Jan. 27, 2002

– The University of Kentucky men’s tennis team extended its record to 4-0 with two wins on Sunday, Jan. 27th, at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex. The Wildcats shutout both Western Kentucky, 6-0, and Butler University, 7-0.

Kentucky first took down WKU, electing to play singles first, the Wildcats looked poised as they grabbed all six singles victories in straight sets. Sophomore Rahim Esmail and freshman Evan Austin looked strong, shutting out WKU’s Randyll Brooks and J.J. Ball. The Wildcats gave up only seven points to WKU during the afternoon match.

The Wildcats grabbed the lead in the evening match against Butler sweeping the doubles point. The UK tandem of Jesse Witten and Johan Grunditz defeated Butler’s 40th ranked duo of Jimmy Borendame and Brandon Currie at No. 1. The Cats continued dominating the match taking all six singles victories again in straight sets with big wins at No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4. Sophomore Matt Emery started the first set down 3-0 to Butler’s Josh Rey at No. 3 but rallied back to win the set 6-4 and took the second for the win. Esmail was on top of his game, shutting out Abel Contreras at No. 5 to tally his third consecutive shutout win over opponents.

” I am just doing my best to help out the team,” Esmail said of his three straight shutouts. ” The team has been showing some great effort on the court. I think we are all playing at the top of our game right now.”

The Wildcats travel to Louisville on Saturday, Feb. 2, to take on the Cardinals. The match is set to begin at 2:30 p.m. at the Louisville Tennis Club and is featuring a special offer to high school coaches and a clinic by the world’s leading tennis teacher, Nick Bollittieri. Bollittieri is giving away his $400 teaching program, “Tennis In A Can” to the first 25 high school coaches reserving a space with at least eight other participants.

AGATEKentucky, 6 - Western Kentucky, 0SinglesNo. 1 Karim Benmansour (UK) def. Mikus Paipars (WKU)6-0, 6-2No. 2 Jesse Witten (UK) def. Evalds Jurans (WKU)6-0, 6-2No. 3 Rahim Esmail (UK) def. Randyll Brooks (WKU)6-0, 6-0No. 4 Evan Austin (UK) def. J.J. Ball (WKU)6-0, 6-0No. 5 Matt Emery (UK) def. Taylor Reynolds (WKU)6-1, 6-0No. 6 Elliott Datlow (UK) def. Kevin Shields (WKU)6-0, 6-2

Kentucky, 7 – Butler, 0DoublesNo. 1 Witten/Grunditz (UK) def. Borendame/Currie (BU)8-3No. 2 Benmansour/Austin (UK) def. Annan/Rey (BU)8-2No. 3 Emery/Esmail (UK) def. Snapper/Voelz (BU) 8-2SinglesNo. 1 Jesse Witten (UK) def. Brandon Currie (BU)6-1, 6-1No. 2 Evan Austin (UK) def. Jimmy Borendame (BU)6-2, 6-2No. 3 Matt Emery (UK) def. Josh Rey (BU)6-4, 6-4No. 4 Johan Grunditz (UK) def. Peter Voelz (BU)6-4, 6-1No. 5 Rahim Esmail (UK) def. Abel Contreras (BU)6-0, 6-0No. 6 Elliott Datlow (UK) def. Aubrey Annan (BU)6-2, 6-2