Jan. 14, 2002

MILWAUKEE, Wis.— The University of Kentucky men’s tennis team, ranked No. 25 in the ITA pre-season poll, gave a good showing at the Milwaukee Tennis Classic on Jan.10-13. The tandem of newcomer Evan Austin and sophomore Karim Benmansour grabbed the doubles title and four other Cats competed in singles competition.

Austin, who recently joined the team at the beginning of the semester, and Benmansour took overpowering opening round wins against Minnesota’s Ticer and Robertson duo (8-3) and Wake Forest’s Simpson and Bere (8-4). The Wildcat duo, seeded fourth, grabbed a semifinal win over the top-seeded Portland duo of Peter Malacek and Travis Parrott, 9-7. In the final match, the duo defeated the second seeded team of Currie and Borendame of Butler, who defeated the Wildcat pairing of senior Gustav Pousette and sophomore Matt Emery, the tournaments third seed, in the semifinals.

In the singles action of the tournament, Pousette and Emery advanced to the second round before falling to Derrick Spice of Wake Forest and Vincent Ng of Ohio State. Senior Johan Grunditz saw action in the third round along with fellow teammate Austin. Butler’s Travis Parrott, who then defeated sophomore Rahim Esmail in the quarterfinals, defeated Austin. Benmansour also fell in the quarterfinals to Rameez Junaid of Auburn.

The Wildcats will return to action this weekend, Jan. 17-20, as they host the Southeastern Conference Indoor Tennis Championships. Action is set to begin at 8 a.m. on Thursday Jan.17, at the Lexington Tennis Club on Redding Road and the Boone Tennis Center on the UK campus.