Oct. 3, 2002

Four members of the Kentucky men’s tennis team will compete this weekend. Junior Rahim Esmail travels to the Champions Club in Chattanooga, Tenn., to play in the prequalifying tournament of the 2002 Icy Hot/ITA Men’s All-American Championships. Senior Elliott Datlow, junior Matt Emery and freshman Alex Hume head west to participate in the Louisville Invitational.

Esmail will play Friday at 10 a.m. ET against Arkansas’ Kristofer Ivarsson. If he wins, he will play his second round match at 3:30 p.m. Esmail, coming off a big win against #19 Alex Hartman from Mississippi in the Charles Fluitt Invitational, is one of four Wildcats competing in the All-American Championships. Sophomore Evan Austin, ranked #65 in the country, will begin play Tuesday in the qualifying tournament. Sophomore Jesse Witten, chosen as the #1 seed in the Championships, along with junior Karim Benmansour, ranked #36, qualified for the main draw which begins Oct. 10. Austin and Benmansour will team up in the main draw of the doubles bracket, also starting Oct. 10.

The prequalifying bracket contains 256 players, which will be whittled down to eight by Monday, Oct. 7. Those eight will join 56 players in the qualifying bracket and play Oct. 8-9. Eight will emerge from those 64 and qualify for the main draw, where 48 of the best players in the country await. The main draw is scheduled for Oct. 10-13.

Datlow, Emery and Hume will play in the Louisville Fall Invitational, Oct. 4-6, at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center. Sixteen teams from around the region will be represented by the players in the three divisions of singles and doubles.

-UK-