By Jeff Trousdale
The Australian Open is currently under way, featuring some of the best men and women tennis players in the world battling in Melbourne for one of the most prestigious titles in tennis.
While the University of Portland's men and women tennis players may never compete for a Grand Slam title, they did prove last Sunday that they have what it takes to complete a solid season, as the men swept the University of Texas San Antonio 5-0 and the women defeated the University of Idaho 6-1 at a frigid Louisiana Pacific Tennis Center in their second week of spring season play.
Junior Filip Zivkovic led the men for the second consecutive week at the No. 1 doubles and singles spots. Zivkovic dominated his singles match, winning 6-4, 6-4 with an aggressive serve and volley game that kept his opponent, UTSA junior Rodrigo Morgado, scrambling for shots. Morgado had an especially difficult time dealing with Zivkovic's scintillating serves, many of which went for aces or no-returns.
"That's just Filip being Filip," UP head coach Aaron Gross said. "We count on him big time, he's probably the most competitive player I've ever coached."
Not only did Zivkovic control the net, he also dominated from the baseline using a surgical backhand and ferocious forehand strokes that gave Morgado little chance to retaliate.
"That's probably the best I've played in five months," Zivkovic said.
His success seemed to set off a chain reaction as No. 2 singles player sophomore Bryan Thorp defeated UTSA freshman Pedro Zanotelli 6-2, 6-4, and Pilot freshman Geoff Hernandez beat junior Jorge Delgado at the No. 3 spot.
UP freshman Nikoloz Kurdadze decimated overmatched sophomore Max Stratmann 6-2, 6-0 to close out the match, while the No. 5 and No. 6 singles matches were deemed a no result when UTSA coach Oliver Trittenwein ended the match in order to make their flight back.
"We played like wussies," Trittenwein said. "As a team we were just not up to our potential, maybe because of the cold but mainly because we are not used to playing indoors."
In doubles, the Pilots' No. 1 team of Zivkovic and junior Evan Schleining won their match 8-5 and the No. 3 duo of Hernandez and sophomore Nick Wales won 8-5, while the No. 2 pairing of Thorp and Kurdadze lost 8-3.
Gross acknowledged that the indoor courts and cold conditions may have had something to do with the Pilot's success, but overall he thought that it was just a well- played match for his team and he hopes to continue their success.
"We look at all of our matches as building blocks," Gross said. "We are trying to build something special, but it takes time."
The UP women's tennis match took twice as much time as the men's as it was far more competitive despite the end result.
The doubles teams set the tone early for the match. UP junior Megan Sporndli and sophomore Stephanie Fuchs won 8-4 at the No. 1 spot, senior Anna Gullickson and sophomore Lacey Pflibsen won 8-4 at the No. 2 spot, and senior Jenna Tanzer and sophomore Stefanie Doolittle took the No. 3 match 8-5 in order to complete the sweep of the doubles' point.
"Sweeping the doubles was the important factor going into the singles matches," head coach Susie Campbell-Gross said. "I think we've got our combinations set and we're really starting to gel in doubles."
Sporndli used the momentum from doubles to help her dominate in the No. 1 singles match, defeating Idaho junior Maria Perevoshchikova 6-2, 6-4. Sporndli was indomitable from the baseline as she set up point after point with a booming serve and ferocious forehand.
"I feel good about the way I played," Sporndli said. "I was just getting the ball out of her strike zone and being positive on every point."
Pflibsen struggled in the second set of her No. 2 singles match, but still managed to defeat Idaho sophomore Silvia Irimescu 6-3, 7-5, while Fuchs dispatched sophomore Barbara Maciocha 6-4, 6-2 in the No. 3 spot.
Tanzer had the longest match of the night at the No. 4 spot against Idaho junior Alexandra Ulesanu. The two players exchanged a number of long rallies and deuce points, but in the end Ulesanu was too powerful and made too many good shots in a 7-6, 6-3 victory over Tanzer.
Doolittle defeated Idaho sophomore Yvette Ly, a native of Portland, 6-3, 6-3 at the No. 5 spot and Gullickson beat sophomore Jana Siwa 6-3, 6-3 as well in the No.6 singles match.
Campbell-Gross was pleased with her team's performance overall in the match.
"I feel like it was a really solid effort and we started the matches really on top of it," Campbell-Gross said.
The women look to continue their success when they take on Linfield College at home on Feb. 6, while the men hope to see the return of top senior Joel Kincaid from a back injury in their match on Jan. 30 at home against University of California Davis.
