TUCSON—The No. 45 Arizona men’s tennis team took down No. 34 South Florida this afternoon by the score of 5-2 at the LaNelle Robson Tennis Center.

The position #1 in doubles featured the No. 15 team of Lucas Jovita/Thomas Estrada of South Florida vs. Arizona’s duo of Pat Metham/Francois VanderMerwe who are ranked No. 18 in doubles play. In a match that lasted almost two hours, it was the doubles team of Arizona who prevailed 9-8 (7-3) giving the Wildcats the doubles point.

“I thought we had a great team effort today,” said head coach Tad Berkowitz. “Our guys showed a lot of fight and never gave up. We must now turn our focus to St. Mary’s on Sunday.”

In singles play, junior Andres Arango dominated his match against South Florida’s Mahmoud Hamed in position #2 winning in straight sets 6-0, 6-2.

Sophomore Andres Carrasco had a difficult day in position #4 losing in straight sets 6-2, 6-0 to South Florida’s Wael Kilani.

Freshman Jason Zafiros continued his red shot streak beating South Florida’s Thomas Estrada 6-4, 6-5 in position #6. On the season, Zafiros is 5-0 has won ten straight sets.

Junior Ravid Hazi, playing in position #3 clinched the victory for the Wildcats by beating Jamal Adderley 6-4, 6-3.

Pat “Beast” Metham came back strong after dropping his first set , 0-6, against Jamal Adderley and won court five, 0-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Results:

Doubles:

1) No. 18 Pat Metham/Francois VanderMerwe (UA) def. No. 15 Lucas Jovita/Thomas  Estrada (USF) 9-8 (7-3)

2) Ravid Hazi/Andres Arango (UA) def. Romain Deridder and Wael Kilani (USF) 8-4

3) Jamal Adderley/Yannick Yoshizawa (USF) def. Jay Goldman/Jason Zafiros (UA) 9-7

Order: 2, 3, 1

Singles:

1) Lucas Jovita (USF) def. Jay Goldman (UA) 6-2, 6-4

2) Andres Arango (UA) def. Mahmoud Hamed (USF) 6-0, 6-4

3) Ravid Hazi (UA) def. Romain Deridder (USF) 6-3, 6-4*

4) Wael Kilani (USF) def. Andres Carrasco (UA) 6-2, 6-0

5) Pat Metham (UA) def Jamal Adderley (USF) 0-6, 6-3, 6-3

6) Jason Zafiros (UA) def. Thomas Estrada (USF) 6-4, 7-5

Order: 2, 4, 6, 3, 5, 1

*Clinched victory