March 28, 2003

After an easy doubleheader sweep Wednesday over Wright State and Eastern Kentucky, the University of Kentucky men’s tennis team felt no need to let up Friday during its trip to Fayetteville, Ark. for a battle against No. 26 Arkansas. UK earned the doubles point and never looked back, shutting out the Hogs, 7-0. Kentucky’s sweep of all six singles matches extends the Cats’ unbeaten streak in singles play to sixteen.

UK’s Rahim Esmail and Jesse Witten opened up doubles play with their fourth consecutive win, defeating Rohan Gajjar and Talley Parker by an 8-2 count. Evan Austin and Alex Hume followed suit with an 8-2 victory over Matt Roberts and Adrian Zguns to secure the doubles point.

From there, the Cats seized control of the match. Hume improved to 27-13 overall with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Hunter Benson. Austin would then dispatch the Hogs’ Eduardo Pacheco by a 6-3, 6-2 count. The defending NCAA runner-up Witten later put away the Razorbacks with a 6-2, 6-3 victory at No. 1 over Aleksey Bubis.

Junior Matt Emery earned his third consecutive victory with a 7-5, 7-6(1) decision against UA’s Gajjar. Not to be outdone, Esmail tallied his fourth straight singles triumph to match his four consecutive doubles victories. Finally, junior Karim Benmansour also earned his fourth consecutive singles victory by rebounding after a first-set loss, dropping UA’s Roberts by a 3-6, 6-2, 1-0 (8) count.

The Cats’ dominance over the Hogs marks Kentucky’s eighth victory this season over an opponent featured in the Omni Hotels/ITA rankings of the top 75 collegiate men’s tennis teams. UK improves to 15-7 overall and 5-2 in the SEC, while Arkansas falls to 11-9 overall and 2-6 in the SEC.

Kentucky will now travel to Baton Rouge, La. for a Sunday-afternoon tilt with the 20th-ranked LSU Tigers.

AGATE:

Doubles1.Eduardo Pacheco/Aleksey Bubis (UA) def. Karim Benmansour/Matt Emery (UK) 8-52.Rahim Esmail/Jesse Witten (UK) def. Talley Parker/Rohan Gajjar (UA) 8-23.Evan Austin/Alex Hume (UK) def. Matt Roberts/Adrians Zguns (UA) 8-2

Singles1. No. 13 Jesse Witten (UK) def. Aleksey Bubis (UA)   6-2, 6-32. Evan Austin (UK) def. Eduardo Pacheco (UA)   6-3, 6-23. No. 65 Karim Benmansour (UK) def. Adrians Zguns (UA)   1-6, 6-2, 6-44. Matt Emery (UK) def. Rohan Gajjar (UA)   7-5, 7-6 (1)5. No. 113 Rahim Esmail (UK) def. Matt Roberts (UA)   3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (8)6. Alex Hume (UK) def. Hunter Benson (UA)   6-2, 6-2