Arizona men’s tennis takes pole position of Big 12 race with win over No. 2 TCU

Arizona men’s tennis has won four consecutive conference championships. A fifth could be in store after the Wildcats took down the Big 12’s top ranked team on Sunday afternoon.

No. 15 Arizona swept No. 2 TCU by a score of 4-0 to move to 16-3 and 4-0 in the Big 12. Clancy Shields’ program has won 11 consecutive matches after starting the year 5-3.

Four conference matches remain, including home tilts versus ranked ASU and UCF. Arizona has a one match lead over UCF in the wins column, while every other team has at least one lost.

Arizona’s win against TCU – played in 100 degree heat at LaNelle Robson Tennis Center – was one of the program’s biggest results since joining the Big 12. TCU was the NCAA Tournament runner-up last season and perennially advances deep into the postseason.

“I have so much respect for (TCU),” Shields said. “They’ve been top five for 10 years. They’re a model of consistency. And they didn’t go away. We could have ended this in two hours, and they pushed and clawed their way back into this and we found a way to finish it.”

Arizona earned the crucial doubles point to jump out to an early lead. Alejandro Arcila and Cole Stelse won their doubles match 6-3, and Filip Gustafsson and Glib Sekachov won theirs in a 7-6 (7-2) tiebreak.

Sekachov secured Arizona’s first singles point with a 6-3, 6-2 win on court No. 5. The Wildcats won the first set in five of six singles matches.

Arizona took control when Gustafsson held off a fierce comeback attempt from TCU’s Oliver Bonding to win his match 6-1, 7-6 (6-3) on court No. 2.

“I was really impressed with Filip being up a set and 4-1 and nearly letting the guy back in it and then finding a way to finish the tiebreak,” Shields said. “Same thing in doubles. Finding a way to get that win on No. 1 doubles to clinch that match. That’s really hard.”

Leading 3-0, Arizona thought it might get a clinching point from Jay Friend, who led Duncan Chan 6-3, 5-7, 5-3. The match pitted the nation’s No. 3 ranked singles player (Friend) vs. No. 7 Chan.

Before Friend could seal the deal, Zoran Ludoski won his match 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 on court No. 4.

“For Zoran to get the win, it’s cool, and there’s a lot of people getting wins on our team.” Shields said. “To find wins on the court and they don’t just come from Jay Friend is really cool.”

The victory marked Arizona’s third win over a Top 30 team in the past week, as the UA defeated No. 28 Columbia on Tuesday and No. 8 Baylor on Thursday. Arizona’s string of success puts the program in firm footing to host an NCAA Tournament pod for a third consecutive season.

Early on this season, Arizona’s trajectory wasn’t so bloomy. Arizona dropped non-conference matches to Oklahoma, LSU and San Diego.

The Wildcats had a monumental task in replacing All-American Colton Smith and the ultra-reliable Casper Christensen, both of whom were seniors last season. Arizona brought in Arcila, a blue chip recruit out of the Rafa Nadal Academy in Spain, and relied heavily on sophomores Sekachov, Ludoski and Gustafsson.

“It’s a really young team, it’s really exciting,” Shields said. “I’m just really proud of this team because they bought into the culture of what this place is and we kept working and kept getting better.”

Now that Arizona has hit its stride, Shields isn’t putting any limit on what this group can accomplish. Arizona is looking to break through in the postseason after falling in the Sweet 16 the last two years.

Competing in the gauntlet that is the Big 12 prepares Arizona for what’s in store in the postseason, Shields said.

“It’s a really gritty conference,” Shields said. “We have a lot of really tough conditions. The Pac-12 was a lot of talent but a little bit soft. The Big 12 is talent and grit and we fit in just right with that.”