Kentucky senior Jesse Witten begins his final run to an NCAA singles title Wednesday when he participates in the opening round of the NCAA Men?s Singles Championships at Texas A&M?s Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas.

Witten, Kentucky?s first five-time men?s tennis All-American, will take on Texas Tech?s Radek Nijaki at 11 a.m. EDT to open his fourth stint at the NCAA singles tournament. The Naples, Fla., native returns to the site of his memorable run to the 2002 NCAA-singles title match, where he fell to Georgia?s Matias Boeker.

The third-seeded Witten will look to make amends after exiting in the early rounds of the last two NCAA singles championships. In 2003, Witten was eliminated in the round of 32 by Stanford?s K.C. Corkery in two sets only to be defeated by Corkery in the opening round a season ago. Witten?s last victory in the NCAA singles tourney came two seasons ago when he opened the tournament by defeating Ohio State?s Jeremy Wurtzman in straight sets.

Witten and fellow senior Tigran Martirosyan had earned a No. 4 seed in the doubles draw, though Martirosyan will be unable to compete due to a family emergency. Martirosyan and Witten will maintain their doubles All-America status, which they earned by way of their top-eight seeding in the NCAA doubles championships.