Jan. 17, 2002
Playing host to the Southeastern Conference Indoor Tennis Championships, the University of Kentucky men’s tennis team had five of seven players advance in singles action along with two teams advancing in doubles play. Eleven of the 12 conference schools are competing for the singles and doubles indoor tennis titles.
For the Wildcats, senior Johan Grunditz battled LSU’s Sebastian Rutka in consecutive matches grabbing the first round victory, while fellow senior, Gustav Pousette also took a straight set victory over ninth-seed Rene-Charles Combette of Mississippis State. Sophomore Karim Benmansour suffered through a strenuous match with Tennessee’s Mark Dietrich, but pulled through the last set for the victory,6-7(5), 6-1, 7-6(2). One of the newest Wildcats, Jesse Witten, dominated the first set against Alabama’s Nick Beuque, 6-1, and found his way to victory after a 7-6(3) second set win. Matt Emery grabbed his victory when opponent, Seth Rose of South Carolina withdrew from the match due to an injury. The only Kentucky losses in singles action came when Evan Austin was defeated by Vanderbilt’s Bobby Reynolds and when Rahim Esmail suffered a loss to MSU’s Aymeric Henou.
In the night’s first double match, the Wildcat tandem of Austin and Benmansour eased to a first round victory with a 8-4 win over Florida’s Matt Behrman and Ryan Sherry. In second round play, the duo faced Peter Richman and Sebastian Rutka of LSU and once again cruised to victory with an 8-3 win over the Tiger duo. The Wildcat’s second duo of Matt Emery and Jesse Witten grabbed a first round win over LSU’s Jason Hazley and Jesse Smatt. The duo will play their second round match against Patrick Chucri and Alex Hartman on Friday afternoon.Elsewhere in the tournament, top-seeded Brandon Wagner of Georgia cruised through his first round match against Vanderbilt’s Jens Frederickson, 6-3, 6-1. Fellow teammate and second seed, Bo Hodge, overpowered his Vanderbilt opponent, Zach Dailey, for a straight set victory (6-0, 6-3). The first upset of the tournament came when fifth-seeded Tiago Ruffoni of Auburn suffered a consecutive set loss to Georgia’s Nicholas Boeker, 6-2, 7-6(5).
In doubles action, LSU’s Richman and Rutka duo defeated the sixth-seeded team of Angelo Nicolescu and Marcus Westman of South Carolina, 8-5 to only suffer a loss to in the second round to UK’s duo. The second seeded Georgia duo of Boeker ad Wagner received a bye in the first round and faced Tennessee’s Mike Maddox and Wade Orr, whom had a first round bye as well. Boeker and Wagner took an 8-4 win over the Volunteers.
The matches set for Friday, Jan.18 are set to begin at 8 a.m. at the Boone Tennis Complex on UK’s campus and at the Lexington Tennis Club on Redding Road. Action begins with the first and second rounds of the singles consolation ending with the second and third rounds of the singles main draw. Admission is free.
UK AGATE:SinglesJohan Grunditz, UK def. Sebastian Rutka, LSU 7-6(5), 6-4Bobby Reynolds, VU def. Evan Austin, UK 6-2, 7-5Jesse Witten, UK def. Nick Beuque, UA 6-1, 7-6(3)Gustav Pousette, UK def. Rene-Charles Combette, MSU 7-6(4), 6-4Karim Benmansour, UK def. Mark Dietrich, UT 6-7(5), 6-1, 7-6(2)Matt Emery, UK def. Seth Rose, USC Wd (inj)Aymeric Henou, MSU def. Rahim Esmail, UK 5-7, 6-4, 6-3DoublesFirst RoundAustin/Benmansour, UK def. Behrman/Sherry, UF 8-4Emery/Witten, UK def. Hazley/Smatt, LSU 9-7Second RoundAusitn/Benmansour, UK def. Richman/Rutka, LSU 8-3
