In a series characterized by sweeps, UA is halfway there.

The No. 21 Wildcats (10-6 overall, 2-5 in Pacific 10 Conference) defeated a depleted Arizona State team 6-1 yesterday at the Robson Tennis Center, ending a two-game winning streak by ASU.

"It kind of goes in streaks. Two years ago we beat them three times, so it was nice to win the first one (of the season against them)," UA head coach Bill Wright said.

UA and ASU will meet again April 20 in Tempe.

The Sun Devils were without their No. 1 singles player, Oscar Bustos, who is competing for Chile in Davis Cup play in Canada, and senior Paul Reber, who has inflamed tendons in his shoulder.

"I don't want to degrade Arizona's win, but who knows what the score would have been with a full team. UA played well. They deserved to win," ASU head coach Lou Belken said.

Winning at No. 1 singles and ending a four-game skid, Jan Anderson defeated Sergio Elias 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in a tight match. Anderson broke Elias to go up 5-2 in the third. Serving for the victory, Anderson blew four match points and had to last six deuces before Elias hit an errant return.

"I struggled in the first set, but I was able to hang in there and not get that frustrated," Jan Anderson said. "I stayed a little more aggressive in the third set. My game is starting to improve and that is what is important."

"Winning the match was the most important thing today, but getting Jan a win was second," Wright said.

Arizona swept the doubles matches for the third time this season.

"They have a good, solid team this year. They are a much improved program," Belken said.

Senior captain Chris Jenkins defeated David Crichley 6-3, 6-2 for his 17th win on the season. Eddie Schwartz returned from a pulled quadriceps and beat Casey Was 6-1, 6-2 for his second Pac-10 victory.

UA seems to finally be getting healthy. The Wildcats had eight different players participate, the most since Feb. 17.

"Today's match was huge for us because they beat us twice last year. It is a big confidence booster going into Friday's match with UNLV," said Mike MacKay, who teamed with Roland Kupka in a 8-3 win in doubles.

Vuk Tapuskovic was the only loss for Arizona, falling 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 3-6 to Wolf Van Lindnaw.

"To their credit, it is rough to beat somebody that you are not supposed to beat. This is probably the best UA team for as long as I have been coaching," Belken said.