Next Match: The Citadel 1/15/2018 | 4 p.m. CT

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama men's tennis team shutout UAB, 4-0 and then defeated The Citadel 6-1 on Monday inside the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility. With the two wins the Crimson Tide (4-0) is off to its best start since the 2008 season.

"I saw focus across the board from our team," said head coach George Husack . "We talked about being focused and harp on being disciplined with our shot-making, there were some things tactically that we stress a lot and I think our guys were playing very well overall."

Alabama began the day by winning the doubles point against UAB, with junior Mazen Osama and Edson Ortiz cruising past Dollman/Gonzalez, 6-1, while freshman Riccardo Roberto and Zhe Zhou made their season debuts by defeating Parton/Pasini, 6-3.

In singles play, sophomore Alexey Nesterov won his first match of the season, defeating Anru Fourie, 6-0, 6-2, while Zhou finished his match over Giovani Pasini just seconds later, winning 6-1, 6-2. Roberto earned his first collegiate singles victory and clinched the Crimson Tide's victory by pushing past Nikolai Manchev in straight sets, 6-2, 6-0.

In the second match of the day against The Citadel, once again the Tide was took the doubles point with Cancel/Nesterov besting van Zyl/Stewart, 6-1, while freshmen Grant Stuckey and Sam Fischer moved past Hobson/Pryitz, 6-3 and Roberto/Zhou completed the sweep with a 6-2 decision over Henson/Graham.

Alabama continued to maintain control of the match in singles play with Ortiz getting the first singles point of the match, defeating Jack Roy Hobson, 6-2, 6-0. After Ortiz, Nesterov took care of Jack Pyritz, 6-3, 6-1, while Stuckey finished just moments later defeating Will Graham, 6-3, 6-1.

With the match already clinched at 4-0, Roberto picked up another win for the Tide after besting Gavin Stewart, 6-1, 7-6 (3). Zhou also earned his second singles win of the day with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Willem van Zyl. Fischer was tabbed with the lone loss after falling to Matt Henson, 6-2, 4-6, 0-1 (10-8).

Alabama men's tennis will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 20 with another doubleheader, when they take on Samford at 1 p.m. CT and then Chattanooga at 6 p.m. CT inside the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility.

Alabama Results:

Singles: (Match 1 vs. UAB)

1. Mazen Osama vs. Tim Dollman, 6-3, 4-2, unf.

2. Thibault Cancel vs. Stefan Gonzalez, 6-3, 2-1, unf.

3. Edson Ortiz vs. Kenton Parton, 7-5, unf.

4. Zhe Zhou def. Giovani Pasini, 6-1, 6-2

5. Alexey Nesterov def. Anru Fourie, 6-0, 6-2

6. Riccardo Roberto def. Nikola Manchev, 6-2, 6-0

Order of Finish: 4, 5, 6

Singles: (Match 2 vs. The Citadel)

1. Zhe Zhou def. Willem van Zyl, 6-4, 7-5

2. Edson Ortiz def. Roy Hobson, 6-2, 6-0

3. Alexey Nesterov def. Jack Pryitz, 6-3, 6-1

4. Riccardo Roberto def. Gavin Stewart, 6-1, 7-6 (3)

5. Matthew Henson def. Sam Fischer , 2-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-8)

6. Grant Stuckey def. Will Graham, 6-3, 6-1

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

Doubles: (Match 1 vs. UAB)

1. Ortiz/Osama def. Dollman/Gonzalez, 6-1

2. Cancel/Nesterov vs. Paiste/Manchev, 4-4, unf.

3. Roberto/Zhou def. Parton/Fourie, 6-3

Order of Finish: 1, 3

Doubles: (Match 2 vs. The Citadel)

1. Cancel/Nesterov def. van Zyl/Stewart, 6-1

2. Roberto/Zhou def. Henson/Graham, 6-2

3. Fischer/Stuckey def. Hobson/Pryitz, 6-3

Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2

Get all the latest information on the team by following AlabamaMTN on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. General athletic news can also be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama Athletics on Facebook.