Jack Loutit Opens NCAA Singles Tournament Tuesday
WACO, Texas. – Kentucky sophomore Jack Loutit will open his campaign at the 2024-25 NCAA Men’s Singles Championship on Tuesday afternoon, taking on No. 42 Kenta Miyoshi of Illinois at 3:30 p.m. ET in the Round of 64. Played at Baylor’s Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, Texas, this 2024-25 edition of the NCAA Individual Championships is the first time the event will be played in the fall. Cracked Racquets will be providing a live stream with commentary via ESPN+ that will feature whip around coverage from the grounds, while individual court streams will be available via PlaySight.
As part of a two-year NCAA pilot program, the individual tennis championships are scheduled to be played in the fall, while the team championships remain in their traditional spring window.
Loutit qualified for his first NCAA Singles Tournament at the ITA South Sectional in early November, winning three matches in four days to punch his ticket. He defeated former teammate Christophe Clement of Georgia Tech and Hugo Coquelin of Vanderbilt to reach the quarterfinals. Despite falling to No. 24 Jeremy Jin of Florida in the round of eight, Loutit was able to play for a bid to the national tournament in a playoff round, defeating Julien Penzlin of LSU in straight sets to punch his ticket.
Ranked No. 77 in the country in the ITA’s fall singles rankings, Loutit owns a 3-3 singles record this fall. He also competed at the ITA All-American Championships in September but dropped a pair of matches in qualifying. Loutit has also represented his country this fall, winning his first-ever Davis Cup rubber for New Zealand in September.
In his freshman season, Loutit was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team after compiling a 27-9 singles record during his rookie campaign, including a 20-6 record in dual matches. Playing primarily on Court Five during 2024, Loutit helped Kentucky advance to a third consecutive NCAA Quarterfinal, as well as secure the program’s second SEC Regular Season/Championship double. Loutit clinched a pair of huge matches for the Cats, sealing 4-3 wins over No. 6 Tennessee in a match that decided the SEC Regular Season Championship, as well as the NCAA Round of 32 match against Illinois.
Loutit’s first round opponent—Kenta Miyoshi—qualified for the championship as the runner-up in the ITA Midwest Regional Championship this October. Currently ranked No. 42 in the ITA Singles Rankings, Miyoshi owns a 2-2 all-time record against Wildcat opponents. Earlier this season, he defeated Charlelie Cosnet in three sets at the All-American Championships. In 2023, Miyoshi split his results in a pair of dual matches between the Illini and the Wildcats, losing to Taha Baadi in the regular season before defeating Jaden Weekes in the NCAA Round of 32. In a 2022 dual match, Miyoshi lost to Baadi.
Kentucky has a rich history of success at the NCAA Singles Championship, with Loutit marking the program’s 56th qualifier to the prestigious tournament. With Loutit’s qualification, a Wildcat has secured a bid to the championship in five consecutive seasons; the last edition of the singles tournament without a Wildcat was before the COVID-19 pandemic (2019). Three Wildcats have reached the final—Carlos Drada in 2000, Jesse Witten in 2002, and Eric Quigley in 2013—but none have been able to hoist the championship trophy. A total of 29 Wildcats have earned All-American status in singles.
The NCAA Men’s Singles Championships is set to run from November 19-24, with one round to be played on each of the six days of the tournament. Men’s Singles is one of four championships to be played this week, as Women’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, and Women’s Doubles will be jointly played over the week of competition to comprise the NCAA Individual Championships.
The winner of the Loutit-Miyoshi first round match will play the winner of [7] Oliver Tarvet (San Diego) and Radu Papoe (Cornell) on Wednesday, November 20.
