Sept. 27, 2003

LEXINGTON – Kentucky’s Alex Hume and Tigran Martirosyan registered valuable victories Saturday afternoon in the second day of the Charles Fluitt Invitational at UK’s Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex.

In the top portion of the “A” bracket, Martirosyan, a native Armenian, defeated Ryler DeHeart of Illinois, 6-4, 6-2 before eliminating Stephane Rod of Virginia Tech, 6-2, 6-4. DeHeart and Rod both spent time in the ITA Top 100 last season. The sophomore Hume dropped a two-set match to Rod but rebounded to defeat DeHeart in consolation play, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. Given the strength of the competition, the victories Saturday for Hume and Martirosyan figure to aide them in their pursuit of individual ITA singles rankings.

In the “A” bracket’s bottom portion, UK’s Evan Austin registered a 6-4, 6-3 win over Soren Spanner of Virginia Tech before dropping a tough two-setter to Andreas Laulund also of Virginia Tech. Lauland will meet Martirosyan in Sunday’s “A” flight final.

The final day of competition kicks off Sunday at 10 a.m.

AGATE:

Tigran Martirosyan (UK) def. Ryler DeHeart (UI) - 6-4, 6-2Stephane Rod (VT) def. Alex Hume (UK) - 6-4, 6-4Alex Hume (UK) def. Ryler DeHeart (UI) - 1-6, 6-3, 6-4Tigran Martirosyan (UK) def. Stephane Rod (VT) - 6-2, 6-4Evan Austin (UK) def. Soren Spanner (VT) - 6-4, 6-3Andreas Lauland (VT) def. Nathaniel Emge (UK) - 6-1, 6-1Andreas Lauland (VT) def. Evan Austin (UK) - 6-4, 7-6Soren Spanner (VT) def. Nathaniel Emge (UK) - 6-4, 4-6, 7-5Matt Allinder (UK) def. Chase Armstrong (EKU) - 6-3, 6-2