May 22, 2013
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Fourth-seeded Anthony Rossi of the University of Kentucky etched his way into the second round of the NCAA Men’s Tennis Singles Championship on Wednesday afternoon, capturing a 7-5, 6-1 win over Stanford’s John Morrissey to book his ticket into the second round at the Atkins Tennis Center in Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
The opening game of the match on Rossi’s serve started out with seven deuce games, as he was able to hold for the 1-0 lead, something that would become a pattern throughout the match. Eight of the 12 games in the opening set went to deuce, as Rossi was able to muster out wins on every one of his service games during the match.
In the first set, Rossi and Morrissey exchanged service holds for each of the first 11 games of the set, as Morrissey went to serve at 6-5 to stay in the set. Rossi then proceeded to win the game on his AD and take the set, 7-5 and the lead in the match.
Rossi started out the second set with an easy hold of serve and won the next three points off of Morrissey’s serve to take the 0-40 lead, when the match was suspended at that point due to rain in the area. After about a 60-minute delay to dry the courts, Rossi then broke Morrissey to take the 2-0 lead and he won four of the final five games of the set to take the match 7-5, 6-1 and book his ticket into the second round of action on Thursday.
Cal Poly’s No. 30 Andre Dome will be Rossi’s next opponent, as he defeated Georgia Tech’s Juan Spir 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday afternoon in Champaign-Urbana.
The win on Wednesday for Rossi was the 106th of his storied career, as he upped his career record to 106-33 for a winning percentage of .769, ranking second-highest of any UK player in history (Eric Quigley).
No. 23 Tom Jomby lost his first round match today with Duke’s Michael Redlicki, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (6), 6-1.
In the opening set, Redlicki started off the match with a break of serve to carry the early advantage and take that lead all the way up until 3-4 of the set. At 3-4, Jomby broke back and the two exchanged holds until the tiebreak.
In the tiebreak, Jomby dropped the opening point, and fell in a quick 0-3 hole after Redlicki picked up the mini-break. Nobody got a point on either player’s serve the rest of the tiebreak, until Redlicki snatched the set 7-4 on set point.
After Jomby saved off two match points at 5-6, he rallied to force a tiebreak for the second set on two serves and a lot of net play towards the later end of the set.
Jomby picked up the mini break early in the tiebreak at 1-0, but would lose the next four consecutive points and find himself in a 1-4 hole to Redlicki. Jomby would cut the deficit to 5-4 before holding serve on both of his points to take a 6-5 lead and gain a set point.
Redlicki battled back to hold on his first point, but Jomby came to net and hit a glorious put-away shot at six all to take the 7-6 lead and earn set point number two. On set point, a forehand return from Redlicki sailed long over the baseline and Jomby took the set, 7-6 (6).
In the deciding set, Jomby held to start and was broken at 1-1 and 3-1 and 5-1 as Redlicki sailed to the third-set win, 6-1.
2013 NCAA Singles Championship – First Round – Wednesday. May 22
No. 4 Anthony Rossi (UK) def. John Morrissey (Stanford) 7-5, 6-1
Michael Redlicki (Duke) def. Tom Jomby (UK) 7-6 (4), 6-7 (6), 6-1
Second Round –Thursday. May 23
TBA – No. 4 Anthony Rossi (UK) vs. Andre Dome (Cal Poly)
2013 NCAA Doubles Championship – First Round – Thursday, May 23
TBA – Tom Jomby/Kevin Lai (UK) vs. Lucas Ana/Victor Valente (Georgia State)
For more information, log onto UKathletics.com.
