March 15, 2002

The seventh-ranked University of Kentucky men’s tennis team defeated the No. 14 Florida Gators in Southeastern Conference action at the Boone Tennis Complex on Friday, March 15. The Cats (12-3, 3-1 SEC) handed Florida (9-2, 4-1 SEC) its first SEC loss of the season with a touch of de ja vu.

Last season, Kentucky and Florida were even 3-3 and Ross Greenstein defeated UK’s Rahim Esmail at No. 6 singles to give Florida the win. With the same setting and same scenario this year, Esmail took the challenge and dominated the match to secure the 4-3 UK victory. Esmail took the victory at No. 6 in straight sets, 6-0,6-2, and extends his undefeated record to 14-0.

The Gators grabbed the early 2-1 lead by winning the doubles point and the first singles point when Olivier Levant defeated Kentucky’s Evan Austin on the third court. The Cats rallied and came battling back to take the lead, 3-2, with victories at No. 1, No. 4 and No. 5. Jesse Witten (No. 1) and Matt Emery (No. 5) took powerful straight set wins over Gator opponents, Hamid Mirzadeh and Matt Behrmann. Senior Gustav Pousette split sets with UF’s Troy Hahn before taking the third set and keeping his undefeated record untarnished. Karim Benmansour dropped his match on the second court after a strong first set victory leaving the fate of the locked match at the No. 6 spot.

“This is a great win for us today,” Coach Dennis Emery said. ” Florida is a great team and this conference is full of great teams and talent, so any time you get a win in the SEC your team confidence soars.”

Kentucky continues SEC action on Sunday, March 17, when the Cats travel to Columbia, S.C., to take on the USC Game Cocks.

AGATE:SinglesNo. 1#5 Jesse Witten (UK) def. #70 Hamid Mirzadeh (UF)6-3,6-4No. 2#50 Eleazor Magallan (UF) def. #39 Karim Benmansour (UK)2-6,6-4,6-2No. 3Olivier Levant (UK) def. #77 Evan Austin (UK)6-0,6-2No. 4#81 Gustav Pousette (UK) def. Troy Hahn (UF)6-3,2-6,6-3No. 5Matt Emery (UK) def. Matt Behrmann (UF)6-2,6-4No. 6Rahim Esmail (UK) def. Ross Greenstein (UF)6-0,6-2DoublesNo. 1McDonald/Mirzadeh (UF) def. Austin/Benmansour (UK)8-5No. 2Behrmann/Hahn (UF) def. Emery/Pousette (UK)8-4No. 3Esmail/Witten (UK) def. Greenstein/Magallan (UF)8-4