Oct. 26, 2002
No. 1 seed Jesse Witten advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2002 Omni Hotels Region III Indoor Tournament Saturday at the Hilary J. Boone Indoor Tennis Center in Lexington, Ky. The sophomore is the only Wildcat left in singles as juniors Rahim Esmail and Karim Benmansour were both eliminated. The doubles duo of Witten and Esmail defeated the No. 1 seed in the draw to advance.
Witten faced Vanderbilt’s Matthew Lockin in the round of 32. Witten went up a break in the first set and held on for the 6-4 win. The Naples, Fla., native was just too tough in the second, as he took the match 6-4, 6-2. In the round of 16, he faced Troy State’s Pablo Martinez. The two players held serve the first set but Martinez got the edge and won 7-5 in the tiebreaker. Witten came out strong in next two sets and came back for the 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-3 victory. He will face 10th seeded Mark Dietrich from Tennessee Sunday in the quarterfinals. The match is scheduled for noon at Boone.
In the last match of the night, Witten teamed up with Esmail in doubles action against the No. 1-seeded team of Nicolas Boeker and Bo Hodge from Georgia. The teams traded points on serve until Witten and Esmail broke the serve from Georgia to go up 5-4. Witten and Esmail held serve the rest of the match to get the 8-6 victory. Boeker and Hodge were ranked 6th in the Omni Hotels Preseason Collegiate Rankings.
Benmansour, seeded 7th in the tournament, finished off his first opponent in the round of 32, a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Juan Barragan from South Florida. In his round of 16 matchup with Tennessee’s Simon Rea, Benmansour fell in the first set 6-3 and after getting a slight lead in the second set, couldn’t close it out as he lost 6-3, 7-5.
Esmail got out to a quick 4-1 lead on Mississippi’s Alex Hartman, but was unable to hold on, dropping the first set, 6-4. He bounced back in the second, taking it 6-3. But Hartman wasn’t going to let Esmail beat him for the second time this fall, as he won the third set and the match, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. Hartman is ranked 19th nationally and seeded 5th in the tournament.
Benmansour and sophomore, seeded 4th in the doubles draw, were upset by the Alabama team of Geoff Hiscox and Stephen Mitchell, 8-5
The winning doubles team, singles player and the singles finalist qualify for the Omni Hotels National Indoor Championships being held November 7-10 in Dallas, Texas.
Singles quarterfinal matches will take place on Sunday along with doubles matches in the round of 16 and quarterfinals. Semifinals and finals of both singles and doubles will take place Monday. The remaining matches will be held at the Hilary J. Boone Indoor Tennis Center.
Draws and results for the whole tournament can be found HERE.
Saturday’s Results
Singles Main Draw – Round of 32
#1 Jesse Witten def. Matthew Lockin (Vanderbilt) – 6-3, 6-2
#5 Alex Hartman (Ole Miss) def. Rahim Esmail – 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
#7 Karim Benmansour def. Juan Barragan (S. Florida) – 6-4, 6-1
Singles Main Draw – Round of 16
#1 Jesse Witten def. Pablo Martinez (Troy State) – 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-3
Simon Rea (Tennessee) def. #7 Karim Benmansour – 6-3, 7-5
Doubles Main Draw – Round of 32
Witten/Esmail def. #1 Nicolas Boeker/Bo Hodge (Ga.) – 8-6
Geoff Hiscox/Stephen Mitchell (Ala.) def. #4 Austin/Benmansour – 8-5
