Two first-round victories in straight sets by ranked Wildcats at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships held in Athens, Ga., highlighted the first day of fall action for the Kentucky men?s tennis squad.
UK junior Bruno Agostinelli, seeded sixth at the tourney, cruised past Simon Childs of Louisville in straight sets 6-1, 6-4 in the round of 64 Friday. Playing in the same half of the draw as Agostinelli, senior Will Ward dispatched Furman?s Bo Ladyman in two sets 6-3, 6-2.
Both Cats face ranked opponents Saturday in the round of 32 as No. 44 Agostinelli faces No. 100 Albert Larregola of Virginia Tech. No. 90 Ward serves against No. 70 Jean Yves Aubone of Florida State, seeded thirteenth, who needed three sets to advance.
The new UK doubles pair of Ward and freshman Brad Cox is seeded eighth in the bracket. They begin tournament play Saturday against the Middle Tennessee State duo of Novak and Peers. Cox lost his singles match to seventh-seeded Cory Parr of Wake Forest 6-4, 6-3.
The Cats did not fare as well at the H.E.B. Baylor Invitational on the first day of play in Waco, Texas. Senior Marcus Sundh and sophomore Jorge Jorge faced difficult draws against ranked players in opening round action.
Sundh fell to No. 110 Matthew Brown of Baylor playing on his home court 6-2, 7-5. Meanwhile, Jorge lost to ninth-seeded Milan Mihailovic (No. 72) 6-4, 6-0. As a doubles team, Sundh and Jorge?s fate was the same losing 8-0 to top-seed and No. 4 in the nation Kutrovsky and Zavala of Texas.
Both Wildcats played in consolation action late Friday. Sundh split sets with No. 93 Sinisa Markovic of Texas Tech but lost the tiebreaker in six points, 6-4, 3-6, 1-0(6). Jorge advanced past Janusz Conradi of Louisiana-Lafayette by winning the first set 6-2 before Conradi retired because of an injury.
Jorge faces Texas Tech?s Michael Breler in round two of the consolation bracket Saturday.
Follow UK?s tournament action this weekend with results and recaps on UKathletics.com.
Southern Intercollegiate Championships
September 21, 2007 at Athens, Ga.
Singles competition:
# 44 Bruno Agostinelli (UK) def. Simon Childs (UL) 6-1, 6-4
# 90 Will Ward (UK) def. Bo Ladyman (Furman) 6-3, 6-2
# 46 Cory Parr (WF) def. Brad Cox (UK) 6-4, 6-3
Baylor Invitational
September 21, 2007 at Waco, Texas
Singles competition:
# 110 Matthew Brown (BU) def. Marcus Sundh (UK) 6-2, 7-5
# 72 Milan Mihailovic (UT) def. Jorge Jorge (UK) 6-4, 6-0
# 93 Sinisa Markovic (TT) def. Marcus Sundh (UK) 6-4, 3-6, 1-0(6)
Jorge Jorge (UK) def. Janusz Conradi (ULL) 6-2, ret.
Doubles competition:
Kutrovsky/Zavala (UT) def. Jorge/Sundh (UK) 8-0
