Jan. 19, 2002
– The University of Kentucky men’s team struggled in singles and doubles on the third day of the Southeastern Conference Indoor Tennis Championships. Tough losses by senior Johan Grunditz and the doubles team of Evan Austin and Karim Benmansour in the quarterfinals leave freshman Jesse Witten as the only Wildcat competitor. Teams that are still in the race for a singles or doubles title are Mississippi State (Romain Ambert), Georgia (Lesley Joseph), Tennessee (Peter Handoyo, Dietrich/Handoyo) and Florida (Levant/Magallan).
Witten started the first set against Georgia’s Nicolas Boeker down 1-4 but keeping his composure, fought back for five consecutive points. Witten won the set 7-6(7) and continued to dominate the match with a 6-1 second set victory. Witten advances to the semifinals to compete against Ambert of MSU.
Ambert advances to the semifinals after defeating senior Johan Grunditz in the quarterfinals. Grunditz, who defeated top seed Brandon Wagner in the third round, couldn’t find that same perseverance against Ambert, dropping the match in two straight sets. The Kentucky doubles duo of Austin and Benmansour suffered their loss against the top seeded duo of Andrew Colombo and Tiago Ruffoni of Auburn.
In other singles action, third seeded Lesley Joseph of Georgia dropped his first set to fifth seed Alex Hartman of Ole Miss. He started the second set down but fought hard for wins in the second and third to take the victory, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Joseph followed the same three-set pattern in his third round match against LSU’s Peter Richman, which took place on the same court as well. Bo Hodge, which was the highest seed left standing at no.2, had his match retained, advancing Tennessee’s Peter Handoyo to the semifinals. Hodge had dropped the first set, 6-7, and was down 2-1 in the second until halting the match due to an arm and shoulder injury.
Doubles excitement continued through the tournament when the Florida underdogs, Olivier Levant and Elzear Magallan defeated the duo of Colombo and Ruffoni. With great doubles instincts, the Gators’ fast hands were too much for Colombo and Ruffoni down the stretch, dropping the match 9-7. In other semifinal action, the UT duo of Mark Dietrich and Brandon Wagner dominated the match over Georgia’s Brandon Wagner and Nicolas Boeker to grab a spot in the final match.
Action for Sunday, Jan.20, the final day of the tournament, is set to begin at 10 a.m. with the singles semifinals at the Boone Tennis Center on the UK campus.
UK AGATE:Singles- QuarterfinalsRomain Ambert, MSU def. Johan Grunditz, UK6-3, 6-1Jesse Witten, UK def. Nicolas Beoker, UGA7-6(7), 6-1
Doubles-QuarterfinalsColombo/Ruffoni, AU def. Austin/Benmansour, UK8-5
Singles- Consolation QuarterfinalsEvan Austin, UK def. Sebastian Rutka, LSU7-5, 6-2Jason Hazley, LSU def. Rahim Esmail, UK6-4, 4-6, 6-4
Sunday’s MatchesSingles- Semifinals (Followed by Final) Jesse Witten, UK vs. Romain Ambert, MSU Lesley Joseph, UGA vs. Peter Handoyo, UT
Singles-Consolation, Semifinals (Followed by Final) Evan Austin, UK vs. Rene-Charles Combette, MSU Chris Gostek, UA vs. Jason Hazley, LSU
Doubles Final Levant/Magallan, UF vs. Dietrich/Handoyo, UT
