second. The singles win was the 111^th of Alvarez's career. He is now just four shy of tying Oliver Lorin's OU record of 115 career singles wins. Alvarez is also just 11 total wins from tying Webb's program record of 212 total career wins.

“That is an incredible effort,” Roddick said. “To win that many matches at the level he plays at is pretty amazing, especially with the days of playing 80 matches in a year well behind us. With the limited number of matches that we play, that is a heck of an accomplishment. Today he started finding his range. He fought through a tough first set and then ran it out 6-0 in the second. Guys have to understand that you have to earn the right to feel good hitting the ball on a tennis court. I think Axel really figured that out today.”

With the match in hand the remaining three singles matches were not finished.

Oklahoma is back in action this weekend as it plays host to No. 3 Ohio State on Sunday, March 6 at noon. The match, weather permitting, will be played outdoors and will be broadcast live on Fox Sports. Last year, the Sooners traveled to Columbus and knocked of the Buckeyes 4-3, snapping their NCAA all-sport record 200-match home winning streak.

For more information on Oklahoma Men's Tennis, follow the team on Twitter at @OU_MTennis.

RESULTS

DOUBLES

1. ^#35Harris/Ghilea def. Lemke/Asser - 6-3
2. Alvarez/Papa def. Peniston/Rauch- 7-5
3. Manji/Watson def. Biro/Siegel - 6-4

Order of finish: 1, 3, 2

SINGLES

1. ^#63Axel Alvarez def. ^#57Ryan Peniston- 7-5, 6-0

2.^#100Alex Ghilea vs. Andrew Watson - 6-1, 3-6, 1-0, unfinished

3. Spencer Papa vs. Kai Lemke - 4-6, 6-5, unfinished

4. ^#119Florin Bragusi vs. Chris Patzanovsky - 7-6(3), 4-2, unfinished

5. Maxime Mora def. Felix Rauch - 7-6(5), 6-0

6. Andre Biro def. Shakeel Manji - 6-0, 6-2

Order of finish: 6, 5, 1